We’re having another cold spell (fingers crossed it’s the last of the season), frustrating my plan to go out and start prepping the vegetable beds today. Instead, I’ve been reading the lastest issue of The English Garden.
Reading garden magazines is a great way to learn more about gardening, though it can be a little tricky if they’re meant for a different climate and conditions than your own. You have to re-calibrate — they clearly have milder winters in England than they do in the Midwest, and I can get a little mopey with their winter issues, showing quite a few flowers! But I do love the English garden aesthetic (or at least some versions of their aesthetics), so I still find it useful and pleasurable to read this magazine.
To get the most of it, I’ve taken to taking photos on my phone as I read of interesting and suitable plants, some of which I’ll try to look up later, to consider for inclusion in my own garden. That can be a little frustrating too, as sometimes they’re not yet availalbe in the U.S. But there’s a pleasure to the hunt, and when you do find one, it can be very satisfying.
I don’t know of any Midwest gardening magazine that has a similar style and scope to what The English Garden does; if there is one, let me know? And if not, someone should start one. 
