Phoenix Perennials E-News
Mid April 2022
Hello Fellow Gardeners,
It's hard to believe but it's almost May! It doesn’t feel like that in coastal BC as we’ve been having a cold spring. Despite that, our plants are growing very well and the nursery is filling up with many beautiful plants.

In this issue we highlight the new houseplants we’re offering for advance ordering for shipping or pick-up. There are many species and cultivars your friends will definitely not have!

We also highlight two cool melons with long histories in Japan and Quebec. You’ll definitely want to try one or both in your veggie garden this season.

And…drum roll please…the pre-order for my new book The Complete Book of Ground Covers is now open! Pre-order now and I’ll sign your copy for you. It’s sure to be a collector’s edition and one day you’ll be rich when you sell your copy (if you can part with it!) from the first print run for thousands of dollars! ;-)

Also new of late is the launch of the Succulent Situation, our selection of tender succulents with over 200 different rare, unusual, and intriguing succulents.

And we have recently added Avocados to our Citrus Pre-Order.

There's lots going on!

You'll also find information below about our many different pre-orders including the: 

  • Great Citrus and Rare Fruit Pre-Order
  • Grafted Veggie Pre-Order

Last but not list, this E-News has the first instalment of Fab at Phoenix featuring my pics of what is looking great right now at the Phoenix candy store.

Happy gardening and see you soon! 

Cheers, Gary and the Phoenicians
The Succulent Situation
200+ Amazing Succulents
Help us Support Food Banks BC
Order Grafted Veggies and $1 from each pre-ordered plant will go to support food security in communities across BC
We are open February 25th to November 13th, 2022 seven days a week 10am-5pm including all holidays.
Upcoming Garden and Botanical Tours

With the end of Covid in sight, we are working on new dates and tours. Here's your up to date information.

Gardens of Ireland
Sold Out! Waiting List Open
Main Tour: June 24th-July 4th, 2022
Optional Northern Ireland Extension: July 4th-7th, 2022

Gardens of the Impressionists and the Loire
Late June/Early July 2023
Tour itinerary is currently being developed. For now, you can email World Wide Quest at [email protected] to get on the list for more information once it is released.

South Africa: The Cape Floristic Province 
and the Bulb Capital of the World
New Date! Fall 2024

To receive information on these tours once the itineraries and details are ready, please email Worldwide Quest at [email protected]. Mention the name of the tour and the tour guide, Gary Lewis.
Plants to the People!
Pick-Up, Courier, Freight, and Mail Order Shipping Services
Workshops 2022 Postponed Until Further Notice
Check us out on Social Media!
Help Us Spread the Word
Please tell your friends and family about Phoenix Perennials. Share this email with them, tell them about your mail order plants, or bring them with you to visit the nursery.
Thanks so much for your help! 
Update Your E-Newsletter & Alert Subscriptions
You can manage your subscriptions to our E-Newsletter and Alerts at any time by clicking on the "Update Profile" link at the bottom of every E-News or Alert. The E-Newsletter comes out twice a month. The 18 different Alerts come out occasionally only when we have something exciting to tell you. Perhaps you have FOMOOP ("Fear of Missing Out On Plants") and want to get every digital communication. Or perhaps you have a really busy life and your main loves are Edibles and Succulents. No need to totally unsubscribe from everything. In this case, you can just sign up for those two Alerts. Our system is flexible and you can change your preferences any time you want. Here are the different Alerts for you to consider:
  • Bulb Alert
  • Christmas Alert
  • Clematis and Cool Vines Alert
  • Edible Alert
  • Fragrance Alert
  • Hardy Subtropical Alert
  • Hellebore Alert
  • Hot Plant Alert
  • NEW! Houseplant Alert
  • Kids Alert
  • Made in the Shade Alert
  • Mail Order Alert
  • Maple and Cool "Woodies" Alert
  • Native Plant Alert
  • Rare Plant Alert
  • NEW! Rose Alert
  • Sales & Special Offers Alert
  • Small Space Alert
  • Succulent Alert
In this Issue
  1. Pre-Order Gary's New Book
  2. New Plants #7: Houseplants
  3. The Grafted Veggie Pre-Order
  4. Succulent Situation
  5. Main Mail Order Catalogue
  6. We're Hiring
  7. The Great Citrus & Rare Fruit Pre-Order
  8. The Hydrangea Hysteria Pre-Order
  9. Fab at Phoenix
Pre-Order Your Signed Copy of Gary’s New Encyclopedia
The Complete Book
of Ground Covers
4000 Plants That Reduce Maintenance, Control Erosion, and Beautify the Landscape
Ground covers are widely thought of as utilitarian, but these plants also offer a diverse range of beautiful and intriguing options with a variety of colors, textures, and forms. They can unify a landscape, knit together plantings and hardscape, and add extra layers of beauty, dynamism, and surprise. As a replacement for lawns, they can reduce our use of water, fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, carbon-based fuels, and transform a yard into a diverse landscape of habitat and food for native insects, birds, and other wildlife.

