Over breakfast not too long ago, inspiration hit one faithful follower of the company over breakfast. Next to the bowl of cereal sat a torn piece of cardboard. What was destined to become trash became the next item to be highly cherished around the Southern Bulb Company and to become a fixture on the dash of the Bulb Hunter truck: the artistic "Bulbs on Cardboard"-Artist Anonymous, 2008.

The piece accompanied me on my way to Houston to drop off the Crinum 'Mrs. James Hendry' bulbs that Olive Barn will be shipping (and has shipped many already) for me while I continue to bulb hunt.

Tomorrow I search for oxbloods in Central Texas. In fact, one site is ready to go, and I can not wait to take you there!

It was a busy week traveling across Central Texas, but here is the long awaited blog and release of Crinum 'Mrs. James Hendry.' Starting now, we have 60 available for sale. They never last for more than a couple of weeks on our website, so I am pleased we are able to do this. Enjoy!



Our website experienced problems this weekend, but the price has now been lowered to the special price of $30. To order and to see more pictures, please click here.

I will first note that I am working on the offering of Crinum 'Mrs. James Hendry.' It should be ready shortly, and we will have about 60 large bulbs and 3, what I call, behemoths.

In the meantime, let me tell you how great the rain lily (also called fairy lilies) bloom has been! When I arrived back at the farm yesterday morning, the Zephyranthes labufarosea were all in full bloom. It was a site to behold. Unfortunately I did not have my camera, so I cut some stems and hurried them back to the cabin. It was not long before a curious pollinator found a treasure.That same morning, Jackie from the Olive Barn sent me pictures of her rain lilies. The Olive Barn purchased rain lilies from us this spring to sell to their customers. She just planted them a few days ago in pots, gave them some water, and wa-lah! Thank you for sharing the pictures with us. She did a wonderful job of capturing their apricot colors.Some of you also saw the Zephyranthes labufarosea blooming at The Arbor Gate a few days ago. You can see how after awhile their star shape will begin to droop some in what I consider an attractive fashion.On the farm by the pond the Zephyranthes candida continue to bloom.

When traveling to come back to the farm, I noticed several spots where Zephyranthes 'Grandjax' was blooming. These pictures were taken from a garden just west of Houston. Z. 'Grandjax' was also blooming prolifically in Tyler on Sunday where I had planted them in pots.

That night I stayed at a house in College Station where I was able to have some time to take care of the work I had been dragging along with me on my entire road trip, like counting bulbs. I started at 5AM and went until noon! The larger companies have machines. I had the help of one person and a grocery store sack from Brookshires.

For a snack at lunch, I ate some elephant ears (Colocasia esculenta)! Most countries call elephant ears taro, and a US company (Terra) is now making chips out of them. They were actually quite tasty. I am always asked "Can you eat them?" I now can say unwaveringly "Absolutely!"

The room I stayed in had a Victorian clock that the clock repair man fixed. He mentioned that it was probably German and pointed out the match sticking, where a piece of wood is cut and then built into a piece to where the grains of the cut match up exactly. Look at the bottom of the clock just under the glass and you will see where the grains connect. This clock had the original key, a very hard item to find if lost.

Now I am back at the cabin enjoying the much needed rain! We had over an inch.

Last note: I purchases a break resistant, chip resistant plate for $1.5o from a well known retailer. I thought I would give it a simple test...it did not pass.

This is yesterday's blog.

Yesterday started off in Houston with a big rubber duck greeting me after my breakfast. I was scared.

I visited some existing retail garden center customers and began looking showing my bulbs to new customers. One particular new stop for me had a delightful staff and nice facilities—the Nelson Water Gardens in Katy. They had not heard of The Southern Bulb Company, were not sure if bulbs would do well in Houston, and have never carried bulbs. I hope to change that! I you are in Katy maybe stop by and let them know you'd like to have the bulbs a little closer to home. After a short visit with Peter (a nice and helpful manager), I left some materials and departed for my next stops.

Everyone in Houston was back at work, and it showed on the roads as I headed towards The Heights area just north of downtown. This area is a blend of some of Houston’s earliest homes in one of its first neighborhoods. It has a mix of the original architecture and modern designs dotted here and there.

Tiles originally used to mark street names and numbers (so much more attractive than paint) can still be seen on the curbs.

Buchanan’s Native Plants is right in the heart of the district and is a wonderful customer of ours. There is always plenty of the well educated staff to be found and they are diligent and friendly in helping anyone who walks in. I was there as they were in the process of cleaning up from the heavy rains the day before, and even after the rain the place still looked great.

