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