It is time for New Year's Resolutions and gardeners have those too. Mine, sadly, are often the same year after year. Hope is high on the cusp of the new year, but December usually finds me with the realization that despite my best intentions I haven't really changed my gardening habits much.

Maybe this year:

I will stop giving unsolicited advice to strangers shopping in nurseries. "That plant isn't cold hardy." "That shrub needs full shade." I know it is none of my business what others have in their shopping carts and they probably know more about what they're doing than I do.

I will stop trying to get morning glories to bloom toward the inside of the covered deck.

They will not.

I will wear my gardening gloves when I am outside unless I am on my way to church.

I will believe labels that say, "Six-foot spread" or "May become invasive" or "Resents disturbance".

I will stake everything that needs it before things get entirely out of hand.

I will stop believing that lilacs will bloom in my yard and delphiniums will thrive there if given enough attention.

I will pull up and compost any plant that looks like it wants to die. It will.

I will always know exactly where my hand clippers are.

I will water container plants before they wilt.

I will not plant flats of annuals unless I have a manicure scheduled for the next day.

On sunny days in April I will remember that I need to get some work done on the inside of the house, too.

I will discard all gardening magazines dated before 2001.

I will join a support group for gardeners who can't stop buying bulbs.

I will not pull up any little plants in spring unless I am absolutely sure they are weeds.

I know, of course, that next year's end will find me just about where I am now - muddling along, doing the best I can and all agog with the glory of it all.