"We’ll read in the autumn evenings; we’ll read many books, and a beautiful new world will open up before us.... "

“We just philosophize, complain of boredom, or drink vodka. It's so clear, you see, that if we're to begin living in the present, we must first of all redeem our past and then be done with it forever. And the only way we can redeem our past is by suffering and by giving ourselves over to exceptional labor, to steadfast and endless labor.”
                                    Anton Chekov-The Cherry Orchard

Oh, the parallels of this story to my life, the property on which Illahe sits is an old cherry orchard, I have a daughter named Anya and she is a virtuous and strong young woman much like the character in the play. The perpetual and endless labor of working the land. Clawing one finger hold at a time toward the top of the lower middle class........maybe some parallels are lost there, the aristocratic land holdings and such. I'm happy  to be much more the serf that bought the cherry orchard type. But I don't want to cut it down just yet. Too many harvests left in this lifetime. 

There was a small interest in the Carnivorous plants I was selling last year, I think I'll offer a few more of those again. I still have some nice Darlingtonia californica that I thought would be way more popular but really you all need to buy more of these so I can justify the water usage. On the non bulbous front I'll have some more of the Epipactus to sell as well.

Anya and I have been busy with the harvest, We setup in the shade of the cherry trees and thank the gods for some cooler weather! That's a stroke of luck I wasn't counting on, since it's been such a hot summer. 

Keep checking back because the list is coming soon!

Cheers, 

Mark Akimoff

Harvest Time

“Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.” 

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

Hmmmm.......Sound familiar to anyone? Seems to reflect some current situations we see today.......Imagine being the press secretary for such a buffoon. Professional liar. I think George Washington said it simply "It's better to offer no excuse than a bad one". I make no apology for politicizing a blog that is mostly about flower bulbs and i'll offer no apology for filling a political blog with so many posts about flower bulbs. 

Amaryllis belladona bulb

The harvest is on! The repotting soil is stacked by the yard, the racks of bulk bulb bins are laid out in the shop, the packing tape is locked in the dispenser. Here's to hoping it's a been a productive year!

The heat wave has broken, the first day below 90 in some time and finally a cool cloudy day, perfect weather to start the harvest!

Catalog coming soon.

Mark