After a few more stops, I finished at my last location of the day, The Arbor Gate.

Visiting The Arbor Gate is like coming home. Bev, the owner, put me up in a hotel room the night before the tropical storm. They have wholeheartedly supported Ann Swan’s artwork and pottery and have done well with it. The numerous, friendly staff makes it a point to know their products, the stories behind those products, and to pass those stories on to the customer.

Grandchildren were roaming around the grounds for the summer and were pulling some great surprises out from the pond!

I grew up 10 miles east of their location in Tomball and had flashbacks to my days running around the pine trees and pools of water catching creatures. However, I know I never was able to catch a frog this large.

In their gardens they still had a parrot gladiolus blooming (Gladiolus dalenii and formerly G. natalensis). In the back, they have a spot where they have planted samples of most of our bulbs and the pink rain lilies (Zephyranthes labufarosea) were really putting on a show with many, many more blooms to come.

Be looking for our bulbs there this fall.

The Arbor Gate is on the northwest side of Houston, so after this visit I was able to quickly slip away back to the cottage in Washington County that I was at earlier this week. There is no internet here, which is nice.

Last night I slept with the doors open. A nice draft was created, and with the help of a fan I was once again reminded that we really don’t NEED air conditioning.

Now I am off to Moosefeathers Nursery in Brenham to see my old friends Dusty and Missy! After that, I leave for Austin and continue to spread the word.

We survived the tropical storm and everybody showed up to work today in Houston. With most of my morning meetings canceled, I visited a company that is making eco-waves in the garden and home world, the Olive Barn. The proprietor is Jacqueline D'Elia and the product is a smart line of responsibility produced in vogue products (insert the words of your choice: eco-friendly, green, fair trade, sustainable).

The latest arrival when I was there: the eco-weekender messenger bags and other accessories. The bags were made out of recycled rice from Cambodian workers and were produced and delivered 100% fair trade. Gecko Traders supplied the bags:

Our president, Kimberley Person, founded Gecko Traders as a fair trade [link] company in 1999 after traveling in some of the more remote areas of Southeast Asia. Her mission: dependable employment for the disabled and disadvantaged. Her method: bringing fair trade into the fashion world.

They can not be purchased from Gecko, but must be purchased from their retailers, like Jackie. Be sure to check out the Olive Barn Website for the latest introductions Jackie is bringing to the consumer. Thank you, Jackie, for ALL of the hard work it takes to bring the products to market (be sure to check out her blog where she has just included her own write up on the bags).

I am off to a pleasurable day of driving the Houston roads.

I'm just trying to jump on the band wagon with the rest of the press agencies and increase my readership. It's not really even a hurricane, just a tropical storm. Above are the outer bands looking from Houston to the northeast and this next picture is facing the southeast looking into the storm. Everyone who grew up in Houston is throwing hurricane parties or just trying to go to work. I, however, am stuck in a hotel room with most of my morning appointments canceled. Time to catch up on computer work.

Response was low to my "how to" write up on constructing a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that will last all day. "...What strikes the capricious mind of the poet (blogger) is not always what affects the mass of readers."

So, I will move on to the real reason readers come here and that is the subject of bulbs. Yesterday was a successful bulb hunt, and soon those bulbs will be available for sale! Be on the look out for a limited release of Crinum 'Mrs. James Hendry,' a crinum considered by some to be the finest of all selections.

If you have been following, you will know I was traveling to areas around Brenham yesterday. Before digging the crinums, my companion and I stopped at a nice little cottage where I managed to take a picture of some of his Zephyranthes 'Grandjax.'














They were just past their peak but still had some show in their nicely placed location on one side of the obelisk.Building a web nearby was this beautiful garden spider.The Crinum 'Mrs. James Hendry' bulbs came from a restored Victorian farm house in the middle of Washington County. The clumps were thick and healthy, and they were continuing to send up blooms stalks in the over 100 degree weather. The bulbs were much bigger than my boots!
They are excellent as cut flowers. Here they are in a pewter vase with a painting of a home in the back ground. The house is actually the Foster house of Calvert, Texas (once the third largest city in Texas and the first temporary home of The Southern Bulb Company). It was originally constructed in more of a Federalist style (1860-1870's)...but a storm in 1900 damaged it severely and the Greek Revival porch was added after that. The home is also my first ever site where I collected Oxblood lilies (Rhodophiala bifida).