In this meticulously researched reference, nurseryman Gary Lewis profiles more than 4000 ground covers that can perform these roles with aplomb. No matter what kinds of conditions you’re facing—shade, dry soil, heavy clay, excess moisture—there’s a ground cover that will thrive and beautify your garden. Comprehensive, practical, and copiously illustrated, this indispensable volume belongs on the shelf of every designer, landscape architect, and serious gardener.

Reviews
“A magnum opus of ground covers that deserves a place in every gardener’s library.”
— Tony Avent, founder and owner of Plant Delights Nursery

“The importance of ground covers in our landscapes should be considered as carefully as the most stately of trees. Gifted nurseryman and plantsman Gary Lewis has done an admirable job in discussing the many advantages of using ground-covering plants while offering a well-researched compendium of both usual suspects as well as unusual choices seldom considered for the job.”
— Daniel J. Hinkley, author of Windcliff, director emeritus of Heronswood

“Ground covers play a critical role with our changing environment in nature, parks and landscapes. Lewis captures the breadth and depth of their important values to us and our planet.”
— Brian Minter, award-winning gardening expert, author, and TV and radio host

“Grasses and sedges are essential in creating better landscapes. Gary understands that, and his coverage of them as ground covers is smart and practical.”
— John Hoffman, founder and owner of Hoffman Nursery

“The Complete Book of Ground Covers takes a sensible approach to these complex plants and gives us encyclopedic information on thousands of them. The chapter on Designing with Ground Covers quickly became a favorite of mine.”
— Marjorie Harris, author of Thrifty Gardening from the Ground Up

“Too much turf? Steep bank? Problem soil or watering regime? The Complete Book of Ground Covers has the answer to these and many more landscape problems with cogent advice and stunning photography.”
— Panayoti Kelaidis, director of outreach and senior curator, Denver Botanic Gardens
New Plants #7
Houseplants

Houseplants are hot these days with all age groups from teenagers and 20 somethings right on up to our older generations. We have lots of cool new species and cultivars to wow both you and visitors to your home - plants that that your friends won't have!

Most of these houseplants will be ready in mid to late May for shipping or pick-up.

