Frozen in Massachusetts

[Buff Shallots]

Yes, I think they were bought out by a mega-company. They were originally owned by some real earthy, global plant collector types who were incredibly serious about exploration and preserving excellent plants.

I haven't seen a catalog since they were bought...

 

[Buff Shallots]

Mothergoat, I found that daylily variety at a garden center in Rhode Island, but I just Googled the name and found this (in case you wanted to mail-order it):

http://www.bloomingfieldsfarm.com/chap.html

(Or in a few months, I could snail-mail you some of the offshoot tubers I've gotten from my established plants. I've potted up a few for my deck, and could dig them out and quick-mail them to you in warmer weather.)

Edited to add: I was trying to think of any reason I couldn't recommend them, and realized that the ONLY drawback is that when you have a very rainy week or two when they are blooming, the petals look bad. But maybe that's true of every daylily, I don't know.

 

[Rio_Lindo_AZ]

what are you guys planting?

can you plant lettuce in frosty temperature?

 

[Buff Shallots]

Chicken_boy, you are just showing off that you live in warm, cozy Arizona while us northerners are freezing our patooties off.

All kidding aside, I've tried growing lettuce in our winters, but anything below 32 degrees kills them, no matter what you cover them with (agricultural fabric or coldframe, etc.).

 

[Rio_Lindo_AZ]

Are you kidding???


I haven't seen any snow in my life!!!

 

[Mothergoat]

Yes, I think they were bought out by a mega-company. They were originally owned by some real earthy, global plant collector types who were incredibly serious about exploration and preserving excellent plants.

I hate it when that happens.

I'd love to have a fan or two of those Apache reds. Can I trade you a couple of lily bulbs or some hatching eggs? I should probably move this conversation to the making trades/for sale forum!

And as for what I am planting...I am building a raised bed for my mama, so she can sit and care for her plants. She's 86 and still loves to play in the dirt. :weight Otherwise I have to wait for Feb., when I can start peas, onion sets and put lettuce in the coldframe.

 

[Rosalind]

Hey, when do the rest of you Bay Staters in 6a start your seedlings indoors?

Normally I start mine around Valentine's Day, and they are ready to put out by mid-April. However, last spring kind of threw me for a loop, so now I'm not sure--ended up with a bunch of leggy things that died in all the May-June sogginess. Even my farm subscription wasn't so great because of the horrible spring. So.

Should I try the same timing again this year, and hope we don't have 18 inches of April snow again? I've only lived in Mass. 3 1/2 years, so I'm not confident that last spring was just a fluke.

 

[Reinbeau]

I usually don't start tomatoes until the first or second week in March for the same reason you noted - leggy, spindly seedlings don't do too well. I'll start impatiens in mid-February cuz they take so long. Then I try to time the warm season things I start by the current weather, you know what a crap shoot it can be around here!