Botanus is my favorite.

The image below was from one of my Botanus 'bulk 50' tulip patches. They had incredible staying power - ...I wasn't sure if it was the mykes or the botanus bulbs that contributed to their lasting so long...the stems & leaves are now completely hidden by the lilies that share this patch of garden.
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I really have great luck with Botanus and their lily bulbs as well...great selection and priced just right for the quality of bulbs that they send me. The first image below is the asiatic lily patch about to explode into colours,
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while these later images are last years oriental lilies that looked pretty nice and smelled even better
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Definitely Botanus for me too. I order some unusual bulbs from Fraser Thimble Farms. I notice you also asked when to order on a recent post: Botanus and other places throw in some extra bulbs if you order early (typically July) and the bulbs tend to arrive in October.

I'm a Vesey's girl. Always had success with them. This spring I had a desperate desire to get more lily bulbs and they had gorgeous ones on their website. Ordered on Saturday found them in my mailbox on the following Wednesday. Of the 10 I received, 8 have sprouted from the earth and are getting lovely and tall (they've only been in the ground 4 weeks), just waiting on the last two. All my alium bulbs I ordered for planting last fall (except 1, not sure if I planted it upside down by accident!) sprouted beautifully this year.

tess

Hi Madtripper,

I don't want to be a spoil sport but considering that you live in Guelph, why don't you just go to the store and buy your bulbs. You will be able to see the bulbs and choose your own rather than have a picker do it for you.

Unless the plants that you are looking for are so rare and unusual, pretty much everything you can find in a catalogue can be purchased at a good nursery. I had a good look at both Botanus's and Vesey's catalogues (Vesey has more unusual plants) and frankly, a good nursery will stock those bulbs and you will pay less money and no shipping charges. I would try Plantworld in Etobicoke or Humber Nurseries in Brampton.

I like Botanus. Have used them several times and thought the prices were significantly cheeper than either my local store or sheridan. I had a friend who got wrong bulbs (diff. variety) from veseys on a couple of occassions before I found Botanus.

Oh for sure, Botanus for me, lots of free stuff, look for the coupon in the back of the Canadian Gardening magazine.

Nice bulb photos sydseeds!

Sharon

Botanus-I ordered 1600 - yes 1600 bulbs from them last year and I am neurotic enough to do a count and all but 10 of them showed up-I have has flowers since the end of February- and in Calgary that's quite an accomplishment. They were all very big and disease free.

Essus 1067 - Oh let me see photo's - that must have been one amazing garden!!!!!! Wow - with that big of an order, I bet your name now causes ripples of excitement at Botanus when they see email/snail mail coming from you!

Mary V wrtoe "frankly, a good nursery will stock those bulbs and you will pay less money and no shipping charges".

Do the rest of you agree?

Seems like most places carry the same common stuff. I have not looked at a larger Nursery in Toronto.

I LOVE Botanus! Have also ordered from Veseys on more than one occasion, but I find that Botanus is always cheaper, and I've always had something die or not come up with Veseys stuff. I've got a few excellent nurseries around me here in Edmonton, but I always order from Botanus. Who else gives you that many free bulbs? =) Plus, the stuff I buy in stores always dies or performs poorly. Sitting out in the store must dry out the bulbs or something. Oh, how I would LOVE to order 1600 bulbs from Botanus! I can just imagine. . . but pics would be great!

Except for the most common bulbs, I find Botanus' prices are typically less than the prices I can get at local nurseries. For small bulbs in particular, the nursery or local store stock is not of as high quality. I used to buy dozens of eranthus locally and only have a few come up each year. Now I have a thick carpet of eranthus under an old beech tree because I bought them from Botanus and Fraser Thimble Farms.

