Bird Song Morning

Sunday, July 24, 2011

57° and windless on the mountain. We opened the windows last night and the cool breezes of around 11 PM made sleeping easy. Actually after a day working outside since 6 AM in 90° and high humidity, sleep came quickly. The songs of the vireos and warblers woke me half an hour ago and as I sit here writing and thinking, the bird songs welcome a calming morning. Thin gray clouds slide across a powder blue background sky and I know we are in for another nice day.

The hot weather continues without let up and I'm heading to the nursery in a few minutes to get some more watering done before customers begin to show up mid morning. It is a funny affair at the nursery, trying to track when you need the most help to handle customers. On Saturdays, and on most weekdays except Mondays, people do not arrive in numbers until about 2:30. Yesterday it was almost an hour earlier and it seemed that just as soon as we finished lunch, cars arrived, one after another. Sundays are different and I have never figured it out. Some people arrive before I put the flags in their flag holders by the road at 7:30 while others plan that we'll be opened up around 9. Today we will see who wants daylilies and who wants to beat the heat.

We have intentionally left the fields of daylilies to themselves with their only water coming from the sky. I have an excellent drip irrigation plan ready to install but the floods of May put us so far behind and added so much extra work that irrigation was a thought for next year. Relying on almost no rain for three weeks means that the daylilies sport smaller flowers but the bud count remains very high based on root systems which were so well prepared for summer with good rains last fall. The plants came into spring in excellent shape and this spring's constant moisture allowed them to soak up plenty more. The down side was twofold. Rain meant lack of sun and cooler initial temperatures and rain washed lots of nutrients into the river. We have not managed to return the fertility to last fall's levels. 20 inches of rain will do that.

Regardless of weather issues, the color as you drive by Route 2 is excellent. Even speeding, crazed drivers passing unsafely on the flat past our business sometimes slow to look and some turn in to visit. Once here, smiles and compliments are plentiful.

Morning at the nursery means deadheading the daylily flowers to improve the image and reduced the opportunity that the plants will start to set unwanted seed pods. It takes the better part of a full day for a couple people to do the whole 4 acres which is why it doesn't get done every day as I wished. I work gloveless and in the end, the deep purples of the Grape Velvet, Strutters Ball, and Wayside King Royale do a magnificent job staining my fingers and palms. If you work gloveless like me, remember that straight out of the bottle el cheapo store brand lemon juice is the very best way to become stain free in minutes. Give it a try!

Just a reminder that it's berry season in many parts of New England and I am receiving some fine reports of berry picking opportunities around. Strawberries are coming to an end in most places although some commercial fields have the newer late varieties where tasty reds are still in abundance. On Friday, friend Tracey from Marshfield Inn dropped by some freshly picked, grown-on-her-mountain raspberries which were a treat. Wild blueberries are in their glory, and black raspberries are fleshing out. I hear that some spots already have blackberries and of course some of the hybrids are ready to pick. Here on the mountain we have to watch all the berries with care and get out and pick before they reach prime. Two sets of bear sows and their cubs, one big bruin and an assortment of other critters get to the berries quickly and they can eat a patch in an evening. I have noticed that the drought has caused the deer to eat the vitamn rich raspberry leaves in most places so berry drop will occur early as a result. When you finish the paper this morning and still aren't sure what to do, dig out the berry buckets, bug dope and water jug and head to Groton Forest or a local pick-your-own berry farm. Berries can't be beat! If you have a place to plant a few, Gail has a dozen or so Latham Raspberries in 5 quart pots ready to go. We should have picked the blossoms so they didn't go to fruit this year but I bet they'll still be great producers next year. Come visit!


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the bird chorus continues and I wish our birder friend Joan was here to tell us who is singing to us. This really is a Bird Song Morning!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa. Come visit!
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm

Gettin' Out

Friday, July 15, 2011

47.6° here on the mountain. Windless and quiet except for two crows fighting over something at the compost pile. Karl the Wonder Dog had his morning walk and already returned to slumber while the rest of us toil away at getting ready for another day at the nursery.

Sometimes gardeners need respite from knees-on-the-ground, weed pulling, planting, watering duties and last night Gail and I headed out to Claire's Restaurant in Hardwick with friends Jerome and Julie. When we moved to Marshfield in 1989, Gail got a job working for Jerome the Florist in Barre and Julie was a designer there. Although they only design with each other at holidays now, the friendships are as strong as ever and brief times together result in lots of laughs and storytelling.

Claire's has been around for several years and it has a history worth learning about. Just learning about the restaurant's namesake who passed away in 2002 is important to understanding what you'll likely experience as you walk inside for the first time. It's an integral part of Hardwick's agricultural rebirth and it's a story that makes me smile. If you are interested in how the Hardwick area has changed, I highly recommend a favorite read of mine authored by Cabot resident, Ben Hewitt. The book is titled The Town That Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food. Claire's is part of the rebirth and the vitality.

