Not All Yellow

Friday, May 29, 2009

Almost 8:30 PM here on the mountain and the darkness is closing in quickly. The sky remains gray and a thick fog is dropping like a curtain. At least the rain has stopped for the first time today. The only bright spot that remains is formed by the white apple blossoms on an unknown native apple at the edge of the old daylily nursery. It's been a long, wet day!

The local evening news mentioned that the rain amounts varied from 3.4" to 1.7" over night and this is obvious by the thunderous power of the Winooski River as it passes our nursery. As sick as I have been with this cold virus, I've been down twice today to check the level of the river. Each visit saw Gail and Austin get muddier and muddier as they transplanted annuals and lined out perennials. The news later advised that if garden seeds don't germinate in a week, replant them as they are probably too soggy now. The weather lady's advice only bothered me more as Austin planted all our seeds yesterday. Maybe tomorrow's sun will bring enough warmth to start some positive growth!

Despite the wetness of the week, gardens abound with yellow and for some reason I find that Vermonters like to see yellow in the spring. This first picture is a nice hosta from years back by Mildred Seaver. It's called Sea Fire and I love it because of the light bulb it turns on in the garden each spring. I bought my first plant probably 8 years ago from a Vermont grower and subsequently bought some tissue culture plugs that were iffy at best. Those that remain are looking good and should finally be ready for sale if we don't receive a third frost while they are tender. This one is surrounded by jewelweed, wild impatien, the cure for posion ivy rash.

When I first got relocated to Vermont from New York in the early fifties, our new found neighbors, two farm ladies at the Century Farm, Church Hill Road, Woodstock, took my sister and me to gather marsh marigold, Caltha palustris, from area swamps. This was Cowslips to them and also a spring green favored as much as dandelion greens from the field. To be honest, I don't even remember spinach played a part back then but the cowslips were a "had to have" meal.



Then there's spurge, euphorbia, a neat yellow with flowers that are really bracts like poinsettias. This plant greeted us in Marshfield when spring came in 1990 and it's been here ever since although in more places. It seeds easily and has a sap that can irritate some gardeners as bad as poison ivy. Although the ivy gets me from three miles out, this stuff doesn't bother. As it blooms out in about a month, the stems lay prostrate but if clipped off will come again and hold itself upright for more of the summer. I'm not interested in selling it but there's always someone who asks "Why not?"



Other yellow hostas abound and some are only good with their spring colors. Chinese Sunrise comes out strong but then fades to a mustard green. For now it's a boost to visual senses!

Celebration (below) is a small hosta which looks really nice early on but if you saw it later when it ranks up there on the "slugs-like-it" list, you'd pass it by. To keep it looking good I should have started surrounding it with coffee grounds about two weeks ago but I fear I'm already too late as a see a couple holes. Night walks right about now would confirm the presence of slugs and would tell me how many prevail.

The yellows go on and on and I really do enjoy them. I started planting the new hosta garden at the nursery yesterday and I started with the yellows along the walkway. They should be really nice next year but will be worth a look in a week or two.

As I journeyed up the hill to the house tonight, I noticed a lone peony, in bloom, early, nameless, alone in the garden. It came to us mixed in by mistake with some other roots and it stood out from the rest as different so it got planted where it could be watched. It's still small but very nice. The yellow center draws my attention and makes me wonder what is its name? For right now it will remain nameless. It's not yellow and I like it. I'm tired and sleep sounds more interesting.


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where peepers peep and Karl the Wonder Dog just said he wants out one last time.

Fine gardening wishes!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Gardens
Vermont Flower Farm: A nice web site that almost begs you to buy a few flowers

Short On Pollinators

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Another wet morning here on the mountain with up to 4" of rain predicted by tomorrow about the same time. We need rain but this is a little too much too fast and I expect the runoff will cause the river to rise quickly--something that gives me a big headache. We pump water from the Winooski River and the pump is located 25 feet above the riverbed but the river is narrow there. We went through a similar situation last year and I had to pull the pump to avoid it being washed down the river. Not difficult to do but a bear to carry a pump hitched to a pressure tank up a steep clay bank. Gail will be watching the situation and will call if things begin to look challenging.

I cannot remember a spring when the apple trees, both native and domestic, have been so well covered with flowers. Although they have begun to fall due to yesterday's rain, they have been beautiful every place I have traveled.

