Anyone heard from American Meadows?

Any orders recieved and if so were your bulbs in good shape?

I ordered some cala lily bulbs from them a few weeks ago. I was told that I was to receive the bulbs at proper planting time for my zone. I asked to have them shipped sooner. They said that they could ship them in mid April. So it will be a few more weeks before I get them. This will be my first time ordering from them. They do have a good rating in the WD so I thought I'd give them a try. I just had to have this cala lily. http://www.americanmeadows.com/bulb_detail.cfm?itemid=741

Kathy

I have never ordered bulbs from them- only seeds. I can tell you their cust service is great, shipped speedily and in good condition, etc... IMO their prices are great, too.

I've ordered bulbs, plants, and seeds from them for about 3 years now and have always been happy with everything received. Bulbs were not the absolute largest I've purchased but were always in very good condition and were a great deal for the price. BTW, I received calla lily, glads, and oriental lily from them last Saturday; that was a partial shipment as I still have other types of plants on order with them.

I ordered lily bulbs from American Meadows back in Dec or January. The ones I had ordered the previous year were delivered on March 10, 2005 and were good to decent, especially for the price, they all bloomed in 2005. When mid March '06 came and went, I emailed them and this was their response:

The summer flowering bulbs will arrive to us at the end of March. Once we
receive the bulbs we will be shipping them according to regions. We will be
starting with the warmer regions and working our way to the colder. We will
be shipping to your area:
End of March: Zones 9,10
Beginning of April: Zones 7,8
End of April: Zones 5,6
Beginning of May: Zones 2,3,4

They only cost me $12 total, so I wasn't in the mood to argue that they shipped much earlier last year, but now I'm getting antsy :-)
Vicki

I'm in Zone 8 and my lily bulbs arrived Sat Mar 25 2006.

Good! Maybe they're running a little ahead...I'll be glad to get mine in the ground. How did they look this year?
Vicki

Much as you described. I only bought 2 this year - with over 2k plants, I'm trying to cut back. lol. They were of med size, maybe 2"D or so, no sign of rot or disease, not dried out. Neither as large, robust, and fresh as those from Fogbelt nor as runty and near death as those I've gotten from some places I won't name. Medium quality and definitely a good buy at the price, I think. They were the prepackaged ones much like you get in local stores - but without the abuse they suffer while hanging around the store.

Thanks. Wow, that's a LOT of plants, LOL, cut back indeed! I understand how quickly they can add up though, all together I probably added close to 200 plants last year, mostly daylilies, lilies & Iris. I'd be afraid to count how many individual plants I have, yikes and this is just March, lots of ordering/planting time left :-)

A few years ago I started using the DG journal. It has been SO helpful for keeping track of what I have, where it's located, when it blooms, etc. - not to mention what's on order so I don't duplicate things that are on backorder as I have done in the past; however, the tallies your plants for you, SO that's when I learned how many plants I actually had, and it was a shocker to learn that I had some 200 roses, 40 plus clematis, etc. You'd be surprised, I bet. And when I say over 2k, note that while I entered shrubs, trees, etc as individuals, I entered bulbs once per order per type (and indicated actual count in the entry) - so that bag of 20 daffodils is counted as 1 as is the bag of 6 dutch iris bulbs and the pack of 40 muscari! But I LOVE them all! And this time of year is simply magical around here with new things popping up daily!

Edited to add: today a gardening friend with more self restraint was kind enough to point out that if I have 2k plants and if you figure an average of $10 each, then that's ---- ouch, $20k -- or $10k for a more conservative $5ea.

This message was edited Mar 30, 2006 8:49 PM

I bet it is beautiful!
I started the journal and have quite a few things entered but haven't entered any new plants since the middle of last year, I think. You're right, it's very easy to duplicate without records. I keep records of my daylilies on another site and forgot to check it when I placed one of my first orders this year, being sure I remembered them all.....seems I forgot one :-)

Edited to add: Don't you just hate when those well meaning friends point those things out, LOL!! I've got one of them at work :-)

This message was edited Mar 30, 2006 8:56 PM

Before I joined DG, I thought I had a real problem and was embarrassed to tell anyone how many lilies I had (at the time around 260). Then I joined here and found out that what I had in the ground was NOTHING compared to most other DGers. Gave me something to aspire to and I'm no longer embarrassed to admit I'm a bulbaholic.

LOL, DG is now the only place I feel normal, most everyone in my "real" world thinks I'm nuts :-) I must add, I didn't have this problem until after I joined DG, but I wouldn't go back now for anything!!

Well, I do feel a bit obsessive at times, but is it my fault that their are SO many, wonderful plants in the world? ; ) It is great to "be" among like minded people though.

I look at it in terms of the "symptoms" of the "disease" which are: (1) lots of fresh air, (2) exercise, (3) stress reduction, (4) a chance to get closer to nature, (5) a chance to contribute to nature instead of always "taking", (6) an opportunity to beautify my little corner of the planet and maybe inspire others to do so as well, (7) a way to foster an entire mini-eco-system & feed wildlife. Even a way to add thousands of dollars to the value of my property (as I learned when I had it appraised a few years ago and the appraiser added a section called "Heavily Landscaped"). Yeah, it may be "eccentric", but I think I can live with this malady.

beaker_ch do you mean you have 260 different variety of lily?if so wow

I have in excess ( haven't stopped to count since the spring frenzy started) 260 different named lilies. I have Asiatics, LAs, Orientals, LOs, Species, Trumpet, Orienpet and Asiapet. This is nothing compared to some of our fellow DGers. I'm just a pup.

My martagons from American Meadows arrived Friday April 14.

I'm glad to hear that someone has gotton their order....I'm still waiting. : ( Sterhill, did they arrive in good shape?

