White Flower Farm does it again

The catalog barrage is in full swing with multiple garden publications shoveled into my mailbox most days. I look at all of them and hang on to a ridiculously large stack each year; ridiculous because I only order from a very few and keep the rest "just in case."

The surprise among all these brightly colored harbingers of Spring was the new shape of the White Flower Farm catalog, which has traditionally been an 8 1/2" x 10 1/2" elegant oblong. This year's version is a 9" square (below). WFF changed the shape of their catalog back in 2003 to the vertical format that most companies use. 

    

 

At the time, they said they were forced to make the changes because of printing demands. I thought it was a big mistake and said so in print (HG Notebook, The Capital Times, March 6-7, 2004): "it took away a competitive edge — their distinctive shape in a sea of catalogs." And I was also annoyed that it no longer fit alongside all the WFF catalogs from prior years.  

In fact, WFF returned to the old shape (below) the next year and printed a "Nostra Culpa" inside the front cover, noting that readers who complained were right and they were wrong. The catalog that just came offers no explanation for the change in shape this time. I stand by my original complaint: good-bye competitive edge. Now I'm just waiting for my apology.

    

    

On the plus side, I visited WFF in person not long after I bought my very first mail order plants from the company. Some of those original plants are still going strong more than twenty years later. I've also used the images of plant combinations in the catalog as inspiration for my own garden. One of the best plant combinations I ever created was a direct steal from a WFF catalog. 

And the new catalog has another combo (below) that I am going to go right out and replicate the minute the snow melts. It's described as a "Shade Ensemble of Patterned Leaves" and is pictured on Page 80 in the paper catalog. I already have Hosta 'Guacamole,' and Begonia 'Fireworks' has been one of my more successful houseplants. The fern is 'Burgundy Lace,' but I think any of my painted ferns will fill the bill nicely. The fourth plant of this group is Heucherella 'Stoplight.'

    

 

I'm going to make another little change here and substitute Heucherella 'Alabama Sunrise.'  That's because it is descended from the Heuchera villosa strain making it stronger and more resistant to heat and humidity; important considerations in my Zone 5 garden. One of the problems with many catalogs these days is that they no longer list much information, other than the name of a plant. In this case, parentage is crucial. I have Heuchera 'Brownies' (another villosa strain) in my garden and it is one of the strongest growers I've ever seen in this family of plants. Adding more villosa offspring is one of my 2010 garden goals; 'Alabama Sunrise' looks like an excellent start. 

Comments

[Erin]

I haven't gotten my WFF catalog yet, but I can't wait!

[Mr. McGregor's Daughter]

I immediately noticed the weird shape too, and I also looked for an explanation. I chalked it up to the economy. It is such a beautiful catalog and was one of the first that I ordered mail order plants from. I discovered WFF from an out of print book of theirs at the Bartlett library. Yes, that is how addiction begins.

[Les]

I am sorry they no longer send me their lovely catalog with ridiculously expensive plants. I so enjoyed browsing and still have some that are at least a decade old saved for reference.

Like you, only Villosas will do.

[Frances]

Hi Linda and Mark, the change in shape does mess up the stacking of old catalogs, same with magazines if they make a change. I thought this season's WFF was better than usual. They seem to have lost their way with the changing tastes of gardeners, going more native and prairie than English cottage in style. I too have plants that originated from them, moved a couple of times even, still going strong. I am with you on the Villosas too, Brownie is a workhorse! :-)
Frances

[LINDA from EACH LITTLE WORLD]

Frances — Workhorse perfectly describes Brownie. If the other villosas perform as well, some big garden holes will get filled in pretty quickly this year!