Re: I give up!

Chris, I buy Caladiums in bulk from a grower in Florida - have done
so for several years now.  I get 50 white and 50 red and 25 of a fancy
lance-leaved type - those are minimum orders but the price is great.
I share them with my club members at my cost, and pot up some in
peat pots to sell to District members at the District Board Meeting in
June at about what they would pay for plain bulbs elsewhere.  That
dirrerence goes as a profit to the club.  One of my club members has
a standing order for a dozen whites and usually takes more.  Some
District members also have standing orders.  The bulbs are great -
some will be already sprouting - and the bulk price is great.  They
come late because the nursery will not ship them until after Memorial
Day weekend to our area.  Probably because we are the end of their
season, they usually throw in extras - looks as if they just empty the
end of their bin into our box.  This year they were a bit slow to start,
but when they did start they just exploded.  Some of my 'Red Flash'
are more than a foot across, and the 'White Christmas' aren't much
smaller.  The 'White Wing' lance-leaved with pink markings and a 
green edge, are smaller but quite striking.  They all make handsome
pots around the yard and on the doorsteps, but the big red ones
planted behind the Artemisias in the front bed are stunning.
One of my members has had success wintering the bulbs over, and
one year I brought a few back, but they were never as fine as the 
first year - in addition to being a nuisance to care for.  At the price
we pay for them, it makes more sense to me to start anew each
season with big, healthy bulbs.  It's like Poinsettias - I do know how
to make them produce their "bloom" by controlling their light-dark
hours, but why go do all that bother.  I don't like Poinsettias anyway,
so just throw them out and get a new one next year.
Auralie
 
In a message dated 8/15/2008 6:12:21 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
chris@widom-assoc.com writes:

don't know how you keep it up! Age is a factor, no matter how much we try
to deny it. I would probably be throwing in the "trowel". Your silver garden
sounds lovely!  That's the way to go I guess. You must have some tall
caladiums to grow in the middle of those artemisias! Do you grow them
yourself? I found that they were slow to come up indoors when I tried to
grow them one year.





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