Moraea, the taxman and shipping season
It was 29 degrees here on the 17th and for those that have long followed back to the rare bulb blogspot days, I always like to note the first and last frost. If you average it out over the past 17 or 18 years that I have been here at illahe it almost always occurs on Tax Day. The taxman definitely comes looking for these wonderful, but not fully hardy bulbs around this time of year. With these mid April nights getting sometimes very chilly, a frost blanket almost always does the trick to give a few degrees of protection, but with the weather always so unstable now, you never know when it’s going to dip into precarious lows. Looking ahead at the forecast I’m guessing that the 17th was our lowest lows from now until fall, but you never know. The Amaryllis are outside for the summer and I did cover them with a frost blanket, they look unscathed as of yet. But it’s always the South Africans that I worry the most about with late season frosts. The Moraea are up and blooming now and I have a few hybrids that are blooming for the first time in stunning fashion. These were made by Michaerl Mace, head over the Pacific Bulb Society’s incredibly informative website to learn more about his wonderful creations. In my bulb house the phenology goes that the Moraea start blooming right about the time the last of the California native Fritillaria are finishing up blooming. click on the gallery to see a few of these fascinating Iris relatives in bloom:
If you are clicking around the website you may notice the shop is down, I’m currently updating the availability for mailorder shipping this spring. I hope to have the shop back up here by Monday and shipping will begin over the next 3 weeks. A few changes to be aware of, I’m only shipping the 2.5” rose pots this year. The USPS raised it’s postal rates this past winter and to keep things within range of affordability for both me and you I’m not shipping the bigger size shuttle pots. However I do have a great selection of these available here at the nursery so please make an appointment if you are in the area. I will always have the best availability here at the nursery which is open by appointment. Plus you can visit the rock garden and check out the new rock garden outcrop and bog addition! Send me an email to set something up.
To wet the appetite, the shipping catalog will feature some great plants in the perfect sizes for those with crevice gardens and rock gardens! Centaurea, Raoulia, Phlox, Happlopapus, Ozothamnus, Ptilotrichum, Silene, Saxifrage, Arenaria, Antennaria, Edraianthus, Asperula, Gentiana, Penstemon, Acantholimon, Erigonum, Androsace, Erigeron, Gypsophila, Dianthus, Iberis, Aster, Myosotis, and Draba, just to name a few of the choice, cushion forming or dwarf plants that will be available this spring. Plants are available in limited quantities, so you will want to order quickly for the best selection and I’ll be shipping until the weather says I can’t or the plants are all sold.
Cheers to hopefully the beginning of a nice long growing season! I love it when I can put the frost blankets away and just enjoy the flowers.
Mark