February 22, 2017

All I Want is Everything: Garden Catalogs

After a week or 10 days of rain, washing away most of the snow we had, it snowed again yesterday.
I have to admit it was beautiful: some of the biggest flakes I've ever seen.
They looked like white feathers dropping from the sky.

[Why is it so hard to take a good picture of falling snow?]

Unlike a month ago, I have hope that the inch covering everything up again will melt soon.
Plus--I have bulbs peeking up!
Just the green tips, and only about 1/2" tall, but they're coming!!


So, just for kicks I ordered the White Flower Farm Spring 2017 Garden Book.
I mean, it was free.
But oh, the eye candy!
Gorgeous full-color photographs of all kinds of flowers.
All for sale!
All or most that will work in my growing zone!
White Flower Farm is in Connecticut, so it has quite a wide selection for us northern gardeners.

Okay, okay, I don't really want everything.
Just...most things.
I could do without the highly poisonous plants--Lily of the Valley, I'm looking at you!
(Little children playing in the yard, you know.)

[Aww--look. They're lonely. They need some Echinacea friends.]

But the entire page of Echinacea varieties? Yes, I'll take a dozen of each, if you please.
Let's see, ditto that for the hydrangeas, the irises, the coreopsis, the daylilies...do you see my problem here?

If only I had all the money, and time, and space.
Maybe I should just live at White Flower Farm.
Do you think they would take me in as a boarder?

One other bonus with this catalog:
Information!
Each plant entry includes the scientific name plus pronunciation (YES!), along with the common name. A short paragraph describes the species in general before they list out the more specific varieties for sale.

They sell live plants rather than seeds, and their prices reflect that.
I have actually not ever purchased from them. Yet.
Mostly because it makes more sense and costs less to buy from my local nursery, rather than have the good flower farmers of Connecticut ship me things.
Oh so tempting, though.
Perhaps just 1 or 2 or 10 varieties...


Then just today the David Austen "Handbook of Roses 2017" showed up in my mailbox.
Oh my.

Stately 'Abraham Darby' in my back flowerbed.

Incidentally, I have ordered from this catalog before (my local nursery doesn't carry David Austen roses) and I was very pleased with the quality of plants I received, and the helpful instructions.
As far as I can tell, the ones I put in last year have all survived the winter.

I have never wanted a dedicated rose garden, but I like at least one rose bush in every flowerbed I design.
More, if more will fit.
I don't really have any more room for shrubs, unless I tear out some grass somewhere, but couldn't I just tear out a little grass somewhere? Surely it would be worth it for some of these beauties.

'William Shakespeare' rose in bloom last summer.

Roses. Roses to climb trellises, roses for hedges, roses for cutting.
Well, I do have that great big vegetable garden out back...
(Ha! Now you see how flowers slowly take over the space for veggies over time!)

* * * * *
If all that weren't enough, Erin Benzakein, owner of Floret Flowers and a leader of the farmer-florist movement wrote a book, which is now available for pre-order. So I did.
She lives over on the West side of Washington state--in other words, the "easier to grow things on" side. I sort of feel like we're friends, but really, I just read her blog regularly and sigh over the all beauty going on over there.
So, a bonus if you pre-order the book:
you receive a pdf document containing several different Garden Planning worksheets.
It is all laid out for you: flower farming for beginners!
Bed width and depth, number of plants needed, spacing requirements, etc.
I am raring to go!
Wait a minute, summer baby. [Yay!]
Okay, NEXT summer!
As an aspiring farmer-florist, I am very impressed with the multiple streams of revenue she has going, in addition to the flowers themselves: seeds, tools, this book, calenders & postcards, workshops, etc.
I feel like I should be taking notes every time I go to the website.

* * * * *
I'm also getting emails from John Scheepers bulb and seed company.
I'll take a little of everything, if you please.
[Related: MUST carve out another flowerbed! Grass is truly overrated....]
I enjoy being on their email list, because they not only send notice of sales and such, they include great information about seed starting, bulb best practices, plant care, and recipes.

* * * * *
Do you have any favorite catalogs or vendors for flowers?
My veggie garden is small enough (and my house) that I decided a while back that it wasn't worth trying to start seeds for vegetables.

p.s. I am not getting paid to gush about these sites, but in case anyone from one of these websites is listening, I will gladly take a kickback in flowers or seeds!
[Don't worry. I will make room for them!]

No comments:

Post a Comment