-- Sir Francis Bacon, 1561-1626, English philosopher, statesman, and scientist

It's Not Too Late -- But We're Selling Out Fast

        Thanks to Scott's gig on the Martha Stewart Show (and our loyal customers!) it looks like we're going to sell out of bulbs earlier than ever this year. So don't delay! For a summer full of heirloom beauty, order our easy, spring-planted dahlias for bouquets, unusual glads, graceful daylilies, fragrant tuberoses, rain lilies, crocosmia, and crinums right now.
        Too busy to choose? Simply order our new Martha Stewart sampler, our frugal Intro to Heirlooms sampler ($35 worth of great bulbs for only $30), or any of our other easy samplers. But order NOW. If you wait, you may miss all the fun!

Thursday is Your Last Chance to Order Daylilies!

        Due to record-breaking heat here in March, our daylilies are already as big and lush as they usually are a month from now, and early-blooming 'Orangeman' is even starting to show buds. To make sure these eager beauties settle into your garden happily, we must ship them ASAP -- so tomorrow, April 19, is the last day you can order them for delivery this year. Friday morning they'll all be sold out and you'll be out of luck till next spring. So do yourself a favor, take a look at these graceful heirlooms, and order today!

Sorry! Counterfeit Vuurbaak

        'When 'Vuurbaak' hyacinth bloomed in our trial garden this spring, we knew immediately that it wasn't right. Instead of the deep, vibrant rose "red" that it should be, it was a darker maroon color, like a glass of red wine. Please accept our apologies! Unannounced substitutions like this have been a fact of life in the Dutch bulb trade for ages, and although we do our best to buy from only the most trustworthy growers, once in a while we still get unpleasantly surprised.
        We're giving a full OHG credit plus shipping to everyone who ordered 'Vuurbaak' from us last fall. If you'd rather have a credit card refund, please let us know, but otherwise we'll just apply your credit automatically to your next order. And again, please accept our apologies!

Made in Michigan: Save 15% on Cool Ergonomic Garden Tools

        Although it's hard to prove a direct correlation, our home state's battered economy has continued to improve ever since we started introducing you to some of our favorite Michigan-made products. To thank you -- and to encourage even more "micro-investment" in Michigan's rebirth – we've teamed up with our neighbors at Radius Garden Tools to offer you a special 15% discount.
        Radius's promise to make gardening easier on my body wasn't what first drew me to their tools. I just thought they looked cool, cool enough to belong in the Museum of Modern Art. Their hand tools came first, with dramatically arched handles that reduce wrist strain while making them look like they were meant for gardening on the moon. They now offer equally distinctive shovels, rakes, pruners, and other tools, all scientifically designed to help you "Garden more; hurt less." They've expanded their color choices, too, from spring-green to a jewel-box palette of pink, purple, yellow, orange, and turquoise.
        One of my favorite tools is the Radius Transplanter, a narrow trowel of brushed aluminum that's light but strong -- and did I mention cool? It's also a great deal at $9.99, and an even better deal with your 15% "Friends of Old House Gardens" discount. To claim this special discount, simply enter OHG as the "coupon code" on the Payment Information page of the Radius order form. For Mother's Day or your own garden toolbox, we hope you'll give our friends at Radius a try!

'Atom' to Help Celebrate Monet's Gladioli and National Public Gardens Day

        Inside/Out is a terrific program of the Detroit Institute of the Arts that brings reproductions of masterpieces from the DIA to the streets and parks of metro Detroit. Among the 80 works scattered about this year is one of our favorites, Monet's Gladioli, which shows Monet's wife in their home garden admiring a big bed of one of the artist's favorite flowers. It's on display at the Taylor Conservatory and Botanical Gardens where, to celebrate National Public Gardens Day, they'll be giving away hundreds of our best-selling glad, 'Atom' -- which looks a lot like Monet's glads -- at their spring Plant Sale on May 12. We're proud to be partnering with the DIA and the Taylor Conservatory to celebrate heirloom art with heirloom flowers! Learn more here.

