Van Engelen's End of Season sale has begun!

I got an email from them last night - 30% off their remaining outdoor bulbs (not paperwhites or amaryllis, though). http://www.vanengelen.com/catview.cgi?_fn=Specials

It's probable that Scheepers has started their sale, too but I didn't check their website yet.

everyone has started their sales-got emails from park,dutch garden,high country and a few more-but after berts co-op im spoiled!!!!
I need to see if bert has anything left my xsil wants bulbs now-slowpokes!

I got the same email, called first thing this a.m....they are out of everything I wanted :-(

Well phooey. Perhaps it's just as well - it's not like I need to be buying more bulbs ;0)

Van Engelen still has some things... you just have to search. I found some oriental lilies I wanted...

I put in a $200 order first thing! MY DH will kill me. I still have not planted all my bulbs from last spring. LOL

Anyone see a sale on amaryllis?

I still have some:

Hyacinths Pink $ 0.28 - these are gone
Scilla Siberica $ 0.04
Specie Crocus mixed $ 0.04
Muscari Latifolium $ 0.06
Narcissi Tete a Tete $ 0.11
Narcissi Geranium $ 0.13
Allium Moly $ 0.03
Tulip Negrita $ 0.13 - these are gone
Paperwhites $ 0.25


This message was edited Wednesday, Nov 13th 8:03 PM

This message was edited Wednesday, Nov 20th 11:40 PM

I would love to have

Scilla Siberica
Allium Moly
Siberian Squill

you have mail.

I'd like some Allium Moly if you have any left. Could you email me with details? Thanks

GV (and anyone else), since the Elephant Ear co-ops were cut short, I've been looking for alternative (and inexpensive) sources for uncommon Alocasias, Colocasias and Xanthosomas. Do any of the flowering bulb companies ever include bulbs/corms for these? Maybe for Caladium bicolor?

Any other suggestions for sources?

Bert's prices and quality can't be beat, though Van Engelen
still has some good values.

http://www.vanengelen.com

Check out the Brooklyn Botanic Garden for some landscaping ideas with bulbs,

http://www.bbg.org

Rik, some of them probably do, but given your zone, you would probably be better off waiting until spring to obtain and start, unless you like fussing with dormant/semi-dormant tubers all winter :) Also, I'm not sure they'll ship this time of year - only the tropical plant places are going to have much in that department, I would think...

Thanks for responding, GV. Can you point me toward any likely candidates among the bulb companies? I've already been scouting unlikely sources, like poison dart frog sellers that have Alocasias for terrariums, with reasonable success. Any other creative ideas?

As for dealing with dormant tubers, I'm growing them in my greenhouse and basement with grow lights for the spring. Since they are from the tropics, dormancy is a survival mechanism that is not needed in most of their native environments. So, a dormant period isn't necessary as it may be for other bulbs/tubers, etc.

Most of my Alocasias and Colocasias are less than a year old and wouldn't have formed a large enough rhizome to survive winter dormancy. I have corresponded with many people who have bought new Alocasias or Colocasias in the spring (not as dry rhizomes, but as plants), and, in the fall, they carefully followed the instructions they have read here and elsewhere for putting them in a state of dormancy and maintaining them for the winter, only to find a pot with nothing but soil in the spring.

Their plant had been growing with healthy roots but had not lived long enough to form a rhizome -- a thickened stem that either sinks into the soft medium they are growing in or lays over (like a bearded iris) as old leaves die and elongates on it's side. I have just run into a form of Black Magic that seems to form a bulbous tuber at its base very early, and I've seen this on the big, backyard elephant ears. Storing those in a dormant state through the winter would work fine, but it is not a recommendation that should be given out unilaterally or unconditionally. Most new (first-year) Alocasias and Colocasias will not survive a winter dormancy.