The part that bothered me again this year was the profound absence of bees. One morning I went out and looked at this sargentii crab and around and around it I walked looking and listening for bees. I finally spotted a lone bumble bee and then two hours later returned to find a large number hard at work along with some smaller bees I am not familiar with. Nowhere was a honeybee to be found so something obviously happened to the neighbor's hives down the road. Wild honey bees have been absent for years so even the sight of a domestic bee is heartwarming to someone who understands the need for pollinators.


Rowan Jacobsen's book, Fruitless Fall, is a book I continue to promote because very much like my favorite Silent Spring it mentions chemicals and what we are doing that cannot easily be returned to normal. As you think about buying some lawn food or bug killers, give the issue of pollution and the demise of beneficial insect and animal populations a second thought. Just the thought of white nose syndrome in bats and the loss of hundreds of thousands of these beneficial mammals should makes us wonder how we have upset certain balances. ???


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where I'd still like to find the nesting site of the pair of mature osprey who forget to say thank you on a daily basis as they eat trout from the pond.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Gardens
Vermont Flower Farm Our great site which contains pictures of hostas that look better today than the real plants that have been nailed two Mondays in a row by heavy frosts. Stop by and make your own judgment

Hazy Morn'

Flycatcher

Sunday, May 24, 2009

48 degrees and a hazy morning here on the mountain. The great grayness hangs at tree top level and the ground is thick with last night's dew. As I look out the office window I can see deer tracks from two deer as they dragged their feet through the tall grass. This must be last year's fawns as this years arrivals haven't even arrived yet. Whitetail deer in this part deliver all their fawns within a week of each other and by mid June their legs are strong enough to begin learning the paths to human gardens. I better remember to call my friend Jim and advise strongly that he bite the bullet and put up a deer fence this year to protect his new hobby as home vineyard manager.

The gardens are coming along nicely and traffic at the nursery has been very good. Gail has invited a man and his kids who grow vegetable plants as a project to sell some plants at our place. The kids have special interests, special needs, and they obviously take great pride in what their father has taught them. All the six packs, vegetables or flowers, are $2.75. The price is not as important as the message of what the man does with his two kids and the smiles on their faces when a pack is purchased. I wish sales were better for them but last Monday's 25 degree frost slowed thoughts of gardening so it will be a week or so before the interest grows again.

Forty Carats

The daylilies are growing very well and Elizabeth, an old daylily by Norton, 1942 is about to open. Actually it may be open now as it was about ready yesterday but I didn't check it in my bus-i-ness of working with Worker Bee Gail while wife Gail and Alex were away at a program in Jericho. We like the old daylilies and have a fondness for the species. Gail keeps saying that she really likes all the old daylilies and wants to collect them but each year we just get too involved and forget to place an order. If you have an interest in the real old ones too, let me know and I'll find the email address for a very good grower.

Here are some photos of a few more daylilies that are available at the nursery or via the Internet. There are hundreds more available too. Descriptions are available on the Internet. Flycatcher and Forty Carats are up top.

Cedar Waxwing

Bama Music

Ruby Throat

Miss Amelia

Leebea Orange Crush

Hyperion

Hesperus

Time is short, time to scoot. If you're out and about today stop by the nursery and say high to Gail or Gail. They'll both be there today. I'll be back and forth between home and the nursery gathering plants for the new shade garden. If you can't find anything to do today, look me up and I'll talk garden design while we work together.

Good gardening wishes from Vermont Flower Farm where Karl the Wonder Dog has expressed an impatience with my keyboarding as he wants a second walk towards Peacham Pond. Oh for life's multitude of controlling life forces!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Gardens
Vermont Flower Farm A great website for when you can't personally visit us!

Beat the Rain, Beat the Beetles!

Saturday, May 16, 2009

A quick morning walk with Karl the Wonder Dog made me happy about how well the hostas are doing (Pacific Blue Edger pictured here) but dismayed about the state of lilies east of the Rockies and on into Canada. The lily leaf beetle has taken control and a predator wasp which is successful in zone 5 just doesn't do the trick here. It's too cold for it to survive.

If you search my blogs from last year you'll see some comments and some solutions but the battle is a big one and here in Vermont there are at least 3 generations per year so you have to love your lilies a lot to help them through the disaster. I'd say 3-4 people a day stop at the nursery and ask for advice. Click on the pictures and get a better look at the beetles--about 3/8's of an inch long.

