Hello! I am Leonid Bondarenko.

   My old garden, where I started growing flowers long time ago, is situated near Vilnius town, Republic of Lithuania. Once the Garden was a place where I planted the main part of my collection. Now I use this name in the Internet name as a symbol and sign of respect for this point where everything began.

   The basic part of my collection was formed with wild plants collected in expedition in The Caucasus and mountain regions of Central Asia: Allium, Colchicum, Fritillaria, Iris. It has pre-determined priorities of my garden work for many years. Now I grow bulbous and tuberous plants got from many sources of different regions of the world.

   The principal rule of my work is the growing of bulbs in outdoors mainly, even they were native from places with natural conditions very distinguished from our ones. The moving of wild plants (or plants received from my foreign colleagues) to my garden is a first step only on a very long way of adaptation. I sell extremely rarely plants collected in wild. Always I try to grow one or more garden seed generations. Sometimes at time of flowering come 5-10 % of seedlings, but these plants tested and selected by the nature self grow much better in our climate condition. The best seedlings I use for clone creation and in the end, these clones form my collection and can be put on sail. So I could formulate shortly my conception: "I do not create a special condition for plants, but try to transform plants for our climate condition". If a plant has not a biological reserve for such transformation - I use a crossing trying to get hybrids with unique signs of the plant but grown and propagated well in our land. Sometimes hybrids have new not prognosticated merits.

   Pity but because of the events you know about, transport communications between people and countries are becoming more and more problematic. I could not visit many regions interesting for me where my colleagues always was ready to meet me and help in my trips, therefore my work it is a “home work” made in my garden where I am sowing seeds, making selection and hybridization. My first preoccupation is a saving collection and enlarging my attention to some ways of flower growing (for example, the leaders of my interests now are irises from Aril group}. Hope that first results can be interesting for my customers now and in future. Moreover, I must to take care of my health too, because this year I will be 72 year old. I step by step shorter big stocks and I am sorry that often I have not possibility to answer to some customers who ask me to send unique bulbs were before constantly in my offer. I have to sell out big stocks and save some bulbs for my joint. Think many plants I have been selling in great quantities for many years now are you can find in collection of different person in different countries.

Welcome to Lithuanian Rare Bulb Garden!