I will have to scan my pics - but it was spectacular- I had tulips til the middle/end of june. Most of my order was crocuses,chionadoxa and grape hyacinths - so 1600 sounds like alot - but to get an impact from those teeeny bulbs you need lots of them- I am ordering 170 more tulips for this fall to carry the colour around into my back yard. What I am more excited about is the 110 lillies I have - the majority were rescued and the rest are from Valley K ( another great company) and the freebies from vesey's (not such a great source) btw- I have no grass in my front yard and live on a pie lot with the wide end at the back- so my entire front yard is garden - hence the large number of bulbs- It is a first year only garden so there are alot of empty spaces- but my 12 peonies-14 hostas 4 roses 3 burning bushes and a partridge in a pear tree should fill it up (lol) - that and all the perennials I have grown/purchased.

madtripper - in Guelph, Royal City Nursery had a good selection last year, with some unusual bulbs. And they had very cheap bulk daffs and tulips (in quite a few colours) for mass plantings - I forget the exact price but it undercut anything else I'd seen for the size and condition of the bulbs. I recall Belgian nursery having a fairly extensive bulb display also, though am not sure how the prices compared.

Susan

Had anyone tried Breck's? They have some nice unique stuff and there was some kind of money off order in their catalogue. I was considering them for my 1st bulb order.
Heather

Hello Heather,
BreckÂs advertises very heavily and its prices reflect that. Compare its prices with discounts included, with that of Botanus. Never ever pay full price at BreckÂs. If there is something at BreckÂs that you just have to have then make sure that the price with discounts is reasonable. If you want a big order then break it up. BreckÂs will always come back with an offer of another discount.

If you want to check out a mail order source go to garden watchdog at
http://davesgarden.com/gwd/

Ian

Here is a link that might be useful: Botanus

Thanks Ian for the great info.

I would really like to get the pink daffodils from Breck's. The same from Botanus look kind of orange and not pink as they state in the descrip. Anyone willing to share the code on the back of their Breck's catalog if they are not making an order themselves??? That way I could split my order to receive more discount as Ian suggested. For some reason I'm drawn to brecks. It must be the photography playing tricks on me. The deal is $25 off so it may be worth while even though they are US prices. Thanks in advance. Their peony flowering tulips are pretty too....

I would trust Botanus colours shown in their catelogue/website before trusting the colours that Brecks shows for the exact same bulbs....experience speaking. Would you be ok with getting orangy daf's either way? Just don't want you to end up with something that you thought would be pink that turns out to be orange and be disappointed with your order from Brecks.

ceraholt - Just last week I just gave my second 'catelogue coupon' (that I just knew I'd eventually end up with more than one, as has been the case in the past, lol) to bonniebunch so she got my freebee codes, but if I get a third catelogue coupon, I'll drop you an email with the codes on it. Cheers.

ceraholt: In my experience, none of those pink daffs are ever pink - the best I've seen in my garden is somewhat apricot, and these are bulbs from Botanus and Vesey's, both places I would highly recommend - order their catalogues and do some comparison price shopping with Brecks.

I have never found the quality and variety in nurseries to be the same as that I have purchased from these companies - also, they will refund/replace bulbs which don't come up generally, and nurseries (like Humber which I frequent) do not offer the same deal.

I also recommend Valley K for lilies - mine are three years old now and simply awesome!!!

I bought our bulbs at Belgian Nursery in Breslau last year (it's worth the drive from Acton!). I thought they had a really good selection (a lot of unique stuff) good prices and best of all, everything came up great and did very well. I prefer to see what I'm getting rather than mail order unless it is something you can't find anywhere.

I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to add that www.flowerbulbsrus.com offer great deals on bulk quantities of limited selections of bulbs.

I also order from Botanus and love the quality and selection.

I know that you want to see the mail order catalogues only, but I always get mine at Costco. They are usualy around $11 for a package of 50 to 100 bulbs, the prices are around $11 - 12 and they always have additional $3 coupon. The variety is pretty good as well. The same applies to lilies, they sell for about $12.00 for a package of 30 and I have some pretty unusual varieties from them over the years.