Valentine's Day is Almost Here, and We're Here to Help!

        Candy is fattening and cut-flowers don't last, but every gardener on your list will love our gorgeous, time-tested bulbs.
        For pink, red, and fragrant ones, visit Cupid's Favorites where you'll also find our snazzy red tote-bags and -- easiest of all -- our dream-inspiring gift-certificates. If you want, we'll even send a card announcing your gift of bulbs for free (save $2.50!).
        Be sure to give yourself a little love, too. It's not just your sweetie, Mom, and garden friends who deserve endless beauty and eternal spring. Happy Valentine's Day!

Web-Only: Indica Purpurea and 3 Other Rare Cannas Debut Today

        They're too rare for our print catalog, so we're offering them online-only starting today. Quantities are very limited, so don't delay.
        Indica Purpurea -- first time ever, from England where it's exceptionally popular, with slender, upright leaves of bronze striped red;
        Louis Cayeux, 1924 -- a Christopher Lloyd favorite and RHS award-winner, radiant salmon pink, last offered in 2004;
        Alberich, 1949 -- RHS award-winner, big, lush flowers of soft, creamy peach;
        Liberation, 1920 -- warm apricot with flashes of orange, gold, and pink.

Daylilies Unfazed by Sidewalk Salt

        "Sidewalk salt has a way of killing almost everything it touches," writes Diane Selly of Minnesota's Earthworks Gardens, and "with the extra snow and ice this year, you may be using more than usual." Diane recommends switching to sand whenever possible, and adds that "some plants are salt tolerant and work great as edging plants along sidewalks or driveways: most daylilies, some hostas, some roses, some heucheras, and some ornamental grasses."

Tell Bill and Us: How Winter-Hardy Are Your Glads?

        Our good customer Bill Killpatrick of Lafayette, NJ, wrote us recently:
        "I'd love it if you'd ask your readers about glads. . . . I'm just getting too old and creaky to dig 'em all up. Find it easier to just buy new every spring. But, much to my surprise, for the past four winters, a good 80% of the corms have wintered over just fine right in the garden. Officially, I'm a zone 6. Due to elevation and exposure, I'm really a zone 5-ish. We've NOT had reliable snow cover, I don't mulch, nuthin'. But come spring, up pop the glads -- big, double-corm, monster glads."
        The glads he's talking about aren't our zone-6 hardy Byzantine, Boone, or Carolina Primrose, but just regular glads. And we've heard similar reports from other customers. Jane Murphy of zone-6 Concord, Massachusetts, for example, wrote that "some of the overlooked gladiolus bulbs I left in the garden last winter flowered, including a lovely salmon-colored one ['Spic and Span'?] in October," and Kathi Frank of zone 5/6 Onsted, Michigan, wrote "I just have to tell you my joy when my 'Atom' survived the winter and came back this summer as beautiful as ever. What a bonus!"
        So we're asking you: have your regular glads survived zone-6 or colder winters? And what do you think made that possible? Email Charlie@oldhousegardens.com and we'll share your experiences here.

Better Together: An Easy Combo for Your Spring Garden

        The wine-red, newly-sprouting foliage of peonies is always a treat, but our friend Tom Fischer's Perennial Companions: 100 Dazzling Plant Combinations will show you how to make it look even better. As he writes, "The emerging foliage of peonies can be as spectacular as the flowers. . . . Planted among the vivid blue of glory-of-the-snow, it practically glows." For the inspiring full-page photo, go to http://books.google.com/books?id=VxXh56ql0BAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=perennial+companions+100&cd=1#v=snippet&q=santa%20fe&f=false, click on page 16, and scroll down to page 17.
        And while you're thinking of it, why not order these two fall-planted treasures from us right now -- at LAST year's prices.

It's Still Freezing Here: Spring Shipping Starts April 1

        It's been a tough winter for many gardeners, but spring is already dawning in some happy places and it won't be long for the rest of us.
        Please remember, though, that we can't ship your spring-planted bulbs till night-time temperatures here in Michigan stay reliably above freezing -- and right now we're still ice-fishing. To safeguard your cold-sensitive treasures, we won't ship till April. Mother Nature insists, and we hope you understand.

Massachusetts Farmland Listed as Endangered World Monument

        Historic farmlands all across America are threatened by development. In a move that's sure to raise the profile of these endangered landscapes, the World Monuments Fund has included the Great Meadow of Hadley, MA, on its 2010 Watch List. We first read the news in the excellent newsletter of the Library of American Landscape History (subscribe at lalh.org/new.html):
        "How could a 350-acre plot of farmland in rural western Massachusetts wind up on the same list of endangered heritage sites as Peru's ancient Macchu Pichu and a medieval village in Spain? The World Monuments Fund -- which placed the farmland, Hadley's Great Meadow, on its Watch List for 2010 -- says the tract represents a rare, large-scale example of 'open-field' agriculture. This practice, in which individual landowners farm adjacent parcels laid out in long, unfenced strips, dates back to medieval Europe. The Great Meadow borders the Connecticut River and has been farmed continuously since the 1650s, when English Puritans settled Hadley. Local land trusts and historic preservation groups have been on the case for years, helping farmers preserve pieces of the Great Meadow. Now, says the WMF's Amy Freitag, the message is going global."

109-Year-Old Bulb Burning Bright

        For a different kind of heirloom bulb, check out the illuminating website of Livermore, California's Centennial Light Bulb. Installed in a firehouse in 1901, it's the longest-burning incandescent bulb in the country. You can't plant it, but that kind of longevity is impressive no matter what!

Did You Miss Our Last Newsletter? Read It Online!

        January's articles included four new web-only glads, narcissus on New Year's stamps, Scott to speak at Williamsburg symposium, Oregon's National Collection of clematis, great used books online, dahlia love letters, and more. You can read all of our back-issues -- by date or by topic -- at oldhousegardens.com/NewsletterArchives.asp .

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