Bulb Information, Growing Daffodils, Non-Daffodil

Garden Store Bulbs

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Thanks to those who pointed our Juanita.  Duh! I just didn’t consider enough permutations of the letters of Junaita. Did you know that an anagram of Juniata or Junaita or Juanita is Altun Ja ?

I visited one of the bigger garden stores, not a chain, yesterday and found:
Barret Browning 5/$4.49
Exception 5/$4.49
Ice Follies 5/$3.99
Jetfire 8/$2.99
Scarlett O’Hara 5/$3.99
Téte a Téte 8/$2.99
Thalia 5/$3.99
Topolino 5/$3.99
They had a large crate of very large bulbs of Dutch Master which were $1.79 per bulb (!?)
This store had a much larger selection last year and that seems to be the case all around.
I certainly subscribe to caveat emptor with such bulbs, but I want to know what is being sold locally before our sale so we don’t incur the wrath of local friends by charging too much by comparison.  But I also grab such stuff at the end of the season, often at bargain prices. I can always find a place to plant them, sometimes at the library or in a friend’s yard. 

George Dorner
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Palindrome for Today
 Ten animals did slam in a net.


1 comment for “Garden Store Bulbs”

  1. Dear Ladies and Gentlemen…
     
    George has touched on a very serious note…determining local retail prices for daffodil bulbs at the large ‘box’ outlets and other non, full-service and reputable garden centers.  I was told some time ago by a purveyor of quality daffodil bulbs the following story:
     
    Once growers have harvested literally hundreds of thousands of bulbs, these bulbs go through a multi-step process of drying, cleaning AND…GRADING!  The growers must sell every bulb they can and the top bulbs go to the brokers willing to pay the highest price for exceptional, quality bulbs.  Once the quality bulbs are sold, the remaining bulbs, many of which are less than ‘fully mature’ will be sold to the low-end brokers who have contracts with the large chain (boxes) stores; Lowes; Home Depot; Costco; Sams Club; Wal Mart, etc.  Yes, John and Mary Doe will ‘get what they pay for’ and enjoy beautiful flowers…many of which would more than likely win a ribbon, if properly ‘dressed and shown’.  However, the bulbs our Societies purchase from the ‘high end’ bulb purveyors will usually be a higher quality bulb that has been dried and cleaned professionally under the scrutiny of people like many of the familiar ADS friends whom we know and respect.  Any attempt to name several would leave out many others who deserve our business!
     
    Simply put, we do not need to make any excuse for the prices we charge for the bulbs we sell, we only need to always assure our customers they are receiving the highest grade bulbs that money can buy. 
    When we purchase from ADS and The Daffodil Society members, we are obtaining high quality bulbs that are worth every penny (dollar or pound) that we spend.  It also enables those individuals to continue their time consuming and difficult business of providing new and beautiful varieties.
    Please keep up the good work, all of you in the bulb business! 
    Good Luck!
    Ross 
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