New Lily Bulbs for Canada

I've been very pleased with my lilies from Faraway Flowers, a company that was new last year. They bring some very unique varieties to the marketplace with excellent quality and size. Just wanted to make sure lily lovers in Canada were aware that she has a branch open in Canada now.

Here's a link to the thread that got going last summer regarding these beauties.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/748077/

Cheers to lily season coming soon.
http://fararawayflowerscanada.vstore.ca/

Thanks for posting this.....I love lilies and I love looking at them. I haven't had much luck in my area the last few years...those darn little red bugs always get to them and I can't seem to keep them away so I took out whatever lilies I did have...so sad.

There is a lily grower/supplier in Alberta that has a very good reputation. www.valleyk.com

I couldn't agree more, joannabanana.

They are wonderful people and really know there stuff when it comes to Lilies.

The owner, Lynnette Westfall, stands behind every thing they sell and is right there to help via phone or email, almost 24/7. Wonderful woman to work with.

I have enjoyed the Lily Nook too. You lucky ducks have all sorts of options. I just had to share the newest one ;)

This message was edited Feb 2, 2008 11:35 AM

This message was edited Feb 2, 2008 11:35 AM

The Garden Watchdog has both of these vendors listed:

Faraway Flowers: http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/5851/
Valley K Greenhouses: http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/451/

We encourage all our members to be sure to leave reviews for every company you have ordered from - especially those that provided excellent products and services!

Sharing information in a thread is fun, but it will soon become lost as other threads overtake it. Putting your comments in the GWD will help others know who's great (and who's maybe not so great), and it's fairer to the vendors: in the GWD, they can post a rebuttal, whereas if something gets said about them in the forum that they feel is inaccurate or unfair, there's not much they can do to react.

I've swopped bulbs with Mainiac for the last couple of years. Have received good bulbs that grew beautifully last year. As all plant material entering Canada has to be inspected and accompanied by a phyto, do not think there is too much danger of pests coming into the country.

I always soak all incoming bulbs and iris rhizomes in javex and water for a minimum of 30 mins, to make sure I'm not adding any beasties to my garden. Am particularly scared of the lily beetle of course.

Our Manitoba lily fields and world reknowned annual lily festival http://www.lilyfestival.com would be severely compromised should the lily beetle become established in the prairies. As it has been seen here, the Manitoba Regional Lily Society has a 'lily beetle hot line' for reporting all sightings. MRLS gives advice and will come to your garden to show you how to eradicate this pernicious pest.

All three Canadian prairies are home to wonderful lily hybridizers and growers. All work extremely hard to grow and distribute the very best possible pest-free bulbs. (Blowing our horn a bit here).

We bring in boxes of iris for Northern Lights Regional Iris Society annually, with phyto, with no problems. We don't want to cause the iris borer - or any other baddie - to find a home here.

Nobody would knowing send out diseased plant material. It could ruin reputations.

inanda aka Ginny with lily & iris seedlings growing happily under lights.

Yes, Terry, GardenWatchdog is a wonderful tool. Comprehensive reviews are very helpful. I really try to rate every place I order from, you might notice the number of positive reviews for Faraway Flowers ;)

I feel a little jingle coming on.

I do love to share my favorite places with others, hoping that others may get that same enjoyment. I guess when I am won over, I like to share my enthusiasm ;)

"lilies from here, lilies from there, in my yard there are lilies everywhere"

how's that for a jingle?

but it's not really the same place, is it? It's in Canada, somewhere?

Did you e-mail your question? The offerings are identical to the American site. The Faraway Flowers owner has been really wonderful about answering my questions promptly in the past, so use the e-mail link and I am sure you will have an answer.

Is that what those little red bugs are called? 'lily beetle ??

Oh Dawn,

Lily people can go on forever about the !@#$ things.

You keep picking them off daily with gloves and eventually you manage to get most of them. A never- ending battle.

There are chemicals that you can use - am sure the US lily people will jump in here. Constant vigilance is the answer.

So, get a few lilies and check them daily. Go have a look at http://www.manitobalilies.ca The beetle info is in 'articles'.

inanda

Mags, yes I did send an email. Waiting for a response.

I'm sure Faraway flowers sells a good product, and plenty of DGers have been very happy with her. I did notice that the feedback in the Watchdog is quite recent, so nobody has had these lilies in their gardens for more than a season? Almost all of the feedback is from before the bubs are even planted.

I would just like to know where they were grown, and who is responsible for sending our orders once the bulbs arrive in Canada from ?(wherever)

I am quite cautious about lily bulbs now, as I think you probably are, after digging up and throwing away a few virused plants. A virus problem does not always show itself the first year a bulb is planted. I bought some from a reputable mail order bulb company here in Canada, not one of the specialty lily growers that I usually order my lilies from, and the second year two out of five Vivaldi were virused. I just don't know for sure how that happened. There is more to be concerned about than lily beetle or Japanese beetle spreading to our gardens, or getting a misnamed lily.

I might try a few bulbs from there, but want to make that decision after a few answers.

It is also good to remember that all lilies carry viruses, it's when a whole host of viruses infect a lily, that is when you come to seeing virus in a lily. I didn't used to understand that, but I believe that is how it works.

If I have a lily for one season and it blooms without viral presence year one, then some year down the road it becomes infected, I tend to blame the virus on myself. Even the growers will say that they although they thought a particular variety of hybrid lily was resistant to disease then over years come to find out differently and do not choose to carry that particular variety in their stock any longer.

I can't give a new company any more years experience than what they have been around. In comparisons to other reputable sources, I believe Faraway Flowers to be one of the best. I have treated their lilies like my other lilies and mulched them in well for the winter. As with other companies, I do the watchdog based on many parts of the process, from customer service to ease of ordering to product quality and finally bloom quality.

It's kind of fun dabbling here with you Canadians :)

Hi Magnolia, (Magnolia lover in WI) Just noticed WI Thought you were in OR. - Lily & iris paradise hee hee

Seeing as how you are in WI, tell us about the dread lily beetle whereyou re and how you control it.

inanda aka the other ginny

Well....I hesitate saying such things....but it isn't here in Wisconsin ;) It's probably only a matter of time, but we are very fortunate in that matter thus far.

Oh to be in the great Northwest in lily and iris paradise. We can't even think about spring with all of this snow. This has been quite the winter of snow.

I did ask Ramona who the Cdn. shipper was, but she wont say.

Inanda aka the other Ginny

I have had no reply to the email I sent from the storefront over a week ago, and no reply on either of the threads about her business, so I can only assume that as a customer???