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“The lesson I have thoroughly learnt, and wish to pass on to others, is to know the enduring happiness that the love of a garden gives.”
– Gertrude Jekyll, 1843-1932, arguably the 20th century’s most influential garden designer and author
Even if it’s warm and lovely where you live, we’re still shivering in our boots here in Michigan, and our nighttime lows won’t stay safely above freezing until early April — which is why we don’t start shipping until then.
So please hang tight. Our bulbs are worth the wait!
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Five great dahlias are back for sale at our website, thanks to better than expected counts from our Oregon grower: ‘Deuil du Roi Albert’ (grown at Queen Elizabeth’s Sandringham Hall), dreamy ‘Lavender Chiffon’, Kentucky favorite ‘Mrs. I.D. ver Warner’, extra easy ‘Wisconsin Red’, and variegated, ruby-and-pearl ‘York and Lancaster’.
Almost 20 other treasures are already sold out, though, and six others are almost gone: our Louisiana-grown antique montbretia, milk-and-wine lily, and ‘Ellen Bosanquet’ crinum; and three classic iris – ‘Florentina’ (in gardens since the 1500s), claret-and-violet ‘Monsignor’, and elegant little ‘Mrs. George Darwin’.
So what are you waiting for?
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This is a gorgeous book, filled to overflowing with spectacular, full-page images of dahlias that are sure to get a gardener’s heart pounding. Although the text by noted UK garden writer Naomi Slade is perfectly fine, it’s the photography by Georgianna Lane that’s the star here.
I have to admit I’m a little uncomfortable with that. I read garden books to learn things, mostly, but this book is more about getting you excited about dahlias by showing you how incredibly beautiful they can be. And I’d say it works!
That’s ‘Café au Lait’ on the cover, and inside there’s an even more beautiful, two-page spread of a dozen blossoms in all their subtle, rippling, cream-to-pink glory. How anyone could look at that image and not want to grow ‘Café au Lait’ is beyond me.
Sixty-four other dahlias are featured – including heirlooms ‘Clair de Lune’, ‘David Howard’, ‘Fascination’, ‘Gerrie Hoek’, ‘Kelvin Floodlight’, ‘Thomas A. Edison’, and more – each with a breezy, one-page description and a luscious, full-page photo or more. There isn’t a lot of other information, just six pages of dahlia history and botany, six pages about the various forms, a dozen pages on how to grow them – from a UK perspective—and that’s it. But did I mention how beautiful the photos are?
“Dahlias are easy and enjoyable to grow,” Slade writes, and “there are few plants that flower so consistently and splendiferously.” If you already grow them, this book – which is a great value at just $15.50 online – will be a treat. And if you haven’t tried them yet, it may be just what you need to get started.
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Located in the Hamptons at the far end of Long Island, Madoo was the home of artist Robert Dash until his death in 2013. Today, under the care of the Madoo Conservancy, it’s “a magical oasis” with historic buildings – including a 1740s barn that Dash repurposed as his studio – set amid “an enchanting 2-acre landscape” that reflects Dash’s creative spirit and painterly eye.
Dash, we’re proud to say, was a customer of ours, and many of our heirloom bulbs still bloom in his gardens today, including three classic tulips that Madoo’s executive director Alejandro Saralegui mentioned recently in the Conservancy newsletter:
“Soon enough, the tulips that were planted throughout the garden will pop up. . . . “‘Princess Irene’ [pictured here at Madoo] – with its orange bloom, smoky purple flames, and saffron-like scent – is in the large planters. ‘Kingsblood’ and ‘Bleu Aimable’ are in the quincunx beds.”
For a peek at the gardens at Madoo, see “A Trip to the Madoo Conservancy” or visit madoo.org.
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The right companion can make any plant in your garden look better. For bearded iris, here are some tips from two of America’s greatest garden writers.
For June borders that are “a joy indeed,” Louise Beebe Wilder in her 1927 book My Garden recommends intermingling iris (as in this painting from another of her books) with “tall blue and white lupines, lemon lilies [Hemerocallis flava], foxgloves, and peach-leaved campanulas, with a background of Persian lilacs and such free-growing roses as ‘Stanwell’s Perpetual’, ‘Madame Plantier’, and the yellow briers – ‘Harisoni’ and the Persian – and edged with double white pinks and Nepeta mussini [catmint].”
John Wister in his 1930 The Iris recommends some of the same plants and adds to the list: “Good garden combinations can be made with a background of Spirea ‘Van Houttei’, Philadelphus coronarius [mock orange], and kerria with lavender iris and salmon pink Oriental poppies. Pink iris [such as our ‘Queen of May’ and ‘Caprice’] go equally well with this. Gypsophila [baby’s-breath] statice, clove pinks, Nepeta mussini [catmint], Anchusa [Italian bugloss], and lupines are but a few of the many plants that gardeners have used successfully with various irises.”
With their smaller flowers and rugged constitutions, heirloom iris often combine more harmoniously in gardens than modern cultivars do. We’re shipping a dozen of the best for planting in April, and now is the time to order!
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“These big yellow daffodils have multiplied and bloomed prolifically for us here,” wrote our good customer Carlos Doolittle, landscape manager at Southeastern Louisiana University, “and I’m hoping you can help me learn their true identity.”
The photos Carlos attached – including the one here – showed a Division 2/large-cup daffodil with petals a shade lighter than the cup, and he told me they usually started blooming in early February.
Since very few “big yellow daffodils” do well in climates that are as hot and wet as it is at SLU – which is 45 miles northwest of New Orleans, right on the border of zone 8b and 9a – I was intrigued.
“About a decade ago,” Carlos wrote, “an elderly lady, Mrs. Vertalie Blaylock, of Loranger, Louisiana, shared daffodils with my grandmother. They multiplied rapidly, and I transplanted some to my home and eventually to campus. Everywhere I have planted them, they have multiplied rapidly.”
Since there are literally thousands of varieties of big yellow daffodils, at first I worried that identifying this one would be a hopeless task. But after Carlos sent me measurements of its petals, cup, and foliage, and then described its scent as honey-like, I began to feel more optimistic.
I asked him to send his photos and information to a couple of friends who know a lot more about Southern daffodils than I do – Sara Van Beck of Georgia (and formerly Florida) and Greg Grant of Texas – and I’m happy to say we all came to the same conclusion: Mrs. Blaylock’s daffodil is probably ‘Carlton’.
“That’s what it looks like to me,” Greg said, adding that ‘Carlton’ is “the most dependable yellow daffodil here” in north-east Texas.
Sara agreed, and in her book Daffodils in Florida, she says ‘Carlton’ “should be the backbone of any daffodil bed” in the Deep South, partly because it’s “the most resistant (of the large yellows) to basal rot” which can wreak havoc on daffodils in hot, wet soils.
Carlos was happy to finally have a name for Mrs. Blaylock’s daffodil, especially since he’s planning “to eventually have masses of daffodils as a signature of our campus landscapes.” Daffodils, he says, are the perfect choice because “not only do their bright yellow blooms bring cheer during the dreary days of winter, but our campus colors here at Southeastern are green and gold.”
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February’s articles included eight pages of glads in upscale UK garden magazine, what your Valentine’s Day flowers say about you, a new Ryan Gainey film in Atlanta, and more.
You can read all of our back-issues at oldhousegardens.com/NewsletterArchives – and we’re adding the best articles to our blog!
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