Mom and Dad are cruising over and will be in London for a day and a half in May. Is it impossible to hope that I could have bulbs or seeds sent to them at whatever hotel they will be staying at? I am mostly hoping to get things that are not obtainable over here because the suppliers don't do international mailings.
I don't want to go through all the customs nightmares of them bringing back plants, but are bulbs or seeds (especially of some of the more wonderful spring-bloomers) possible to obtain in the spring?
Or if any of my European friends would share, I will be more than happy to arrange for them to bring some of my seeds over, they can drop them in the post in England.
I don't even know what I want yet -- I am going to spend today and tomorrow beginning to research on my daydream list.
Buying bulbs in England
Not really in May, April is pretty much the latest you can order/buy most autumn flowering bulbs with some chance of them being successful. Spring bulbs will be still growing.
What's you list, perhaps we can arrange something by the proper time?
I'd agree with Baa. It's going to be too late even for summer flowering bulbs then. Autumn too possibly.
But there will be spring flowers in bloom that they will enjoy seeing. At that time the tulips should still be in flower I think. And bluebells should be in flower in the woods! May is a very lovely time of year here in the UK!!!!
Sure Lupinelover..if I can help please let me know. I live in Holland and it is said that Holland is the country for bulbs. I mostly order my bulbs overhere http://www.verberghe.nl/catalog/default.php/cPath/2/
Spring bloomers are usually to get between end of august and end of november : (
I hope your parents will have a wonderfull time in UK and if they love gardening ...wooow UK is just a paradise for gardners. At that time famous gardens are open to visit !
Of course I have been combing books (and this site) to get ideas of what I would adore having! Things that are just completely unheard of here -- not even any references when I google. At least not for US suppliers. We get most of our bulbs from Netherlands who get them from UK and other places, but they only offer things that have proven sell well here. And since almost no Americans have ever heard of these, much less seen them, there is of course no demand!
Mom and Dad will be staying for 2 nights at the Gloucester Millenium Hotel in Kensington. They will only be in UK for 48 hours, and 8 hours will be on a bus from Southampton to London. They arrive April 30 (dad's birthday) and depart May 2. Short stay, but they are spending 2 weeks on a cruise ship crossing the Atlantic. I suggested that they spend their only full day wandering around Hyde Park, or perhaps around the B.M. They don't have terrific health, so they probably won't be able to do a lot of sight-seeing this trip. It will probably be their last trip to Europe, and it is a shame it will only last a couple of days.
I think I will try to re-do my tradelist area, rather than listing things here. Give me a couple of days, or if there is anything that I can purchase here for them to take over to you, just yell! Lots and lots of things are available here now, but not spring bulbs. Summer bloomers, yep, but not spring blooming.
If any of you could get them, and have them sent to their hotel, and I would arrange for Mom to drop the money for the bulbs and/or seeds in the mail to you when they are there?
Or I would very happily send a few seeds or other things for trade? It cannot be anything too heavy; Mom and Dad are going to be traveling for 3 weeks, and so have to take lots of clothes and other things with them. They will be able to take a few things, but not a whole lot.
8 Hours from So'ton to London?????????????????????????????????????
It's only 75 miles!
You've heard of the slow boat to China? This is a slow bus (stopping for sight-seeing) to London! LOL Yep, disembark the ship about 8, scheduled to arrive at their hotel about 4.
I put a few of my heart's desires in my Tradelist; I listed the ones for here as 2004 entries. That ought to make it easy to locate them: sort by date in the Wanted category. Mostly I don't want named varieties necessarily; named varieties seem to be difficult for us to locate, not sure how it is abroad. Species are almost impossible to get here, except incorrectly marked ones.