Catalog shopping

I got the new van Bourgondien catalog in the mail last week.  I get a ton of plant and bulb catalogs—I’ve ordered from many with variable results. But I have been happy with the things I’ve ordered from van Bourgondien in the past—that’s where I got my 300 daffodils and I was very pleased with the quality of those bulbs.

Daffodils

I get so many bulb catalogs that I try to just toss them without looking at them. . . I can’t tell you (or more precisely, I won’t tell you) how many times I’ve ordered bulbs in the fall only to have them go to waste because of a combination of three things:  1) I don’t have time to plant them, 2) it’s too wet to plant them, or 3) it’s too wet to plant them when I have the time.  So I try to be realistic (always a challenge for me in any case) and just not order anything—tossing the catalogs without even opening them is the only way for me to accomplish this.  (And when I do that I always think of what my mom once told me—“What the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t long for.”  Boy, was she right-on about that.)

Queen of the night tulip

But THIS catalog had a little magic phrase in big purple letters in a big white box right down at the bottom. . . $50.00 worth of product free! (When you spend $100.) 

Now, spending a hundred dollars on bulbs is easier than you think—especially if you know you will get HALF of those bulbs FREE!  (Did they have me specifically in mind when offering this deal, or what? I can’t resist this ploy.)

So, I thought, well, I do have those new(er) front garden beds that do have a bit of room yet. . . maybe I’ll just take a quick peek through the catalog.  Usually I go through it once, marking off everything I might possibly want even the slightest bit, and then go back through and pare down and pare down until I have a list I can actually afford.  The first time through the catalog, I ended up with a total of $350 worth of bulbs and plants. . . but that was before I got to the SALE portion in the back—how can I resist tulips that are less than a dollar apiece??  By the time I got to the end of the sale section, I was at about $400.  This is more than I can afford (for bulbs, anyway), and definitely more than I would ever accomplish planting.

Red tulips

I went back through the catalog and pared down a bit. . . I don’t need 30 of the “All Summer Lily Mix (tall)” for $75—I’ll just get 20 for $50.  And the same with the “All Summer Lily Mix (short)”.  Pared down.  There. Now my total is $350. 

I think I still need to make a few tours through the catalog. . . I’ll let you know how it goes.