Fall Bulbs and eBay Browsing

^Crocus 'Pickwick'^

They're appearing, some even two weeks ago. Most notably at Home Depot. They were storing them outside in 85 degree weather. I picked up a few bearded iris that hadn't dried out yet, some allium and muscari. I'm probably going to have to look elsewhere for everything else I want. This week I went back and more bulbs had been delivered and they had been moved inside, but all the bearded iris were already fungusing and getting squishy. The ones I bought 2 weeks ago are potted up and sprouting. Bearded iris should really be bought the second you see them at a big box store, as care in store is almost nonexistent. I liked the store I saw once that was storing their bulbs outside in the rain. This year I have a few distinct goal plants. I'm looking for Iris reticulata 'Katharine Hodgkin', Crocus Minimus, Saffron Crocus, Colchicum 'Water lily', and Siberian Iris. (Can you tell I took a bulb book out of the library in July). So far I've bought Siberian Iris on eBay. The seller I picked has over 1,000 positive reviews, and a 100% rating. I expect the plants should be nice. I'm likely going to buy the others on eBay as well since they have mostly positive reviews, and most of the online bulb retailers have some very impressive negative reviews, or don't carry what I'm looking for.

^Streptocarpus^

Of course randomly browsing eBay tends to lead to old obsessions. African Violets come to mind, as do Streptocarpus. I once bought a set of 10 ponytail palm seedlings as well. I've bought hosta seeds and strange miniature tomato seeds. It just occurred to me that right now is a good time of year for plant shipments. The weather is stabilizing and keeping from being horribly hot or cold. Guess I'm gonna lose some money to eBay this week... I grew this streptocarpus from seed a few years ago, before I knew microwaving the dirt might get me better germination. It was one out of 15 attempts.