Emailed August 30, 2007. To subscribe, click here.
To reprint any of this material, simply credit www.oldhousegardens.com. © 2007

Friends of Old Bulbs Gazette

Old House Gardens, 536 Third St., Ann Arbor, MI 48103, (734) 995-1486

       "The love of dirt is among the earliest of passions, as it is the latest. Mud-pies gratify one of our first and best instincts."
        — Charles Dudley Warner (1829-1900), from My Summer in the Garden

        Even though 'Madame de Graaff' was our most expensive daffodil this year, it sold out faster than any other – and we won't have more till 2010. Sorry! Also sold-out are daffodils 'Empress', Lent lily, and 'Niveth'; tulips 'Adonis', 'Amiral de Constantinople', 'General Ney', and 'Paeony Gold'; lilies 'Black Dragon' and 'Copper King'; hyacinth 'Dreadnought'; and many but NOT ALL of our web-only rarities. Our best advice? Order today!

Save the Pollinators!

        Have you seen the beautiful new pollinator stamps? With intertwining images of four native flowers being pollinated by a bee, butterfly, hummingbird, and bat, they were released in June to celebrate the first annual Pollinator Week. You can see and order the stamps at http://shop.usps.com/ and learn more about pollinator-friendly gardening at www.pollinator.org and www.nappc.org.
         Horticulture magazine encourages gardeners to support pollinators by "planting native plants and heirloom varieties" – and we completely agree! A few pollinator favorites in our gardens are 'Cloth of Gold' crocus and camassia for bees, and Canna indica and 'Atom' gladiolus for hummingbirds. Please tell us about yours!

Campernelles and Heaven

        Known since colonial days as "the large jonquil," Campernelle narcissus are memorably fragrant — as our good customer Jan Ayers of Plano, Texas, makes clear:
         "When I saw the Campernelles you offer, I knew I had rediscovered my first childhood love! We had a whole row of those in our yard. I believe that if I can smell them as I die, I'll go straight to heaven."

'Mary Housley' — Not!

        We're sorry to report that the 'Mary Housley' glads we shipped this past spring bloomed this summer as some other unknown variety. Though they may be beautiful, we always guarantee 100% authenticity, so please claim your refund, credit, or replacement bulbs on your next order or by emailing or calling us at any time. And please accept our apologies! Unannounced substitutions are a sad fact of life in the Dutch bulb trade, and despite our best efforts we occasionally get burned like this.

Special Invitation: Ann's Heirloom Dahlia Party

        If you live within driving distance of Ann Arbor, mark your calendar for a special treat next Thursday evening! That's when the most accomplished gardener on our staff, Ann Lyzenga, is inviting everyone to tour her beautiful home garden where she has artfully woven 125 dahlias, mostly heirlooms, into lush perennial and shrub borders. Admission is $5 with every penny going to the Children's Garden at U of M's Matthaei Botanical Gardens. Ann lives at 1515 Ottawa Road, 48105 (Mapquest.com will be happy to help you with directions), and the garden gates will be open from 5:30 to 8:00 PM, Thursday, September 6. We'd love to see you there!

Clara Butt: Grow the Tulip, Listen to the CD

        Clara Butt is not just one of the most famous tulips of all time, she was also a legendary contralto and Dame of the British Empire who, according to one reviewer, "was loved by her countrymen like no other singer before or since." Thanks to a tip from our good customer Ronald Jackson of Bellbrook, Ohio, we found a half-dozen CDs of Clara for sale at Amazon, eBay, and cduniverse.com, often with audio clips that you can listen to online. They range in price from $5 to over $100 -– and might make a nice gift for a gardener you know!

Book of the Month: The Way We Garden Now

        In this lively, practical, and encouraging new book, Katherine Whiteside offers 41 easy "pick-and-choose projects for planting your paradise," including three devoted to bulbs. Illustrated with charming watercolors, each project includes simple, numbered steps and no-nonsense advice that's delivered with a spoonful of humor. We especially liked what Katherine says about storing dahlias: "Misguided gardeners steer clear of dahlias because they fear the need to dig and store the tubers in winter. Guess what? No one cares if you let them freeze to death. Then you'll have room to try different ones each year." Katherine also lists us as one of her top three bulb sources, praising our "great catalog, wonderful choices, and fascinating information."

Sticker Shock in "Tulip City"

        We've worked hard to hold the line on prices, but with the euro at record levels, Dutch-grown bulbs are costing more throughout the US this fall. In Holland, Michigan, that's an especially big problem.
        Founded by Dutch immigrants, Holland celebrates its heritage every spring with a week-long Tulip Time Festival that features six million tulips in bloom. Every fall, to keep things looking their best, the city plants about 400,000 new bulbs. Last year the bulbs cost the city $55,000, but this year the lowest bid was more than 20% higher, a whopping $66,393. City council finally approved the purchase, but not before taking a couple of weeks to recover from sticker-shock.

Did You Miss Our Last Newsletter? Read It Online!

        Early August's articles included "The Time-Capsule Garden," gardening for tradition, America's leading non-profit for historic landscapes, Scott lecturing in this fall's Horticulture symposia, and more. You can read all 64 of our back-issues at http://oldhousegardens.com/newsArchive.asp .

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