Our kind of summer reading from the Los Angeles Times

It is lucky that many people living in the East and North won't see this article, as it would come off as slightly mean when they are worrying about frost and getting the harvest in before the snow flies. That said, it does show that all gardeners can be seduced by the joys of seed catalogs, no matter what time of year.

Tony Kienitz rhapsodizes about the joys of studying seed catalogs in preparation for a second planting, and second harvest, that our balmly LA weather provides. Even with so much other work to do in my garden, I can feel the joy of possibilities that seed catalogs provide. Maybe I should just replace that bed with....no, I couldn't! (SMILE)

Our kind of summer reading

By Tony Kienitz, Special to The Times

THE leap is infectious. It's only fair that you should know. The first time you order seeds from a catalog will not be your last. These tiny, enigmatic packets of life arrive by mail in homely manila envelopes, delivering one of the gardener's happiest and holiest moments of the year.

By virtue of your address, you get to send in your wish list twice a year: early spring and now. That's how it's best done, here in the land of two harvests. The garden cliche in the East and Midwest -- curling up in an armchair beside a fire, sipping cocoa and poring over seed catalogs on a blustery February day -- can still be part of your yearly regimen, but in a summery, Southern California way.