I have to get clicking here myself because I'm trying to beat the rain. I'm putting a new roof on Gail's mother's house so we can sell it and the rain in recent weeks has slowed me down. I have the sun room roof stripped and will add some more insulation inside and then top it off. Rain is coming after lunch so time is short.

If you are out and about today, the wild flowers are still beautiful around here. Painted trillium are out down the road. At the nursery where we rototilled last fall for the new hosta and shade garden, millions of blue and also white forget me nots grew. We never saw them before but they are bountiful. I won't be at the nursery today but Gail is there so stop and say hello if you have a minute. We're working our way out of "spring disarray" so Gail may need a minute to locate what you want but we do have a nice selection.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where tom turkey just chased 6 hens by my window. Turkey life is good!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener

Vermont Flower Farm Visit virtually if you can't stop by in person
Vermont Gardens

Trillium On Mothers Day

Sunday, May 10, 2009
Mothers Day

A long but successful day at the nursery. The weather was cold and it rained off and on but a fairly steady flow of customers brought on plenty of conversation, some good laughs and some good sales. I was as pleased with the volume of visitors as I was with those who parted with some cash because it was so encouraging to see people find us and also comment on how much they liked the revised website.

I do wish I could get out and take some wildflower pictures. Time is short and when you miss a good display as I did with the bloodroot, it's gone until the following year. The trillium are looking great right now. The grandiflorum are so nice and fresh and they always bring on lots of comments.


Even the assasin bug enjoys them! People often want to purchase a pot or two but they aren't that keen on the price even if I tell them seven years from seed to flower is the norm. Die hards spring for the purchase and I know they'll do a good job of planting and will follow my directions for harvesting seed pods before insects do so as to encourage better production on into the future.


Trillium erectum are in good supply in our gardens as I have worked hard to propagate them too. I need to find someone with good experience with trillium as some of the hybrids are especially tall and strong and I'd like some feedback on these. Last year the deer ate all the seed pods the night before I intended to harvest them so my production cycle was interrupted.

Before I know it Memorial Day will be here and the very popular orchids will be blooming. In the meantime I'll keep plugging away at the nursery. Today it was phlox and tomorrow it will be astilbes. If you get a chance, stop by and say hello.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where supper is about ready and early sleep will be most welcomed.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Gardens
Vermont Flower Farm A website that shares the plants we grow with those who cannot make the trip. Take a look!

Sunny Spring Morn'

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Almost 7 am and I have to get going here. Old joints are slow to loosen this time of year and I have rubbed emu oil on both knees and Bag Balm on both hands in preparation for another day of planting. Today there are several hundred daylilies to get lined out and several crates of new plants to get potted up. Gail has four or five people lined up to plant this morning but I will be on my hands and knees doing garden planting. We are planning an official nursery opening next weekend but we'll need good weather and good planters to meet the goal.

One of Gail's favorite wild flowers is pictured above. Hepaticas don't flower all that long as they are negatively influenced by high spring temps and strong winds. Just the same, one look at a nice little group seems to get Gail through spring. There is some good hybridizing going on with these flowers but I haven't tracked down the new product to sneak some larger plants into the garden. The same is true with the trout lilies which have become real garden standouts in spring.

I'm heading down to the nursery in a few minutes but want to run the tractor tiller over the potato piece one more time. The potatoes are about ready for planting but the weed crop from last year got started early so one quick till and today's sun will fry those weeds and ready the area for planting.

Try to get out today and visit a few nurseries and garden centers. Next weekend is Mother's Day and it's not too early to make a decision on what might make that gardening mom smile. Don't forget!

Good spring wishes,

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Gardens
Vermotn Flower Farm A site to visit and tour even if you're not in the mood to buy plants

Rising Peonies

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Quiet at last here on the mountain after an incredible night of wind as the weather fronts changed. Yesterday the temperature rose to 58 degrees and the wind pounded long after we retired for the night. We are anemometer-less here so have no confirmation of the real wind speed but it surely melted more snow and upped the forest fire danger higher than it already is. You would never know of yesterday's wind now as it's motionless and 43 degrees.

Last night Karl the Wonder Dog begged and begged to walk some more. When spring comes his sniffer goes into overdrive and walks are never long enough. We actually enjoy the long walks except when he finds an errant bone or something else springy that he shouldn't grab on to. We envy his ability to be able to run and have fun and resist returning to the house and then within seconds of his return be laying in the sun or by the stove snoring. Dog life can be good!