I do not want to spoil all of the fun about what I plan to write about, so stay tuned and as soon as I am back home I will upload the videos and give you a full tour of this site!

After digging in Washington County I made a quick stop at Moosefeather's Nursery in Brenham to see my old friend Missy (the owner) and her husband Dusty Robinson. The nursery was closed on Mondays for August hours but we ran into Dusty and were able to get the update of Reid, Blake, Missy, and the whole family. I will back by Wednesday and will take pictures of this wonderful little garden center on Blue Bell Road, just a mile up from the Blue Bell Creameries.

Made it back into College Station where I went by for my haircut with Melissa and the faithful staff at Northgate Barber Shop. What a delight it is to see the old familiar and friendly places. Being so close to the nationally famous Dixie Chicken, Ben Arcuni and I of course had to meet up for a quick beverage (for the new readers Ben once ran the farm and served in many, many other capacities for the Southern Bulb Company).


As we were leaving, I was a little sad that I no longer ran into as many people as I used to know in the Chicken. I asked a girl if she would take a picture of Ben and I. She said, "I'm Carolyn. You're the bulb guy, aren't you?" Ben and I laughed. She said she had heard me in Athens, TX give a talk, and then all three of us had a picture together that her husband took for us. Small world, or maybe just a small state. Made it to Houston last night. More bulb adventures today!

Harvest is done!

We had 14 volunteers show up on Saturday morning. What a blessing they were. Not only did we harvest all that we needed harvested, we were able to plant a large crinum patch that I had not had the opportunity to prepare and plant.

There were so many people to thank and I will do so appropriately at a later time. Above is the Seward family, a staple in the efforts to accomplish all that needed to be done this week. Pat and Bob and Patricia and Bill came over to the cabin that evening and brought the best cheese dip, meatballs, and salsa! We had a great time, but the rigor mortis from the long week began to take a hold of me and I was not able to pull the camera out and take pictures.

After everyone left, I still had a full days work to put in. I pulled out one of my sandwiches, which happened to be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (my favorite). The trick in the morning to making a PB & J that you plan to eat later in the day is to spread peanut butter on both sides. That ensured the jam in the middle does not soak into the bread and make it soggy--most undesirable. A picture is included below for demonstrative purposes.

A white rain lily (Zephyranthes candida) was blooming the pond. In the barn, a Crinum 'Rose Parade' just couldn't wait to be planted! What an amazing bulb. It is now in the ground and we are hoping and praying that Edouard brings us some much needed rain.

Made it from Tyler to College Station this morning by 5:15AM! There was a great radio station out of Houston playing all of the old country songs. Heard George Straight two times, Willy Nelson, Elvis, and so on. In College Station there was a nice breakfast prepared! Now I'm off to go dig some Crinum 'Mrs. James Hendry' bulbs in Washington County. This county is one the most beautiful counties in the state.

Harvest is just about DONE! As of today, we have all of the Byzantines, butter and eggs, grand primos, twin sisters (April beauty), spider lilies, oxblood lilies, campernelles, Texas stars, and Texas tulips out of the ground. This is a picture of the pole barn after I went through the last crates about half an hour ago.



Tomorrow there are 11 garden club and master gardener volunteers coming to the farm to work. What a help that will be. They have been a help all week. Over the next few days, I will spotlight some of the people that have been such a large help. I have no doubt that I could not have finished the week without them. Off the top of my head I would like to thank Dave and Marti, Tom and Kala (and of course Grace!), Holly (queen of the envelope room), Dale (The Plant Manager), Linda Simmons (who along with Pat organized the help), and last but not least, the Heinz Girls: Pat, Shirley, and Lynne.

Who, you might ask, are the Heinz Girls? Legend has it they were once in the same Master Gardner training group. They connected in such a deep way that each of them realized there was a special bond. In an effort to show this bond, they fell upon the idea of becoming blood sisters. One definitely did not like blood, and when that one happened to excuse herself from the table at a restaurant for a moment, the others quickly grabbed the ketchup bottle and put some on their fingers. They managed to scare the one when she arrived, and in the process found a way to become something much deeper than blood sisters...they became Heinz girls.Still more to do tomorrow, even though there is so much more to write. My sister in law brought me pizza roles! She also left her sunglasses here. I don't think she liked my sunglass display option. There are so many fun items floating around the cabin. In the background is my grandpa's old radio. I hope this picture allows you to enjoy the sunset and the clouds as much as I did.