I have a bee in my proverbial bonnet about a certain flower. Until today I couldn’t figure out what it was called exactly. I could only describe it, which usually brought blank stares or puzzled looks from the unsuspecting witness to my enthusiasm.
You must understand, Dear Reader, that I’ve only seen this flower in person once, and that was before my slow transition into the herky-jerky gardener I have now become, and so my observation of the plant in person was only fleeting.
But this summer I saw a photo of this flower in an old magazine from last year and immediately when I saw it, I knew that it belonged in my garden. It is too adorable — yes, adorable can truly be used in this circumstance — to be ignored. It is too unusual to dismiss. It is just way too much fun to let it pass into the hands of some wiser gardener. And therefore, I plan to purchase my first bulb online, which requires quite a bit of trust if you ask me…which I realize now you didn’t actually do…so…should I stop writing now?
No! Ha ha! I shall press on!
You have to order the bulbs now, during summer, and they don’t ship your order until fall. Does that sound fishy to anyone else? Let me get this straight: you want me to place an order with you now (on my computer, no less! It’s not like I can march down to Linders or Bachmann’s and talk to a manager if my order doesn’t get delivered), pay you now, and then just hang out and do my thing until you send my order to me four months from now? That’s nuts!
And yet, I am willing to suspend my suspicious suspicions and try to regain the trust that businesses will do what they say they’ll do, and that they will actually come through for the Little Guy. How cynical I’ve become over the years! How untrusting! It never would have dawned on me in my younger years to think that a company might not give me the best deal they could, might not think to mention the fine print, might not be trying to find a product that would satisfy both my needs and their own. Whew! To be that fresh again.
If all goes well, maybe that’s what this bulb purchase will do for me — restore my faith in corporate America. Because right about now, I’m thinking that come autumn, I might open my delivery and discover a box full of packing peanuts and discarded cracker jack prizes instead of my prized flowers. But only time will tell.
Check out this crazy flower. This is the one!
I have grown this bulb successfully for at least a dozen years. It is my favorite and stays interesting all summer long. Wish I had extra to give you. Yes, seed companies are funny the way they do orders. Can’t even remember where I got my bulbs. People who grow things are probably the most trustworthy of all Americans. 🙂
dawn
Dawn, I should have known that you would have this flower! It is encouraging to hear that you’ve had such good luck (or skill) with it because I haven’t seen much about how it fares in MN. I read that it blooms in late spring, needs full sun, and doesn’t fall over. Does it look like a humungous dandelion after it blooms? Can it add some winter interest to the garden or will it have fallen over like the leaves of daffodils do as they feed the bulb beneath the ground?
I agree that if I’m going to take a chance on anybody selling something online, the gardener route is probably going to be my safest bet. It may be a “romantic” notion, but it just seems like anybody who is growing things (legal things, I mean) couldn’t possibly be out to swindle you! I’m going to trust them and go for it, probably this very week. Yay!
Giant Chives? What is the plant?
They look like chives, don’t they? They are ornamental onions (Alliums). They are grown from bulbs you plant in the fall, and they come up early-mid summer. There are a lot of varieties to choose from, but I like the look of the jumbo versions. Thanks for reading and for your comment.
A very striking plant. And I can see why you like the jumbo ones. I think I will grow chives in my garden. With you mentioning the timing of planting the bulbs, I may be inspired to look for them now. 🙂