FALL BULBS HAVE ARRIVED!

- and that's the good news. Beyond that, however, the news is less encouraging.

Because I'm an idiot and presumed I was ordering bulbs in retail-ready packaging - you know, the boxes with pretty pictures on 'em to entice you, that fold out on the bottom allowing easy access - well, we didn't get that. The tulips and a few other things are in plain boxes, the daffodils are in netted bags and the crocus et al are in ventilated plastic bags. The only picture was ONE random tag for DeCaen anemones. I didn't order any anemones.

Their office in Connecticut was, however, most helpful yesterday and while I'm not looking forward to downloading, printing, cutting and pasting a bazillion photos and trying to make a sensible display out of their not-so-customer-friendly packaging, at least they made some attempt to make it right and if I work through the weekend, we should have some coherent displays. I DO have to hand it to them, quality-wise...they said they were late to ship because they dig later to insure a top-quality bulb and yeah, I've scarcely seen better in my nearly 27 years pandering posies. We'll eventually make these things retail friendly and all will be well.

So let's concentrate on the good news: FALL BULBS HAVE ARRIVED! Sometime this weekend, I'll post our complete list of bulbaliciousness. :)

in better news...

The Certified Organic^TM garlic and shallots have arrived as promised! Same price as Fremont Gardens ran 'em for the last couple of years, $3.98 per netted bag. Inchelium Red, Late Italian, Silver Rose and Nootka Rose for the softneck varieties and Musik, Chesnok Red, Korean Red and German Porcelain for the hardnecks. Shallots? Holland Red and Dutch Yellow.

A cooler day today, great for planting! *nudge, nudge*

Well, wow. I hesitate to put this out there but we seem to have fallen off a cliff this week, business-wise...fall planting seems more unpopular every year, our efforts to counter that more and more in vain.

Or maybe it's the stock market. In any event, we're not allowed to take it personally...so we won't.

Just got a new shipment from Washington Pottery. 15% off all plant containers right now and rumor has it the discount is even greater if you're on our email list. ;) Organic garlic and shallot sets are s'posed to arrive today, too, and we have a semi-definite arrival date for the flower bulbs - Wednesday the 24th.

Hey, all we can do is try.

Always learning more

Well I finaly have a little time to write and my English is coming back. Getting back from Norway there was a lot of catch-up to do. While in Norway we went to a tropical botanical garden island. There are pictures on my site: www.wuji.com/Norway
This island is only a 20 minute boat ride from Stavanger yet they grow figs, lemons, tree ferns, grapes, and many other plants you would not associate with Norway. The water around the island is 5 degrees C warmer than Stavanger due to the gulf stream. While on the tour I learned several useful things.
FRUIT TREES: My basic education said that you always cut off the water sprouts of the fruit trees ASAP. Well, this of course produces more suckers and puts the energy of the plant there. What they do on Flor og Fjaere is once the water sprouts are less than an inch you crimp or squeeze them instead of cutting them off. This leads the tree into putting its energy into the fruit. This also produces less water sprouts the next year.
LAWNS: For those who must have lawns without weeds their secret was to cut low, water often (lawns are water pigs), and fertilize once a month. The low cutting forces the grass to spread and crowd out the weeds. If the lawn doesn't get enough water then it won't grow lush and the weeds have lots of room to seed and spread.
PRUNING: One of my favorite subjects! I'll be offering a pruning workshop at Emerald City Gardens on the basics of pruning: Sunday, October 5th, 11:00-12:30, $25 (This will count as 3 marks on your frequent buyer card). This is a workshop I've done often and has been very successful. I call it the Tao of Pruning (the way of pruning). I cover basic principles of pruning the three types of growth patterns of shrubs and trees, as well as correct pruning methods. Enrollment is limited so call the nursery to sign-up. 206-789-1314

New house plants have arrived! We couldn't fit 'em all in the PT so the rest are being delivered tomorrow.

That is all.

Fall is just over a week away...for so many people, their favorite time of year. Yeah, heartless people who don't pander posies for a living! :b Oh well, you're forgiven - especially if you're smart enough to know what a great season this is for planting stuff. Here's what's going on at the store right now -

• We've still got a nice selection of perennials, shrubs and even a few trees for sun or shade, wet or dry.
• House plants have been very, very good to us. We're going on a major buying expedition tomorrow; you keep buying 'em and we're trying to keep up!
• We just got in a shipment of shiny new pots for indoors and out, with more expected later this week.
• Remaining annuals are 70% off, including the coleus collection...they won't take nights below 50 F but they're awesome houseplants given a sunny window and if you keep the ratty little flowers pinched off.
• COVER CROPS have arrived! Crimson clover should be planted between now and late October while there's still some warmth in the soil but our 3-way (clover+rye and vetch) and 5-way (clover+rye, vetch, buckwheat* and Austrian peas) blends can be planted even later if your veggie patch is still producing useful things into November or even December. These "green manures" add humus content when you till them under in the spring and help fix nitrogen, reducing the need for fertilizer next year.
• GARLIC AND SHALLOT SETS are on their way, sez the grower. We'll have red and white Dutch shallots and six varieties of garlic - three hardneck, three softneck - all organic, of course!
• FLOWER BULBS!...yeah...wish they'd arrived two weeks ago. *grumble, grumble* They should ship this week but I'll be surprised if they get here before Monday the 22nd. The good news is, if you can wait that long, we'll have a small but dazzling collection of our favorite tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, crocus, alliums and more. Some very cool species tulips in this shipment, the smaller "rock garden" types that are truly perennial and don't peter out after a few years like their hybrid offspring. In mid to late October, we'll get in our first paperwhite narcissus bulbs, and amaryllis, so there's more to look forward to!

Don't put away your garden gloves just yet. You've still got some work to do.

* - hmm, I'd always been told buckwheat prefers warmer soil temps, too, but what do I know?