Revolutionary Manure: The Founding Fathers and Political Bullpucky

        As the BS piles up deeper and deeper this election year, we thought you'd enjoy this refreshingly different perspective on politicians and manure from Andrea Wulf's Founding Gardeners:
        "[In 1796, John] Adams stood in a pile of compost that was rising in his yard -- seemingly one of his most favorite spots, because no other subject was mentioned so frequently in his diary that summer. In fact, the only correspondence that Adams thought worth noting at all was a letter about a 'report on manures' from Britain, which Jefferson, Madison and Washington also had received. Mundane as it seems, manure was of the greatest concern to all four of them, for one of the reasons why yields in the United States of America were declining so drastically was the lack of manuring.
        "Over the years Adams had experimented extensively with dung . . . . One of the most charming images from Adams's life . . . was his close investigation of a manure heap just outside London. Teasing apart the straw and dung, the American minister to the court at St. James's Palace 'carefully examined' the stinking pile and clearly didn't mind the muck on his hands. He noted the exact contents and ingredients, before announcing with glee that it was 'not equal to mine.'
        "While Adams had his arms up to the elbow in the dung, the studious Madison used pen, paper, and numbers to tackle the problem. In spring 1796, in the midst of the Jay Treaty controversy, he had managed to find time to calculate precisely how many wagonloads of manure were needed to produce a healthy harvest of potatoes and dispatched instructions to Montpelier to cover the fields with dung.
        "Somewhat ironically, these steaming piles of dung became icons of the founding fathers' agricultural vision. While other farmers let their cattle and hogs drop the nutritious dung far away from the plantations, Washington was the first American to build a stercorary -- a covered dung depository where manure could be stored, aged, and mixed. 'Nothing is more wanting in this country,' Washington wrote to Jefferson, asking him to share all knowledge on manures with his friends. Jefferson thought a British pamphlet on the subject so delectable that he declared it a 'charming treatise.' In the summer of 1796 they all received a pamphlet on manure from John Sinclair, the president of the British Board of Agriculture, who knew that they were not only the most powerful political figures in the United States of America but also the most innovative farmers. All agreed with Washington that 'the profit of every farm is greater or less in proportion to the quantity of manure which is made thereon.'"

The Newest Endangered Heirlooms: Hybrid Tea Roses

        The most popular roses of the 20th century -- lush hybrid teas such as 'Peace', 'Chrysler Imperial', and 'Tropicana' that helped define American gardening for decades -- are now at risk of disappearing forever. Although some gardeners may say "good riddance," those of us who value history and diversity -- and who remember when many of today's most popular plants were scorned for one reason or another -- can't help but feel concerned. Learn more in the recent Los Angeles Times' article, "Bloom Comes Off the Rose Industry."

Getting Old Daffodils to Bloom Again: "Separation Did the Trick!"

        In many parts of the country, daffodils bloom every spring in ditches, cow pastures, vacant lots, and other neglected areas where long-forgotten homes once stood. Dig a clump and you'll often find a crowded mass of small, under-nourished bulbs with only a few that have managed to size up enough to bloom. In your own garden, the same thing can happen to long-established clumps, and the remedies in both cases are the same: fertilize, provide more sunlight, and when all else fails, dig and divide -- as our friend Les Turner discovered:
        "I found clumps of daffodil foliage in the thick woods near one of the rivers in eastern North Carolina that was home to early settlers in the 1600s. Maybe one or two flowers in each clump. With your help we determined they were 'Van Sion' and 'Twin Sisters'. My wife and I moved the bulbs out of the woods and replanted the clumps on our property near the river with more sunlight. For the next two years, we got about the same results as in the forest, one or two flowers per clump. So we decided to separate the bulbs to get more flowers. We planted one bulb every six inches and this year we had hundreds of flowers and they look very healthy and beautiful. Separation did the trick!"

If You're Loving Our Bulbs, Please Tell the World at Garden Watchdog

        For the third year in a row we're the TOP-rated source for both Heirloom Bulbs and ALL Spring-Blooming Bulbs at the popular GardenWatchdog.com. Thank you!
        Recent reviews count the most, though, so we need fans like you to keep saying good things about us there. Will you help? It's quick, easy, and we'll even walk you through the three simple steps at oldhousegardens.com/rateOHG.asp. Thank you!

If Not, Please Tell Us!

        We want you to be thrilled with every bulb we send you. Whenever you're disappointed in any way, we want to know so we can make it right. Rita is standing by at 734-995-1486, or email Charlie@oldhousegardens.com. Please!

Follow Us at Facebook

        Another 108 friends have "liked" our Facebook page, bringing our friendly group of fellow gardeners there to just shy of 1700. Thank you all! If you haven't yet, please come take a look at Facebook.com/HeirloomBulbs, join the conversation, get early-bird alerts, and help spread the word about the joys of heirloom bulbs.

Did You Miss Our Last Newsletter? Read It Online!

        Early March's articles included the weird winter and how it will affect your bulbs, Mike's favorite glad, love letters to our dahlias, 1927 companion-planting advice for iris, bulb bankruptcy, and more. You can read all of our back-issues, by date or by topic, at oldhousegardens.com/NewsletterArchives.asp .

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