Each collection is a finished planting plan. The thinking is done, you just plant.
COLLECTION_IMAGE: Balcony & Pot Collection
Balcony & Pot Collection
In store this fall: $27.99
Pre-order price: $25.19
Four packs of bulbs, chosen because these are the ones I plant in containers myself: Crocus Snowstorm, Muscari Mount Hood, Narcissus Minnow Tops and Anemone Blanda Mix. All four stay compact and do well in the small amount of soil a pot holds, so they suit a balcony, a doorstep or a planter by the front steps. You supply the pot and the soil, and the bulbs arrive as four sealed packs ready to go in. Planted in October, they give you colour from late winter into April.
COLLECTION_IMAGE: Hardneck Garlic Trio
Hardneck Garlic Trio
In store this fall: $28.99
Pre-order price: $26.09
Three packs of seed garlic, three different hardneck varieties, nine seed bulbs in total. I grouped the hardnecks because they are the ones that handle a real Canadian winter, and they give you the curly scapes to cut for the pan in June. Plant them in October and lift full heads in July. The flavour is a long way from supermarket garlic.
COLLECTION_IMAGE: First Colour of Spring
First Colour of Spring
In store this fall: $33.99
Pre-order price: $30.59
Four packs of bulbs picked for one job, which is being the first thing out of the ground: Snowcrocus Early Gold, Crocus Spring Beauty, Leucojum Gravetye Giant and Anemone Blanda Mix. These are the ones that open while February is still doing its worst, and they carry the garden until the tulips get going. Plant them in October somewhere you walk past every day, and the grey end of winter gets a lot easier to sit through.
COLLECTION_IMAGE: Squirrel-Resistant Collection
Squirrel-Resistant Collection
In store this fall: $38.99
Pre-order price: $35.09
Five packs of bulbs that the squirrels usually walk right past: Narcissus Tete a Tete, Narcissus Jetfire, Allium Purple Sensation, Muscari Night Eyes and Leucojum Aestivum. Squirrels treat freshly planted tulips like a buffet, so I put together the ones they tend to leave alone, for anyone who has dug a hole in October and found it empty in November. Planted in October, the first of them are up in late winter and the alliums finish the run as spring goes on.
COLLECTION_IMAGE: Bulb Lasagna Kit
Bulb Lasagna Kit
In store this fall: $49.99
Pre-order price: $44.99
Four packs of bulbs and one 500 g bag of Gaia Green All Purpose, put together for layered planting in a pot you already own. The pot and the soil are not part of the kit. Tulip Negrita goes in the deepest layer, Narcissus Tete a Tete sits in the middle, and Crocus Mixed Colours and Muscari White Magic go near the top, so one container keeps flowering from February through to May instead of giving you two good weeks and then going quiet. The bag of Gaia Green feeds the whole stack.
COLLECTION_IMAGE: Statement Collection
Statement Collection
In store this fall: $52.99
Pre-order price: $47.69
Five packs of bulbs for the spot everyone can see: Allium Giganteum, Allium Mount Everest, and Eremurus in copper, pink and yellow. The two alliums carry round purple and white heads on tall stems, and the Eremurus, sold in many places as foxtail lily, sends up its spires after them, so the show keeps moving from late spring into early summer. These want room around them, along a fence or at the back of a bed, and they are the ones the neighbours end up asking about.
COLLECTION_IMAGE: Cut Flower Collection
Cut Flower Collection
In store this fall: $54.99
Pre-order price: $49.49
Five packs of bulbs chosen for the vase rather than the border: Tulip Silver Cloud, Tulip Salmon Dynasty, Tulip Negrita, Narcissus Falmouth Bay and Leucojum Gravetye Giant. I picked varieties that come into flower one after another instead of all at once, so you can cut a fresh bunch for the table over several weeks. Plant them in October in a row you do not mind picking from, because a cutting patch does look bare once you have been at it.
