Timber Press sold!!!! to Storey in Vt. All you liliarians thinking about buying the Ed McCrae book, better go get it while it is still in print. This on top of Heronswood closing is just too much.
We gardeners are being victimized. Where will we be able to find those special must have plants, found only at Heronswood. Think I'll boycott Burpee from now on and tell them why. Thank heavens for Thimble Farms, where you can still find special goodies.
Inanda with first lily open - "Early Girl" a Patterson and my lone pumilum showing good colour.
Timber Press
Oh crud again! And I had just discovered Heronswood.....rats!
OH TELL ME IT ISN'T SO!!! I can see the wreckage coming!
Pard
Well the wreckage has arrived. Just received my internet order of what was supposed to be 3 different books from "Timber Press". Bear with me all, I just have to vent! I made the order Wed. Dec. 13 and immediately received the automated order confirmation which did NOT include the order number. Now normally I have always received a UPS tracking number the following day but by the end of the week-- nothing. So Sunday the 17th I compose and send an email asking why I have heard nothing more and by the way there is a charge on my card that does not jive with my order! I get a brisk reply Monday stating the order is in the system and the lady gave me the order number. OK. The rest of this week passes and the books just show up on my porch (I assume they are no longer doing tracking numbers). I open the box and find 2 copies of one book I ordered, 1 copy of another, and no copy of the third! They enclosed an invoice showing that that was what I ordered (no, that is not what I ordered). What the heck is the internet cart for? It records exactly what you choose to order and as such should be generating an invoice showing the same!
They will be hearing from me Tuesday. I don't think I should be inconvenienced to send the extra book back. I would happily donate it to our library. They need to send me the right book (no wonder the charge to my card was not what I expected). Since I will no longer be ordering from them I will not accept a voucher. When this is squared away I will unsubscribe to their newletter and delete the bookmark. They should change the name of the company, as should Burpee change Heronswood to something else. Both of these companies were named after PNW features.
Oh, and I received the "Heronswood" catalog the other day; perused it briefly and tossed into recycle bin. It was the "Isis" fuchsia that cracked me up-- I can usually get starts for 50 cents in the spring here.
Sad!!!!!
pard, my sympathies! If I had troubles on this side of the world then the law of the Universe states that you would also have trouble. You need to get that PRODOFFPARD spaceship into action!
Good for you to let others know about potential troubles, just what I would have/have done!
Yes wallaby, I suspect our mutual troubles are mystically related by the warped space-time continuum. Unfortunately the PRODOFFPARD won't be much help; after being parked idle for a little too long she wouldn't start up for me. So then she had to be TOWED, of all things to the space port repair shop! My insurance agent just laughed when I turned in my towing receipt for reimbursement, I mean what have I been paying all these towing premiums for? Just another frustration to go along with the Timber Press problem!
Finally I get a call from the repair shop (some Mr. Goodwrench, I think) and he tells me that the up-quark somehow got together with the down-quark (a big no-no for space-ship engines), which then caused the super-string fuel condenser to go kabluey and it would cost something like $93,876,237.12 to fix!! Like I have THAT kind of change just kicking around on the mantle! So anyway, to may a long story short, Chumbucket is out shopping (aka pirating) a new (or used) space ship. I told him he better check with the occupants about what kind of engine and fuel system it has so we don't get stuck with all this down time again. If he can't come up with something decent real quick may Santa will bring us one....
Whew! It's only Chumbucket. Then my ship is safe.
-- Sherleft
Pard, I know exactly what you mean about the Burpee "Heronswood". Even for here in Minnesota, which is years behind the PNW in the "cool plant" department, there were several common things in that catalog that were all trumped up.
Our NARGS chapter had an agreement with the old Timber Press on how we could get 40% off and no shipping, usually once a year. I wonder what is happening with that now. I will have to talk with our book sales chairwoman.
Oh Lefty don't be so smug. Do you think I would send Chum off without some UGOs and something new and more evil, UYOs? Notice that they are frozen in suspended animation-- they will keep for years in this state-- useable at any time....
I have never been to Heronswood or purchased from them, but there are a lot of unhappy people over that sad event. As for Timber Press, and if I recall right, I purchased McRae's lily book at a substantial discount when I joined NALS so there was probably a deal made there also.
The new publisher appears to be Workman Publishing Co. in New York. I am not going to say I won't ever buy a "Timber Press" book, but I sure won't do it by mail order after this experience. I'll look at it in the bookstore and buy there if I so choose.
