Shipping Begins Next Week!

        Bulbs from our American growers are in the barn and they look fabulous. Our Dutch-grown bulbs arrive Friday, and by Oct. 1 we ought to be shipping at full steam. We can't wait!

Don't Bury Your Money in the Backyard, Plant Bulbs!

        In troubled times like these, flower bulbs are one of the smartest investments you can make. And what other luxury costs so little?
        For a few dollars you get months of anticipation, weeks of beauty, fragrance, and pride when they bloom, and -- as long as you meet their simple needs -- they multiply happily year after year.
        We're keeping our fingers crossed that the Fed knows what it's doing, but we're also hoping that you're gardeners like us -- and that nothing's going to stop you from planting some very special bulbs this fall.

Tulipa clusiana Returns Happily for Mississippi Gardener

        Our good friend Felder Rushing shared this email with us from one of his Mississippi Public Radio show listeners, Karen Lee:
        "A few years ago you had a fella on the show from Old House Gardens with news about his having procured some clusiana tulip bulbs from an old farm in the Netherlands. Well, I contacted that guy and bought some. This is their second spring here in my [zone 7b-8a] Alcorn County garden. I think they love it. My neighbor and I say they look like a raspberry parfait."

'Kaiser Wilhelm': Now Even Older

        German researchers have determined that 'Kaiser Wilhelm', one of the world's oldest surviving dahlias and our 2007 Spring-Planted Heirloom Bulb of the Year, was introduced by Christian Deegen, the father of German dahlias, in 1881, twelve years earlier than was previously believed. Sehr gut!

OHG in 10 Words or Less: Cottage Living Defines Us Well

Blog of the Month: The Undaunted Heirloom Gardener

        Despite deer, shade, clay soil, and five kids, the Heirloom Gardener of Chatham, NJ, grows beautiful roses, tulips, dahlias, and more -- and finds time to blog about it!
        Don't miss her "What I've Learned about Growing Tulips in New Jersey: Protecting from Squirrels and Deer, Planting in Clay Soil, and Creating Colorful Combinations." Heirloom tulips, she writes, are "much more tolerant of my less-than-ideal clay soil," and she includes multiple photos of her lovely tulip combos (and more here) with names of the varieties in case you get inspired to try something similar.
        In January she blogged about our heirloom dahlias ("my favorite cut flower and . . . super easy to grow"), in February she praised our wax-dipped winter aconites, and just last month she wrote, "My two favorite new lilies this year were . . . both from Old House Gardens." Our double tiger lily she says is "far more attractive" than our catalog photo (we agree!), and the fragrance of 'Excelsior' is "phenomenal . . . unlike any other."
        Of course she writes about plenty of other things besides our bulbs (gardening with kids, for example), but we'll let you discover those pleasures yourself. Enjoy!

What Do Abyssinian Glads Smell Like?

        When our Abyssinian glads started blooming here in August, the debate to describe their subtle fragrance began.
        "Perfumey," Alexa said, "Like lilac, with a touch of . . . ?"
        "Honeysuckle," Renee suggested, "lilac and honeysuckle . . . and maybe forsythia?"
        "Forsythia? What does forsythia smell like?" everyone asked.
        "I love this scent," Jessica said, "but I can't describe it."
        "I can't even smell it," Scott lamented.
        So help us out. What do Abyssinian glads smell like to you?

This Month in the OHG Archives: Lilies

        The two best lilies for clay, 75 regal lily blossoms on one stem, a classic 'Red Velvet' cake, who was Mrs. Backhouse, and more -- you'll find them all in the Lilies Archive of our new, easy-to-use Newsletters by Topic. Why not grab a cup of coffee and sample it right now?

How to Make Your Dahlia Bouquets Last Even Longer

        Fall is the glory season for dahlias, and hopefully you're harvesting fistfuls of their beautiful blossoms every few days, as we are. For us they usually last five days or so with no special treatment, but for even longer vase-life see a pro's advice at our new Bulbs as Cut Flowers page.

That Was Then: Picking Daffodils for a Nickel

        In a fascinating article titled "Daffodils, Pears, Melons, and More" in the spring 2007 issue of The Illinois Steward, Judith Joy writes:
        98-year-old Mary Winks Weeks "still remembers the old days when the fields around Alma [Illinois] were covered with golden daffodils. When the flowers were in bloom, school was delayed so that the children could harvest the daffodils at the peak of freshness. The children were paid according to their size. 'I was small for my age, so I got put in the nickel bunch,' Mrs. Weeks recalled. Asked if she got a nickel for each bunch of flowers, she answered that the nickel was for the morning's work.
        "After the children went off to school, the women in the packing shed sorted the daffodils and packed them – 13 to a bunch – in cardboard cartons for shipment to the Water Street Market in Chicago. By planting a number of different varieties, growers extended the season from the first King Alfreds to the later blooming Narcissus type [probably N. poeticus recurvus]. The early bloomers were called Easter Flowers, the name still used by many local people, and the later ones were known as Mother's Day Flowers."
        Mrs. Weeks' grandfather was the first daffodil farmer in the area, starting with the classic 'Emperor' sometime around World War I. "At one time, 65 to 75 acres in Alma were devoted to daffodils, and . . . in addition to the 40 to 50 children who picked daffodils each morning, 100 women sorted and packed the flowers for shipment. . . .
        "One of Alma's last daffodil growers was Mrs. Weeks' brother, Eugene Winks. When interviewed in 1979 he said the business declined because 'high school kids today are too lazy to pick, . . . the Railway Express Company went out of business, and . . . there are no more street peddlers.' For many years, Winks operated a small roadside market in Alma, and when he died in 1995, it was the end of an era."

Did You Miss Our Last Newsletter? Read It Online!

        Early September's articles included our lilies in the New York Times, Hortus notecards debut, a first-time tulip grower falls in love with 'Schoonoord', tips from The Unknown Gertrude Jekyll, customer raves for Byzantine glads, web-only rarities, and more. You can read all of our back-issues -- by date or by topic -- at oldhousegardens.com/NewsletterArchives.asp .

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