Tag Archives: plants

Nurseries Specializing in Bulbs for Spring Flowers

Posted on September 21, 2022 | 1 comment

bulbsFall is the time to plant bulbs for spring flowers. Here is a list of companies that sell bulbs — some specialize in the fall-planted, spring-blooming bulbs like daffodils, while others focus on the summer plants like dahlias and caladiums.  If you have recommendations of other companies, enter them in the comments section so I can add to this list.

Amaryllis and Caladium Bulb Company, Florida, has catalog and can order online. Sells amaryllis, caladiums, and spring and summer bulbs.

Brecks, Ohio, has a catalog and can order online, states that it ships bulbs directly from Holland

Bluestone Perennials, sells bulbs as well as perennials.

Brent and Becky’s Bulbs, Virginia, has a catalog, can order online, can visit display garden and shop in Gloucester, VA.

Colorblends, Connecticut. Although “wholesale” is in their title and on their website, they do sell bulbs to home gardeners. They have an annual print catalog and an online site for ordering. Specializes in spring blooming bulbs.

Dan’s Dahlias, Washington company that specializes in dahlias.

David Burdick Daffodils and More, Massachusetts, has catalog and website but not able to order online. Has daffodils, trollius, colchicums, and a few other bulbs

Dutch Gardens, Illinois, has catalog and can order online, sells bulbs and perennials

Dutch Grown, Pennsylvania, order bulbs online.

Easy to Grow Bulbs, California, can order online, no catalog. Sells bulbs, succulents, and houseplants.

John Scheepers Beauty from Bulbs, Connecticut, can order online and has catalog. Also has sister company Van Engelen for wholesale bulb orders and a sister company, Kitchen Garden Seeds, for vegetable, herb, flower seeds

Longfield Gardens, New Jersey, can order online but no catalog, sells bulbs and perennials

McClure and Zimmerman, Wisconsin, has a digital catalog and can order online, sells bulbs

Odyssey Bulbs, Massachusetts, online, no catalog, sells unusual bulbs and perennials

Old House Gardens, Michigan, can order online and has a print catalog, known for heirloom bulbs

Plant Addicts is a family owned, online plant store in Nebraska that sells bulbs as well as other types of plants and garden décor. Their website also offers gardening information and resources.

RoozenGaarde and Washington Bulb Company, Washington, has a mailorder and internet division called Tulips.com. There is a retail gift shop in WA. Also ships flowers and promotes bulbs as wedding favors.

Telos Rare Bulbs, California, sells bulbs from South Africa, South America, and western U.S., online, no catalog

White Flower Farm, Connecticut, can order online and obtain catalog, wide range of bulbs, perennials, holiday plants, and gardening tools. Has display gardens and store in CT.

1 Comment

Posted in bulbs

Tagged , , , ,

Nurseries that Specialize in Bulbs, Rhizomes, Corms, Tubers, Etc.

Posted on February 4, 2022 | 2 comments

bulbsA few weeks ago, I shared my list of companies that specialize in seed and asked you to send me companies I did not have so I could expand my list. I received many new companies (thank you!) so I now have 86 seed companies on my website. I thought I would do this for my list of companies that sell ornamental bulbs. These can be the spring blooming bulbs as well as summer plants that are sold by bulbs, tubers, corms, rhizomes, etc.  Those that are edible, i.e., seed potato and garlic, are on the seed list. So send me your suggestions in the comments section so we can expand this list from 19 to 30 at least!

Amaryllis and Caladium Bulb Company, Florida, has catalog and can order online. Sells amaryllis, caladiums, and spring and summer bulbs.

Brecks, Ohio, has a catalog and can order online, states that it ships bulbs directly from Holland

Bluestone Perennials, sells bulbs as well as perennials.

Brent and Becky’s Bulbs, Virginia, has a catalog, can order online, can visit display garden and shop in Gloucester, VA.

Colorblends, Connecticut. Although “wholesale” is in their title and on their website, they do sell bulbs to home gardeners. There is a $60 minimum order. They have an annual print catalog and an online site for ordering. Specializes in spring blooming bulbs.

