Showing posts with label New England Hosta Society. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New England Hosta Society. Show all posts

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Spring Hosta Thoughts


Sunday, January 24, 2010

A cold afternoon here on the mountain. Just back from snowshoeing in the woods with Gail and Michelle. It was nice out there but now I notice the temperature and barometer are dropping and the wind is coming up. Guess the storm that was talked about is heading this way.

33 degrees might not be a temperature at which to be thinking about hostas but despite the cold I have been spending lots of time on that subject lately. For those of you who ever visited us when Vermont Flower Farm was located at our house, you'll remember a fine hosta and shade garden that started by the driveway and mailboxes and traveled down along the road and into and around an old barn foundation.

Over the past year and a half I have been developing a new hosta display garden at the nursery and it should begin to show some maturity this season. Visitors commented regularly about missing the opportunity to see mature examples of hostas they were interested in purchasing as well as hostas that we didn't have for sale but were growing on for future sales. It was a good fit for everyone.

I finally decided that our website should include every hosta we grow, and should indicate whether it's just on display or available for sale. Now that I am most of the way through this I am doubting myself and just hope it will not cause confusion. We do have a nice collection and the several hundred we offer for sale is a larger number than most nurseries around here. You'll have to check out the site when it's finished and come visit and then make your own decision. Three resources to help you with hosta decisions are the American Hosta Society, the New England Hosta Society and the Hosta Library. Give them a try.

One of the most commonly found hostas in garden centers, public gardens and gardener's personal gardens is Elegans. This is a large hosta which many are thinking of when they tell me "I want one of those big blue hostas I see in all the magazines." Up top is a picture of Elegans as it breaks through the soil when spring temperatures begin to rise. As the leaves unfurl and temperatures change, the leaves begin to grow and a very nice plant develops.


Sometimes people catch me looking at the underside of hosta leaves in our gardens but that's because I love to see the vein structure that supports big leaves. Elegans has big leaves at the end of June-first part of July here in Vermont, and the blue of the leaves contrasts so very well with just about any other perennials you want to match it with.

Elegans is not a fast grower but I have found that with regular waterings and a combination of manure tea and Epsom salts , plants really do come along nicely. Last summer I planted a couple dozen at the nursery in a place that I can keep track of. I am going to try to force them along so landscapers and gardeners will be able to purchase mature specimens. Here's a picture of one that Austin potted up last summer from a garden at the house as we moved some specimens to the nursery. This is the size that I am in hopes of having in good supply in a couple years. You cannot pick one of these two bushel pots up by yourself but when planted with a little care they will offer a very impressive eye catcher that will come complete with a wide array of garden compliments.

Here's a picture (below) of one along the road at the Peacham Pond garden. It is surrounded by Abiqua Moonbeam and Albo picta on one side and Sunpower, Hyacinthina, Richland Gold and August Moon on the other. A couple maidenhair ferns served as accents although hostas grow faster than ferns and the ferns are less obvious now.

Probably the only downside to an Elegans is the flower scape which is short. The beautiful flowers appear just above the leaves and do not stand out as prominently. The flower size is large enough to bring attention and at bloom time the leaves are still holding sufficient blue color so the contrast is obvious.

This last image is of an Elegans at the bottom of the stone steps along the garden by Peacham Pond Road. It was getting towards sunset when I took the picture but you can see the size and the contrast this hosta affords its surroundings. The dandelions should not be in the picture but the Soloman Seal bells hanging on the left of the frame show a companion plant that hosta growers should consider.

As green thoughts bounce around on the cold days remaining this winter, give Elegans a thought as a possible addition to your gardens. It's relatively inexpensive, offers a great garden dimension and looks kind of neat when raindrops bubble up against new flower scapes. All hostas don't have to have catchy names and big price tags. This is a keeper!


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where two more degrees have ticked off the temperature and January 24th has inched closer to night.

Warm Gardening Wishes!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm A website-update-in-progress where some hosta narratives are incomplete but the information and pictures that are there should be an incentive to grow more. Questions? Give us a call at 802-426-3505 or email at lilies@ hughes.net Sharing information is what good gardeners do!

