I made a sidetrip to White Flower Farm yesterday. How gorgeous -- did you know you can wander through the grounds and enjoy the gardens for FREE?? All they ask, is no picnicking and no pets. Wow!
The gardens were beautiful this time of year, so much is in bloom and looking wonderful. And the helpful staff was amazing. There was so much FREE gardening help and advice walking around that place!! And they went out of their way to be helpful -- they asked questions, chatted about all things gardening and not -- and offered suggestions of plants, methods, solutions etc. And they never tried to sell me anything. Really!! I walked away after about 2 hours having purchased NOTHING.
Having said that: they really have a couple of deals that simply cannot be beat and I wanted to show them to you here.
1. Naturalizing Daffodils click here to see the link for these. They are beautiful. You get 100 daffodil bulbs (don't be put off because it says narcissus -- daffodils ARE narcissus -- and they spread like mad. By the end of about 2 years, you'll have double what you planted. This is a fabulous spring garden for very little money. I know, I know, you can sometimes buy daffodil bulbs at Walmart or some other place for less money than this --- Did you ever notice?? They rarely spread or naturalize? And you're lucky if they keep coming back more than about 4 years. White Flower Farm isn't selling you those cheap expendable bulbs... these beauties will last and last --- and come up every spring. Can't beat that.... They also offer a "professionals mix" which is bulbs that are a little smaller than the ones above, but still bloom beautifully and naturalize wonderfully quickly... I happen to think they're a better bargain -- but then again, I'm cheap.
2. The Shade Garden -- oh my is this beautiful -- especially if your yard is like mine and you have tons and tons of shade. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the shady yard in terms of the cooling effect on the house and the pleasant places to sit in the hot summer afternoon. But the shade isn't much for the gardening side of me. In fact, most of the gardening quizzing that I did with the staff at WFF was around the deep shade portion of my yard. The lady at WFF explained that this plan is a 3 season shade garden that starts with the daffodils I showed you up above. (the catalog doesn't show that) Then the perennials emerge and hide the dying daffodil leaves -- and give you a gorgeous shady garden for the summer. How beautiful. Check out the plan here Its kind of expensive, but I'm looking at the plants involved and thinking that everyone I know is dividing and giving away hostas this fall (I picked up 5 or 6 on the side of the road earlier this summer that someone had dug up and was discarding) and the bleeding heart is easy to find someone who will give you a piece when they divide -- so that will take care of about half of the plants I'll need. I'm happy to give WFF my business for the rest.
The gardens were beautiful this time of year, so much is in bloom and looking wonderful. And the helpful staff was amazing. There was so much FREE gardening help and advice walking around that place!! And they went out of their way to be helpful -- they asked questions, chatted about all things gardening and not -- and offered suggestions of plants, methods, solutions etc. And they never tried to sell me anything. Really!! I walked away after about 2 hours having purchased NOTHING.Having said that: they really have a couple of deals that simply cannot be beat and I wanted to show them to you here.
1. Naturalizing Daffodils click here to see the link for these. They are beautiful. You get 100 daffodil bulbs (don't be put off because it says narcissus -- daffodils ARE narcissus -- and they spread like mad. By the end of about 2 years, you'll have double what you planted. This is a fabulous spring garden for very little money. I know, I know, you can sometimes buy daffodil bulbs at Walmart or some other place for less money than this --- Did you ever notice?? They rarely spread or naturalize? And you're lucky if they keep coming back more than about 4 years. White Flower Farm isn't selling you those cheap expendable bulbs... these beauties will last and last --- and come up every spring. Can't beat that.... They also offer a "professionals mix" which is bulbs that are a little smaller than the ones above, but still bloom beautifully and naturalize wonderfully quickly... I happen to think they're a better bargain -- but then again, I'm cheap.
2. The Shade Garden -- oh my is this beautiful -- especially if your yard is like mine and you have tons and tons of shade. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the shady yard in terms of the cooling effect on the house and the pleasant places to sit in the hot summer afternoon. But the shade isn't much for the gardening side of me. In fact, most of the gardening quizzing that I did with the staff at WFF was around the deep shade portion of my yard. The lady at WFF explained that this plan is a 3 season shade garden that starts with the daffodils I showed you up above. (the catalog doesn't show that) Then the perennials emerge and hide the dying daffodil leaves -- and give you a gorgeous shady garden for the summer. How beautiful. Check out the plan here Its kind of expensive, but I'm looking at the plants involved and thinking that everyone I know is dividing and giving away hostas this fall (I picked up 5 or 6 on the side of the road earlier this summer that someone had dug up and was discarding) and the bleeding heart is easy to find someone who will give you a piece when they divide -- so that will take care of about half of the plants I'll need. I'm happy to give WFF my business for the rest. Did I mention that WFF has a moneyback guarantee?? They really and truly honor it -- even if it was beginner gardener stupidity that caused the plant to die (that was the voice of experience, right there) And if you sign up for their catalog and refer friends, they start you out with a free $5 toward your first purchase (and for your friends too!) Gift certificates get you a 10% discount -- and there isn't a reason in the world that you can't do a gift certificate for your husband or wife and get the savings.... How much better can it get???
Finally, let me say that one of the reasons that I so like using White Flower Farm is that the plants were "born and raised" somewhat locally. The farm is about an hour away from us -- so the climate, soil etc are fairly similar. Plants that come to New England from southern climates often go into shock at the barren soil of our region, the frosty winters, and the wild temperature fluctuations of the late summer and early fall. I've lost so many lovely plants because of that. Plants that are born and raised here just don't know any better. They tough it out like good Yankees.
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