-19°
Sunny and calm


While watching the morning news, I was shocked to hear the name of the little town I live in, mentioned on the morning news in Chicago. We live an hour and a half West of Chicago, in a little town of 9,000. Most of the time, not newsworthy to WGN.
This morning, however, my little town got this mention:
"If you think we have it bad here in the city- Thank your lucky stars you don't live in *******, they had temps of -26° overnight. Not wind chill, actual temperatures."
Great. What a reason to be noticed. Better than a disaster, I guess.

The book for March was announced at Garden Bloggers Book Club!! Karel Capek is the author and he is mostly known as a European author with weighty opinions and Germanic philosophy. The reviews point out that it is a charming and sometimes funny book, not overly academic. It is compared in more than one place to Henry Mitchell's book, which I did not read.
I am still mucking thru this month's book, though last night it got a little better. There seems to be some discussion as to the "broken tulip" colors that Katherine S. White recommended in her New York Times article. One USDA guy tells her she is recommending a virus ridden plant.
To save her readers (and her credibility) from ruin, she seeks backing from Elizabeth Lawrence. I remember having petunias that had that virus. They were kinda pretty.
Funny, it seems Elizabeth Lawrence talks more about gardening than Katharine White. I do know that I recognize the plants that the Southerner, Elizabeth Lawrence mentions more than I do the Yankee, Mrs. White!!
Although, after all the talk of tulips, Mrs. White mentions some species tulips that I ran to look up. I will be ordering some of those, in the fall!! Here it is:
Tulip Clusiana Lady Jane Special
Mrs. White does not call it the Lady Jane Special, she only mentions the latin name, but Bluestone carries them and calls them, "...Specie Tulip Clusiana Lady Jane - Ht. 8-10" zone 3-8. White blossoms have reddish outer petals . Best for rock gardens and naturalizing."

Tulip marjoletti (from Brent and Becky's) marjolettii - lovely pale, creamy white with raspberry edges and blush; Heirloom; 10"-14"; very late spring; (9+cm bulbs).

A very interesting note about the latter, (am I starting to sound like that book???!!!):
Tulipa marjolettii (synonymous with T. perrieri) is a wild tulip native of the Savoy Alps. It was first described in 1894 by Eugene Pierre Perrier de la Bathie & Andrew Songeon.

In the 1970s it was reported to have completely vanished from its natural range, probably from commercial collecting. It is today a protected species in France, though unless there is a project to reestablish it in the Savoys from cultivated stocks, protection comes a mite late.

This is the part of gardening I find facinating!! With Mrs. White mentioning those species tulips and me looking for them, I discovered that a tulip grown in her garden was going extinct, just as she was writing that. The cause of it's extinction? Commercial collecting. Proof you really can love something too much....