Recent Reviews in the Green Pages

Once the growing season starts in my garden I get so wrapped up in bulbs and hellebores and emerging ferns and swelling buds on potted peonies that I give scant attention to annuals and the contribution they can make to a garden. So a couple of years ago I ran across this book and decided to broaden my horizons.
I like this book because Mr. Winterrowd spent half of the book introducing
not-commonly-known or used plants... and then he spends half the book teaching the techniques needed to succeed with these plants. Not your usual "annuals for your garden" book... thank goodness.
He'll introduce you to Prickly Poppy [Argemone], the different species of Moonflowers [Datura], the strange beauty oof Sea Holly [Eryngium] and the "unending sequence" of blooms on Lavatera.
A wealth of good info is available in this slim volume.

I love this company and mainly use it for my seeds. I especially like them because they sell the dwarf project seeds. I started buying other items there. They are quick & notify me when my seeds have arrived. Pictured two of my dwarfs in straw bales.

I have purchased from Plant World Seeds for many years and have always been very happy with both the excellent germination of the seeds and the very prompt shipping of my orders. I also love their "Buy 2 get the 3rd Free" offer. :-)

I have been buying daylilies from Oakes for at least five years. They ship at the correct time of year for my gardens (zone 3 - unlike another supplier, whose order showed up in March with 4-ft of snow on the gardens) and always well-packed. The daylilies are the largest fans from anywhere, including competing daylily nurseries (whom I will not name or embarrass here) as well as direct purchases I have made in person at various display gardens.

And their bonus plants are always recognizable, registered daylilies ... not seedling rejects from a breeding program. I would definitely recommend Oakes: you get what you pay for, and then some.

Teresa and I traded some daylilies a few years ago. She is great to work with and the plants I received were very nice and healthy!

Busy Bee Lawn and Garden Center carries a wide variety of healthy plants, assorted planters, garden tools and utensils, soil, fertilizer and fun garden decor, all at very reasonable prices.

Busy Bee has a great staff of knowledgeable and helpful employees and they offer informative monthly seminars, both in person and online, covering all types of plants and gardening. They also offer exclusive monthly coupons via e-mail for a percentage off on plants and garden decor. To receive the discounts, you can print out the coupons to take into the garden center, or give your phone number or email address at check out.

I highly recommend Busy Bee and give them an A+ in customer service; it's one of my favorite local garden centers.

I have ordered twice from Harriet, and I couldn't have had a better experience either time. Her website is attractive and easy to search and use. She is excellent about communication, answering my emails right away in the most helpful way. She went out of her way to accommodate my requests, even digging and sending my order a little after what was the optimum time for her.

The orders arrived quickly and were in excellent shape. The plants she sent were healthy and extremely generous. Several of them were actually big enough to divide. She included a bonus plant as well, one I had requested. I will order from Arrasmith Farm again!

Brian Reeder hybridizes and sells daylilies. He specializes in developing rust-resistant cultivars for breeding as well as garden enjoyment. His website is a wealth of information about daylilies, and his notes about each cultivar he sells are extensive and oh, so helpful. He is excellent about email communication and will patiently answer any question you have about his daylilies.

I just ordered from him for the second time. I couldn't have been more pleased with my first order: the plants he sent were healthy and more than generous in size. He also sent one of his new introductions as a bonus. I strongly recommend Sun Dragon Daylilies!

As a new gardener I only ordered a small amount of seeds from Baker Creek but they still threw in a free packet for me. With free shipping the overall cost was very reasonable! As I learn more and plant more I'll definitely be ordering from them again.

I'm new to gardening and placed my order w/ Victory Seeds. I really liked their selection of seeds and extremely reasonable pricing. I left a comment on my order saying I was new and in my order I received a hand written note with the recommendation to learn as much as you can and to check out webgrower.com - it really meant a lot that they're taking the time to do small things like this. I'll definitely be back for more seeds as I learn more!

I found two books by Utamaro on a shelf of books at a local thrift store. The other book was titled "A Chorus of Birds."

I bought both for $2.50 each... took them home... researched the author... and only then, for no apparent reason, I opened this one up.

What I found was a book largely unlike any others I'd ever seen. Fifteen designs in each of the two books form double-page illustrations... each illustration depicts two species accompanied by two poems.

I chose two pages to illustrate the beauty of each illustration, the configuration of the book and the two poems on each double-page.
In this one, the two species with their accompanying poems are a butterfly and a dragonfly. The poem for the butterfly reads.........................
"I wish
I could become a butterfly,
For in my dream
I would lick the lips of the sweetheart
For whom I long."


