Just the Thing

When I was a child I thrilled at ads for garden catalogs in the back of my mother’s magazines . I’d carefully tape my nickel or dime to an index card inscribed with my name and address, seal it in an envelope then with anticipation send it on its way to the wonderfully colorful nursery! Day after day the mailbox called to me until finally the catalog arrived! One of the glorious flowers that always caught my attention as I pored over the exciting pages was the clematis. They didn’t grow in our hot climate so I had never seen one in person and didn’t even know how to pronounce the name—until I moved east and often saw them vining on mailboxes—just like in the catalogs.