Shipping Starts Today -- And You Can Still Order!

        Though we didn't plan to ship till Monday, the bitter cold of March abated early so we're starting today. Woo-hoo! We'll ship to warmer areas first (we know you're eager to plant), and by the month's end we'll have every order shipped.
        We still have plenty of great bulbs to plant this spring for summer glory. Can't decide? Try our fabulous "Depression Buster" or other samplers. Or check out our perennial daylilies and iris, hummingbird-magnet cannas, fragrant Aztec tuberoses, small-flowered glads, and dahlias for bouquets and a spectacular fall. Christina, LaDonna, and our easy website are standing by, eager to serve you!

Last Chance: 'Venetie' Going Commercially Extinct

        When the last big, mainstream farmer quits growing a bulb variety, we say it's gone "commercially extinct." Although collectors and a small farmer or two may still grow it, once the mainstream trade abandons a bulb, it's much closer to being lost forever. And that's what's just happened to 'Venetie'. To save it from complete oblivion, we'll plant 100 corms here, and hopefully in a few years we'll be able to offer it again, but it will always be in very small quantities and at the much higher prices that come from small-scale production. So if you want it -- or want to help save it -- order now!

Looking Ahead to Mother's Day, May 9

        If your mom loves flowers (and what mom doesn't?), we'd be glad to help. Send her some of our great spring-planted bulbs? Or a flowery Old House Gardens tote-bag? Or a gift certificate so she can choose exactly what she wants, anytime? We've even got a whole page at our website devoted to gift-giving. And we love making moms happy!

Eating Flowers: "Scrunchy" 'Kwanso' Daylily

        From Christopher Lloyd's Garden Flowers (2000), here's another good reason to plant double orange 'Kwanso' daylily this spring:
        "H. x fulva, [the common orange daylily, is] a strapping triploid with tawny-coloured flowers and no scent. It naturalizes easily in quite rough places and is a common sight in India, by the roadside. No doubt it was planted in the first instance, because it cannot seed, but once there it spreads by rhizomes to form a colony. The day before the blooms open, the flower buds are habitually gathered to eat raw or stir-fried, and they are even more scrunchy in the double-flowered variety, 'Kwanso'. A friend, who at one time gardened in Hong Kong, could for a long while not make out why his daylilies seemed always on the point of flowering, but never flowered. His Chinese cook was responsible. I can recommend the flavor, which resembles that of green figs."

Blog of the Month: Each Little World Says "Go Big Red!"

        "An artist by training, a journalist by trade, and a gardener by choice," Linda Brazill left 28 years of newspaper work in 2008 and, since she "couldn't imagine a life without writing," she launched Each Little World, a blog devoted to the things she likes best: "food, art, books, history, textiles, a bit of politics, and mainly gardening." Linda gardens in the frozen wilds of Madison, Wisconsin, but her writing will interest gardeners throughout the upper half of the country at least. (A gardener is a gardener, right?) She's a big fan of Old House Gardens, too, and other small, specialist nurseries. In a recent blog she spotlights our family-heirloom "Wisconsin Red" dahlia and ends by saying "I can picture a big bouquet of these beauties adorning [University of Wisconsin] tail-gate parties all over the state next fall. Go Big Red! Go OHG!" Martagon lilies and double tulips are featured in other recent blogs, and don't miss "Great-grandmother's Bloom Day" for an inspiring family photo of her husband Mark's great-grandmother standing in the snow in front of her log cabin with a beautiful pot of daffodils she forced in full bloom. Now that's garden history!

Book of the Month: Proven Plants: Southern Gardens

        You may know Erica Glasener as the host of HGTV's A Gardener's Diary. She's a hands-on, backyard gardener from Atlanta, and her brand new book Proven Plants: Southern Gardens is terrific. Erica says she wrote it "especially for those who are new to gardening in the South," but experienced gardeners all over the country will find a lot to like in it. For a start, it's beautiful, with Catesby's iconic image of a Southern magnolia on the cover and other antique images scattered throughout the book. It's neatly organized, too, with ten "proven plants" -- each with a clear photo, essential facts, and Erica's comments -- in twenty different categories such as "Perennials for Shade," "Trees with Colorful Bark," and "Flowering Bulbs for Summer and Fall." Tucked in between the categories are short essays on a wide range of topics: "The Container Bog Garden," "How to Attract Butterflies," and "Heirloom Bulbs," which we're proud to say spotlights Old House Gardens -- another good reason to buy this book!

Style Alert: Hyacinth Purple is "New Darling of Trend Watchers"

        We've been enjoying hyacinths for years, but we didn't know "hyacinth purple" was a color -- let alone stylish -- till a spray of hyacinths and paint swatches caught our eye in the April issue of Better Homes and Gardens. It's a bluish-lavender, we learned, whose "friendly, refreshing tones have always made it a great choice for interiors." There's a striking photo of a hyacinth-purple ceiling in a Manhattan dining room by interior designer Sara Story who explains that "purple with a touch of blue can be energizing. . . . It's a statement of adventure and intrigue." Though a purple ceiling may be TOO much adventure for most of us, you can sample the stylish new color in your garden (along with hyacinth pink, rose, apricot, yellow, white, pale blue, indigo, and almost-black) by ordering hyacinths now for planting this fall -- at last year's prices!

Did You Miss Our Last Newsletter? Read It Online!

        March's articles included Steve Bender laughing at us in his Southern Living blog, 'Lucky Star' named Garden Gate's "Top New Bulb," an inspiring photo of 'Flavescens' running wild in Kansas, volunteers showcasing local heirlooms at the Pickle Barrel House Iris Garden, Victorian classic The Wild Garden updated for 2010, and more. You can read all of our back-issues -- by date or by topic -- at oldhousegardens.com/NewsletterArchives.asp .

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