In The Mailbox: Brent and Becky's Summer Flowering Bulb Catalog 2020

What better place to start your summer bulb dreaming than with Brent and Becky's catalog?  I'm still not recovered from all the digging that went on in my vegetable garden last year, and pershaps this isn't the year to get back to bulbs....but I'm in the mood.

   

I'd like to try Japanese Painted Fern again.

  

Caladiums look good anywhere you place them.  

I have a weakness for Begonias, and one they list, "Harmony's Fire Woman"  is purple and lavender, rather than the red you'd expect from the name. 

Coming Up Roses

It’s time for quality winter garden dreaming.  Last season, I casually looked around locally for a rose to grow in one of my now few sunny spots in the yard.

I haven’t grown roses in years. Early in my gardening days, I grew quite a few varieties, favoring “old roses” for their hardiness and fragrance.

Using the”Minnesota tip” method of covering my roses for the winter, I was quite successful keeping varieties safe till spring.  My roses did get rather tall, and more difficult to tip over time.

Although I’ve always thought roses were the most beautiful flowers in the world, they succumbed over time to disease and lack of space to tip, and encroaching shade.

Even so, maybe one? To start?

High Country Roses

Based in Colorado, High Country Roses sell own root roses. This means that your rose is not grafted onto the rootstock of some other rose, it is completely the plant you’re interested in buying.


http://www.highcountryroses.com/

Roses of Yesterday and Today of  Corralitos, CA has a sumptuous catalog of old and new roses.

http://www.rosesofyesterday.com/index.html

Heirloom Roses of St. Paul, OR offers own root roses, modern and old varieties.

https://www.heirloomroses.com/

Antique Rose Emporium of Brenham TX has a huge selection of roses old and new.

https://antiqueroseemporium.com/

Since I’ve spent so much time away from rose growing, I’ll look at the American Rose Society page to get up to date on rose growing and trends.

https://www.rose.org/

Lastly, I’ll look through my old garden notebooks...I have them all, of course, all the way back, and I’ll see what varieties I grew and liked in the past.

Happy garden dreaming!

DOA's Six Tips For Reading Plant Company Reviews

I've gotten a few catalogs this season I'm unfamiliar with, or have never ordered from personally.  I like to check "The Scoop" on Dave's Gardens first to see what other customers say about the company and their plants.

https://davesgarden.com/

I read the comments positive and negative, to get a feel for what is offered and to get an idea if it will do well in my garden.   Keeping in mind that we sometimes seem to live in an era of negativity and trolls, look past some of the wilder claims and look for these things:


Size of the plants and condition.

Size itself isn't an indicator of good or bad, but if the plants are small, and are in poor condition with wilted leaves, or no discernable green growing anywhere, even a careful gardener will have trouble getting plants to survive.   Plants are remarkably well suited to travel in a box across the countryside.  If a nursery is a good one, they'll look pretty much like they did when they were packed.

Correct Plants Arrived

It happens with some varieties of plants that you can't tell for quite awhile if they're the correct plant, it's not until they bloom that you can tell.  There are rare cases where a identifiably wrong plant has been sent.

Customer Service

You should be able to ask any questions, anytime and get a quick response.  If your order was incorrect, there should be a speedy replacement.

Backorders

When ordering, there should be an option for you to say yes or no to having your desired plant on backorder.   If you say no backorders, your money should be refunded instead.   I think backordering plants is inadvisable, as there is no telling how long you may need to wait for something that may have sold out.

Plant Selection

Pay attention to Plant Selection choices.   There may be fewer if the nursery specializes in a particular plant, but they likely reliably have the plant.    A nursery you don't know may seem to have a wide variety of plants but perhaps they have only a few of each and you'll end up disappointed.

The Name Means Everything

I am always more comfortable with nurseries that give common and botanical names of plants so you really know what you're getting.  Nurseries that make up names like fou fou plant!!!  Steer clear.