What’s New at Munchkin Nursery in 2010

From the time we put a new catalog into the mail and update our web site until it is time to write the next year's catalog we listen to customers' comments and make observations of our own. Notes are made on stickers that become a folder which becomes "Plans for Next Year". We do appreciate all the feedback we receive including complaints. Seeing if we can find a better way to operate our nursery is a constant discussion. Our goal is to serve you as a  gardener the way we would want to be served.

We are taking tighter control over nursery stock. The same approximately 250 selections will be available, but a few less plants of each will be for sale. Therefore it is first come, first served, especially on the plants listed as "Limited Numbers Available". We are doing our best to control our size so we can personally serve each and every one of you.

Dig & Divide + Seeds: This past fall we dug and divided a goodly number of rare plants from my garden. Only a few of each will be available. Many are priced well under other collectors' catalogs for the size offered. As seeds are much cheaper than ordering wholesale plants, and JoAn has become quite proficient at raising perennials from seeds, we have a greater range of possibilities for plants not normally available. Those perennials are now maturing and ready to include in the inventory. Then we can pass the savings on to you, the gardener. We are doing our best to help you stretch your plant dollars this season.

Rare Plants: There are a few special plants we would like to point out to you this season. Please keep in mind they are available first come, first served due to limited supply. First up would have to be Polygonatum multiflorum 'Blue Wings". I traded with a gardener in England some years back and have not seen the plant mentioned anywhere since then. I am sharing good-sized divisions from my garden at a very reasonable price for a plant this rare.
When was the last time you saw the hydrangea relative Platycrater arguta offered? JoAn had excellent results with seed last year so we now have this rare gem at a very reasonable price. Along the same lines, another hydrangea gaining popularity, Deinanthe bifida is also available due to our success with seed.
Leucosceptrum japonicum 'Gold Variegated', grown from cuttings and in very nice size containers, are available for late color bloom in the shade garden while producing a quiet show of foliage from March through October.
These are just a tease of the forty-plus new perennials for shade offered in this year's catalog.

Good gardening to you in 2010,
Gene & JoAn