She’s so lovely.
Milk and Wine Crinum are beautiful, but Ellen…..Well, Ellen Bosenquat is in a whole other league. Ellen is stately, bold, colorful and distinguished. She blooms during the deep summer months of heat, requiring only a hearty drink during the thirst of the season. Ellen Bosenquat reminds me of the old days of southern hospitality, pass-along plants, chats on the front porch and garden clubs.
I got my start of this beautiful Crinum from Martha Newman, who is part of the Crown Garden Club in Rockdale, Texas. My Mother-in-Law is also a part of this club, so when it was her turn to invite a guest speaker, guess who came for dinner? Me.
I had been giving a lot of garden talks that year, mostly to the big nurseries in the Texas Hill Country, including (one of my favorites) Natural Gardener in Austin. I love garden clubs, and was very excited to speak for a more intimate setting. The Crown Garden Club made plans for a special dinner and a talk, so I hopped in my car and drove to Rockdale.
My car was stuffed with give-away bulb goodies. The minute I got to the dinner, I received a very warm welcome. Martha greeted me with a gift of old Crinum bulbs from her own collection of heirloom bulbs. Martha is a lovely gardener with a gardener’ s heart. I was overjoyed. In fact, I was so overjoyed, that I accidentally forgot my beautiful gift at my Mother-in-law’s house. That was the last time I saw the bulbs until last weekend.
The Crinum bulbs had already grown many off-shoots and had tripled in size. I took twelve bulbs and almost broke my shovel. It was a great dig.
I offered a free Ellen Bosenquat bulb (via heirloombulbgirl on Instagram or FB) to the first five people who contacted me. The bulbs were spoken for within 30 minutes. Ellen Bosenquat is quite the popular gal. I’d love to also give a few away from the website as well. Just email me at heirloombulbgirl@gmail.com. Tell me you read the blog about the Crinum bulb . The first two emails I receive will get a free Heirloom Crinum.
Happy Gardening, my friends! Make sure to give your Crinum a nice long drink in the summer. As a special way of saying “thank you”, your Crinum should give you a beautiful bloom a few days later.