Anyway, it had been a while since the four of us met at Claire's so I checked their website before heading out. The tomato salad with haricot vert, merlot lettuce, feta and garlic chips sounded just great and I knew in advance I'd couple it up with more excitement. The rainbow-like tomato salad (click on July) involved products from Pete's Greens, Hazendale Farm, Bonnieview Farm, Mystic Morning Farm and Rowan Farm. I couldn't wait.

Gail and I arrived first and we got seated and scanned the elaborate menu of the day. Wait! No tomato salad. I asked the waiter if it was available and mentioned seeing it on the July website listing. He brought back disappointment as it wasn't available. Maybe just a "Thursday" thing. About that time Jerome and Julie arrived and Jerome and I started with the roasted beet salad with golden, red and Chiogga beets, goat cheese, spiced and toasted pecans and a dill horseradish vinaigrette. Not tomatoes but I can assure you it was a salad we will never forget. Terrific! Gail and I had mussels from Maine, Jerome had a chicken dish and Julie had pork. The evening ended with black raspberry cheesecake and coffee, smiles and hugs. We know we'll all meet there again soon.

I would recommend Claire's but I am me and you have to make your own decision. Some say it's too expensive but regularly bringing different local foods to the table in proper fashion does cost money and we have always had good meals. For me it's on the noisy side and even with last night's guitar duo it was a tad noisy for my tired auditory system. Just the same, the temperature was pleasant, the service excellent and the presentation just what we wanted. If you're going to be in the Hardwick area, give Claire's a try. Make a reservation for sure.


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where Gail has the car and truck packed and I am receiving an evil eye to get going. Come see us today if you are out and about! The daylilies are blooming and we have begun digging from the field too. We help everyone grow their green thumb!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm

The Beetles Are Coming!

Monday, July 11, 2011

Already 62° and 98% humidity. Windless and the day already suggests how tired we will feel by nightfall. Late afternoon t-storms were predicted last night and there's little doubt about it as evidenced by the building clouds to the east over Peacham Pond. I need to get to the nursery soon as the water lines need to be relocated in the river and the daylilies need to be sprayed for Tarnished Plant Bugs.

2011 has been a year that started poorly and continues to offer challenges equally as big as the lack of traffic. Alex and I went to Burlington yesterday and yes it was a Sunday but traffic was minimal and a big garden center in Williston had maybe 25 cars in the lot at 1:30 PM. A similar scarcity of customer count was obvious at another garden center in Montpelier where less than a dozen cars dotted the whole lot when we went through at 2 PM. Not good.

Someone on Facebook shared this link from the University of Kentucky on Japanese Beetles. It's worth a look-see. Reports are coming in at the nursery that the beetles are beginning to appear in large numbers. They seem a week later than usual but the number of beetles I have noticed in soil samples is not good. The UK article lists chemicals and also NEEM but trying to eliminate beetles, any beetles, is difficult because they have been sprayed for years and years. For me, milky spore has always been the best biological control although I have to say the price has become as scary as the beetles. Despite what many garden centers try to do, do not purchase a trap as beetle traps lure in more beetles than they will ever catch. In rural areas the trap bags lure in black bears as well as the beetles....two problems for the price of one! In my mind, beetle traps that started with the Japanese beetle traps and have been joined by rose chaffer traps and other beetle traps represent one of America's most successful marketing ploys. As for eliminating your beetle problem, however, they only exacerbate it.



There are pros and cons about tilling your soil this time of year but since the beetles are about ready to exit the soil, tilling right now will place the not-quite-mature beetles on the top of the soil where the sun can dehydrate them and birds can eat them. You have to weigh the balance but it's something you might consider. For me right now, it's off to the nursery to get the foot valve under water.



Daylilies are coming into bloom in larger numbers and we have some great varieties for you to look at this season. Come visit! We'll help you grow your green thumb!

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where Mrs. Doe Deer just entered the field I cut last week. Still no sign of her kids.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also George Africa
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm

My Friend Brien

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Already after 6 here on the mountain. A thin layer of blue-grey clouds slides across the horizon as the sun pushes hard on eastern bedclothes and climbs above Peacham Pond. Like the sunshine, I am having a hard time getting started today..... in contrast to Gail who has already walked the dog and had a conversation with neighbor Michelle. Dishes rattle in the kitchen and it sounds like a combination of unloading the dishwasher and making pancakes at the same time.

There are many, many reasons to live in Vermont and one of them is the people who have grown up here. They're a funny lot and something that I have yet to figure out in the almost 60 years I have lived here. It's probably not different than anywhere else but people either like you or they don't and if they like you, they never seem to forget you and they always find time to help. When we moved to Vermont in the early 50's, things were not good for us. My dad had no work and my mom was sick a bunch. Two nearby farmers and their families helped us get through tough times and yet each was like night and day and had interesting things to say about each other. One farm raised holsteins and ran Farmall tractors. The other had Jerseys and a couple odd Guernseys and ran Fords. Both families worked very hard and were generous to us. But even as a little kid it appeared to me that they didn't like each other.

