-- Robert Louis Stevenson, 1850-1894, Scottish novelist and poet

Our New Catalog is in the Mail!

        Your long wait is over. Our brand-new catalog came back from the printer yesterday and our friends at Unit Packaging will be delivering it to the post office very soon. Although it MAY reach you by the weekend, bulk mail is always a bit slow and unpredictable, especially to the West Coast. If you don't have yours by Friday, Sept. 16, give us a call and we'll rush you another one by first-class mail.

But Why Wait? 3 Easy Ways to Shop It Online Now

        Our entire new catalog is online now, and we're eager to serve you there 24/7.
        1. For a quick list of everything that's NEW or back from a break, go to oldhousegardens.com/newBulbs.asp .
        2. To start with our fall-planted bulbs, go to oldhousegardens.com/cat.asp?CatID=1 .
        3. To search by color, zone, animal-resistance, fragrance, bloom-time, or ten other criteria, go to oldhousegardens.com/search_request.aspx .

Just Added: 11 More Web-Only Treasures

        In the last few days we've added 11 new web-only rarities, making a total now of 46 treasures you can only find online. A dozen are already SOLD OUT, but these are still available:
        22 tulips, including never-before-offered 'Brunhilde', 'Pompadour', 'Prosperity', and 'Rose Luisante Bontlof' with gold-edged leaves,
        10 daffodils, including 'Mrs. William Copeland' (yes, that's Mary and Irene's mother),
        8 hyacinths, including the rarest we've ever offered, 'Grande Blanche Imperiale', preserved by a tiny botanic garden in Lithuania,
        5 crocus, including the "reddest" Dutch crocus of all, 'Paulus Potter',
        2 samplers, including our brand-new Peony Paradise, and
        13 gladiolus for spring-delivery, including small-flowered, cymbidium-like 'Firedance'.

Book of the Month: Buried Treasures: Tasty Tubers of the World

        Have you ever thought about adding a row of dahlias, elephant ears, or Jack-in-the-pulpit to your vegetable garden? After reading this slim volume from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, you might! Edited by Beth Hanson, Buried Treasures is an entertaining introduction to dozens of plants whose underground storage organs make for tasty eating. Several of them are North American natives such as Jerusalem artichoke, spring beauty, and Colorado wild potato (Solanum jamesii); others are exotics such as jicama; and some are common garden ornamentals such as canna and daylily. Don't miss the back section of the book where you'll find a dozen recipes (including one for a dahlia and chocolate-chip quick bread), a "Potatoes Versus Rice" comparison that will make you look at the lowly potato with new respect, and an excellent bibliography and source list. There's also a chapter on wild foraging where I learned that the tiny tubers of nutsedge -- one of the most pernicious weeds in my garden -- "can be eaten raw, boiled, or toasted." That's something I'm definitely going to try.

Got Drought? Bulbs Are Built for It

        Our condolences to you if you're one of the millions of gardeners suffering through the drought that's afflicted huge swaths of the country this summer. (And our hearts go out to the farmers who are already facing billions of dollars in losses.) It may be small consolation, but bulbs are one of Nature's clever ways for hanging on to a back-up supply of moisture, safe underground, and surviving when there's no rain for days and days on end. They have their limits, of course, but when the drought finally breaks, you'll probably find that your bulbs recover better than most plants. Here's hoping that's soon.

Happy Iris Stories

        We doubled our iris offerings for the coming year, thanks in part to the generosity of some of our Old West Side neighbors who shared their heirloom iris with us. Many of them passed along stories with their rhizomes, too. Jean Henry, for example, told us that her 'Pallida Dalmatica' came from her Iowa grandmother who got it from the woman who babysat for Jean's father and later Jean herself. It was "the standard iris" in that area, but Violet Kieffer -- pronounced "Wiolet," Jean explained -- was "very proud of them" and "she'd be thrilled to know they made it into your catalog."
        'Flavescens' is another very old iris that will grow just about anywhere. For example, a few years ago my wife Jane and I were walking along the wooded, hillside path that circles a small lake in the Brighton State Recreation Area. At one point the hillside was so steep that the ground to our left was almost at eye level, and there in the crowded, densely shaded undergrowth I was shocked to see a few scrawny bearded iris. They must have been survivors from a long-forgotten home that once stood where now wilderness ruled. I was so impressed that I collected one small rhizome and brought it home to a sunny spot in my own garden. This spring it finally bloomed for the first time, and -- you guessed it -- it was the indomitable 'Flavescens'.

