Its latest catalogue, 100 pages detailing programs at home and abroad, has just arrived, and we are thinking about going off again.

There is, however, another kind of reading that proves irresistible in January, when the catalogues from most mail-order nurseries arrive.

By the way, the catalogues have arrived, and they look fantastic.

Also remember some catalogues will not arrive by mail if the company has not received an order in the last year or two.

At the beginning of every gardening year, when the catalogues arrive, I pore over them in search of the rare, the unusual and the foolproof.

And when a catalogue arrived in the mail promoting day sequins, the men actually looked a bit alarmed.

The catalogues have been arriving for several months, back as far as the heat of summer, which was hardly the time to think seriously about spring.

THE catalogues are arriving from seed houses and nurseries.

NOW that catalogues are arriving and gardeners are making plans, newcomers may be looking for some help.

This year, as the catalogues were arriving, winter played an unkind hoax.