Back in the early 90's when we gardened at the house, Gail started having spring "potting parties" where she'd find local people to help plant and they'd come and work like crazy and have a late lunch with us. "Late lunch" to Gail meant lunch at 2 PM. She always had a theory that if you fed people early, they'd stop working and go home. One of the couples who always came were Brien (with an"e") and Jeanne Ducharme.

When we bought the nursery property and began to build gardens, I had it in my mind that we needed a good looking daylily garden adjacent to Route 2. I found a contractor down the road with a hillside full of free stone and Brien volunteered to appear with his cherry picker and place loads of stone wherever we wanted. This was back in 2007. Here are pictures of that time.....the last day Brien used his log truck before he sold it and retired. I'll never forget that day as he appeared in mid afternoon asking if we still wanted stone as he was retiring the next day. When we said we would like stone, he went to work until the job was finished. I photographed the entire event and framed up a picture of that last job for him and the picture has prominence in his house--something he really likes.

Brien and Jeanne like to garden and although Jeanne is just recovering from a serious stroke, Brien continues to garden both flowers and vegetables and he continues to be the kind, generous person he is. He stopped the other day looking for me. He wanted me to come see his native lilies which he knows I like a lot. He rescued some Lilium canadense and planted them in his garden. There are some variations of the yellow, some with a red collar, and one beautiful plant of plain red.

I tried to visit the other day just as a big storm was starting to blow. I had to leave in haste but got back there yesterday. These are some of the nicest examples of canadense you'll find. The red variety is very uncommon around here and I'm hoping it sets good seed so Brien can get more going. He knows a lot about soil and has a good aged manure source down Hollister Hill Road way that he taps into each spring. He keeps the soil friable and damp and the canadense think they are home along the Winooski River.

Not everyone gets a personal invitation to see these flowers and that means a lot to me. I like Brien and I'm happy Jeanne is making good progress. This is a couple who has traveled around the world, square danced with the best, cooked meals for local seniors and worked real hard. They are part of what I like about Vermont and I'm pleased to be able to say they are my friends. I hope you have Vermont friends like this too. They're special like their lilies!!


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where two ravens are chastising me for not getting to work yet. I have to get going. You should too!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as Vermont FlowerFarm and Gardens and also as George Africa
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm
Visit us in Marshfield. We'll help you grow your green thumb!

Daylily Confusion

Friday, July 1, 2011

A drippy, wet morning here on the mountain, 55°, windless, quiet. A walk with Karl the Wonder Dog stretched halfway to Peacham Pond and back but it was eventless with no wildlife to see or hear. Perhaps the birds and animals are still waking up like me.

Daylily bloom has started at the nursery but again I am confused by when certain flowers are supposed to bloom. Last summer set a new record for the warmest summer since weather and temperature records were first recorded in the 1880's. The daylilies really confused everyone because they bloomed out early because of the heat. Gail kept everything in the pots well watered and fertilized and there were always nice daylilies to see and buy but the fields that normally had color through August were mostly green and visitors expecting color asked one after another, "What happened?"

Spring and early summer 2011 is a different story. The growing fields have been wet since the snows melted and as such the weeds are terrible and the grasses stretch above the daylily scapes in places. There's little we can do as equipment sinks in the mud and we have been very involved with picking up after the floods of late May. Just the same, the daylilies are beginning to bloom now even though I ask Gail every day to remind me what is happening with them. They will be spectacular and alluring but I'm not sure when. The constant rain has kept the average temperatures down a bit and this has contributed to the confused bloom.

I have mentioned before that the old standbay, Lemon Lollipop, which blooms in profusion now and will continue to do so through September. It looks great. Bella Lugosi is standing in water and blooming away and Beth Barth has started for why I don't know. Up top here is a picture of Selma Rose, a nice pink, and that has been joined by a couple other pinks including a new one that Gail only describes as "I think I paid too much for it." I don't remember names that begin with that type description as I have always tried to offer plants that are hardy, dependable and not expensive. I better learn this new one.

Jersey Spider is not a spider daylily at all but when it first blooms, some might think so. It grows to 3 feet tall over time and it will be blooming when the season ends. When established, the flowers are large. When you hear conversations about daylilies you often hear a lot of "I have all the yellows and oranges already". That's probably never true and collections around here often overlook the strength of Jersey Spider as it exhibits a luminescence that sparkles in the evening garden.



Yesterday Gail had blooms of about 15 daylilies picked and displayed in Mason jars on the table. She was interrupted in her picking and never finished but there were probably a couple dozen daylilies in bloom. Today as the temperature warms, we'll try to get everything picked and get in the habit of displaying for everyone. Here's a picture from last year showing how we do it. It takes time to prepare each morning but it gives visitors a good idea of "what blooms when" around here without having to walk the fields. It also makes it easy for customers to ask questions about bloom time, bud size and count, and height. Everyone likes the idea and we do too!

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where I am wearing a big smile this morning. Five hours ago my third grandson was born. Another Seattle boy, joining his two brothers. I am awaiting the details but all is well and others beside me are smiling too. Wish I could hold him.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm: Where we'll help you grow your green thumb! Promise.
On Facebook at Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also George Africa
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm