Brent and Becky's 1/2 price sale started.

Dont let me go there. All bulbs?

What's left; except for inside bloomers like Amaryllis...I think their 'cozy companions' are also half price...

I placed my order yesterday morning. After reading B and B's email, I browsed the site to see what are still available to purchase.

jmorth, I don't mean to hijack the thread, but may I ask what is your secret in growing Eremurus? A few gardeners told me they don't come back in their gardens the second year. TIA

I've had but limited success myself. I think the longest stretch was for 3 years. I think the answer to your query is in the drainage. The area where I planted the tubers was deeply dug, liberally amended with coarse sand and small pebbles.. The tubers were situated on their own personal sand beds and covered with sandy soil. I also monitored the weather closely in the spring because they'd start to poke their noses through before the temps had attained the foxtail safety zone; Several times had to re-tuck them with protective mulches and then un-tuck as soon as possible (to assure site would not retain any moisture and promote root rot). If any heaving noted, I'd try to compensate with more sandy soil.
Another factor for growing them in this area is that this geographical area is probably around the northern limits of their adaptability.
If one were to ask me about high points in my personal gardening experience, growing foxtail lilies has to rank way up there.
J .

Thank you so much.

I planted 3 Cleopatras from Scheepers without ammending the soil. I hope to see them pop up in spring time. Ordered 5 Spring Valley hybrids and will definitely follow your tricks. Thanks again, I appreciate it.

Just curious, are you north of Springfield?

Yes I am, by the O'Hare airport area.

I'm by Springfield.
Well, wish you the best on those Foxtails. Even if you get but one showing, it's worth it; hoping they return to 2030.
J

Thanks and I hope so also.

Well, let me warn you in case you live West of the Rockies that you'll essentially be paying full price. I placed an order for some bulbs. They would have cost $73.00, but I got them for half-price, which is $36.50. Good deal, right? Well, the shipping is $35.95!!!!!

The shipping would be only $10.95, because they're just little bulbs, after all, but Brent & Becky's tacks on an extra $25.00 if you live West of the Rockies, so my final price plus shipping is $72.45, just 55 cents less than if I had bought them at full price. They said there was an extra charge for the West, but I never dreamed it would be that much.

I had that happen to me before. I had some one close by them accept them and then remail to me and it was still cheaper than what they were asking.

This ultimately turned into a bigger fiasco than I had thought. They called after I placed that order and said some of the bulbs had sold out. The upshot was that I would be paying more for the shipping than for the merchandise. I tried to cancel the order, but they wouldn't do that, so I ordered more bulbs. That brought the final price up to $95.46, including $41.26 for shipping.

That outrageous amount ostensibly was charged because they had to send it by express 2-3 day delivery. Well, they mailed it on November 30th and it arrived on December 5th -- at least twice the number of days.

I received a package from Holland Bulb Farms the same day. I wrote about this in my blog and included pictures. Here's a link if you're interested. Holland Farms charged $8.95 for the same-sized box, taking the same amount of time to get to me. It's the entry for December 7th.

http://garden.org/blogs/view/z...

Thanks for the info zuzu.

Yeah I will never understand their charging more to us out west. I quit ordering from them because of the high shipping cost. Thanks for the link to your blog!!! I have ordered from most of the same places with the same thoughts. :o)

jmorth, did you order amaryllis from B and B's sale?

Yes, received them couple days ago.

May I ask what is the condition of your bulbs?

3 of 4 seem close to excellent, the 4th was the most expensive and not at all what I expected.
Tres Chic

this was supposed to be a one (as on tag) but in reality was 5 small bulbs (pic is 3 of 5, other 2 were smaller...).

Thanks for the photos and your reply. My order, 1 out of 3 came out good and that is Papilio. I had the same quantity of bulbs they sent as your Supreme Garden. I wasn't expecting it to be like that, knowing this variety comes in cluster. Two of the so called Supreme Garden were rotten to the core. The third bulb (Aphrodite) has rot in the area very close to the basal plate. I contacted B and B and they issued me a credit. This is the second time that I have received rotten bulbs from them. The first time was of Emerald last summer and it was worst.