Tuesday, March 25, 2008

A search tool specifically for plants and seeds and squirrel update

Perhaps many of you received an email from Mother Earth News about their new search tool for seeds and plants but in case you didn't here's some information.

"With all the time and care a garden takes, I wanted to invite you to try a time-saving – and free! – tool from Mother Earth News magazine. Our custom Seed and Plant Finder (http://www.MotherEarthNews.com/find-seeds-plants.aspx) is a quick and easy way to find mail-order sources for pretty much any vegetable, flower or herb variety, old standards as well as new and hard-to-find varieties."

"The free Finder searches more than 150 garden catalogs – from the big names to small, specialized companies. Our initial emphasis is on sources for vegetables, but we plan to add fruit and nut tree and ornamental catalogs in the near future."


Here's the link so you won't have to cut and paste.http://www.MotherEarthNews.com/find-seeds-plants.aspx

I tried it on unusual plants like Silene cucubalus, Euonymus americanus and Euonymous atropurpurea and did not get usable returns. But in all fairness they are still working on adding the ornamentals. I did get returns on Callibrachoa, million bells which surprised me. This should be a great source for finding things instead of looking through page after page of searches.


Squirrel update:

The good. Caught another one, a black colored squirrel. We saw two, so only one remains. The bad. There are 3 gray colored squirrels instead of the 2 I thought remained. So there are still 4 to be caught.

3 Comments:

Blogger kate smudges said...

I received this email as well, although I haven't tried it out yet. Probably won't because I order seeds from Gardens North.

I also meant to say that I loved seeing your Scillas in bloom - they are my favourite spring flower.

The good thing is that you have the majority of the squirrels gone...

9:18 AM  
Blogger Jenn said...

Um. How far is that park from your house? More than a mile?

And, what is the density of squirrels/ squirrel habitat in your immediate neighborhood?

The problems being: the squirrel will just hot-foot it back 'home' if it's not released far enough away; and once you remove a squirrel from your habitat you create a void for nature to fill with another one the next yard over.

So you might be doing the catch and release thing all summer. Which is great if you like it....?

Sorry to be the bearing of such teeth-grinding news.

11:21 AM  
Blogger Ki said...

Hi Nancy,
I guess they must have emailed almost all the garden bloggers. I occasionally get requests but I usually don't respond. This seemed like a legit company so I tried the search tool. I am also interested in unusual plants and have had difficulty finding nurseries who sold the hard to find plants and thought this would cut down on my search time. I do hope they will have a good sampling for ornamentals.

The squirrel trapping is going very well, much better than I expected. The count is up to 9 now with 3 more to go. ;)

----------------------------------
Hi Kate, I guess everyone got the mailing. Good advertising for their mag I guess. But it may be a useful tool when it's complete. I just ordered some seeds from J. L. Hudson Seedman this Monday. Got a reply that the seeds are in the mail. Will let you know how well the seeds germinate. Bought some Lewisia redivida, yes!

I'd have to agree that Scillas are my favorite too. Some of the Chionodoxa are pretty wonderful too but the Scilla blue is quite unbeatable.

The birds can actually get to feed from the feeders instead of getting scraps dropped on the ground. So many more birds are around too which is really nice. Only three more squirrels to go.

-----------------------------------

Hey, I've already ground my teeth down with other worries Jenn. One mile you say? The park is about 1/4 to 1/3 of a mile from our home. I sure hope they don't make it back. I think we were a squirrel magnet so when I catch all of them I would have cleared the neighborhood of squirrels within a radius of a 100 yards. I counted 12 squirrels and so far the count is accurate. I'll know if any more show up which I hope won't happen.

Maybe I should think up some squirrel recipes. Then I wouldn't have the catch and release problem. :) Actually an acquaintance wanted to come an shoot the squirrels to eat. I would give him the squirrels but I don't know about discharging a firearm in a neighborhood even if it is only a .22 short.

5:59 PM  

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