Burpee: $10 off and a free pack of pollinators
The season kicks off with the new catalog from the W. Atlee Burpee Company (or just plain “Burpee” to us) as they celebrate their 140th year in the business.
The star of this year’s big Burpee show is a “meatball” — that’s the name of a new hybrid eggplant they’re introducing that’s said to be the meatiest eggplant ever. Also new is the “razz” blueberry — a perennial whose fruits are said to have a little raspberry kick mixed into their classic blueberry taste.
And while not a new plant, the garden tower — a combination planter/composter/worm bin that allows you to grow 50 different plants while turning your kitchen scraps into their food (!), all in a 2-foot-wide footprint — looks like something our many space-challenged garden listeners have long been yearning for. (It’s a composter! It’s a planter! It’s both!)
A 2016 bonus: You’ll get a free packet of pollinator-friendly seeds with every order—and $10 off that order if you mention my name (“Mikey”) at checkout. Visit the website or call 1-800-888-1447.
Iron-clad love apples from Gardens Alive
Gardens Alive has long been known as a premier supplier of non-toxic fertilizers and pest and weed controls, but at this time of year, their catalog also is filled with seeds. And, to stay close to their mission, they specialize in seeds of varieties that prevent problems before they start by being naturally pest and/or disease resistant.
One example is the “Organic Iron Lady” — a nice-sized slicing tomato that’s naturally resistant to early blight, the dreaded late blight and leaf spot. And the plants used to produce the seeds were grown organically!
There’s also a big selection of plants designed to do well in small spaces, including “Windsor,” a new pumpkin you can grow in a regular container or one of their space-saving “grow tubs” (kind of like a movable raised bed). And of course, more organic fertilizers and common-sense pest controls than you can shake a watering can at.
Bonus: Get $25 off an order of $50 or more by using the code 0168393. Visit the website or call 513-354-1482.
A perennial favorite
Bluestone Perennials has been around since 1972, specializing in the class of plants once famously defined by a gardening wag as “having the ability to live for many years had you not killed them.”
Bluestone gives you a great shot at dodging that definition and achieving actual perennialization with their hand-grown, carefully packed plants. Featured in this year’s catalog is the 2016 Perennial Plant of the Year — a new anemone named “Honorine Jobert,” whose white flowers with frilly yellow centers provide much-needed late summer color.
Bonus: If you act in the next few weeks (before Jan. 20), you can save money on plants that are deer-resistant, fragrant and/or new this season. Use coupon code 1600 to save $2 on any deer-resistant plant; use code 1603 to save $1.50 on a fragrant variety, and use code 1607 to save $2 on any plant that’s new for 2016 (such as the unpronounceable anemone above).
Spend $75 or more and get a free “surprise” plant (code 1604). Visit the website or call 1-800-852-5243.
Would you like chocolate sprinkles on that tomato?
The new Territorial Seed Company catalog features some intriguing introductions. “Chocolate sprinkles” is a new “bite-sized” tomato, meaning that the fruits are bigger than cherry tomatoes, but smaller than salad types. The tasty treats are a deep, almost chocolatey, color, and bred to resist cracking — an important attribute when summer weather swings from drought to deluge.
“Butterfly milkweed” is a new variety whose bright orange blooms will attract hummingbirds, butterflies and bees while the leaves provide food for baby monarch caterpillars.
And “Little White Snowpea” is said to produce its first tasty little pods just 30 days after the seeds sprout in your springtime soil. Yikes! That’s twice as fast as standard snow peas!
Of special note: Territorial says that their trial gardens and personal farms are managed using either organic standards, biodynamic or both. Visit the website or call 1-800-626-0866.
What to do about the region’s weird weather?
Pam in Tappahannock speaks for many when she writes, “The beautiful shrubs and bulbs I planted this fall are trying to bloom! How damaged will they be come spring? Will I get any blooms?”
Well Pam, over the years I’ve always been able to answer questions like this by saying, “don’t worry; the plants have been through weather like this before” — but that’s no longer true. As we leave behind the warmest fall and early winter in recorded history, we enter uncharted territory, and springtime bloom in 2016 will likely fall somewhere between sporadic and chaotic.
All we can do at this point is not panic and try to help the plants. Do not feed your plants; do not mulch them, and do not prune them. But do trust them. The plants want to live, and even if this year’s springtime show is a bit subpar, there’s no reason to believe that they won’t be healthy in the long run.
