Support our Gardening Troops in Iraq

by Susan 
I'm not kidding.  A Logistics Specialist over there recently left this comment on an old article about HGTV's Paul James:

I am presently stationed in the Kuwait/Iraq region and miss watching "Gardening by the Yard". I was told of a tree called a Bulb Willow. I seen pictures of the tree but I have never heard of that type of Willow. Can you help?
Also, are there DVDs of "Gardening by the Yard"?
Thanks from the sandbox!!

My gawd!  Can you imagine what being in that world would do to YOUR gardener's soul?  Of course I shudder at the whole thing but I'd sure like to help this gardener from St. Louis see his damn gardening shows.  What with him serving in such a hell-hole and all. 

So I checked with HGTV and there are a few Paul James videos on their site. (Just put his name in the search on this page.) And YouTube has exactly one of Paul - plugging nurseries.   

So come on, Gardenrant readers, is there some way we can help out Norman Bullerdick, a passionate gardener who's needs a gardening fix bad? Can anyone make DVDs from their TV?  Or maybe he can use old-fashioned videotapes?

If you're thinking of Netflix, here's their offering of gardening DVDs.  Here and here are raves about our favorite garden-related movies, and here's Google results for "gardening DVDs".

And what the heck is a bulb willow?  I Googled it and got bupkis!

THE PAUL JAMES REPORT
Now if I did the sensible thing and took my  now-inactive old blog offline I'd save 90 bucks a year but you know, I'd miss hearing from Paul's fans, like the 81 other commenters there with Norman.  Maybe they'd just find this other post about Paul here on GardenRant and join the 66 other fans who've left comments on it - in the vain hope of actually reaching him or his bosses at HGTV - but I'd hate to miss any of their passionate messages.

So Paul, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'll always be here for you.  I'll take your messages and cheer on your fans as best I can, because I'm as ridiculous about your show as they are.  Norman speaks for us all. 

Photo credit - the U.S. Department of Defense.

UPDATE:  Gloria at Pollinators Welcome sent me this link to a photo of a bird - in a bulb willow tree.  We're closing in!

Comments

[Jane]

Well, apparently bulb willows grow in Texas. I found a picture of a finch sitting in one. Great picture of the finch, not so much the tree.

However, I work in a library with a lot of books on trees and couldn't find it in any of them, or in any of the databases we normally search for horticultural/agricultural info.

Possibly a local name for something that everyone else calls by another name?

[Margo72]

I'm intrigued too. Is it possible the name was garbled in the audio of the tv show? I looked under "Common Name" search on the USDA site http://plants.usda.gov
and found Bebb Willow and Ball's Willow and Bog Willowherb. Now I'm curious to hear the solution.

[N. & J.]

When I was in Iraq my mom sent me DVDs that she recorded from our TV and it was great to see my favorite shows even seeing commercials was kind of cool.

You would be amazed at what Soldiers do while deployed including growing plants and vegetables.

[Amber]

When my husband came back from Iraq and Kuwait he wanted to just lay down in the grass outside our apartment and I love to garden. So I can understand to an extent what those troops must be going through. Here is another story about how far an Airman went to garden over there. http://www.snopes.com/photos/military/grass.asp

[thatsme]

Two of the best things in this world; gardens and American Troups!
Thanks for all you do.
http://myworkathomedaddy.com
http://soyouwanttobeabanquetmanager.blogspot.com

[Jenn]

We've been watching Carrier on PBS - The Nimitz was my husband's ship for a deployment -- I asked last night - "Could you have a container garden on the ship?" He thought I was nuts, but the idea of nothing green is so depressing.