Sunday, January 28

I Must Have Good Taste

I admittedly have only gone through three of them so far, but here is my standard procedure for dealing with Plant Delights catalogs:

1) Leaf through it page by page, checking out specific plants that catch my eye, careful to keep any drool from hitting the paper.

2) Start at the beginning and read each entry thoroughly. Appreciate some of Tony Avent's humor, roll my eyes at others of his jokes that aren't even a close miss. Circle plants that I would love to buy--to make this cut, they have to be a good fit for my garden both practically and aesthetically.

3) Go back through again, figuring out which plants I would actually buy at the prices listed--to make this cut, the plants have to actually have a specific opportunity (potential spot) in my garden as well.

4) Repeat step 3 until I have an order that is financially manageable.

Right now, I'm only through step #2 so I thought it would be fun to tally up what I would be spending at PDN this year if my yard and my wallet were both limitless. You ready for the total? $1077. YIKES! Damn those cool hellebores. And toad lilies. And grasses. And cannas. And... well, let's just say that I must have good taste. And that Plant Delights (and several other places, like High Country Gardens) would love to have me as a customer if I ever won the lottery.

16 comments:

Unknown said...

Annie, sorry about the trouble--I was fixing the time on the blog post since I started the post yesterday, and must have clicked near enough to the button to disallow comments to put it in effect!

Here is what Annie tried to say:
I've loved those catalogs for years, and have seen photos of Tony A., but the other day he was on Martha Stewart in person, which was fun and he has a nice voice. I wish I could spend a grand on his plants, too! Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Anonymous said...

Tony spoke here at Cornell a few years back. Seems like a great guy and he has a great story to tell. Probably one of the few people in the country to go from plant hobbiest to full-time, (relatively) big-time nursery owner.

Kim: Go for the cannas. I remember buying some from Plant Delights a few years back and thinking when they arrived, "I paid $17 for that little piece of ... root." Now I've got buckets full of roots to overwinter and tons to give away.

This year, that little piece of root is part of a container arrangement. Next year a large container all it's own. Pretty soon, you've got a dedicated canna border.

Chris Kreussling (Flatbush Gardener) said...

What I really want to order from Plant Delights is Amorphophallus titanum, However, lacking a year-round tropical greenhouse with at least 20 foot ceilings, I'll have to settle for lesser offerings. They do have some other monsters which could work well in the south border. It just depends on when we can get the roof done this year, whether or not I could get them in the ground in time for them to make a showing this year.

IBOY said...

The only thing that saves me is that 90% of the plants listed won't make it through our winters... if I lived in a milder climate like you, I'd hide under the couch when the PD catalogue came in the mail.
Don

Nickie said...

I feel your pain......I made a wish list myself and I fear to know how much it would cost. But grasses? Really? Whats the allure of grases in your garden? I think they look like weeds!

Anonymous said...

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Colleen Vanderlinden said...

Oh geez...I ordered the PD catalog for the first time this year, and I've been eagerly awaiting its arrival. Maybe that was a bad idea :-)

Ki said...

The trick is, go online do your ordering fill out the payment/shipping information and click as soon as the confirmation page comes up. What? $1077.00 well too late now! Just have to justify the bill to your SO.

Annie in Austin said...

Thanks for 'restoring' me, Kim:)I've noticed that when I roll the settings pages, sometimes the options will jump & change.

I've been able to share La Buffarosea rainlilies - these were bought at PD in 2000, for deck containers at our previous Austin house, and a chunk of 'Sum & Substance' has done well in the garden of my friend Barb's in IL.

But most of all that wonderful stuff that was bought for the IL garden, two houses back, had to be left there - I sure hope the people who now live there are enjoying them!

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Anonymous said...

There is never enough money for what we want to do in the garden. But there is always oppurtunity to make what we do spend satisfying.

Me, I've just survived my "danger" season. I'm like a crackhead but with bulbs. It truly is obscene. I simply cannot control myself. I order. I order more. I walk by a display and buy. I get to the check out counter and then go back to the display and get more. And then I wake up on fall mornings and go looking for even more. And then the orders arrive. I cannot get enough. And I get THOUSANDS of bulbs every year. Small ones. Large ones.

I don't do drugs but if crack addicts feel half of what I feel about bulbs, then they must most assuredly have it bad.

It is still cold here and I'm moving... so my seed sowing cycle will be interupted. But my mind is starting to drift to exotic delphinium seeds... and exotic digitalis seeds.

I'm beginning to get the shakes.

Damn... I can't afford this right now. I need a 12 step program.

Carol Michel said...

You probably need "adult supervision" when you are going through that catalog. But not one of us garden bloggers, we would just egg you on and you would end spending the $1077 plus!

lisa said...

Ah yes...the evil seducer...Plant Delights gets some of my money every year, and I wouldn't have it any other way! My problem isn't controlling myself ordering from ONE place-it's realizing my season TOTAL! I'm more of a "stoner" than a "crackhead" (as Clerk so eloquently stated), but I've still got a very powerful psychological addiction!

Unknown said...

Craig, but which canna? Problem is, I like so many of them! *grin* (Actually, I think I will allow myself the indulgence of one canna, one hellebore, and one euphorbia...)

Xris, I thought of your wonderful chronicle of the BBG's amorphophallus when I saw those in the PD catalog!

iboy... that's what I should have done. :)

GGG, I posted a comment on your blog to try to help "convert" you to grasses. I might have to try a whole post next! ;)

mrs. joseph, thank you for letting me know that you stopped by. As far as why I blog... well, it started out as a way to maintain a garden journal. I'm not so good at keeping a written one in spite of many attempts. Blogging serves the same function and I tend to actually keep up with it--because I can put pictures in with words, I think.

Colleen, you should have yours by now. What do you think?

Ki, LOL!

Annie, those rain lilies are gorgeous. I wish I had the right conditions for them. I'm trying to resist buying the golden surprise lily--it would be a huge stretch for me to overwinter in zone 6, but I'm drawn to it somehow.

clerk, I never would have pegged you as "a crackhead for bulbs!" LOL. Bulbs have never really enticed me, and I don't know why. I can "push" you some exotic digitalis seeds next summer, though: I have many plants of digitalis parviflora in my garden and would be happy to save and send you some seeds if you'd like.

Carol, so true re: supervision needed... in more ways than one! And I'm definitely not asking you to help keep me in line after reading your second sentence. :)

Lisa, don't even talk about totals. Seriously! I try not to think about that if I don't have to... *grin* (Did I mention that I placed a big order with Bluestone a week or so ago? And that I bought more seeds today?!)

Unknown said...

Craig, on second thought... maybe two hellebores. And two cannas. And of course the euphorbia. :D

Anonymous said...

"Drool hitting the paper" the only thing I could do was laugh my ass off. Too damn funny.

Remember Ma'am step slowly away from the catalogue.

Mary said...

You want to talk about spending your life savings on drool-worthy plants? Check out Heronswood Nursery:
http://www.heronswood.com/

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