Fifteen years ago Scott Kunst sent out a three-page flier, photocopied at Kinko's, to 500 people that featured 25 varieties of heirloom bulbs. Ten years later, he was planting some of those same bulbs with Martha Stewart at her Connecticut home for a segment of her show.

That's quite a ride for a man who started out as a teacher and morphed into a mail-order nursery owner.

His catalog, "Old House Gardens," now features a large number of heirloom bulbs that he says appeal to gardeners of every sort, not just those restoring old gardens.

In Pittsburgh recently for a lecture series, he stopped by the newspaper to discuss his life, his bulbs, his philosophy on gardening and his hopes for the future.

Mr. Kunst has gardened his entire life, but it wasn't until he bought an 1889 Queen Anne house in Ann Arbor, Mich., that he started thinking about plants having a history.

An avid collector, he was drawn to older varieties of bulbs, which he searched for in catalogs. When he noticed that one of his favorite tulips, 'Prince of Austria,' was being dropped from U.S. sources, he decided to start his own small operation that would keep these old treasures in circulation.

That decision triggered a chain of events that now finds Mr. Kunst lecturing, traveling, selling heirloom bulbs and planning for expansion. It also led to that call from Martha Stewart.

While many idolize Ms. Stewart, Mr. Kunst was on the map way before she endorsed him, although his appearance on her show sure didn't hurt the business.

Today, the lovely catalog, which features vintage illustrations as well as color photographs, has hundreds of rare and endangered bulbs, as well as some that can be hard to locate in a nursery industry driven by the next big thing. Each entry gives gardeners a capsule commentary as well as zonal information and planting suggestions, such as those that will do well in containers.

Selections include Camassia (a great plant if you don't already grow it), snowdrops, daffodils, lilies, tulips, crocus, dahlias and cannas.

But when publishing that first little flier, Mr. Kunst wasn't dreaming of riches. He had purer reasons.

"You hope you make a difference," he says. "Nobody was putting heirlooms in catalogs."

Most of his buyers are not people trying to revamp a vintage planting, but regular gardeners who just want some hardy no-fail plants in their landscape.

Dubbed by the Christian Science Monitor as the Indiana Jones of heirloom bulbs, Mr. Kunst has scoured the world in search of these treasures.

"To find the plants you just keep asking," he says. "Nine out of 10 people don't have anything, but then someone will say, 'I don't, but why don't you try this person?' "

He found some 19th-century dahlias in Japan that way. Other bulbs were located in Holland. Some arrive in the mail from customers.

By far the best sellers in his catalog today are the dahlias, probably because of the prolific flower yield and diverse shapes and colors, he says.

But everything comes around. For instance, the Victorians grew cannas by the thousands, then they fell out of favor. Now they are back again and a trendy plant to grow. One of his favorites, 'Mme. Caseneuve,' from 1902, with burgundy foliage and what he describes as an ethereal pink flower, is worlds away from the hot red and orange colors that people automatically associate with this plant.

Other favorite bulbs include:

• 'Atom' gladiolus: This 1946 variety is "fabulous and easy to grow."

• Mexican single tuberose: easily grown in pots and have a "fragrance that is awesome." These plants exist today only because generations of gardeners have been handing them down; they are extinct in the wild.

Every year, he and his small staff try to add 10 percent to the inventory. Some plants do drop out, but usually because he can no longer find a source. That's why he's now thinking of expanding and growing some of his own supply. He also contracts with growers for some of his bulbs. With the value of the euro rising against the dollar, he is trying to find as many local suppliers as he can to keep prices down.

"I want as many people to grow the bulbs as possible," he says.

Still, he was shocked when a small stash of rare hyacinth bulbs, which he put on the market for $20 per bulb, sold out in one day.

He's gratified that people will spend money for plants, yet he's committed to giving value for dollar. His bulbs are large and healthy, and his staff is especially helpful to callers.

And they even like complaints. Keeping track of complaints allows him and his staff to winnow out problems.

One supplier had sent him smaller bulbs that were not blooming the first year.

"We want blooms the first year," he says. When the complaints started to come in, they realized that there was a problem with the shipment.

"The complaints helped us," he says.

Because of that, he has a loyal following in the gardening world beyond Martha Stewart.

The print catalog costs $2 and can be ordered on the Web site www.oldhousegardens.com or by calling 1-734-995-1486. The catalog also can be viewed on the Web site.