The Best of the Speciality Catalogs 2012

Chamblee’s Own-Root Rose Nursery

From the big, bad,  great state of Texas you’ll find a small family owned nursery with a big claim to fame. I believe it’s the only business selling own root roses and extolling their benefits of which are mainly winter hardiness, And they ship in one gallon pots for $8.95. Now the plants are only 6-12″ high but if they’re using gallon pots, then you know the root development must be strong enough for ship;ping.

Our Extension Master Garden group places a bulk order of their Earthkind roses. Earthkind roses is a Texas A&M program where contenders are evaluated for winter hardiness, disease resistance and insect tolerance across the Lone Star state. Our EMG group must be seeing similar performance because the program is ongoing.

Those same criteria were front and center in the Griffith Buck Rose. Buck was a professor at Iowa State University from 1952 to 1985. His main obsession, yes my friends,  total obsession with winter hardiness without protection in a state that has recorded -26 degrees temperatures, Now fair warning if you’re getting excited, the Buck Roses have tall shoulders mostly over 4′. Dang it,  I say. I will have a future post about this great this man. Just remember, somewhere between love and passion, lies obsession. (Thanks, Calvin Klein for that gem) ‘Prairie Harvest’  (top right) is always being mentioned as one of the best and she comes in at a manageable 4′ X 3′.

Swan Island Dahlias

I’ve been ordering from Swan since I was a teenager. It is the largest dahlia grower  in the US . And if you can believe this they were started on rental ground in the 1940s. Like many most smaller companies they have been cutting back and thus there catalogs is smaller and just beautiful images of dahlias without descriptions so they’re relying heavily on their website but travel at your ow with mostn risks my friends. They’ve included a new digital catalog which I found troublesome. When I tried to go back and forth  between the catalog and the order form I got stuck.

I tried a different approach while ordering this year. Normally I look at all the pretty pictures and order my favorites. I’m partial to the darkest reds and white to foil the darker  color but  many years I had gre+at flowers but scarcity of bloom on some of my favorites like ‘Rip City’. But I started by looking at their Our Favorites Collection and picked four colors from it thinking they will give me flowers throughout the season. Then I added a favorite since I was a kid, the burgundy pom-pom ‘Crossfied Ebony’  (at left)

Bluestone Perennials

From the wine country of Northern Ohio comes another company I used as a kid. Boasting over 1,000 varieties, there new competitive advantage are Coco bio-degradeable pots constructed of coconut husk fibers thus reducing transplant shock. Not sure it is relevant but its a good selling point. All varieties will be sent out in 2012.

With the caveat it just might end on your compost bin, but oh what fun until, I’m excited about a few selections from their 120 new choices. Agastache is a water-wise choice and I predict they will find great favor as our planet warms up. Whether you’re a Jimi Hendrix fan or not, Agastsache ‘Purple Haze’.

Although only new to the   marketplace,  Coreopsis ‘Route 66′  has been on bucket list, I will definitely  grow at my Mums  garden  comes spring. Although  not his variety, I spoke with Darrell Probst and he explained to me color shifts like this are caused by cooler temps that darken up the flowers , rather than genetic  variability.

 King’x Mums

As a 12-year old  kid growing up in Sydney, Australia, I remember reading a local newspaper  all about a man who grew exhibition chrysanthemum and sent them to the Super Bowl of all flower shows The Chelsea Flower Show in a suburb of London., It blew me away that one  man could have such passion. Thus my passion was to exhibit in local shows when I came to America the following year, My best buddy assures me  I will going someday. In my lust for winning shows I tried to grow some of their beauty but learned a lesson in that most of them mature after a killer frost.

So if you want to grow one of these beauties, I’ve  perused the whole catalog for earliest varieties that start  blooming late September. The most is intriguing  is just a regular old button mum as you can see its blooms are very different. They are what is known as the quilled form. Please let me know if you decide to try it.

Irregular Incurve ‘Goldfield’, Reflex ‘Paint Box’ , Regular Incurve ‘  Gillette’, Intermediate Incurve  ‘Royal Silver’, Spoon ‘Judith Becker, Cushion Garden Mum ‘Shamar’s Vision’ .l

Pleasant Valley Glads

O K, I  know I won’t win the battle  overcoming the perception that glads are just funeral flowers  but in my native Australia they are a staple of our gardens. But I’ll like you  to take to another look miniature glads. Coming in with  flowers one half the size of traditional glads. I love to see that dramatic foliage before the  bloom time.

Pleasant Valley is out of West Suffield  (The gladiolus capital of the world. just kidding) and have been in business for an amazing 54 ysars. So you know they’re doing something right

I put ‘Atom’ Gladiolus on my bucket list of plants to  grow only several ago when I first spied tt at Olde House Garden, the heirloom bulb power house

] love the description at OHG  of a  red  edged in silver with a  price of $ 1.50 for the largest size corm.

B&D Lillies

Lillies can create grand drama in the garden with  booming varieties like ‘Black Dragon’ and  ‘Graffity’ (at left).  And the people at B&D know lillies. I always thought you plant lillies in the fall but I just queried them and they said ,for example, with ‘Casablanca’ you can expect the plants to be 20& shorter and bloom 2-3 weeks later. Good to know.

iI have always had for the spotted flowers, or what I call mottled.  On my hit list are blackberry lillies, helleborus and toad lillies (What a dreadful name for a refined beauty?)