As we walked last night the peony nursery was a surprise. The snow just came off but the peonies were obviously putting up growth even before the snow exited at garden. The plants are up about 4 inches already. I'll spray them with Tree Guard tomorrow because I really want the flowers for late spring brides but that requires competition with the deer. Smouthii, the fern leafed peony, is always the first to bloom and the deer just love it.

Peony 'Top Brass'

Peony 'White Wings'

When you order peonies they often arrive for fall planting and books and guides never mention spring planting. We have long planted and relocated peonies in the spring too and have always had good success. Peony roots can be big so you have to use care when digging. They should be planted just an inch and a half to two inches below the surface so consider a good 18" radius away from any new stems you notice. Get a good clump of dirt with the roots during spring relocations. Some garden centers have peonies in those little cardboard boxes for $6 to $10 depending on where you live. If you are new to peonies, that's not much expense to try one. They won't bloom for a couple years but it's a way to get started. Plant them as if they will be there forever with amended soil and good sunlight.

Our old web site had a nice piece on peonies and a list of those we are growing on. Gail wouldn't let me move any to our new nursery because she thought it would create more trouble as visitors saw beautiful plants they couldn't buy. She was right of course but I wanted that 45 day period of being surrounded by June colors and fragrances that cannot be replaced by any other flower. Probably the best reason to take the page off the new site was that soon-to-be brides called year round wanting, sometimes begging for peonies at times when they just don't grow in North America. We had a lot of nice conversations and gave out a lot of good info but in the end no bride ever changed her wedding date to wait for peonies.

Rain is on the way today. Not a lot but enough to make the temperature feel cold as we erect a new 30 X 60 foot shade house. I have a lot to get ready before the helpers arrive. Regardless of the weather, get out and into your gardens today and see what's new, what's bigger, what's missing. Don't buy any plants yet as it's just too early and you'll only have to take care of something that will look better at a greenhouse or nursery while the real spring arrives.


From the mountain above Peacham Pond where 6 ducks just landed on the trout pond and a medium sized Great Blue Heron stands sentry looking for a frog on a frogless, peeperless morn.

Be well and get gardening!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener

Our revised site Vermont Flower Farm is up and ready for your orders.

Vermont Gardens

Happy Easter

Sunday, April 12, 2009

A quiet 5 AM here on the mountain as the bright stars of last evening slowly turn off one by one as the sun gives thought of welcoming Easter morn to each of us here on the mountain. Last night was a late one for us but I am still on schedule. It's a different story with Gail and Alex who will slumber on for some time. Karl the Wonder Dog made a brief appearance fifteen minutes ago and then gave a little snort and went back to bed. Even from the office I could Gail mumbling as Karl jumped back on the bed with apparent disregard for where his feet landed.

Flowers at Easter time are a welcome sight but here in Vermont there is often a great disparity depending on when Easter falls and what the late season snows have brought. As I travel around Vermont I notice varying degrees of spring bulb flowers in bloom although here our only entertainment is crocus and so far only purple at that. In a week they will be plentiful but the snow has only melted over some of the gardens this week so bulbs are just now reaching for the sun. As such, we usually rely on potted plants to give us some energy to fight off the final throes of winter.

Lilies are a popular Easter plant and we really enjoy them from our days of growing thousands of lilies here on the mountain. The large white lily known as an Easter lily in America is not the lily from Bibical times but instead a hybrid which fares better with the need to be an adaptable bulb capable of being coerced into early bloom on years like 2009. Variation of light exposure and chemicals are now used to regulate bloom time and height but despite breakthroughs, the variables create a challenge for greenhouse growers. Gail bought a lily two weeks ago and as soon as I looked at the bud formation I questioned what Easter day would look like. This morning there is only one kind of ok flower and the rest are curling and discolored. In contrast I have seen years when public houses from churches to restaurants were lined with pots where bloom had just begun and whispers always included "Easter is late this year isn't it?" When Easter is over, cut the stem back to a couple inches and let those lilies dry out a bit. When the garden warms, plant the bulb(s) and feed and water them with care and perhaps they will rejuvenate and bloom another year. It won't be for Easter but usually sometime in August here in the northeast. The picture up top is an Easter lily I bought many years ago. It arrived with some ants enjoying the sweet nectar.

Growers have expanded the lilies they make available at Easter and the colorful Asiatics are now accompanied by many different lilies. The following one is the trumpet Regale which does well in Vermont. It is a July bloomer when grown in the garden.