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Insect Recollections


Saturday, January 20, 2007

7.7 degrees here at Vermont Flower Farm. The temperature is dropping as the afternoon progresses. The wind has been constant since daybreak but now there are stronger gusts which pick up the fluffy white snow and blow it into disorganized swirls. It's almost like looking at a National Geographic movie of the arctic.

I've been to the platform bird feeder with fresh seed twice since breakfast. As the sun peaked out this morning, the Juncos were here when darkness was just breaking. Then an abundance of blue jays arrived, 6-7-8 of them in noisy conversations I cannot understand. Chickadees flirted in and out and since then its only been Juncos. My guess is that the blue jays will be back by late afternoon to stock up on corn and sunflower seeds to provide caloric warmth through the night.

Yesterday I was looking at garden blogs and up came May Dreams Gardens. From there I checked out Carol's other blogs, stopped at her Hoe and Pictures page, and quite by accident started a circuitous, bunny-hopping search that took me past bed time.

There was a picture of an Imperial Moth, which I had never seen before. Now many of you know I'm very interested in hostas and as a result I found myself at a New England Hosta Society annual meeting one time in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Like all the flower societies, annual events usually include a fund raiser auction and this one was no different. One of the hostas on the block was a fine specimen of Mildred Seaver's Imperial Moth. What was better was that Mildred was there herself. What wasn't good was the thing raised a lot of money and my poverty became apparent somewhere around $50 with the bidding still going. Since that day I've probably added a couple hundred hostas to my collection but still don't have an Imperial Moth.

As I continued reading Hoe and Garden I was interested in a link named Whats That Bug.When you're out in the garden most every day, you unknowingly train yourself to recognize details that others might miss. New insects are always on my radar so a website that could help on the identification end of things was a welcomed find.

Years ago I found these metallic blue-black insects in the grass along the potato patch. They always seemed to be in 3's or 4's. I remember getting down in the grass one time to look them over and recall thinking that they would make a good model for one of those creatures in the Star Wars movies. The color is impressive but the antennas and body dimensions are really neat. I kept thinking some computer loving kid could use a name generator and come up with a 12 syllable name no one could pronounce but everyone would love. For me, I just wanted to know what this bug was and which of the flowers I admire that it ate. The website got me started.

The bugs in the top picture are the Shortwinged Blister Beetle. A common name is the oil beetle, no doubt because of the blue-black coloration. My search determined there are several blister beetles out there but I probably have this one right. If not, rest assured someone will remind me of my error.

Oil beetles are often hanging upside down and their size makes you want to right them but that's the wrong thing to do. As with anything in the wild, plant or animal, if you don't know it well, don't be messing with it until you do. Blister beetles get mad if they are touched and they excrete a caustic chemical from their leg joints. The outcome for the intruder is...you guessed it....blisters, and not very nice ones at that. Not everyone is affected adversely but is makes no sense to try first.

As I continued on with Whats That Bug I was pleased to find another insect that I had been searching for. I have no aspirations of being an entomologist, and ever since Mrs. M. made everyone wear a toga and eat weird food in Latin IV, I've never had an interest in going that route to figure out what I'm looking at. What I need is easy descriptions and clear pictures. The end.


My second "mystery solved" turned out to be a Pelicinus polyturator. That would be a Mrs. Pelicinus because the Mr.s are apparently in hiding and difficult to find in the northeast. This is an unusual wasp, glossy black coloration with nice antennae and a long tail, specially evolved for sticking into the ground and directly into June beetle grubs. To keep its energy levels up while hunting for grubs, it drinks flower nectar. This particular one I found on a hosta leaf en route for some blooms but the previous one I located was on a Trillium undulatum in late August.

Finding a website to assist in identifying insects is not difficult to do but this one worked well for me. These two insects will have more interest to me in the future and I'll be able to share what I have learned with other gardeners. Some may get blisters from raking too much without good gloves but blisters from the blister beetle just won't happen if we remember what we've learned.

From the mountain above frozen Peacham Pond, where cold ice fisherman are driving home, wind burned, chilled and minnowless but if luck prevailed, with some fresh fish for supper.

With shivering garden thoughts,

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