Dan’s Dahlias, Washington state company that specializes in dahlias.

David Burdick Daffodils and More, Massachusetts, has catalog and website but not able to order online. Has daffodils, trollius, colchicums, and a few other bulbs

Dutch Gardens, Illinois, has catalog and can order online, sells bulbs and perennials

Dutch Grown, Pennsylvania, order bulbs online.

Easy to Grow Bulbs, California, can order online, no catalog. Sells bulbs, succulents, and houseplants.

John Scheepers Beauty from Bulbs, Connecticut, can order online and has catalog. Also has sister company Van Engelen for wholesale bulb orders and a sister company, Kitchen Garden Seeds, for vegetable, herb, flower seeds

Longfield Gardens, New Jersey, can order online but no catalog, sells bulbs and perennials

McClure and Zimmerman, Wisconsin, has a digital catalog and can order online, sells bulbs

Odyssey Bulbs, Massachusetts, online, no catalog, sells unusual bulbs and perennials

Old House Gardens, Michigan, can order online and has a print catalog, known for heirloom bulbs

Plant Addicts is a family owned, online plant store in Nebraska that sells bulbs as well as other types of plants and garden décor. Their website also offers gardening information and resources.

RoozenGaarde and Washington Bulb Company, Washington, has a mailorder and internet division called Tulips.com. There is a retail gift shop in WA. Also ships flowers and promotes bulbs as wedding favors.

Telos Rare Bulbs, California, sells bulbs from South Africa, South America, and western U.S., online, no catalog

White Flower Farm, Connecticut, can order online and obtain catalog, wide range of bulbs, perennials, holiday plants, and gardening tools. Has display gardens and store in CT.

2 Comments

Posted in bulbs

Tagged , , , ,

Garden Centers and Nurseries in the DC Metro Area

Posted on June 12, 2021 | 2 comments

nurseryNew to the area? Want to know where to purchase plants, fertilizer, soil, and seeds? Here is a list of garden centers and nurseries in the DC metro area. If I have missed one, please let me know. Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in nurseries

Tagged , , ,

Chives: Culinary Herb, Landscape Edible

Posted on March 27, 2021 | 2 comments
chives coming back in early March

chives coming back in early March

Chives are a great addition to the garden, any garden, does not matter what is growing already, add chives. These perennial herbs are great landscape edibles; they come back year after year. Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) are narrow, foot tall plants that can be tucked in between ornamental shrubs and flowers. Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Edibles, herbs, landscape edible

Tagged , , ,

My Garden, My Friends

Posted on October 5, 2017 | Leave a comment

Although fall is here, October is still a time of harvest in my Virginia garden. I am still picking (and freezing!) tomatoes, peppers, beans, squash and even goji berries and little pumpkins. Zinnias, asters, mums, and dahlias are cut for my office every week. The pineapple sage plants just began flowering and my new mums are showing their colors for the first time. Basil and cone flowers have gone to seed but I let the finches enjoy them. For next season, I have gathered seeds from plants such as marigold, calendula, and okra and later I will collect four o’clock. Right now, the four o’clock plants are still blooming while at the same time, some have seeds nestled in like black eyes and I cannot bear to change this fantastic image.

Despite this abundance, I felt that I was saying goodbye when I was cutting the yellow peppers yesterday. I know frost is around the corner; I have to think about bringing in the hibiscus and bay plants. But the concept of “putting your garden to bed” escapes me. I feel like I garden all the time. If not in my actual garden, then in my house with seeds, bulbs, houseplants, and even microgreens. To me, a garden is alive all the time, it is a living community and it does not go to sleep in the winter. My kids had a math teacher who said “a day without math is like a day without sunshine.” A gardener would say: “A day without plants is like a day without sunshine.”

