Saturday, August 17, 2019

Buying American Lilies



I just ordered 77 daylily bulbs to plant in the backyard. I ended up ordering them from Gilbert H. Wild and Sons in Missouri, which has been growing daylilies and peonies and a few other select plants for over 125 years, and I took advantage of their "buy one get one" sale so my actual price will be under $1.30 a bulb for Stella D'Oros (yellow) and Pardon Me's (red).  The company has great reviews for size and quality, and it's family owned, so I feel good on every level.

The order would go without notice at this point (it was just made last night, and has not yet arrived) except that while looking around I discovered that several large mail order places, which claim they are growing lilies in the US are, in fact, growing bulbs in China and importing them.

These Chinese bulbs are reported to be smaller, often broken, and their survival rate is not good. 

More alarming to me is the idea that bulbs are being shipped by air directly from Shanghai. Who is examining these bulbs for invasive insects, fungus, and molds?  You can bet no one!

1 comment:

Jo Mercer said...

Wilds does have very nice plants. I haven’t ordered from them in close the 30 years, but I have many descendants from their stock that I’ve carried with me in the intervening years. I collect fragrance hemerocallis, and it might be time again to see what they offer.