Showing posts with label Hemerocallis 'So Lovely'. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hemerocallis 'So Lovely'. Show all posts

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Hurricane leftovers


Saturday, August 29, 2009

A wet day here on the mountain. I have been up since about 4, listening to the rain pound the standing seam roof. Karl the Wonder Dog just awoke and asked to go out but the walk was short, as in seconds, and he hastily returned to catch a few more winks with Gail. Although all the computer reports suggest it's a mild storm right now, the rain is bucketing out of the dark sky and hasn't shown any sign of stopping since I have been up.

Gardening in this part of New England is beginning to slow down. Mums and asters are prevalent at all the gardening stores although I notice that people are still having a tough time adapting to adding perennial asters to their gardens. Gail grew a bunch again this summer but the cold, wet spring slowed them down and she has them on sale now to move them along. When you buy a good perennial, pot it, care for it all summer and then have to send it down the river for $5 or less, you have lost money and time. Just the same, in the gardening business you don't want to carry over anything you don't have to as continued maintenance of a smaller plant is just asking for the loss to continue. In contrast, people who grab these fall bargains get great plants that always grow well once in the ground. We continue to work at cutting labor and supply costs so Gail has quite a collection of good plants at reduced prices now, trying to limit what we carry over. Stop by and see!

The daylilies have slowed but they have been glorious this summer. Gail continues on with her bare root sales as we eliminate slow movers and overstocks. She sells roots for 5 for $15 and this is great for anyone who wants a border by the drive or walkways or wants to plant a hillside and give up on fighting the lawn mower at weird angles all summer. Sales have been very good and people often pick up another pot or two along the way. We are still seeing a number of people just getting around to planting large gardens and they arrive with a list from our website and go home with a car full of fine plants. We always try to offer planting advice and there is an encouraging number of new gardeners this year although very few younger gardeners. Plants don't seem to come with enough technological enticements to please younger folks.

This is very busy time at the nursery as we need to divide daylilies now and fill in rows that have been reduced by good sales. Austin just left to go back to UVM and Michelle is back at her teaching job so that leaves Gail and me and Gail from Peacham to finalize the work. I have from now until mid October to contribute to the process as that's when I am having my right hand operated on for carpal tunnel and trigger finger. The same operation this past January gave me instant relief and made me wonder why I had waited so long. By the time the white stuff falls from the sky, I should have both hands, not just one, working well again. If you're in the area, I can make an excellent recommendation for a hand surgeon at Mary Hitchcock Hospital in Etna, NH (near Hanover/Dartmouth/White River).

As I prepare to pour another coffee and head for the nursery, here are a few more daylily photos. We have perhaps 150 more daylilies here at the house that need to be moved to the nursery, Many are late bloomers which will help next year by offering daylilies that bloom well into September and some into early October. Yesterday I started working on a new daylily garden that's 140 X 50 and then a 60 X 10 display garden adjacent to the new hosta garden. Both should be visible from Route 2 next year and should add some more variety to what is already a good offering for area gardeners.




Miss Amelia

I really like this daylily as it blooms from July and well into the second or third frost. Right now it is flowering at the nursery and here at the house it is backed up by So Lovely, another really good match.


So Lovely
See what I mean?


Highland Lord


Elain Strutt
Registered in 1969 but still a strong variety at 38-42" tall


Ezekial
Talbott 1991
Actually a little darker than this picture.


Have to scoot! Writing form the mountain above Peacham Pond where this morning's wake up sounds are limited to heavy raindrops and hurricane leftovers. As the skies clear today, stop by the nursery. Lots to see and some good deals too!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Fall Hollyhocks


Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Already 9 PM and the rain is finally quieting after a couple hours of pounding like a heavy fist on the standing seam roof. The weather people predicted more than an inch of rain and I won't be surprised if we surpass that amount. It is such a contrast to California and the South where serious problems continue. We are lucky here at Vermont Flower Farm to have several excellent supplies of water. It's not just any water, it's the best tasting water I have ever tasted.

Fall 2007 has been interesting. The weather yesterday was like a July day but without the higher humidity. After work, I rode the tractor making a 10 foot by 200 foot long garden at the new property. It will serve as a buffer between the parking area and the sales building and will have a split rail fence the entire length save for the opening for delivery trucks and entering/exiting customers. I misread the amount of clay I would have to remove and backfill with good soil, compost and manure and I had to order up another 25 yards of soil tonight. The garden will be the first thing a customer sees as they park their vehicle so I want it to be well prepared and good looking.

This morning I had to head south for the day down towards Brattleboro. First I had to get the truck back to a tire place on the Montpelier side of the Barre-Montpelier Road because they sold me a defective radial tire last week. They did a weird trial and error thing until they figured out what to do with it and that left me less than pleased. Today was my third visit and now I'm driving on $600 worth of tires that track straight. I left them with my message in economics: If I tell ten friends of the problem and they don't buy $600 in tires, that's a $6000 loss. If they tell 10 friends each, that becomes $60,000 in potentially lost sales. Customers are not always right but when they are, they need to be treated appropriately.


When I returned tonight I needed a good walk to stretch out some arthritic joints. For some reason, hollyhocks caught my attention. The first picture above shows some plants from this summer when hollyhocks were in their glory. Now singles are opening and although the masses are not there, the individual flowers are noteworthy. The flower bees are slowing down their visits but the bumble bees and a neighbor's honey bees keep working every available flower.




Many visitors ask us to dig up hollyhocks but we won't. This is a plant that is best seeded into your garden space and this is the time of year to do it. Our garden seed production was not that good this year but this is a plant which produces more than I want to deal with from year to year. It was a nice surprise today to see so many in bloom. There are still some trollius showing color, several campanulas, the last of the monardas and one last Hemerocallis 'So Lovely'. Looking back on our gardens this past summer, I can reiterate, "They really were so lovely."


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where sunsets come too early, daylight is too brief.

Best garden wishes,

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener

http://vermontflowerfarm.com
http://vermontgardens.blogspot.com