N. Bulbocodium Conspicuous Golden Bells BUY NOW FOR FALL PLANTING All you have to do is whisper the word, narcissus, and visions of meadows of sunshine yellow flowers come to mind. In today’s world, with critters like deer, chipmunks, rabbits, squirrels, moles and voles feasting on many of our spring blooming bulbs, the narcissus has become the most popular…
The North American Natives
There are very few North American Native spring flowering bulbs. I know of only 5: Erythronium tuolumnense, Camassia cusicki, Camassia quamash, Allium cernuum and Allium amplectens. These five bulbs are rarely found in the gardens of Americans even though they represent our bulb heritage. Erythronium tuolumnense BUY NOW FOR FALL PLANTING Erythronium tuolumnense, AKA The Dogtooth Violet, is native…
Critter Resistant Spring Bulbs – Species Tulips, Part II
SPECIES TULIP – SYLVERSTRIS IN BUD For those of you who have deer, squirrels, bunnies, chipmunks and other critters that like to decimate the spring garden before it even sprouts, there are actually many bulbs that are critter resistant, in fact, there are tulips that are critter resistant. These tulips are known as Species Tulips. These are the original…
Five Stunning Alliums
Rarely Seen – Allium Karativiense For those of you who know me personally, you know that I have several gardening books that I treasure. The authors are researchers whose horticultural knowledge and experience can be trusted, and their books are a glorious visual celebration of the topics detailed within. When the topic of bulbs arises, my all-time favorite book is…
Shallots, For Best Results Plant These Little Buggers in the Fall
Basket of Shallots Many of our winter hardy vegetables – onion and elephant garlic sets, parsnips, salsify, etc. –  can be planted in both the spring or the fall, but to be really successful with shallots, you should try to plant them in the fall. Shallots are sold as sets, but unlike onion sets where each ‘set’ is a…
Critter Resistant Spring Bulbs – Species Tulips, Part I
Species Tulips Before we start into this newsletter, I must issue the following disclaimer: I am about to describe for you 4 species tulips that I will tell you deer don’t eat, BUT all of you need to know that when deer are stressed enough, they will eat anything and everything. This includes thorny holly leaves, cactus and the lovely…
Plant America with a Garden of Heirlooms
A Garden of Heirlooms for Your Organization’s Volunteer Projects For more than a decade now, members of the Harvesting History management team have traveled this country visiting libraries, museums, arboretums, parks, ‘pop-up’ urban gardens and participating in hundreds of flower shows, harvest festivals, plant sales, state fairs, county fairs and community festivals. We have marveled at the thousands of magnificent…