Check out all the new additions to this year's selection.
Alocasia Masquerade 'Mayan Mask' is an Elephant Ears with upright, deep green leaves with light green veins and burgundy reverses.
Alocasia reginula 'Black Velvet' is a compact and miniature jewel with dramatic dark foliage and striking white veins.
Albuca bracteata (syn. Ornithogalum caudatum), pregnant or sea onion, looks like an onion with thick, bright green leaves.
Ananas comosus 'White Jade' is an edible pineapple with evergreen foliage and delicious white fruit.
Aloe 'Oik' is a small, striking, colony-forming cultivar with green leaves and dramatic glowing coral pink, serrated edges.
Astrophytum myriostigma is a cool spineless cactus that forms plump, fleshy, stars covered in white dots.
Astrophytum myriostigma var. nudum is a cool spineless cactus that forms plump, fleshy, stars with smooth grey-green surfaces.
Colocasia 'Coffee Cups' is an elephant ear with cupped olive green foliage with burgundy veining on burgundy stems.
Colocasia esculenta 'Diamond Head' is a taro or elephant ear with large, ruffled, dark brown, tropical foliage.
Colocasia esculenta 'Tropical Storm' is a taro or elephant ear with large, dark purple-black tropical foliage with white centres.
Tanzanian zipper plant, Euphorbia anoplia, is a small colony-forming spineless spurge with bright green, ridged, cylinders.
Euphorbia lactea 'White Ghost' is a stunning succulent spurge with milky white, spiny, vertical, thorny stems.
Euphorbia mammilaris 'Variegata' is a small colony-forming spurge of ridged cylindrical stems in milky white.
Euphorbia obesa is a rare succulent from South Africa that forms rounded spheres typically with eight raised ridges.
Ficus benjamina 'Toolittle' is a dwarf fig tree with a dense covering of evergreen leaves that is perfect as a bonsai specimen.
Macropidia fuliginosa is the fabled and fabulous black kangaroo paw with true black and green flowers.
Musa acuminata Kokopo' is a cool short-season banana that is quick to produce its orange fleshed fruit. Great for cool climates.
Musa 'Lacatan' is an edible banana that is a cold tolerant with red flowers and medium-small sized delicious fruit.
Passiflora 'Incense' is a stunning passionflower with ornate violet flowers with pink and white highlights.
Passiflora quadrangularis or giant granadilla has large red and purple, cinnamon and nutmeg scented flowers and huge, edible fruit.
Saxifraga stolonifera 'Tricolor', the strawberry geranium or begonia, has variegated green, white, pink and maroon foliage.
Stephania venosa (syn S. rotundifolia) is a caudiciform houseplant producing vines of heart-shaped leaves.
Streptocarpus 'Spin Art' is a Cape primrose and relative of the African violet with cool tri-coloured flowers of purple, red and yellow.
Streptocarpus Ladyslippers 'Grape Ice' has stunning, large, tubular white flowers with dramatic grape purple veining.
Streptocarpus Ladyslippers 'Red Bicolor" is a relative of the African violet with bi-color blooms of red and pink.

These plants can be ordered now for shipping or pick-up!
The Grafted Veggie Pre-Order
Choose from 33 different veggies including Mighty Matos, Mighty Melons, Mighty Veggies and Ketchup 'n Fries!

Welcome to our Grafted Veggie Pre-Order offering hand-grafted edible plants that will produce at least 2-3 times more fruit and offer more disease resistance and cold tolerance than own-root veggies.

These grafted veggies will be arriving at the nursery in a few short weeks. If you want to grow some, now is the time to book your favourites. Many sell out in advance.

We'd like to draw your attention to two new grafted melons we were supposed to have last year that did not materialize. We are pleased to be able to offer them this year. Not only do they offer unique and interesting flavours, but they also have unique and interesting stories and histories. Read on to learn about these cool melons.
An intriguing and delicious heirloom melon with a long Canadian history dating back to the late 1800s. Known as the Montreal melon, the Montreal market muskmelon, and the Montreal nutmeg melon, it was grown widely in the Montreal region from the late 19th century until World War II when it was exceedingly popular and commanded a high price. It was lost to cultivation but rediscovered in a seed bank in Iowa in 1996. Plants produce large melons weighing 8 to 20 lbs with a thin green and tan, netted rind and pale green flesh that melts in the mouth with a distinct sweet and spicy nutmeg flavour. 90 days. Mighty Melons grafted melons are hand grafted onto super strong rootstock which provides greater disease resistance, greater cold tolerance (so melons start growing faster in the spring), and great yield. Mighty Melon grafted plants usually produce 2-3 times more fruit than ungrafted plants, a difference that is especially large for heirloom varieties which do not always offer high yields.
'Yubari King' is a sought-after and very expensive Japanese cantaloupe traditionally grown on the island of Hokkaido. It is prized for its renowned sweetness and beautiful orange flesh. Perfectly round melons of exacting sugar levels often go up for auction. In 2019 a pair of melons sold for $64,000! Your grafted 'Yubari King' will produce lots of melons. Now you too can eat like the rich and famous! Grow in a hot, sunny spot. 100 days. Mighty Melons grafted melons are hand grafted onto super strong rootstock which provides greater disease resistance, greater cold tolerance (so melons start growing faster in the spring), and great yield. Mighty Melon grafted plants usually produce 2-3 times more fruit than ungrafted plants, a difference that is especially large for heirloom varieties which do not always offer high yields.
Choose from 33 different grafted edibles.
Help Us Support
Food Banks BC
$1 from each pre-ordered grafted plant will be donated to Food Banks BC to help improve food security in our communities.
 