A final plant which you might consider as a year round houseplant is Eucharis grandiflorum, the Amazon Lily. In the flower world there are over 250 plants which bear the name "lily" but are not true lilies. This is one of them. It's a zone ten flower so it is a house plant here but one we really cherish. Small starts are usually available in greenhouses and on occasion you'll find an errant shipment of big pots at a box store. Typically no one knows anything about them including the price so that's a good time to pick up several as gifts for gardeners who enjoy house plants.

Without doubt you can purchase potted tulips in all kinds of colors, some tipsy hyacinths with great fragrance, and pot upon pot of daffodils or mixes of spring bulbs. These are always a good bet as an Easter present for a senior friend and they're sure to conjure up some memorable stories.

Here on the mountain we'll enjoy Easter Day and we hope you do too!


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where a neighbor reported having to stop yesterday morning just past the intersection of Route 2 and 232 as six moose controlled road access as they made their way down from the mountain tops to summer in the valleys. Use care driving at night as the moose are on the move and they make very poor hood ornaments.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Gardens

Vermont Flower Farm: Our newly updated website---have you been there yet??

Instruments of Change

Thursday, April 9, 2009

You can tell by the absence of communication from Vermont Flower Farm that the weather has broken and spring is struggling to give us an opportunity to be outside. In no way does that mean that the gardens are even remotely free of snow but there are patches of driveway and grass that need picking up and the chance to get some fresh air is just too good. Robins predominate now although the winter birds continue to wear down the feeders. The bears are out of hibernation here and there and I am reluctant to put any more feed in the feeders than the birds will clean up in a day.



The picture here and up top is of a great daylily by Darryl Apps named Over There. It was registered in 1983 and continues to be very popular. I chose this picture to show how strong a grower it is. You are looking at three healthy fans here and this is what we typically begin to break up and line out in the spring to keep all our flowers in rotation and in supply. It's trickier than you might think as a popular seller this year might not even sell six plants next year.

I have written about dividing daylilies before and if you go to the intro daylily page on our website you will hear a little about my thoughts on this. Years ago a friend found the bottom knife with the brown plastic handle at a flea market, garage sale, something like that. She had me in mind having heard my one-on-one exchange with daylilies about to be split up. The knife has larger teeth on one side and is very strong but almost impossible to sharpen. This past year I noticed the top knife at a box store. It's a drywall or sheetrock knife for cutting that plaster board that lines many of our house walls. This one cost about $10 and comes with a spongy soft handle that I like.

As spring arrives and it's time to divide some daylilies, think about what I have said and give a knife like one of these a try. Easy to use after you hose the plant off with water. Although every newly split daylily won't put up blooms the same year, some will surprise you. A vigorous grower like Over There is sure to please by year two and the color and bud count will make you smile!


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where three large hen turkeys just spent some time scratching their way through dinner in the old potato patch. One tried to cross the snowy field but kept falling in so she about-faced and walked the perimeter. Good thinking!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Gardens
http://vermontgardens.blogspot.com
Vermont Flower Farm: our newly released, reconstructed by yours truly website!
http://vermontflowerfarm.com

Owl Houses and Sunny Days

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

A beautiful late afternoon here on the mountain with a temperature of 35, bright sun and no wind. The temperature is misleading because the sun is shinning on the thermometer but just the same we are telling ourselves that the real spring will be here soon.

My writing has diminished of late but I think I can finally turn that around. I have no choice as I received an email last night from Barbara somebody in North Carolina who asked why nothing was going on up here. I am embarrassed enough to get with the program.

Months back now Alex and I made another barred owl house. These aren't bird houses in the little bird sense as some owls are bigger. We actually made our first house years ago and it remains empty in the back woods in a softwood ravine. We placed that after having a nice "If I were a bird" discussion but the emptiness apparently supports the conclusion that neither Alex nor I have much Kitty Hawk DNA in our bodies.

So last fall we carted the second house into the woods vowing to come back soon with the ladder and tools but that never happened. We made this latest one thinking that we'd now have two to hang but today we couldn't find where we left last year's house. There's still lots of snow in the woods and maybe in a couple weeks it will appear. If anything moves into any of these, we'll keep you posted. Possible web cam sites anyone?

