TPF Gardening Forum?....and a bulb gardening question

lantana19

Member
Jul 7, 2008
1,632
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Is there anyone on here who would like the idea of a gardening forum?

I personally love gardening and I am always on the hunt for tips, advice, and new plants that have come out, so I think a gardening forum on TPF would be great.

That aside, does anyone here know of a good source for bulbs, I know I'm a little late for bulb ordering, but I'm planning ahead for next year. I found bulbmeister.com, but I'd like to do some price comparison shopping.

To give you an idea of what I'm looking for, I would like some leucojum aestivum or Snowflake, and Narcissus Division 4 and 7. I have pretty alkaline soil so any advice for any other bulbs that would work well in alkaline soil would be appreciated.
 
I would love the idea of a gardening forum! As I write this, I am looking up ways to plant an avocado pit. I've done it before, and I just want some care instructions after planting a rooted pit into a pot. I'll look it up on the internet, but it would be fun to get some first hand information on this sort of stuff.
 
I know, I was thinking that you can always find answers on the internet, but it's always so helpful when you can convo back and forth with someone who has had experience with something in particular. I'm sure there are gardening forums, but everyone here is so nice and helpful!
 
my local nurseries always have great bulbs, also online check out Jackson Perkins.
We could probably persuade Vlad to make the new Crafts forum have a Gardening sub:shrugs:
 
I'd love one, too. I'm an avid gardener!
Lantana, I like John Scheepers for excellent quality bulbs. Scheepers also has a wholesale site for large orders called Van Engelen Inc. If you have a large area to cover, I'd go with them.
~Pippi
 
a gardening sub in the crafts section would be good to start with, i guess to see how popular it is, although people who craft may not necessarily garden and vice versa. I'll def check out Jackson Perkins and John Scheepers, thanks for the recs.
 
^^ I'll chime in with the Scheepers rec...great! I LOVE bulbs...in my container garden, indoor forcing, the whole works. I really fell behind this year but there's always next season!!
 
Breck's is where I've always gotten my bulbs. I haven't put many/any in the last few years.

Have you tried Iris? The Iris Farm in Traverse City, Michigan, has so many varieties. I put some in September 2007, and we got a few blooms this past spring. I'm excited to see what a good root structure brings this spring.

I really need to nourish my soil. We've been here 10 years, and I have to get our compost pile to work.
 
I remember a few of us had a gardening thread quite a while ago. There was more interest than I thought there would be.

I love bulbs as well. I go nuts every year and plant about 250 tulips, 70 hyacinths, 200-300 daffodils, and other random stuff. I'm in zone 9, so only the warm weather bulbs will rebloom here if left out -- some daffs, freesias, ranunculus. The tulips, hyacinth, etc. will come back stunted and not really bloom properly since they didn't get the cold. I have a mini-fridge in the garage that I keep pretty much just to pre-chill the bulbs.

Pippi and Pursegrrl are right. John Scheepers is awesome for bulbs. I order from them every year. Brent and Becky's bulbs are also really good. They hybridize a lot of their own daffodils and have a great book on daffodils. Another source to try that may still have at least the leucojum is easytogrowbulbs.com. They're geared toward warm-weather bulbs, which I think would be helpful for you in TX as well.

And I used to be on gardenwebs forums all the time -- I went through an antique rose craze and then an heirloom tomato kick. I still grow about 20 of each (tomatoes seasonally, of course), but have switched my obsessive foruming over to here!!
 
If you want larger quantities of bulbs (and who doesn't?) I order from Van Engelen
http://www.vanengelen.com/ which is the sister company of Scheepers. I get both catalogs. Scheepers has the pic - Van Engelen has the best prices!!

kimberf I have a rose obsession too!!! I have a few English Roses and the rest are hybrid teas and some hardy climbers. I need to do a count - but I'm guessing I have around 50 bushes total.

I love heirloom tomatoes but only grow Brandywine. What else have you grown? and where do you get your seeds??

I read a fabulous article on getting the earliest harvest of tomatoes that was in my Horticulture Magazine this past month. LMK if you want me to post their tips - or I can PM it to you. I am going to do it this year. I live in zone 5 and it is soooooo hard waiting for the "good" tomatoes!!

This thread reminds me that I have a couple of amarylis I have to start this week ....
 
What a great idea!

I had the best garden when I lived in Africa last year ... hybrid tea roses, fuschias, hibiscus, mint, swiss chard. Oh, how I miss it.

BTW I love lantanas! They are so pretty!