During the last few years , garden antiques - urns , statue , even pave fabric - have been hot than the heart and soul of the compost heap . mass pay special for authentic rust , and unscrupulous somebody have even ransacked burial site for the weatherbeaten cherub and urns that collectors crave .
fortuitously , most people ca n’t yield to pay amount in the four or five figures for a century old lead urn - even if it did amount from an English state estate . This does not intend that they can not have garden antiques . Living old-timer in theform of heirloom bulbs and seedsare getting easier to come by every day . Some are a bit more expensive than their johnny - come - of late cousin-german , others may actually be meretricious .
Right now it is too later to indulge in heirloom seeds , although it is a estimable time to get your name on the catalog vendors ’ posting lists . Now is the time to think about the daffodils , tulip , daylilies and peonies that you desire for next spring . There are plenty of onetime variety out there waiting for you .
If you are front for something really old , try the little ‘ Guinea Hen Flower ’ or ‘ Checkered Lily ’ ( Fritillaria meleagris ) , a minor plant with pendant , tulip - like bloom that seem to be marked with a checker board blueprint . It is a true heirloom , document since at least 1572 . The ‘ Double Campernelle ’ Narcissus pseudonarcissus , white-livered and fragrant with rose - like blossoms , also harkens back to the era of Queen Elizabeth I of England . Compliment it with an strange short daffodil , ‘ Hoop Petticoats ’ ( Narcissus bulbocodium bulbocodium ) . As the name evoke , this cultivar has cup that await like honest-to-god - fashioned hoopskirt , and thin , almost insignificant petals . It has been on the scene since at least 1629 , nine years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock .
If you take caution against pernicious varmints that eat bulbs ( flora deep , skirt with fine crushed rock or use bulb “ Cage ” ) , then you may clothe comfortably in the ‘ Zomerschoon ’ tulip , the only pull through example of the sort of “ impoverished ” tulip that was worth a fortune during the 1600 ’s . ‘ Zomerschoon ’ is cream with red fire and feathers , and dates back to 1620 .
By the 1700 ’s “ Tulip Mania ” had already come up and gone in Europe , and tulips were a “ must have ” in home gardens . The “ Duc Van Thol”tulips go back to that time . They are short , 5 - 8 - inches improbable , and come in bright shades of pink wine , scarlet , violet and yellow . Intersperse brilliantly coloured glob of them with chunk of the white daffodil ‘ Avalanche ’ , which is also sometimes known as ‘ Seventeen sister ’ . This Narcissus pseudonarcissus , in finish since at least 1700 or before , has 15 - 20fragrant flowersper radical . For early interest , every gardenshould also have a turgid number of double snowdrops ( Galanthus nivalis ‘ Flore Pleno ’ ) . These are more showy than the single wood anemone , but just as refined . They have beendelighting gardenerssince at least 1731 .
A elevated tight-laced garden , especially a late straitlaced garden , had to have paeony . you could still purchase a not bad prim cultivar,’Festiva Maxima ’ , almost anywhere . This large white peony with deep red streaks has been popular ever since its introduction in 1851 . The one in my home garden increases gayly every year , and I expect that if subsequent generations of gardeners get together , it could go on for another C or so . Pair ‘ Festiva Maxima ’ with the reddish blue - pinkish ‘ Duchess de Orleans ’ that go out back to 1846 .
When I lived in a house that was built in 1926 , I had sport occupy the garden with early twentieth century cultivar . Among my favorite daffodils from the “ Roaring Twenties ” is ‘ Erlicheer ’ , featuring a cluster of fragrant chicken and ashen blossoms on each stem . One of the good daylilies ever , ‘ Hyperion ’ , dates from 1926 . It is magniloquent , with marvelously fragrant yellowed blooms . New hybrids come and go , but I do n’t cogitate that they make daylilies like ‘ Hyperion ’ much any more . you’re able to also still buy peony that were innovate during the ’ 20 ’s . ‘ Lady Kate ’ is a pinkish , straight - stem variety from 1924 , and ‘ Nippon Beauty ’ is ared singletype with endearing yellow petaloids in the center .
Once you have catch “ heirloom febrility ” , the disease will only grow bad . bung the febricity by seeking out vendors that particularise in heirlooms , and identify them as such in their catalogs . Some of the best merchants are Brent and Becky ’s Bulbs , 4763 Heath Trail , Gloucester , VA 23061 , tel . 804/693 - 3966 , or online at brentandbeckysbulbs.com ; Old House Gardens ( send $ 2.00 for catalog ) , 536 W. Third Street , Ann Arbor , MI 48103 , tel . 734/995 - 1486 or online at oldhousegardens.com ; and Gilbert H. Wild and Son , Sarcoxie , MO 64862 , tel . 888/449 - 4537 .
There is still time to collect and plant some garden antiques for next bound . They are among the best investiture . After all , heirloom plants are in all probability the only antiques that do n’t have to be insured or dusted and wait better when their feet are covered with dirt .
