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Direct Gardening

We emigrated to Canada from the UK 20 years ago,we will be celebrating our 20 year anniversary in November of this year I never regret our move but a couple of times a year usually spring and fall I sometimes wish we had chosen to relocate to the US instead ,not for any other reason than I envy the Americans their plant selection choices, that they have available to them in their online gardening catalogs such as that of Direct Gardening. I always try not to look, as I know US based companies like Direct Gardening cannot ship to Canada because of customs regulations, the same is regrettably true about pond fish suppliers, I have been looking for golden Orfe in Canada for years now if I lived in the US AH !. I wouldn’t care but we live so close to the US border here in Niagara ONT, it just seems so unfair.

Believe it or not up until last summer I had never tasted fresh asparagus (my family do not like vegetables over much doubly so unusual looking vegetables or those that don’t come in tins) . My youngest daughter who isn’t quite so faddy as the rest was with me grocery shopping, the asparagus was on sale just 99c lb, she said lets try some ,so we took it home, cooked it, loved it ,been hooked ever since, and wanted to grow some myself as I read it was an easy plant once established , couldn’t find it anywhere in any Canadian catalog anywhere unless it was from a farm supply catalog where the minimum you could buy was a 120 plants, all I wanted was four or five, but no joy. A friend who knows some one who has a farm eventually said he would get some for me but so far hasn’t shown up with the goods.

So imagine my frustration when I caught sight of the Direct Gardening website and right off the front page in a Direct Gardening 1c sale was asparagus not just one but two kinds

Jersey Knight $4.95 for 5 plants add just a cent and get ten plants and Mary Washington even cheaper at 5 plants for only $3.95. I wouldn’t care but on the very same page of the Direct Gardening 1c sale was another plant I have been coveting forever, for around my pond, Arum Italicum 3 plants for $4.99 add the cent get 6. there are no deals like that in Canadian catalogs .Arum Italicum is an unusual eye catching plant and to quote the Direct Gardening blurb “The Italicum Arum is also known as Orange Candleflower because of its 12-14″ spike of vivid orange berries.

This exotic plant puts on a show from late spring until fall. The Italicum Arum produces creamy white flowers that appear first followed by the striking berries. The show isn’t over yet as white speckled leaves appear and last into winter. This is truly a plant for all seasons.”

And still on the same page of that oh so enviable Direct Gardening website is a plant I have never heard of or seen before but its going to be my number one mission to find plant for this season, to quote the Direct Gardening blurb again Cherry, Hansen’s Bush

“Sixteen quarts of sweet cherries from a single, 3-year old bush. Hansen’s Bush Cherry are beautiful flowering shrubs and virtual “Cherry Factory,” especially when two or more are planted for pollination. They Grow in cold, rigorous climates where regular cherries won’t, producing white flowers starting in may, followed in the fall with 1/2″ purple-black cherries for eating from the bush, preserves or pies. Plant Hansen’s Bush Cherry 2′ apart for a cherry hedge. Drought resistant. Sturdy number one plant 1 1/2-2foot.”

Just to torture myself further checked out the Direct Gardening grass collection and sure enough there it was and to quote Direct Gardening yet again “Japanese Bloodgrass is an ornamental grass with tufts of intensely red leaf blades that will add a striking touch to any landscape. It has an upright and open growth habit, grows 12-18″ tall. Use for borders and rock gardens. Does best in full sun. Drought resistant.”

I get so annoyed and envious of the ease by which if I just lived 30miles further south I could have all these plants and at great prices, well never mind perhaps the search of finding a much coveted plant on a website this side of the border just adds to the fun of the search and the satisfaction when one is eventually located or at least that’s what I tell myself. Its probably just as well I live this side of the border as I don’t think my garden can actually hold all the plants I would like to order from Direct Gardening if it were possible for me to do so.