The better news involves part of Barbara somebody's question. Where is that website? I won't bore anyone with the things I have learned about web hosting this week but the new material is
completed and the web site is in a more colorful format than you've seen before. I'm still trying to figure out how to speed up the download time and that's made especially difficult because the site is heavy on the graphics. Take a look at http://vermontflowerfarm.com and give me some feedback on how it works for you.

There are numerous pictures which I have to get around to but the introductory narratives and plant descriptions have been updated. It's a far piece from being the way I had planned but it is functional and will serve as our catalog to you. Give some feedback when you can. I appreciate kind thoughts but will take about any constructive comment I can get. If you have never prepared a site before just bear that in mind. This one represents me and a couple books and one heck of a lot of hours.



Best gardening wishes!

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where mourning doves are eating cracked corn under the feeders and a small flock of starlings are cleaning up the last piece of suet. When I see a couple redwing blackbirds at the feeder, I'll cross winter off my mind.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Gardens
Vermont Flower Farm

A New Tree Guide

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Another beautiful day here on the mountain. The sun has the thermometer up to 66.9 and the water is running down the road in growing rivers. If I was still a skier I'd be on the slopes right now as spring skiing can't be better than it is today.

As the snowbanks melt, I get more and more anxious about what the gardens will look like, whether or not there has been any rodent damage and whether the frost has heaved out any of the late summer daylily plantings at the nursery. As I drove by the nursery today the snow was melting quickly and after tomorrow's rain, I should be able to park just off Route 2 and climb through the fence to see how things are looking. I haven't been to the nursery building since just after New Years when I had to rake three feet of snow off the back roof. Today it's clear and the Vermont Flower Farm sign is much more prominent than a week ago when it appeared in an area newspaper half covered by snow.

With bright sun, I keep thinking of the trees and shrubs and with that comes a need to mention the Arbor Day Foundation. I'm not a member but a recent press release included some interesting data on how they have grown as an organization over the years. Here are some Arbor Day Foundation accomplishments to think about as you contemplate spring planning and planting.

• Replanting trees In America's National Forests that have been damaged by fire, insects or disease. Nearly 13 million trees have been planted in the past 16 years.
• Reaching nearly 2 million fifth grade students in 76,000 classrooms annually through the Arbor Day National Poster Contest.
• Connecting young children with nature through the Nature Explorer program. This multifaceted, comprehensive group of educational resources helps families and educators make nature a part of daily learning for children ages 3-8.
• Honoring more than 3,400 communities populated by 120 million Americans through the Tree City USA program.
• Organizing a variety of Arbor Day celebrations and tree-planting events in communities across the country.
• Recognizing leaders in tree planting, conservation and environmental stewardship from around the world at the annual Arbor Day Awards celebration.

ADF is just now releasing an excellent tree identification book entitled What Tree Is That? If you have been a Vermont Gardens or The Vermont Gardener blog reader in the past, you might have read my comments about two pocket guides which I like. Wildflowers of Vermont and Shrubs and Vines of Vermont, both by Vermont freelance writer and photographer, Kate Carter, are excellent resources that easily fit into a shirt pocket or bag and make your identification chores easy and accurate. In contrast, What Tree Is That? has illustrations instead of photographs. The illustrations are detailed and accurate and once again, the book will slide into a pocket for inclusion on hikes. It will help identify over 250 species of trees that grow in North America. Detail is paid to leaf shape, leaf stems and twig structures, the fruits and flowers involved, and the details of the buds and bark. If you would like a little more detail, click on this link. The book is available in bookstores and on-line at Amazon beginning April 1st.



Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the sun is pulling me outside. Arbor Day should be entered into your calendar while you're thinking of it. Friday, April 24, 2009. And don't forget What Tree Is That? It may not "fit" for you, but it would be a great gift for a naturalist friend, a budding young forester, or your local library. Wherever a copy ends up, it will be well used.


Warm gardening greetings!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Gardens

Great Seeds, Great Growers!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

A cold morning here on the mountain with a temperature of +1.2 degrees and an estimated anemometer-less wind speed of 5 mph. The "big" snowstorm avoided us and the three inches of new snow was just enough to cover the now "ice rink quality" paths and driveway. The slippery ice reminds me instantly of Paul Simon's Slip Slidin' Away and a broken ankle in 1992. Now there's a combination of memories!

