Because many of you were otherwise distracted at that time, we have decided to rerun a piece from September 2001. Just as appropriate now as ever, and worth repeating.

CAN'T YOU JUST ORDER IT?
Would you ask a fishmonger why she doesn’t carry fresh salmon? At a farmer’s market, would you ask if they carry peaches? I think not…but perhaps I’m wrong. Living plants are a lot like produce or fish, having seasons when they are best, and seasons when they are nonexistent. Yet daily I hear the queries. Do you carry Rhododendrons, Apples, Daffodils, Cosmos, Cacti, Rhubarb, Dogwoods, or Garlic? The answer is yes, and no.

Hardware stores can carry 3/8 inch drill bits or leaf blowers. Music stores can carry the latest CD by the Dixie Chicks. Supermarkets can carry toothpaste, they can even carry apples in May but I won’t bite. Frankly it’s amazing how much stuff moves around in this global market of late. Our biggest concern at BHN is the quality of the merchandise, especially if perishable, followed closely by price and support for our local resources.

You can probably guess where I’m going with this. A certain amount of ignorance is excusable. I’m familiar with someone who once thought that tomato sauce always came in a can, and that peas were always in the freezer section. We’re so accustomed to convenience that we’ve come to expect it in some absurd places. Pretty much everyone I know in the Bay Area expects to be able to eat what they want, whenever they want it, and they are not often disappointed. But even here we have seasons, perhaps not severe, but try to convince the peach tree to bear fruit in January, or the blueberry bush to produce a crop in November.

Some things can be cultured, grown, and harvested in controlled conditions, e.g. mushrooms, trout and tulips. But when it comes to plants for your garden, go with the flow. It is our goal at Berkeley Hort to sell plants or bulbs at times when they are well suited to transport and transplant. So how to make your nursery associate smile when you call about a plant? Say you’re checking to see if it’s in stock. What’s here today may be out of stock next month.

–Paul