Some Rain lilies and the Reference Catalog

"Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall" 

                                                                        F. Scott Fitzgerald

In my mind I know it's way too early to even think about saying fall, but after the summer we have had I feel like the highs in the 70's and the lows in the bottom of the 50's have felt like heaven and the emergence of some of the fall bloomers has made it really feel like we are almost there. 

Zephyrathes labbufarosa

I've been collecting all the rain lilies I can find lately, they seem to be hardier than I thought and doing just fine here at illahe. The sporadic summer flowering does really add some interest and I'm excited to see if they have a big flush this fall when the rains hit. 

Amaryllis belladonna

Belladonna means beautiful woman, and apparently ventian women used to drop the poison of Atropa belladonna in their eyes to make the pupils dilate, a form which was apparently much more attractive then no posion in your eyeballs.  I think the specific epithet on the naked ladies is fitting. This is the one that came from my late grandmas house. They seem to take the occasional year off from blooming but this year they are shooting up everywhere. 

The autumn crocus are starting in to bloom now

The season definitely does feel like the summer is waning a bit now, the cooler weather was so nice and maybe that is the trigger for the colchicums to start emerging?

Zephyranthes grandiflora

Another of the spectacular rain lilies that just keep throwing up flowers every couple weeks through the summer. 

As mentioned the cooler fall weather has been soooo nice! Actually could get out and get some work done in the nursery and greenhouse this weekend without risking heat stroke!

Here is a link to  the Full catalog for anyone looking for a reference. Shipping is done for the season so don't order from it. Next year I'll probably have a website setup so this may have been the last of the old school blog catalogs. I'm also exploring shipping more potted plants and bulbs in growth, so stay tuned for that. 

Click below for the catalog:

2021 Illahe Rare Bulbs Catalog

Cheers, 

Mark

The Harvest and Catalog Update

"The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary."
 ~ Vidal Sassoon



It's that time of year again when work hours go from long days to the seemingly never ending, the bulbs are being harvested and repotted and the bags of saleable stock are being lined out on the shelves ready for your orders. 4 yards of my custom blended potting mix is piled up and shovel ready. With a little luck and determination, I'm hoping the 2020 catalog will be out late next week. I will continue to update here.

For my day job at the Lord and Schryver Conservancy, this is a fun time as I get to be a bulb buyer instead of a seller. This time of year I'm busy with research, planning and ordering to recreate the historic flower displays that Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver drew and planted at the famed Gaiety Hollow garden. This particular year I'm recreating the 1956 design, that featured heavy use of lily flowered tulips and the newly developed Ideal Darwin varieties of the day. I thought I would share a few of the fall bulb catalog gems I ran across in my research this year:

Gone are the days when you could get 100 Fritillaria recurva for $12, as in this 1929 W.E. Marhsall and Co Fall bulbs catalog. 

How about the selection of species tulips in this 1956 Wayside Gardens catalog!

It's fun to read through the old catalogs and to try to match the selections with today's modern varieties and occasionally find a heirloom that has survived the test of time.  

As it never fails to do, the weather turned hot and dry for the harvest, temps moderating a bit this week after a solid run of days in the 90's last week.



Stay tuned for a catalog release date that is coming soon!

Cheers,

Mark