Saturday afternoon we went to a winter gathering of growers sponsored by High Mowing Organic Seeds in Wolcott, Vermont. I have this habit of telling people High Mowing is located in Hardwick but I obviously miss by a few miles. Anyway, the event is sponsored by HM founder Tom Stearns and his crew and it's one of those things you absolutely have to put on your "things to do" list for next winter.

High Mowing started as a family business back in 1996 with a total of 28 varieties of seed. Tom's website gives a good history but being inside the company surrounded by seeds and machinery and technology gives a sense of being that is difficult to describe. As I relive what Tom and his staff presented, my mind starts buzzing again. I guarantee that the world of seeds is a bunch different than you probably think and until you have a tour, the responsibility of the world's seeds men does not reflect the importance they are due, the weight they carry as the world continues to be fed and entertained.

The schedule included a tour of the company, a potluck dinner and then an hour slide presentation. Every part of the three hours was interesting, informative, and fun. At the beginning, the group was split with half starting in the seed room and half in the packaging area. We made the seed room cut where Tom went from one piece of equipment and on to the next explaining how seed arrives from the field or from alternate suppliers and how it is cleaned. The type of machine and the process has the same goal but the size, weight and shape of the seed determine where the seed starts a journey that ends with a home or commercial gardener.

Just looking at the equipment and reminiscing about when and where the equipment was manufactured was interesting to me. We have certainly come a long way from the days of hand winnowing but the machines employ some of the same physical actions except with mechanics and electric motors. The Industrial Revolution was a good time and also a difficult time but the tour made me reflect on 200 years of change.

The packaging process begins with primitive hand counting which remains an absolute necessity to set the equipment and verify and reverify seed counts. There are various machines which count seed and send it to an appropriate package but they all rely on the size of the seed and the skill of the staff. But in between the seed cleaning and the seed packaging there is a critical time when seed must be checked for viability. Germination rates are established and seed is inspected to be sure the seed coats are healthy and disease free. The seed lots also have to be checked to insure they are free of weed seed. This is no small task when you look at the size of some seeds.

High Mowing raises a lot of seed and this part was very interesting to everyone. Although they sell about 400 varieties of seed now, they cannot grow all the plants and harvest all the seed here in Vermont. There is a long list of variables involved and it was fascinating to learn the climatic needs for seed production and see familiar plants actually grown for seed production. I have been growing plants all my life and I was hard pressed to correctly identify lettuce and cabbage and spinach.

Because of the specific requirements for optimum production, High Mowing sometimes produces start up seed to its quality/standards and then sends the seed to another grower for full scale production. An example is spinach seed which is regularly produced in the Skagit Valley in Washington State. I sat there pondering the pictures and not being able to figure out what I was seeing. The climate has to be perfect for the plant and seed growth period and then humidity and other factors must prevail during the seed harvesting time. This is very interesting. It became acutely obvious that we should be thankful for the knowledge of the world's plantsmen. Without them, we'd be very hungry in a very short time.

Harvesting is mechanical with specially designed machines made around the world but some seed is not conducive to mechanical harvest and it must be hand harvested. One example is zinnia seed. At Vermont Flower Farm we grow and sell a lot of zinnias but I never thought that the plants mature at different times which precludes mechanical harvest. Workers are given plastic trash cans and away they go, line after line through the fields, harvesting the seed heads that are ripe and then repeating the process again and again, day after day until the harvest is complete.

Quality control is critical and seeds are checked for germination with goals compatible with federal standards. As I listened to this part of the tour I thought about seeds regularly found in ancient pyramids that still germinate. At High Mowing, seed is retested every six months to insure that it is maintaining an 80% germination rate. That rate exceeds federal standards and provides a gardener like you and me with a good crop. HM adds 3-5% more seed to the guaranteed seed count/weight combination just to be sure.

If you have gardened for long you have certainly learned over time how much seed comes in a package and how much you are likely to need to plant for your needs. New gardeners find it difficult to relate those light weight little packages with rows or pounds of produce or bouquets of flowers and as a result neophytes sometimes have half packages of unplanted leftovers. For years Gail and I put the leftover seed in a plastic bag in the freezer but now we know that is the wrong thing to do. Freezing seed (stratification) may be needed to make some seeds germinate but for most seed this expands the inner workings of a seed and leads to poor germination. A dry, cool place is a better idea.

The potluck dinner was an opportunity to enjoy foods from cooks you've never seen before. It was one of the nicest displays I have ever seen and I have to admit I got back in the line again. The chicken dumplings I have been waiting for Gail to make for all our time together were on the table in a big casserole. It appeared I was not the only person waiting for them as the pot was clean when I returned to help myself again.

