Hi Susan,

What's PD stand for? :)

GH

Plant Delights Nursery, I think.

BTW, you haven't seen nothing yet. We have perfect economic conditions for inflation like in the 70's. This time around the government is hiding the inflation in their statistics however. What you don't know can't hurt ya.

Are you talking the late 70's/early 80's when the banks all went kaput? I worked for FDIC then when we handled all the failures. Actually they were poorly run, virtually NO underwriting, bank managers obtaining blank signatures on notes and collecting the money themselves, leaving the maker liable, directors rubberstamping everything that came before the board despite knowing it was wrong. And, people should know that FDIC only guarantees up to $100,000 per account. After that, you're on your own. Oklahoma City was the center of the drama - remember Penn Square? The hoodlums were seated in their million dollar chairs right here in middle America.

Yes, I did mean Plant Delights. Sorry for the Acronym, I forget that not everybody knows who I'm talking about. Works both ways - sometimes I don't know what you guys are talking about either.

I checked out Asiatica Nursery and its $65 there, so maybe $35 is going to be the most reasonable price for this newbie for now.

Susan

Hey Susan, PDs catalogs seem like their always overpriced. Yet I still find myself bying a few choice plants from them here and there...

If you do order from Heronswood, make sure to harass them for a full list of plants. They only list some of their stuff online. They have tons more at the nursery.

They have some of the coolest and largest arisaemas in their gardens. Some are 4' tall and larger. And their flowers, ohhhh, enough to drool over!

I live a few doors down from them... I guess its luck, Or is it not so lucky... (They seem to get an awful lot of business from me!)

Take it easy, Jeff

Hey, Jeff, ole Buddy - it would help if you could clue me in to what they might have that's not on their list, or all of us for that matter. I did get nepenthoides from them last year. I like their plants. Always nice and hardy looking. I found myself liking theirs much better than PD's last year.

Just as a test, I ordered the same plant from both PD and Heronswood last year (not an aroid). The one from Heronswood took off and grew like the gorgeous thing it truly was. The one from PD wimped along, and it may do all right, but nothing like the HW plant.

Susan

I thought you were looking for just arisaemas. (As if a true garden geek can only look at 1 type of plant!)

Anyways, they have a ton of arisaemas. They have hydrangeas, gunneras, skunk cabbages, lots of gingers, lillies, cannas, iris, agaves, bannanas, hardy orchids, cacti, paris, podophyllums, some really cool ferns (including tree ferns), tree dahlias, a million types of perennials, trees and shrubs. (Ive got at least a few of everything...)

I was actually looking at them online for arisaemas once and realized they have only about 1/4 of what they actually carried at the time. As far as other plants go I really never paid to much attention because I just go over there quite to often...

They just changed their mailing catalogs this year which really irks me cause the old catalogs used to be about 250 pages give or take(no photos) , and now its a 60 page photo catalog that takes only a minute to flip through.

They probably only put online what they have in large quantities and leave some of the lesser known offline. I'd email them for a list of arisaemas though, thats where half my collection has come from.

Also a lot of people whine because they say they get small plants, well for the price you pay and the fact that they propagate most of their plants by hand I still like them!

Anywho, if I can help with anything let me know! Feel free to email me if your looking for something -different- and I might be able to give you an idea.?.?

Take it easy -Jeff

Oh yeah if you are ever in the area they have a few acre walk through garden that is absolutely amazing!

Well, you do realize that Burpee bought them out last year? I would imagine they are trying to save money. Also, you used to have to pay $5.00 for that catalog, and this one is free.

I go to the online site and go thru it, although they don't have photos for a lot of their stuff and a lot of their stuff is for sale on site only.

But they DO have a much bigger choice of things, albeit, a different focus, than PD. I have to be careful. Because some of the things that do well in zone 7 in the PNW don't do well in zone 7 of the South. Like they will say in their description of a zone 7 limit plant, "likes cool, moist soil".... Well, August in Oklahoma, ain't nothin' cool about it. I might try it anyway, if I really like it, and it just goes dormant that time of year, or I might be unlucky and the heat will flat kill it. I have just always had great service from them, they pack their plants well, and it never fails that they have what I'm looking for.

Susan

Hey Susan, Yeah I know they were bought out, Ive been going there for a few years now. I would gladly pay for their previous catalog to keep it up. Also you only pay once and then they keep sending it for a few years, and only stop if you dont order again.

I do have a confession though, dont tell anyone-but the PNW gets really warm in july-sept, up to high 90'sF at most times, occcasionally 100F. Very dry-no rain but the rare shower. Yet we get plenty of rain in the winter. I think we average about 35 inches of rain a year, which really aint that much. We like to tell everyone it always rains to keep them away! Ha ha ha-so keep the secret going!

The reason Hinkley has so many cool plants here is because we are in the land of microclimates. It can be 10-15 degrees different from 1 side of my yard to the other. Im really pushing the zones this year, so hopefully we'll have an easy rest of the winter and Ill enjoy some really cool plants again!

I just set up a gravel bed with agaves and such-and with all the gravel and rock I bet it topped out around 115-120 this year because of the reflected heat!

Heres to hoping for a short winter and early spring! Take it easy -Jeff

Agaves, huh? I can't find them interesting yet. They look like larger versions of what we used to make in kindergarten out of constructon paper to hang on the Xmas tree. And they are not very gardener friendly.

Right now I'm getting interested in the solanacea family, too. Some of them are not very gardener friendly, either, but they are terribly diverse and support a host of moth caterpillars and are gorgeous plants. I know you're thinking of regular old tomatoes or eggplants. But, some of these, like the daturas and brugmansias, and the really unusual solanums (like the "udder" fruit), are fantastic!

Susan