The second illustration contains a red dragonfly and a locust. The poem for the red dragonfly reads.........
"Burning with love
And
Enduring the pain in silence,
I have wasted away to a skeleton
Like a thin red dragonfly."


I learned Utamaro [1753-1806] was one of the most highly regarded masters of ukiyo-e woodblock prints in Japan during the Edo Period [17th to 19th centuries]. He appears to have achieved a national reputation at a time when even the most popular Edo ukiyo-e artists were little known outside the city.

When I began studying garden design the ancient, classic gardens in Kyoto and Edo were my first love. Shortly after graduation I was given the opportunity to design a complex Japanese garden for a couple whose children were grown and for whom a backyard lawn was no longer necessary. It was a fascinating experience that lay a foundation for loving Japanese gardens and art ever since.

Utamaro lived approximately two hundred years after the golden age of garden design in Kyoto... which produced exquisite gardens such as Kinkaku-ji, Daisen-en, and my personal favorite... Ryoan-ji.

It was gratifying to realize his extraordinary woodblock prints kept these gardens alive in Japan during a period of incredible change.

Both of these books are in "like new" condition. Recently I became curious about their scarcity and plugged the titles into BookFinder.com... a search engine for rare and out-of-print books. Each book, in new condition, was listed at one hundred dollars and more. I guess that was a good day at the thrift shop.

There is just no thing quite as nice as a good book.

This book has graced my shelves for many years and is always a pleasure to reread.

One of the best family run nurseries in the North East of England. Celebrating 100 years of growing in 2021. Specialist growers of Dahlia and Chrysanthemum with many trial varieties grown each season.

I have purchased Jack's Giant colocasia, caladiums, alocasia portora and portadora from Caladium Bulbs 4 Less. When I had a problem with some Jack's Giant corms (my fault), the owner, Bill, replaced them with even larger corms, and an extra one to boot! They are now huge, beautiful tropical plants. Caladium corms were much larger than expected, and bloomed wonderfully. The alocasia corms were so large----I had to laugh when I removed them from their box---maybe 10 lbs. apiece is not exaggerating, and they are growing well in this, their first year. Bill is such a genuinely helpful, generous gentleman, I can't recommend his company enough.

This local nursery is family-owned. It is located at the intersection of Hwy 92 and Bells Ferry Rd. It has only been open for 2 years, but is well established.
I stumbled upon this place while looking for bailed spaghnum Peat moss. I have been here 4 times in the last 3 months and each time was a positive, pleasurable experience. The owner, Brandon (sp?) is very friendly and a joy to talk with. All of the staff are friendly and appear to enjoy working at this nursery.
The plant selection is very nice, ranging from landscape trees and shrubs all the way down to delicate houseplants. They offer outdoor plants, indoor plants, gardening supplies, herbs, vegetable plants, and yard decor.
I highly recommend this nursery for anyone in the Kessesaw/Acworth/Marietta area!

This is my second year ordering from Victory Seed Company. I am interested in gardening with genetic diversity and developing locally adapted crops to feed me and my family. Because of my interest in diversity and landrace development, I really appreciate the large selection of varieties available at VS. Take cowpeas for example, tons of choices. Great descriptions too.

I feel like I'm supporting something great by giving Victory Seed my business.

Nice selection of plants offered. I purchased an Epiphyllum and it was received quickly with very good packing.

Sadly this nursery is no longer open.

Enormous selection of annuals and perennials, beautiful hanging baskets, fantastic prices, friendly service. Lancaster is known for its nurseries, and Black Creek is worth the additional distance north of the city of Lancaster to East Earl. I've been making annual spring road trips here for several years, paying roughly half what I would pay locally, even beating box store prices. They have trade gallon perennials for $5-7, quart pots for even less, 6-packs of annuals and veggies, clematis and hellebores at unbelievable savings. There's also a great selection of containers and garden ornaments. If you have any space left in your car, squeeze in some potting mix or mulch (they even have cocoa mulch). Highly, highly recommended!

Beautiful nursery with a wide selection of both "straight" species and named varieties, including so many that I haven't seen offered for sale anywhere else. Staff is knowledgeable, and signage is excellent. With very few exceptions, plants are native to the mid-Atlantic region, but that doesn't mean all plants will be just right for your garden, so ask for help with your selections. Prices are good (higher than box stores, but lower than average for local nurseries IMO). They have perennials for both sun and shade and are just getting into trees & shrubs. For more information (and photos), see the "idea" article I wrote, "Watermark Woods: Growing Native." https://garden.org/ideas/view/...