Thank you for your pre-order! 

The Succulent Situation
200+ Amazing Succulents

At Phoenix Perennials we are proud to offer one of the largest and most diverse selections of succulents in Canada. In 2022 we bring you more than 200 different rare, unusual, and intriguing succulents including 38 new succulents we've never offered before! Our succulents are available for advance ordering by both our local and mail order customers for pick-up or shipping once the succulents are ready in May and June. They will also be available in the nursery, again once they are ready, which will be some time in May. They are not available now for in-person shopping as most are still growing. We recommend ordering in advance since many succulents will sell out during the pre-ordering period.

All of our Tender Succulents are provided as potted plants so you will not need to pot them up and root them. Though we sometimes call The Succulent Situation a pre-order, since the plants come ready at the same time as our Main Catalogue items, you can mix succulents with any other plants in the Main Catalogue.

Tender succulents are usually hardy in zones 8 or 9 through 11. Some could be hardy in coastal BC if protected from rain but most require indoor winter protection and temperatures above about 5 degrees Celsius. In winter, keep your succulents cool, dry and in bright light. In summer, give them full to part sun and lots of heat. Also, don't be afraid to give them a good amount of water and some fertilizer at this time. Just let them dry out between waterings and apply fertilizer at half strength.

If you're looking for hardy cacti, we hope to launch our selection in about a week's time. Stay tuned!
Main Mail Order Catalogue
864 Amazing Garden Plants for the Upcoming Season including 300 New Plants!

We are so excited to launch our Main Mail Order Catalogue for the new season. We have so many amazing plants to share with you this year including more than 300 plants that are new to horticulture or new to our mail order catalogue.

IMPORTANT: This year our Pre-Orders have been migrated into our mail order system to make ordering easier. Please DO NOT mix plants from our Main Catalogue with our Pre-Orders and please don't mix Pre-Orders with each other. Orders must be placed separately for our Main Catalogue and for each Pre-Order. These various groups must ship at different times. If you do place mixed orders, we'll need to charge $5 for each separate invoice that ships to you to cover our extra admin time. Thanks for your help and understanding.

We welcome orders for both shipping and pick-up. If you're a pick-up customer, please follow this link to our Plants to the People page and read the "What type of customer are you?" section to understand how your order will be handled and for advice on how to best use the services connected with our mail order site.
300+ New Plants
We are truly crazy for plants at Phoenix Perennials so we love anything new and exciting. That's why we've added 300 new plants to our mail order offerings this year!

Most of these are new to horticulture like Delphinium 'Red Lark' pictured here. A few have been available before this year but are making their debut in our mail order catalogue for the first time. We don't know how you will decide which ones to get. We can't decide, so we just grow them all!

Check out our New Plants section to discover all the new possibilities.
The Great Citrus & Rare Fruit Pre-Order
57 Different Citrus | 36 Other Rare Fruit including 7 Avocados

Update April 28: We've just added more quantity of yuzu, one of our top two most popular citrus. Make sure to order in advance as they will likely sell out again!

We are very excited to launch our largest selection ever of Citrus plus a collection of other rare and unusual fruit.

If you're looking for Avocado, you're in luck. We've just added them to the pre-order.