Now that my throat feels better from the convulsions I suffered from learning of your dire situation in the wake of the festive season, let me offer you $93,876,237.12 worth of commiserations, sorry, don't happen to have that kind of dosh on my mantle either. Perhaps you could leave a note for Santa?
Santa's OK with a few lightweight seeds, but you know what the Carriage charges are now for long distance trips. But then if Santa knew how to pilot a new spaceship you might be in luck, he could place his sleigh on tow. Just warn him not to try your Insurance agent for recompense.
It sounds like Mr. Goodwrench is a bit of a qua(r)ck expert. Perhaps his name should be Mr. BadBlow. It's a shame you don't have an inhouse Mr. MechanoFixit. Good luck to Chumbucket, be sure he doesn't bring you home a pirated copy.
I only had to replace my TV, which at this time of year is useful to help avoid seasonal downtime, Santa said he would let me put it on his credit. I am indebted to him.
Sherleft, you do need your spaceship, nudge nudge wink wink. Keep a keen eye on it.
The Uunidentified Yule(?) Objects . . . .
or is it Yuts, Yuck, Yammering, Yyapping, Yowling, Yichk, Yiddish or Yellow (some look like corn to me).
No matter my dear.
This message was edited Dec 23, 2006 9:10 PM
Ugh!!! You were right Sherleft!! And I've been taken by a door-to-door snakeoil salesman!! He SAID these UGOs and UYOs were just what I needed to continue and succeed in the quest for the gloriowhatsit... Well it didn't take long for the ice to melt and reveal nothing but a pile of peas and corn. Not knowing what they might be tainted with I passed on the opportunity to eat them and promoted them to the compost bin. Of course it matters! I'm off to ebay now to seek a RELIABLE UGO vendor (with good feedback, of course).
Hmmm... haven't heard anything from Ol' Chumbucket...
Edited because I was getting mixed up with the stew I am making today...
This message was edited Dec 24, 2006 4:14 PM
Pard, no doubt you have put a Romani curse on your "Mr. Haney". I think no less of you by this incident. You are still a worth oponent.
---- Sherleft
All is well that ends well, at least with Timberpress. After 2 days of non-response to my emails, I called them yesterday. I explained about the duplicate book and the missing book and I requested that I be allowed to donate the duplicate book to our library. No problem she says. The missing book (Bulbs in Containers) was on my porch today.
I asked why there would be a discrepancy between my order in the cart and the shipping invoice; she said they rekey the information into a different system for the shipping invoice, so human error (maybe someone started work without their morning starbucks?).
But keep in mind I was talking to someone in the remnants of the Portland OR office and she just happened to have a copy of this book in her office, which is why I got it so quick. Once the Portland office closes it may well be a different story....
Don't give up on Workman yet. They are a nice small publishing house that has been putting out good books for years ( Silver Palate ck bk, for one) I was in the bookstore business for 30 years, so I dealt with them regularly. I suspect they will keep the Timber Press quality and depth in tact. Patti
This message was edited Dec 30, 2006 6:11 PM
Last fall I went to Amazon.com and bought Ed McRae's 'Lilies', Pamela McGeorge's 'Lilies' and another that I can't seem to locate right now. None were over $12.00 and the lowest priced was in the $2.00 range. They add $3.75? approx. for shipping per book. The total price was twenty-something. Pretty good, I thought.
Laura, how were those books? Any recommendations?
Do you mean what condition they were in? or which lilies I want... that would be most!! lol
You folks have inspired me to finally buy McRae's book. It's a valuable resource to have around. Bought mine on Amazon from a used dealer with excellent feedback. Sure makes buying it a whole lot more reasonable at $7.58 with shipping. My DH has had great success buying used from Amazon with books coming from great sellers in excellent condition.
All books are "used" after you open them a few times....
All the martagon growers should buy a copy of the Eugene Fox book on Martagons. Really great reading. Plus of course, you also need a copy of the Martagon CD from North Star Regional Lily Society.
inanda
I ordered a book from TimberPress website on Dec. 26th--it has already arrived. I had no problems with them.
Santa was good to me. A Timber Press book , Irises by Claire Austin, daughter of David Austin. Wonderful pix. In fact, a coffee table book. Good chapters about the different divisions of iris with their histories. Published 2005.
Guess we will have to see if Timber Press continues to publish such high quality books in future.
Inanda