September 8, 2024

“Gardening requires lots of water – most of it in the form of perspiration.”
– Lou Erickson, 1913-1990, American editorial cartoonist

 

Back-to-School, Apple Harvest and Fall Bulbs

Back-to-school photos are flooding Facebook, apples are coming to the farmers market, cider mills are opening and making fresh donuts. This can only mean one thing: it’s time to order fall bulbs!

October is fast approaching when long-anticipated daffodils, tulips and other favorites will be hand-selected and carefully nestled in shipping boxes to make their way to gardeners’ doors! If you haven't already ordered, add that to your September to-do list, or better yet, order now while selection is at its greatest. Can’t decide? If you’re new to heirlooms or looking for a great gift for a gardening friend, we recommend our popular samplers. Otherwise, some folks like to use the historic data with every listing to match the period of their house, or our search feature will help you look by color, bloom-time, garden zone, and even fragrance or pest-resistance.

Our new and returning varieties this fall include:

• 9 tulips (introducing petite ‘Duc Red & White’, sunny ‘Pluvia D’Oro’ and flaming ‘Rubens’ and welcoming back lovely ‘Dillenberg’ and rare ‘Madras’)

• 7 daffodils (including immaculate ‘Beersheba’, floriferous ‘Laurens Koster’ and exuberant double ‘Insulinde’

–and don’t miss our always popular and marvelously fragrant freesia, lilies and hyacinths! Finally, take a look at the two fall-blooming crocus we’re offering for the first time this year, violet-blue C. speciosus ‘Conqueror’ and the Saffron crocus. We’re looking forward to hearing what you think of them!

“Magnificent, Almost Immortal” Peonies

If “a display of great big gorgeous flowers is what you are after,” writes Eleanor Perenyi in her timeless classic Green Thoughts (1981), “herbaceous peonies are my choice.”

Why? Unlike tree peonies, “herbaceous peonies stand straight and tall, don’t hide their heads, and are magnificent for cutting. They aren’t temperamental, deciding, for inscrutable reasons, to withhold their bloom for a year. They are almost immortal, even when hopelessly neglected in the backyards of old farms.” And although “all peonies suffer when a heavy rain hits them,” all they need is “a good shake to revive.”

As for fragrance, “peony scents vary greatly,” Perenyi notes, “from one so like a rose I couldn’t, in the dark, tell the difference, to an acrid sweetness not unlike the lilac’s. The doubles smell better than the singles and the herbaceous better than the tree peonies – to me.”

We’re offering a glorious selection of peonies this fall, including for the first time rare ‘Coral Sunset’ as well as returning rose-scented favorites ‘Auten’s Pride’ and ‘Philippe Rivoire’, four (!) varieties from the 1800s: ‘Edulis Superba’ (1824). ‘Duchesse de Nemours’ (1856), ‘Philomele’ (1861) and ‘Monsieur Jules Elie’ (1888), and lots more.

Dahlia Days…And How to Make Your Bouquets Last Longer

Despite hot and humid weather this month - as well as some nights that have been downright chilly - our dahlias have hit their stride and are filling our gardens (and vases) with their glorious variety of colors and forms. Late summer can be a busy time, but remember to keep your dahlias watered in dry weather and to keep yourself hydrated as well, perhaps sipping a glass of cool lemonade in the shade while arranging your cut flowers to take indoors.

Here at Old House Gardens we typically have such an abundance of blooms (and enjoy going out every few days to cut them) that we don’t condition our dahlias but just put them in a vase with fresh water. If you’d like to make yours last longer, try Linda Beutler’s tips from her book Garden to Vase: Growing and Using Your Own Cut Flowers:

“At harvest time, prepare a vat of hot water (160°F is optimal) with floral preservative dissolved in it. Cut the dahlias to the length you want, wrap the flowers loosely in newspaper to protect them from hot water vapor, and dip the cut ends into the water (to 3 inches deep) for twenty seconds. This can be done in bunches of five to ten stems at a time. Remove the stems from the hot water and immediately plunge into a bucket of cool deep water, removing the paper around the flowers. Leave the dahlias in cool water until you are ready to use them. They should last five to seven days if properly conditioned first.”

Calling All Early-Birds! The First of Our Spring-Planted Bulbs for 2025 are Now Posted for Your Viewing Pleasure!

If it’s hard to believe September is here already, it seems even less likely that winter will be here anytime soon, much less next spring…but if you missed out on a favorite dahlia or iris in the past, now’s the time to get in at the front of the queue! Reserve your must-haves today knowing you can add to your order until shipping begins next April. Returning daylily favorites include small, cheerful ‘Corky’, dancing ‘Mikado’ and dark, stately ‘Black Friar’; irises not-to-be-missed include classic ‘Eleanor Roosevelt’ and glorious ‘Blue Rhythm’, and don’t forget to check out our dahlias, gladiolus, and diverse treasures as well!

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