Hi Adam and everyone, Hmm. So it was not just me having little success with Minnow. Someone had problem with his Thalia earlier this year. I forgot where he got it from. Sun Disc/Sundisc didn't live long for me either. Just too crowded in my garden. Craigford is a mid season bloomer. Much earlier than Geranium. Looks almost like Geranium. Smells good too. re Leucojum. LOL. Amanda is right. Way too many leaves. Stay green longer than narcissi too. :-P But I love them. Planted only 25 the first year. Loved it so much I added 100 the next year. A mistake, because they multiply like rabbits. :-) I suggest that you plant no more than 25-30 and quite far apart, say 2' to give them room to increase. I like mine right in front of the border between Alchemilla mollis so I can admire its delicate beauty and Alchemilla can hide the Leucojum later in the season. Since it is white, it goes well with everything. I have clay soil. I learned that large size narcissi don't mind it one bit, but miniatures don't like it at all. I planted a couple hundred of N. bulbocodium on my lawn that had not really been cultivated hoping to get a drift of it. Didn't work. Only one bloomed then totally disappeared. Nell's reading suggestion is good. My soil is heavy clay. I have amended it over the years. In fact, I add leaves in the planting hole as I go. Here is what I actually do when I plant blulbs: Dig a deep hole, place a handfull of leaves and a pinch of bone meal at the bottom- a bit of soil-large bulb-a bit of soil & bone meal-a handful of leaves-a bit of soil with bone meal-minor or small bulb-soil-leaves-soil-another bulb-soil-leaves and a bit of soil. I call it composting in situ. LOL. My own invention. Works like charm. My garden beds is quite loamy now. Still rather heavy, though. I may plant 2 or 3 bulbs in one hole, depending on what I have. When I have mulch and/or compost I dump the whole thing on top of the beds whenever I clean them up.

I am glad I brought my question here as I was about to bite the bullet on buying 300+ tulips from another supplier not mentioned above that I just found has pretty terrible reviews. Close one! Although I am disappointed in hearing that "in general" tulips do not naturalize as well as I had thought (my wife being more disappointed) I am not a fan of plants that are not dependable or that I have to baby too much. I much rather have something grow too strong and pull out extras than worry about replanting the same thing every year. So for that I thank you all. I think to go for the impact I wanted originally I will plant an 8 inch deep border of Muscari in front of the beds stretching all the way around the house (love that river bright blue look) and then plant Crocus and Narcissi behind it. How is the timing of these with some spring blooming perennials like Nepeta and Salvia? Adam

Perhaps ornamental gardening is on the decline but when I attended a free gardening class a couple of months ago at a local nursery (The Natural Gardener), the nursery expected about 100-150 people. There were over 300. The class was about growing your own vegetables. (I ran into one of the nursery employees outside of the store a week later and discussed this with her because I was shocked by how many people were there.) I attended another free class on growing fruits and berries, and again, the class was packed. This nursery holds these classes every year so they can compare the attendance from previous years. Thus, from what I've seen there is still a strong interest in gardening in Austin, Texas and I don't have any other areas to compare this to. Maybe it's because we're a college town? In December, I personally bought two persimmons, two pear trees, one jujube, five blackberries, eight asparagus, 4 lbs of Jerusalem artichokes and various veggie seeds. I'm guessing that the people I see who are now interested in gardening in Austin (and were not before) want to cut the cost of their groceries, and I believe they are trying to do this by growing their own fruits and vegetables. That's exactly what I'm doing and that's what my neighbor does down the street. (So, yes, I've been to the grocery store.) I've also heard the following types of calls more often on the local gardening radio show: "Hi, I want to do a raised bed for vegetables but have never made one before..." or "How much sun does a vegetable garden need?" However, Austin may be different from other areas of the country. I know we have a longer growing season. I also know that most of us in Texas use natural gas for heating, not oil, and I believe the price of natural gas actually went down plus our weather has been mild, so this would not contribute to the increased cost of plants or compost obtained from Texas suppliers. (Today the temp. was in the 70's and it's expected to stay that way all week.) Right now, gasoline is about $1.79/gallon for unleaded. You would hope if the cost of gasoline went down that other costs affected by this would follow...Guess not. Maybe that's the reason as suggested. However, we can grow our own citrus in the valley, and the cost to truck it here isn't as bad as trucking it from California or Florida. (I've been buying Texas oranges and grapefruits and they were reasonably priced.) So, for Austin, Texas, I'm still not entirely sure why the costs are going up.

Ooooh, I love this post. I recently moved to Colorado (Littleton) in late August from my home state of Michigan and was wondering where all the good nurseries were! There a few small ones by me. As for seeds, I like to order from Jung's, Baker Seeds, and Burpee (their catalogs, like most seed catalogs, have much more variety than what is sold in stores). I will also order from an odd catalog or two I get, but the ones I named are where I order the most. For live plants, I like High Country Gardens and David Austin. Four years ago I ordered one of Jung's perennial gardens for sun. They came in 3 inch pots and I wasn't sure they would make it through the Michigan winter. Three summers in, I had the most lush, beautiful perennial garden I could hope for. I will definitely take the gamble on Jung's perennial garden again once I find a permanent home in CO. At least I am in same zone here as I was in MI so hopefully I will have the same success!