Online Now: Our Brand-New Catalog!

       No need to wait any longer. Our new catalog is online and ready for your shopping pleasure. We'll mail our gorgeous print version next week, but (1) bulk mail can be painfully slow, (2) many of our treasures will sell out quickly, and (3) returning customers get a 5% discount if they order early.
       So why wait? Visit http://www.oldhousegardens.com and take a peek!

And Here's What's New!

       So you can quickly see everything that's in our catalog for the first time, we've listed them all at http://www.oldhousegardens.com/newbulbs.asp with links to their full descriptions and photos.
       'Adonis', 'Madame de Graaff', Dahlia atropurpurea, 'Green Woodpecker', and more await you!

Our Bulbs of the Year: Graceful and Perennial

       Every year we honor two bulbs (one fall-planted, one spring-planted) that are exceptionally beautiful, garden-worthy, and much too rarely grown today. This year's honorees are (drum roll, please!):
       a wildflowery tulip that's perennial from Mobile to Denver, TRUE Tulipa clusiana,
       and petite, charming, winter-hardy to zone 6 'Carolina Primrose' gladiolus.

Link of the Month: Vintage Garden Books

       Reading old garden books is one of our favorite ways to learn about plants and gardens of the past. While shopping recently at AbeBooks.com, a terrific internet source for used and rare books, we stumbled upon "In the Garden: Let Your Collection Bloom." This brief essay on collecting old garden books includes links to an assortment of classics ranging from a paperback edition of A Southern Garden for $3 to a hand-colored 1794 copy of Repton's Landscape Gardening for $25,000.

Idiot-Friendly Bulbs: One Beginner's Story

       "Bulbs want to grow." That's what we say around here when our bulbs thrive despite impossible odds, and Yvette Figueroa of Green Bay, Wisconsin, knows exactly what we mean. She writes:
       "I ordered in the fall and planted all of my bulbs right away. This was my first foray into gardening and the day after I planted them I had to go out of town for my grandmother's funeral. During the month-long trip I learned from my mother that I planted them all UPSIDE DOWN! By the time I came back there had been a frost and I tried to dig them up to turn them over. I couldn't find most of them and some I accidentally roughed up with my trowel.
       "Well, guess what??? I have about ten green sprouts showing already! I couldn't be happier. I realize I may not see them all, but I learned three very important lessons:
       1. Your bulbs are very "idiot" friendly.
       2. Plant them with the pointed side up.
       3. Mark where you planted them!"

Family News from the Boss

       Scott writes: This has nothing to do with bulbs or garden history, but I know some of you will be interested anyway. (Thanks, friends!)
       Jane and I were in Cambridge recently, blissfully celebrating our younger son's graduation from Harvard. Though shoulder surgery cut short his football career, Dave made a lot of great friends there and graduated with honors in Economics. Now he's headed to Tampa to work as an investment banking analyst at Raymond James. Though we'll all miss Cambridge, Tampa sounds like fun, too.
       And Jane will have plenty of time for fun now. After 37 years of teaching elementary and middle school, she retired this month! Jane was an amazing teacher, the teacher every kid should have — big-hearted, tough, challenging, and fun. What comes next, we're not sure, but we're both excited about the possibilities.
       And as if that isn't enough happy news, our older son, Scott, is engaged to be married this fall to his true love, Tricia. Life is good!

"Mardi Gras Lilies" Lead Spring's Parade

       "Mardi Gras lilies are nodding in the warm breeze," Bill Finch wrote in the Mobile Press-Register February 2, giving a new name to a very old jonquil.
       "I can't remember a Joe Cain Day when the Campernelle daffodils weren't nodding in the wind — which is why they are our own special Mardi Gras lilies. As is the case throughout the South, the blooming of the Campernelles is a signal that spring has just begun."

Your Garden Memories: Grandma's Hollyhock Dolls

       Cheri Schraidt of Catawba Island, Ohio, writes:
       "When I was a child I loved hollyhocks! Every summer we would visit my grandparents in Illinois. They had solid hollyhocks along the garage and alley. My grandmother would send us out to pick baskets full and sort them by color. Then we would make dolls like she and her grandmother had made. They were beautiful, and we'd line them up on the picnic table. You use a heavy needle and thread. The skirt is a fully opened flower (upside down), the head is a seed pod, and the arms are unopened buds. You can use layers of flowers to make a skirt of many colors and a smaller flower for a hat. I have taught my three girls how to make them now. They are very neat!"

Did You Miss Our Last Newsletter? Read It Online!

       April's articles included Martha Stewart's praise, lilac memories, celebrating Linnaeus's 300th, Matthaei's spring sale, and more. You can read all 61 of our back-issues at http://oldhousegardens.com/newsArchive.asp .

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