Some Garden Catalogs Are Better Than Others

Salvia azurea with honeybee

I'm reading one of my favorites on this very rainy and cool day.   Prairie Moon Nursery's catalog is special. It's chock full of good information about native plants and seeds for prairies, wetlands, savannas and woodlands.  They've done a wonderful job of organizing and presenting plant cultural information.  It's obvious the nursery owners want you to find exactly the right plants for your prairie restoration, native habitat or new wildflower garden.  In fact, the catalog is clearly labeled a Cultural Guide. Every forb/wildflower they offer is shown with detailed information including  genus, species, common name, germination guide, sun, soil, bloom, color, height and even a few  comments.   This catalog is a great teaching tool for gardeners wanting to learn about wildflowers...it may not be applicable to  the Southwest, the deep south  and California but, gardeners from the rest of the country and Canada will thoroughly enjoy it.  The plants are listed~ Asclepias to Zizia ~for easy reading and planning. Lest you think I only read this catalog~I recently ordered several bareroot verbesina alternifolias and dozens of seed packets!

Helianthus salicifolius 'First Light'

Sure we can find plant information on line. But, for me, the real experience comes with thumbing through an actual catalog! A written catalog! With corners to fold over and pages to write upon.  I love reading the  descriptions of  the plants, seeing photos of  them in natural settings and then imagining them in my garden. I have many wildflower books, but, I've learned  a lot about wildflowers, daylilies and other plants from catalogs.   Many of the plants I read about would never survive Clay and Limestone's conditions; but, it's a delight to be introduced to them.  Discovering and learning about new wildflowers is one of the reasons I started the Wildflower Wednesday meme. (Are The Natives Friendly) Participants have introduced me to many new wildflowers from their part of the gardening world.  Some of my favorite exotics are other folks native plants!  Excuse me,  I have digressed to a favorite topic!

While I totally enjoy a good catalog read, almost all of my  wildflower plant purchases are from  locally grown stock. It's a rule I like to stick to when possible.  Plants grown near my garden are far more likely to survive the dry summers and wet winters than plants grown a thousand miles away.  Sure, I'll mail order plants, if I can't find them at my go-to local native plant nursery, GroWild. I love supporting local,  independent nurseries and GroWild is a treasure.  It's just a 30 minute drive to a beautiful farm setting and my favorite plants!  The bonus is that I have gotten to know the  owners, Mike Berkley & Terri Barnes. Unfortunately,  for out of towners~They do not have a catalog nor do they do mail order. But, they have a very nice website.

For almost every rule there's often an exception!  Bulbs are the exception to the buy local rule! I almost always buy bulbs online and almost always from the same vendors. Van Engelen, Brent and Becky's and McClure and Zimmerman.  They have wonderful catalogs,  informative websites, incredible bulb choices, and great end of the season sales. It  was an  M and Z's catalog (many, many moons ago)  where I  was first introduced to species tulips and narcissus.  It has never been the same for me since!  I love bulbs and although, I can never match some of my dear gardening friends bulb for bulb. They are, after all, Champions bulbers. I have made good use of bulk bulb buying from Van Eng! You, too, can buy all the Tommies that you want! (Lilac Tommies For My Garden).

So go ahead and sign up for catalog delivery~Trust me, it's not a waste of paper. You never know what you'll find in a catalog and it might be more than plants for sale. It could be an introduction to a passion for wildflowers or bulbs!

xxoogail

**Champions in the  bulb buyers club~Frances/Fairegarden, Dee/Red Dirt Ramblings, EAL/Gardening While Intoxicated

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone."