Going Fast: 17 Web-Only Rarities Online Now

        Just minutes ago we posted prices for the first 17 of this fall's web-only rarities, and as usual our newsletter subscribers are the first to know. Although we're the only US source for these treasures, and we get as many as we can, our supplies are so limited that some will be sold out before the day is over.
        Green-eyed 'Vireo' jonquil tops the list followed by curly double 'Dreadnought' hyacinth and fifteen tulips including the amazing 'Lord Stanley' (favorite of hockey fans everywhere and our bet to sell out first, despite its lofty price!), 'Adonis' (total crop failure last year), 'Mon Tresor Bontlof' (with striking, gold-edged leaves), 'Wapen van Leiden' (colonial-era "coat of arms"), and 'Joost van de Vondel' (last offered in 2004).
        Even one of these special flowers can add a thrill to your spring garden -- but only if you move fast.

Our New Catalog is in the Mail!

        We mailed our catalogs last Wednesday, so if you ordered one or you've ordered bulbs from our last two catalogs, look for it in your mailbox soon.
        Bulk mail can be a bit slow and unpredictable, though, especially to the West Coast. If you don't have yours by Tuesday, Aug. 5, call your local post office and inquire. Chances are it will have already arrived but your carrier is just waiting for a light day to deliver it. If not, call us!

But Why Wait? 3 Easy Ways to Start Shopping Our Website Now

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

An Unexpected Tote-Bag Testimonial

        Our brand-new Heirloom Bulbs Tote-Bags are getting rave reviews from some very demanding critics: our staff. Twenty-something Renee Hytinen, for example, found a couple of unorthodox uses for it on a recent weekend trip to Lake Michigan.
        First she filled it with ice and beer and lugged it down to the beach. That worked so well, she told us with excitement, that later on the ferry ride to Manitou Island when the waves got rough and she started feeling green at the gills, she kept it close at hand, confident that it would also make a leak-proof -- and elegant -- barf bag.

Crop Failure: 'Madame Ducel' Peony Flooded Out

        Days after our catalog went to press we learned that we won't be able to deliver the rarest of our five new heirloom peonies, petite 'Madame Ducel', due to flooding at our grower's farm in Iowa. The good news is that peonies are resilient and our grower has been raising them since 1887, so there's a good chance we'll be able to offer it next year -- if Mother Nature smiles on us.

"So Natural an Act": Words of Wisdom from a Garden Artist

        Robert Dash is not only a highly regarded artist but the creator of a remarkably personal and inventive garden on Long Island called Madoo. In an April 2006 article in Horticulture, Dash offered the following "best advice for fellow gardeners" and we liked it so much that we've been trying to squeeze it into our newsletter ever since.
        "To garden is so natural an act that you need only follow your instincts; have no fear and plunge right in.
        "Follow your first, not your second, idea.
        "Expect mistakes; mistakes are not errors if you learn from them.
        "Walk your plot in all kinds of light, all times of day, all kinds of weather, as often as possible -- paying particular attention to slight changes of level and, above all, shadows.
        "Gardening, remember, at its best, is a form of autobiography, an art of the wrist, like painting, enacted on the earth."

Head Gardener Praises 'Gravetye Giant' (and Gophers Shun It)

        Writing in Fine Gardening magazine, estate gardener Richard Devine of Dunnellon, Florida, recommends one of our favorite bulbs for zones 5-9S/9W:
        "I know few plants that offer as much and ask for as little as 'Gravetye Giant' snowflake (Leucojum aestivum 'Gravetye Giant'). This marvelous 24-inch-tall bulb is one of the first plants to emerge, with nodding white bells as early as mid-January. Nearly 20 years ago, I scattered 'Gravetye Giant' along paths and in perennial beds here, and the plants have unfailingly risen every year since."
        If that's not enough to convince you to try it, our friend Gregg Lowery of California's Heritage Roses tells us that Leucojum are the most gopher-resistant bulbs of all, out-ranking even daffodils!

Your Garden Memories: From New Mother to Retirement with Mrs. Austin's Jonquils

        Our good customer Frances Rogers of Bedford, Texas, writes:
        "When I was a young mother, my mother and I would often take my baby daughter for a drive, and there was one place in the spring that my mother showed me where there was a whole field of beautiful yellow jonquils, a truly awesome sight. The field was owned by the elderly lady, Mrs. Austin, who lived next door to it in an elderly house. I wanted very much to have some of those flowers, so we stopped and introduced ourselves and asked if she would sell some of the bulbs. This was way back before I became the fanatic gardener I am today.
        "Well, first Mrs. Austin said to come back at a particular date, and then she changed her mind, and it took about two years for her to settle on the date when we could come to get the bulbs. By that time, we now had a baby son as well as a toddler. My poor long-suffering husband was going to school part time and working full time, but nevertheless on the appointed day he took me to see Mrs. Austin and get the bulbs.
        "We had a very limited budget and I knew I could only buy a few. Well, it turned out that the man who usually dug Mrs. Austin's bulbs had not shown up, so my dear husband, on a hot Texas June day, not only dug almost a whole row of bulbs, but also had the honor of buying some for me, a dollar's worth, at 5 cents a bulb!
        "Of course, those bulbs thrived and bloomed. They went with us to the country home we moved to and lived at for over twenty-eight years, they multiplied amazingly, and some went to friends and neighbors. I always called them Mrs. Austin's jonquils. When we moved from our old home place, I made sure that some of the bulbs were securely growing at my daughter's home, then brought them to our retirement home.
        "Eventually I bought some Campernelles, and guess what! THEY are Mrs. Austin's jonquils! So we have the 'new' Campernelles, but we also have a cherished group of the original Mrs. Austin's. And I have to say that Mrs. Austin, with all her interesting ways, made it possible for me to spend every winter waiting for emerging bulb shoots, and every spring not only enjoying these wonderful bulbs, but also the memory of the little old lady who started my enthusiasm, which has now grown all out of bounds. Thank goodness.
        "P.S. My husband is still digging for me! He's really a nice man."

Did You Miss Our Last Newsletter? Read It Online!

        You can read all 74 of our back-issues -- by date or by topic -- at oldhousegardens.com/NewsletterArchives.asp . June's articles included Turkish glory-of-the-snow, Monticello historic plants symposium, naturalist John Burroughs on weeds, our new iris, peonies, and daylilies, and more.

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