A few months ago I was listening to Erika Galentin, a clinical herbalist, speak on an episode of the Native Plant Podcast. Erika said something that was a real eye opener. I am paraphrasing below but this is the gist of what she said:

Plants bring something to the human spirit. Plants can communicate to us and it is not through fantastical means, it is through our senses, our eyesight, our sense of smell, our sense of taste, our sense of touch. When I tune in to that and I learn how to “listen” to plants I feel something deep inside me, I feel an understanding, a connection, the knowledge that has transferred from the plant to myself because I am focusing on it, seeing it, I am touching it, I am tasting it, I am growing it. A relationship has formed with that plant and like any kind of relationship that can bring us spiritual enlightenment, it can bring us emotional enlightenment, and it can bring us physical enlightenment.

Listening to Erika made me realize that I have a relationship with my plants in my garden. Conversely, I have lived in my house for over a dozen years and would never say that I have a relationship with my house. Outside, however, I have interacted with my plants through the five senses whether for years, or in recent plantings, for this year only. They have all, however, grown like my own children have grown in this space, a typical suburban plot in Virginia.

I have trained the peas up the trellis, wrapped the passion flower vines around the banister, re-positioned the morning glory to get full sun, and moved many plants to other places in the garden where they could get more water or more sun to be happier.

I have enjoyed the taste and nutrition of fresh vegetables such as beans, squash, peppers and fruits such as raspberries, goji berries, and ground cherries. I even enjoy the relaxing herbal teas made with holy basil, pineapple sage, and roselle. I have enjoyed the smell of fruity melons, pungent rosemary, and sweet hyacinths. While I am picking vegetables in the garden, I hear that satisfying “thunk” when a large red tomato falls to the ground while bees buzz around the zinnias and marigolds. My ornamental grasses rustle in the wind and the birds squabble over the seeds on the dried flower heads.

I have the plants’ cries for water, met their needs for fertilizer, and provided support with bamboo stakes and trellises. I grow many plants from seed, constantly nurturing them inside under lights until they are mature enough to be on their own outside in the ground.

People might think of this as “work” but for me as a gardener and horticulturist it is about having 200 friends who live directly outside my house (some actually in my house). I am always thinking of my friends as I think of my family: are they okay, is it too hot or too cold for them, do they have enough water, do they need food?

Although some people may not be interested in this type of “work,” they too benefit from plants, especially when they visit a garden. The impact of nature on our senses, on our being, is overwhelming and can be and should be championed as the positive experience it clearly is for most everyone. That is the value that gardens and the act of gardening can provide.

Leave a comment

Posted in plants

Tagged , , ,

Chives: Easy to Fit in the Garden as a Landscape Edible

Posted on March 20, 2015 | Leave a comment
chives coming back in early March

chives coming back in early March

Chives are a great addition to the garden, any garden, does not matter what is growing already, add chives. These perennial herbs are great landscape edibles; they come back year after year. Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) are narrow plants, about a foot tall, so they can be tucked in between ornamental shrubs and flowers as long as they receive full sun. In my Virginia garden, my plants are already poking through the soil in early March and I can’t wait to cut the leaves for scrambled eggs, chive butter, and mashed potatoes.

To keep up with my family’s demand for fresh chives, I have several plants so after I cut the leaves back on one, I leave that plant alone until it rejuvenates and then harvest the leaves of another plant. Usually we are harvesting the leaves so often we do not see the pink, clover-like flowers but the flowers themselves are edible and pretty in a wildflower-country-garden-way.

In the spring, I divide my current clumps to create more plants, both for the garden as well as for friends. Chive can be grown from seed but it may take a while for the plants to mature to harvest so it is best to buy a few small containers in the spring and tuck them in different places in the garden (near the door so you can pop out with scissors before dinner). I always wash the foliage of course before eating but I have never seen pests.

To make chive butter, simply let the butter come to room temperature, stir in chopped chives to taste, then refrigerate in a container. This can be done with soft cheeses as well. Chives can be preserved in the freezer, dried, or in ice cubes. Chives also can be used in herbal vinegars. Fresh minced chives add green to potatoes, soups, and rice dishes. Really, chives are so versatile in the kitchen and so easy to grow in the garden, there is no reason not to have them in your garden.

Leave a comment

Posted in Edibles, herbs, landscape edible

Tagged , , , ,