They all looked good - I ordered 9 bags of two bulbs per bag and I had a lot of different sizes. Some were about 1.5+" wide and some smaller at about 1" wide. Nice and healthy looking and the lovely martagon yellow bulb color. A few loose scales which I also planted.

Most already had green shoots coming out and were packed in good peat, nice and loose, not too crowded, not dry. I have planted them and they are coming up now!

Thanks sterhill, I'm glad someone has gotton their order....I'm still waiting...: )

hi anahi - I think I'd give them a call or email - mine are already coming up. I know you are in a colder zone than I am so maybe that is it... I also got several (free) packets of seeds with my bulbs.

I haven't gotten mine either, some of my other lilies are up 1' or more.

Mine are due to arrive for another month. We're early this year and most companies ship based on last frost date. If you are beyond your last frost date, then I'd call.

My casa blancas and stargazers are up a good 2.5' to 3' now and the new black beauties and dizzies I just planted from Costco this spring are already up at least 10-12" - some orientals are already blooming!

The weather here has been so warm this year, they could have sent mine in March and they would have done fine.

I looked up in this thread and read they stated "End of April: Zones 5,6" so you should be seeing them anyday now.

Do you think there is any chance of bloom for these smaller bulbs?

Last year I ordered on 2/11/05 and received my bulbs on 3/10/05 so I do not understand their difference in shipping times this year.
The ones I got last year were put in the frig and held until they were potted on 4-17, we got tons of rain last spring and the ground was like soup....2 out of 4 of them went on to bloom in the pots.

The smaller bulbs should bloom. Just don't expect more than one or two. They'll do better next year.

Did anyone else order Centerfold Asiatic? I had emailed them again, questioning why the shipping was much later this year than last. I got an email back today from the owner who said that my order shipped today and it was late because they were late getting the Centerfolds from Holland. At least I know it really has shipped because I also got an email from FedEx saying the package is being picked up today. LOL, that's going to be another delay because they will most likely ship it FedEx Residential and I'm having it shipped to my work, so it will be on the wrong truck and I've even had FedEx send stuff back saying they can't find us :-) Oh well, glad it was only $12.
Vicki

Sounds like they may have had trouble getting the bulbs from Holland and maybe we (Daves) overwhelmed them with our orders..: )

I h eard from American Meadows today. 50% sale on perennials started today. Of course, I had to order.

I received my lily bulbs today from American Meadows. Everything looked fine, except for 1 Chianti bulb. They both had 1" sprouts, which isn't a problem, but 1 sprout was covered in mold and was all shriveled and brown :-( I emailed the owner to let him know.
I don't know if it would put up a second sprout since this one is dead or if the rot or whatever it is will spread to the remainder of the bulb. I've never encountered this problem before.

What do you all think?

Hum...mold in itself isn't the kiss of death, but if the bulb is dead, I would toss it and request a new one. If you concerned about the health of remaining bulbs, go ahead and soak them for a little while in a weak solution of clorex or hydrogen peroxide and water.

I never have soaked lily bulbs but I think I will soak all of these just in case....

Just got an e-mail from American meadows and my order is on it's way! Sadiemae, what did you dicide to do with the moldy bulb? Let me know how it works.

Someone, I think it was Inanda, was saying you should soak all the bulbs you get in case they have unwanted passengers such as Japanese Beetles. I can't remember which thread it was on, but I think she suggested a half hour in a clorex/water solution. Maybe she'll check this thread out and confirm that bit of info.

anahi,
I haven't heard anything back from the Amer. Meadows yet.
I think I'm going to soak them in a 10% bleach solution and try and get them planted Friday...hopefully the ground will be dried out enough by then. I'm going to plant the moldy bulb off by it's self and see what happens to it.
I also noticed last night when I was looking at them, that they are all kind of spongy feeling, maybe dried out?? Not soft like rotten, just spongy.

I have to say that the bulbs I bought from them last year have multiplied really well over the fall/winter....

Very sorry to hear about the conditon of your bulbs. It is so disheartening to wait for something special and receive it in such bad condition.

While I have NOT tried this myself and do not know how well it actually works, I have read that you can dust bulbs with medicated baby powder before planting to discourage both insects and disease. I was wondering if this might help with the moldy one.

As for Am Meadows, I have only received part of my order so far. Luckily, all of mine was in good condition. From what you are saying, it sounds as if something has gone very wrong with Am Meadows and/or their supplier this year.

Just received an email from Am Meadows. Suspect that all of you will also be receiving it. It indicates that they will be shipping bulbs and perrenials to all zones in April and May.

I just received most of the balance of my order. These items are not lilies, however. I only ordered 1 lily and received that a while back.

Question for all of you here in the lily forum (this may be relevant to the current thread): it looks like I have just been hit by the lily mosaic virus. Does anyone know where this virus comes from, how it originates, the most likely way in which my garden would have gotten infected with it? Last year I purchased a number of lilies. I did not see any signs of it. This year I only added 2. Is it likely that it was introduced by one of the new lilies? This year I have been trying to concentrate on much needed maintenance so I have planted very, very few new plants and almost nothing in the infected area, except the new lilies.

I would post the question out on the main forum so more folks will see it. I'm relatively new to lilies but it seems like I remember reading somewhere that it isn't always apparent the first year you plant them, so you could have an infected one and not know it. I know one thing that spread it, aphids....from feeding on an infected plant then a healthy one.

As I understand it, Scutter. The virus can come from an infected bulb and be spread by aphids. Your only recourse is to destory the infected plants.
It didn't necessarily come from one of the bulbs you bought. Have you had any problems with aphids? Is it one of your established lilies that has TBV (tulip breaking virus) or one of the new ones? Where have you been getting your bulbs?