Country Home Recommends Our Bulbs for the Holidays!

        In this December’s Country Home, Katherine Whiteside gives us some nice props:
        "I reach for Scott Kunst's Old House Gardens, a fabulous mail-order catalog packed with authentic heirlooms and vintage bloomers. Order bulbs for friends from the same decade as their house was built (daffodil 'Milan', 1932, for example). You'll have your gift-buying all wrapped up before the holidays."
       To search our bulbs by date, color, or whatever, try our easy Advanced Search!

Give the Gift of Spring with Our Lovely Gift Certificates!

        Easy and unique, our gift certificates are sure to fit — and inspire — any gardener on your list. We'll hand-write your personal gift message in our beautiful, bulb-flowered card and include our full-color catalog, perfect for browsing by the fireside.
       Order by NOON on Wednesday, Dec. 19, to guarantee delivery before Christmas.

Bulbs for Spring Planting Are Easy to Give, Too!

        Our Intro to Heirlooms Sampler is easiest of all. For $30 plus shipping we'll choose $35 worth of tough, gorgeous heirloom bulbs for any garden in the country and deliver them in April. Our other spring-planted samplers are all easy and terrific, too!
        Or choose from our unrivaled selection of heirloom dahlias (great for bouquets), fragrant tuberoses, petite glads, Victorian cannas, and more, all for delivery in April.
        We can even send a card announcing your gift now (order by NOON on Wednesday, Dec. 19, to guarantee delivery before Christmas) — and then you're done!

And Don’t Forget Our $10 T-shirt, Books, and Tips for Giving!

        And how about some hard-to-find heirloom bulb books starting at $10?
       Or check out our complete Tips for Gift Giving — or call us! We love playing Santa's helpers. Just be sure to order by NOON on Wednesday, Dec. 19, to guarantee delivery before Christmas.

Gift Yourself: Order Now for NEXT Fall at This Year's Prices

        We're holding the line on fall prices at least through December! That's right, order online NOW for planting NEXT FALL and — despite the plummeting dollar — we won't charge you a nickel over this fall's prices.
        Think of it as our little holiday gift for you. But don't delay. We'll honor our current fall prices ONLY until we post our new prices sometime in the new year.

Link of the Month: Slow Food USA

        If traditional foods are an important part of your holidays, you may be a "slow food" lover! The opposite of fast food, slow food is everything "from the spice of Cajun cooking to the delicious simplicity of produce at a farmers' market; from heirloom varieties of fruits and vegetables to handcrafted cheeses and other artisanal products." Slow Food USA is a "non-profit educational organization dedicated to supporting and celebrating the food traditions of North America." It believes that "pleasure and quality in everyday life can be achieved by slowing down, respecting the convivial traditions of the table, and celebrating the diversity of the earth's bounty." If that sounds good to you, check out their website at http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.html .

Tip of the Month: Storing Glads in Egg Cartons

        Here's a creative and earth-friendly suggestion for storing gladiolus bulbs from Lena Hart of Bayfield, WI, writing in Fine Gardening magazine:
        "I have discovered an excellent storage container [for glads]: an egg carton. I simply fill it with a dozen cleaned bulbs and write the variety name with a permanent marker in the corresponding spot on the cover, the way candies are labeled in a box. The individual cells keep mold and diseases from spreading, and the carton takes up just a little space on a basement shelf." We'd only add that, if you're using styrofoam egg cartons, be sure your bulbs are good and dry before storing them.
       For more advice on winter storage, see our "Spring-Planted Heirloom How-To" at http://www.oldhousegardens.com/howToSpring.asp .

Fragrance Fit for a President: Thomas Jefferson and Tuberoses

        If you still haven't tried our fabulous, spring-planted tuberose bulbs, maybe Thomas Jefferson can sway you. In his 1998 book The Inviting Garden, Allen Lacy writes:
        "Jefferson evidently loved Mexican tuberoses, recording in his garden notebook on April 18, 1806, that he had planted twenty-four double ones from M'Mahon [a famous Philadelphia nurseryman]. They started flowering on August 12, and the following January Jefferson placed a larger order with M'Mahon, who wrote back on February 25 that the shipment would be delayed: 'When the weather becomes more mild I will send you some double Tuberose roots, but as they are extremely impatient of frost, it would be hazardous to send them at present.'"

Did You Miss Our Last Newsletter? Read It Online!

        Early November's articles included how to do a "Victorian edge," a 1912 Tulips book, customer praise for 'Thomas Edison', a springtime tour of the Hortus, and more. You can read all 67 of our back-issues at http://oldhousegardens.com/newsArchive.asp .

Share Our Gazette with a Friend!

       Please help "Save the Bulbs!" by forwarding our newsletter to a kindred spirit, garden, museum, or group. Or if a friend sent you this issue, click here to SUBSCRIBE!

Remember: We will NEVER share your email address with anyone!

To Guarantee That You Get Your Next Newsletter . . .

       Please add newsletter@oldhousegardens.com to your email address book or safe/approved list today.

To Unsubscribe

       We hope you find our Gazette helpful and fun, but if not simply email us at newsletter@oldhousegardens.com with Unsubscribe as the subject and we'll drop you from our list immediately.