I didn't take pictures of the event because we were inside someone's company and companies have a degree of privacy that I always respect. Perhaps I could have asked to take pictures but I was more interested in how the company works. When the snow melts and the sun translates cold ground to green rows of various plants, I want to go back and see the fields and walk the test gardens. Seeing it all in person and through the slide show made us happy we made the trip. A big thank you to Tom, his family and his employees for inviting us. It was special!

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the sunny morning is encouraging the air to warm. A large raven just swiped the last piece of suet from the platform feeder and although Gail says he was hammering on it all day yesterday, the piece he carried off must have weighed more than a pound. They are big birds and the other birds fly away when they swoop in. I have to fly away now and get some real work done.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm,
Vermont Gardens

Catalog Trees

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Snow falls lightly this morning on the mountain. It's 22.3 degrees now, up only a couple degrees from 4:50 when a put a couple logs on the fire. There's an occasional light wind that tosses snow flakes against my office window and makes me turn to look at what might be approaching. By evening we are supposed to experience the first of what will accumulate to 12"-18" of new snow by tomorrow morning.

I have almost been afraid to check the weather sites for an update. When you live in Vermont for a while you can almost feel the weather building and this one feels like it will come true. We don't own a barometer yet but my internal pressure reader says the storm is on the way. The flocks of grosbeaks and blue jays are fighting over feeder space like vendors in a big grocery store. When I head for town for my paper in a bit, I'll dump a fresh Sunday buffet on the platform feeder for them.

I experienced tax relief this week and it is with a great sigh that I say that. Our accountant can deal with the taxes now as our part is done. The front room by my office looks like a military test site as the piles of records are stacked on two different tables and in a couple boxes. Gail has vowed that this is it and that taxes will be computerized. I already installed a software package and we reviewed it together yesterday to get an idea what we have to do. As soon as I finish the last odds and ends on the web site, we'll set up all the folders together with the software and then match them by name with file folders for all the receipts.

I hope your taxes are finished and well on their way too and that you have been better organized. I have always said I would vote for anyone who got rid of income tax preparation but after what our country has gone through, I have to be careful what I say. I always recall Warren Buffet commenting that his administrative secretary probably paid more taxes than he did based on the current system. I don't know if that is true but that's one of the items that needs looking into.



I have been able to spend a few more minutes reading this week and the seed companies have provided more than ample material. We don't request catalogs as the few wholesalers we use have been sending to us for years. We always prepare on-line seed orders and in fact completed one last night for Johnny's Selected Seeds in Wilton, Maine.


I have to say there is a convenience to reading a catalog at night laying in bed listening to how many trillion bucks we spent today. There just isn't a convenient way to watch the laptop and and news and be comfortable too. This is especially true if Karl the Wonder Dog is breathing down your face trying to find the last chocolate cookie just when they report they found another missing bad guy. The other thing is that web sites are updated for obvious reasons but then you lose the items that you really want from a few years back. When memory loss makes you work harder, that brief memory of the catalog from 2006 doesn't do much.

Some catalogs are real teasers. They offer something you have read about and really want and then they are sold out or back ordered. I really hate the companies that charge three times what something should be and then tell you that you didn't order fast enough. Once I really wanted a Gunnera manicata from Brazil. These plants absolutely are not hardy here but if you want to fiddle around with them you can have one incredible show in the summer. They are giant leafed foliage plants over 6 feet high and they are great planted in a bog situation. The company that I have since put a curse on sent the plants in July and they looked like the perfect model for the word "dessication". With all the attention I could possibly provide, they got to only 2 feet tall by September when I brought them inside. A month later I tossed them.

As you receive garden catalogs, let your friends know what you have and try to exchange as many times as possible before heading them to the recycling center. There's no reason everyone needs a fresh copy of something they may not get through.



And if you do find a catalog that you don't think others may be familiar with, get it on your blog or email notice to friends. It saves trees and gets out valuable information about new varieties. And finally, before you make the final decisions on vegetable seeds for this year, don't forget to buy a few extra seeds for the vegetables you can donate to the local food shelf. It's always important to think that way but this year it's more important to do it.

Snowy garden wishes from the mountain above Peacham Pond where 14 blue jays sing short songs that never make it to DVD.


George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Gardens
Vermont Flower Farm