| Old House
Gardens focuses on heirloom plants. I have no personal
experience with this supplier. They sell many very unusual plants; the
catalogue provides introduction dates (earliest record of a plant) which
look reasonable. According to their literature, Old House Gardens
sells a couple of 17th-century tulip varieties imported from the
Hortus Bulborum botanical garden in the Netherlands. (The Hortus
Bulborum is a garden dedicated to preserving old varieties of flowers grown
from bulbs.)
They carry at least one heirloom tulip (named "Zomershoon") that is infected with the mosaic virus. Tulips with this virus are called "broken tulips," because the virus causes the bulb to produce flowers with mottled or "broken" colors. The Old House Gardens catalogue states that the mosaic virus is harmless. I am not sure about that and need to do more research before buying Zomershoon. |
| Jackson & Perkinsspecializes in roses and perennials. They sell healthy, good-sized plants, but the selection is mainly modern hybrids. Jackson & Perkins carry the Austin "English roses" along with their own version of "English roses." This new type of rose resembles the old Rosa centifolia. |
| John Scheepers,
Inc. sells exclusively bulbs, including many unusual varieties
and cultivars.
For the heirloom varieties, the catalogue provides introduction dates which look reasonable. |
