-- Thomas Tusser, A Hundred Good Points of Husbandry, 1557

Scott Plants Bulbs with Martha Stewart: Watch it Online Now

        Last week I was thrilled to plant dahlias, tuberoses, and 'Atom' gladiolus on national TV with Martha Stewart. Thanks to Martha (who really is amazing), her incredibly nice and talented staff, and all of you who watched, told your friends about the show, and emailed me with encouragement and praise. I was touched! Thanks also to all of you who ordered in response to the email alert we sent before the show. A small token of appreciation will be included when we ship your order. Thanks to the many, MANY people who have ordered since then. And welcome friends of Martha!
        If you missed the show, you can watch it online here. You can also enjoy the bulbs Martha and I planted in your own garden – and save 10% -- with our special, spring-planted Martha Stewart Sampler. As Martha herself might say, it's a good thing!

Spring Shipping Has Started -- A Week Early!

        Spring here in Ann Arbor has been so early and hot that it's broken all sorts of records -- and we know it's been distressingly hot in many other parts of the country, too. We've been scrambling to get our bulbs delivered here from the many small farmers we work with so we could start shipping early -- and we have! Orders with iris and to the warmest parts of the country will ship first, and by the end of April we'll have everything delivered everywhere. As always, thanks for your patience!

NYBG's "Monet's Garden" to Feature Our Dahlias . . .

        A blockbuster exhibition this summer at the New York Botanical Garden will showcase Monet's garden at Giverny -- and our heirloom dahlias! The multi-faceted event runs from May 19 through October 21 and will include paintings, photographs, films, concerts, lectures, poetry readings, a special app, and spectacular plantings.
        "We are recreating Monet's garden at Giverny," the NYBG's Marc Hachadourian emailed us, "and the exhibition director thought that it would be great to have a large heirloom dahlia element as a part of the show's continual display this summer. Naturally I am turning to you to see if you could help supply us with the dahlias from your extensive and wonderful list of plant material." We were thrilled to help, and five tubers each of 25 of our oldest dahlias will soon be on their way to the NYBG.
        Monet loved dahlias almost as much as he loved waterlilies, and several of our heirlooms are old enough that he actually could have grown them at Giverny, including 'Nellie Broomhead' and 'Stolz von Berlin'. Learn more about Monet and dahlias here and more about the NYBG exhibition here.

. . . And So Will Belgium's Bokrijk Museum!

        "We are open air museum in Belgium and we like to plant this year some historical cultivars of dahlia." So began the email from Jef Van Meulder, Curator of Living Plants at the Bokrijk Open-Air Museum in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking northern part of Belgium. Much like Old Sturbridge Village or Greenfield Village, Bokrijk features over 100 restored buildings with authentic furnishings and costumed interpreters -- and, this summer, nine of our authentic historic dahlias ranging from 'Tommy Keith' of 1892 to 'Tsuki Yori no Shisha' of 1957.

Last Chance to Order Iris?

        Due to record-breaking warm weather here, the iris in our micro-farms are already as big as they usually are in late April -- and before long they'll be too big to re-establish themselves happily in your garden. That means if you've been thinking about ordering some of our glorious iris -- including our Immortal Iris sampler or bumper-crop 'Madame Chereau' at a savings of 20% -- do it NOW or you may have to wait till next year.

The High Line: Heirloom Bulbs Flourish in New York's Coolest Park

        The Martha Stewart Show wasn't the only exciting thing I did in New York last week. I also visited the High Line, a cool new park built on an abandoned railway high over the streets of Manhattan. The railway was originally used to deliver meat, produce, and raw materials to warehouses and factories along the west side of lower Manhattan. Abandoned in the 1980s, it was slated for demolition until neighborhood activists, inspired by the way nature was reclaiming the railbed, convinced the city to recycle it into an aerial greenway. Since opening in 2009, the park has become wildly popular and sparked billions of dollars worth of re-development in the area.
        As you might imagine, an elevated railbed in Manhattan isn't the easiest place for plants to grow, but the High Line is richly planted with tough perennials, grasses, woody plants, and bulbs, many of which are natives or heirlooms. All are mulched with coarse, crushed bluestone that recalls the site's original surfacing, and some are doing better in these challenging conditions than others. Grape hyacinths had naturalized themselves there long before work on the park began, and the day I visited I was happy to see the tiny, dark blue Turkish glory-of-the-snow spreading happily. See all of the High Line's bulbs here -- including the ten tough heirlooms we offer for delivery this fall, still at LAST fall's prices.

How Can 'Mrs. Langtry' Be Older than Mrs. Langtry?

        The lovely 'Mrs. Langtry' -- aka 'Lily Langtry' -- is one of the most popular Victorian daffodils, but its name is a bit of a puzzle, as our good customer Sarah Weinberg of Falls Church, Virginia, notes:
        "Your daffodil 'Mrs. Langtry' is either not actually from 1869, or was named after a different Mrs. Langtry than Lily [the enormously popular singer and actress], or else was renamed somewhat after it was bred. Lily Langtry was born in 1853, making her 16 at the time the daffodil was introduced, and she didn't meet future King Edward until 1877."
        Although we wish we knew more, here's what we can tell you: There's a group of important nineteenth-century daffodils (including 'Conspicuus', 'Empress', and 'Stella') whose official date of introduction is 1869, so probably some 1869 book or catalog mentioned them, or maybe the breeder or a later book or reference said that they were developed then.
        'Mrs. Langtry' is listed in an 1884 publication by the legendary daffodil breeder Peter Barr with the pseudo-historic title of Ye Narcissus or Daffodyl Flowre and hys Roots. In the text, Barr explains that the RHS Daffodil Conference of 1884 adopted a resolution directing the standardization of daffodil names and "a committee was appointed to revise the names of new daffodils, which resulted in the substitution of popular names for the Latin ones Mr. Barr had in use." So it seems that 'Mrs. Langtry' was bred in 1869 but at first had a different, Latinized name that was then changed by this RHS committee in 1884 to 'Mrs. Langtry'. If you know more, please let us know. We're always eager to learn!

International Plan for Biodiversity Recognizes the Importance of Heirloom Bulbs

        Well, not specifically, but the importance of preserving cultivated plants has been officially recognized at the international level for the first time. The United Nation's Strategic Plan for Biodiversity is "a ten-year framework for action by all countries and stakeholders to safeguard biodiversity and the benefits it provides to people." The plan includes five goals and twenty "targets," one of which reads, "By 2020, the genetic diversity of cultivated plants . . . including . . . culturally valuable species, is maintained, and strategies have been developed and implemented for minimizing genetic erosion and safeguarding their genetic diversity." As with world peace, we can't expect to see 100% success anytime soon, but the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity is an important step forward in any case -- and not just for heirloom bulbs. Learn more here.

Follow Us at Facebook

        Another 166 friends have "liked" our Facebook page, bringing our friendly group of fellow gardeners there to 1588. 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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