Click the link below to start browsing and shopping! As with last year, quantities will be limited due to Covid-related shortages. Please order early to make sure you get all your favourites.
The Hydrangea Hysteria 
Pre-Order
You'll Go Crazy for these 70 Top Cultivars

Ordering is now closed but extra Hydrangea will be available for in-person shopping this weekend.

Hysteria (noun): 1. A wild uncontrollable emotion or excitement exhibited in gardeners when a state of plant lust becomes uncontrollable. 2. a functional disturbance of the nervous system, of psychoneurotic origin, caused by the presentation of too many amazingly beautiful things, for example the Hydrangea Hysteria Pre-Order at Phoenix Perennials.

The past 10-15 years has seen an incredible number of distinctive and unusual Hydrangea introductions with innovations like the ability to bloom on new wood, dwarf habits, and new flower forms & colours. In this pre-order we assemble a specially curated selection of the best that the Hydrangea world has to offer including many hot new introductions as well as some tried and true classic performers.
Available for: PICK-UP ONLY. These pots are too big to ship via Canada Post. However, orders of any size can be couriered within the Lower Mainland. Elsewhere in BC we can ship larger orders via freight on pallets to most cities and larger towns. Please select the shipping option when you check out and then place a note in the Notes field that you would like courier or freight service. We will be in touch to let you know the costs. 

Estimated Date: May

Mail Order Customers: Don't fret. We've got you covered. This year we have one of our largest selections ever of mail order-sized Hydrangea in our Main Mail Order Catalogue. Take a look at our Shrub Section to see all the Hydrangea options.
Fab at Phoenix
Gary's picks of what's exciting right now at the Phoenix Candy Store
Daphne 'Perfume Princess White' is an amazing hybrid with an extremely long bloom period of intensely sweet, citrusy fragrance.
Daphne 'Perfume Princess' is an amazing hybrid with an extremely long bloom period of intensely sweet, citrusy fragrance.
Vaccinium 'Pink Lemonade' is a tasty, pink-fruited blueberry with four seasons of interest in the garden.
Vaccinium Bushel and Berry 'Silver Dollar' is a container blueberry with white flowers, delicious berries and eucalyptus-like leaves.
The Westcountry lupins from England are the best in the world. We have 13 different cultivars in a full range of colours.
Lupinus Westcountry 'Blossom' is a lupin with baby-pink and white blossoms.
Lupinus Westcountry 'Salmon Star' is a magnificent lupin with shades of pinks and oranges.
Lupinus Westcountry 'Tequila Flame' is a magnificent lupin with bicoloured red and yellow flowers.
Lupinus 'Terracotta' is magnificent with multi-coloured flowers that begin pink, mature to a rusty-orange, then blush red.
Perhaps the most popular cobra lily we offer, Arisaema sikokianum has a pure white interior to the near black spathe which holds a pure white bulbous spadix.
Primula 'Elizabeth Killelay' is a unique and vigorous primrose with double burgundy flowers with golden edges.
Viola corsica, the Corsican violet, offers masses of violet-blue flowers with purple whiskers and tiny yellow centres.
Viola x wittrockiana 'Bunny Ears' has unusual petals that resemble bunny ears in shades of pink, magenta, yellow, and white.
Ajuga reptans 'Golden Glow' has gold and cream variegated foliage that is flushed with pink in cooler weather.
Eryngium 'Neptune's Gold' is the first sea holly with totally gold leaves. It has classic blue thimbles and bracts that are blue and gold.
Astrantia 'Star of Beauty' forms clumps of dark green foliage topped with branching stems of intriguing, deep pink flowers.
Alstroemeria Inca 'Safari' is a Peruvian lily with tropical looking blooms of orange with yellow speckled centers from early summer to fall.
Dicentra spectabilis 'Cupid' is a new variety of the classic bleeding heart with soft, baby-pink outer petals over white inner ones.
These are just a few of the thousands of amazing plants in stock now. Come for a visit soon to see them all or peruse our mail order site for shipping across Canada!