Our New Facebook Page is Jumping

        In the past month, our followers on Facebook have more than quintupled from 70 to 383. Woo-hoo! Mike and Vanessa are posting weekly photos of what's in bloom here, and a few public-spirited customers have joined in with photos of our bulbs blooming in their gardens. Please come take a look -- and "like" us. Our goal is to have 2000 followers by the end of the year, and there's no way we can do it without you!

Our Readers Recommend: Great Garden Nail Brushes

        Last month we told you about our favorite brushes for scrubbing dirt-caked fingernails and invited you to tell us about yours. Bob Radtke of Wisconsin shared a tip from his plumber. "He told me to clean my garden fingers by turning on the hose just a little, then spraying my fingertips. All the dirt under your nails gets gently washed away. No need for a nail brush!"
        Janet Fisher of Ann Arbor had another frugal recommendation. "This isn't very classy," she wrote, "but it works great for me. I just use old toothbrushes. They don't last very long but they don't need to – you're supposed to change your toothbrush every three months."
        Laurel Schreiner of Amherst, NY, took that suggestion a step further. "While nail brushes work on the hands and nail edges, I find an old electric water pic really cleans the cuticles and under the nail itself. My hands are then ready for a manicure and polish."
        "Have I got a nail brush for you!" Pat Stover of Little Rock, AR, emailed us -- and when two other readers recommended the same brush, we couldn't wait to try it. Pat describes it as "perfect, gentle, and extremely effective," and says that even after years of use "it's still as good as new." Sandy O'Rorke of Oregon, IL, and Cindy Brown of Pittsfield, MA, have also used this brush for years. "It's the best I have found," Cindy says, "and you can't beat the price." It was originally developed as a surgical scrub brush, and versions of it are widely sold as vegetable brushes, but the one Pat, Sandy, and Cindy swear by is sold by Lee Valley Tools. Two of them cost just $1.70, and they come with a money-back guarantee. We've been using them for a couple of weeks now, and though Kelly and Josh think they're great -- "the best I've ever used," Josh says -- Scott and Vanessa have been less impressed, saying the bristles are too soft to get all the dirt out from under their grubbiest nails. So we can't guarantee you'll love it, but it's definitely worth a try.

Made in Michigan: Good Morning America's Most Beautiful Place

        This is the fifth in our ongoing series introducing you to some of our favorite Michigan products in an attempt to boost our home state's battered economy. (Michigan's unemployment rate is now tied with South Carolina's for the country's third worst at 10.9%, but that's down from 13% and second worst last year so our plan seems to be working.)
        Michigan is rich in natural beauty, and every year millions of vacationers come here to enjoy it. Two weeks ago Good Morning America named a spectacular natural area that's been one of our favorites since we were kids -- Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore -- the "Most Beautiful Place in America." Read the complete story here, and then start planning your visit!

Berkeley Botanical Garden Adds Heirloom Dahlias

        Many gardeners share their favorite plants with friends, but our good customer Pria Graves took it a step further. "I've donated some cuttings from your amazing heirloom dahlias to the UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley," she emailed us recently. "The Northern California Society of Botanical Artists has a close relationship with the Garden. They host our annual exhibition gratis and allow us to get pieces of plants for painting. They have a section of dahlias near their heritage rose collection and thought that having some heirloom dahlias there would be a good fit." So 'Andries' Orange', 'Little Beeswings', and 'Thomas Edison', now have a new home where thousands of gardeners can see how great they are. Thanks, Pria!

Did You Miss Our Last Newsletter? Read It Online!

        July's articles included our new Facebook page, great garden nail brushes, Darling Dahlias mystery, OHG barn/office wins preservation award, save 60% on 'Insulinde', and more. You can read all of our back-issues -- by date or topic -- at oldhousegardens.com/NewsletterArchives.asp .

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