There is nothing as bright and cheery on a cold, cloudy, rainy winter's day as the new supply of garden catalogs that have been pouring in the daily mail just since the Christmas greeting rush has ended.

These spring catalogs are filled with new flowers, vegetables, trees, roses, herbs and house plants. It has been estimated that there are over 300 catalogs now available by mail. Each one has its own introductions and specialties. One catalog lists 70 new varieties introduced this year.

One writer has said that science cannot cure the common cold, but plant breeders have developed a round zucchini that one can eat like an apple. It seems that Burpee Seed Company people have come up with a newfangled variation on something that has been around for quite sometime, and this year it is called the Roly Poly zucchini.

Heatwave is the new tomato featured on their cover. It is said to thrive in hot summer weather, setting fruit best when temperatures exceed 90 degrees. Disease resistant, the plants have a space-saving bushy habit.

Other tomatoes offered by Burpee include Viva Italia, high in natural sugars; Big Girl, perfect for slicing; Supersteak, weighing a pound or more; Super Sweet, miniature; Early Girl, sweet yet tart; Longkeeper, best storing tomato; Roma, recommended for sauces; Gardener's Delight, an old favorite; Yello Pear, for preserves and pickling, and Celebrity, an All-American winner that is tolerant to many diseases.

Park Seed Company offers Park's Whopper pepper, an improved hybrid which is the largest and most meaty of all bell peppers. The company also offers Tropicana vinca in four shades of pink. They also feature Heidi Yellow lisianthus, a new color in this half hardy, fairly new perennial, and a new true red called Red Glass. If you can get these flowers to grow (I have had little luck) they will last for two weeks when cut and placed in water.

Thompson & Morgan's new sweet pea mixture called Fragrantissima, includes a large color spectrum of sweet pea varieties selected for their fragrance. White Christmas, a flowering cabbage is also their introduction.

Spring Hill Gardens has 26 professionally designed perennial gardens. Planting ideas are from Derek Fell, author, photographer and plantsman, who is widely recognized as the world's leading authority on home gardening. A perennial starter garden includes Double White Baby's Breath, Russian Sage, Wonder of Staffa Aster, Golden Marguerite Burgundy Gaillardia and Double Mediterranean Pinks.

After 100 years, Stark Brothers is reintroducing the Red Delicious apple. First introduced in 1893, this new one has more delicious flavor and larger size. They also introduced the Golden Delicious apple in 1914. These two varieties are still the world's most popular apples.

Shepherd's Garden Seeds Company works closely with French, Dutch, Italian British Chinese and Japanese seed houses, selecting easy to grow disease resistant vegetables and herbs with fine flavor, texture and tenderness. Their catalog is unique in that they run recipes suitable to their products.

Hastings catalogs are in the 103rd year, and they say that flowers have been a part of their catalog from the very beginning. "Even in the darkest days of the great depression, flowers gleamed from the pages, of the catalog. During the bleakest times these `non-essentials' proved their worth. Vegetables and fruits may feed the body, but flowers feed the soul", is their slogan. They feature Baby Gladiolus and the Aztec Lily, a native of Mexico.

Jackson & Perkins offers several new roses, including Sweet Inspiration, a floribunda, Rio Samba, hybrid tea, Dynamite, climbing hybrid tea, Lucille Ball, a hybrid tea, and Barbara Bush, a pink tea.

Child's Play, an All-American Rose Selections winner, tops the list of miniatures for 1993, introduced by Nor'East Miniature Roses. High Jinks, blending of pink, and Gone Fishin', a pure orange miniature landscape rose, are two other introductions.

Bubbles Brussels sprouts is an introduction of Stokes Seeds. It is tolerant of hot weather.

Johnny's Selected Seeds is a source for more than 600 of the country's most carefully developed seed varieties. A complete gardening manual, it has more growing information than most books.

These are just a few of the catalogs now on the market. Each has its own specialty and contains a wealth of information.