Bird Friends

Birds Friends

Thursday, May 31, 2012

5:36 AM and just in with Karl the Wonder Dog. He acted like he needed some help from that guy on the new Dog in the City show that started last night on television. Karl refused every command and made it clear that there were too many nice smells this morning. There was 1.5" of rain in the bucket by the back door and he was trying to tell me that since the rain has stopped, every manner of wild animal is out and about and he wanted to check out the neighborhood. I suspect within about ten minutes he'll have awoken Gail and she'll be out letting him meander where he wishes as I prepare to head to the flower farm.

Many gardeners enjoy bird watching and I have always tried to pay attention to birds in and around our gardens and woodlands. With the kind of weather we have received in recent years, birds arrive that sometimes don't seem to fit with our local birds. I remember one year when a a very strong storm from the south ran through Vermont and the day after it finished we had an Indigo Bunting, a Scarlet Tanager and a Rose Breasted Grosbeak in the garden in the same tree at the same time. Colorful but uncommon for  sure. The following day we had a Towhee under the sugar maple scratching leaves. This past week our local library has sponsored a bird walk and local naturalist Brian Pfeiffer continues to offer some specialized tours too. These events are always fun to attend and help understand birds better.

Time flies like birds and almost two weeks ago I was packing for a trip to Maine. One of my firsts stops en route to Acadia was the Penobscot Narrows Bridge Observatory outside of Bucksport. The observatory rises 437 feet above the Penobscot River making it the tallest bridge observatory in America. I had been by a couple times before but one time it was foggy and another time I was a couple hours early and it was not yet opened. This time I planned for the visit.

As I exited the car and headed down to the elevator, I heard a loud, shrill, threatening bird voice coming up behind me from the mountain behind. As I looked up, a peregrine falcon was cruising like a guided missile at +100 mph towards a nesting box on the old bridge. that runs parallel to the new one. The bird was telling everyone that it was breakfast time for the kids in the box and it landed on a dime with a skill that is too hard to describe. When I got to the observatory entrance I asked the ranger for info and he told me the nesting box had been placed on the old bridge 25 years ago but it wasn't until two years ago that the peregrines took up nesting there. I know I'll keep an eye on it every spring as I pass through as it's really something to see. My little camera doesn't do the bird justice but here's my best effort. The local cliffs over by Marshfield Pond off the Lanesboro Road here in town was one of the original peregrine restocking points in 1979 and every week we see peregrines in this area. Some days in winter they are around the bird feeders and....well....that is a different nature story.

If you visit Maine and are in the Bucksport/Prospect area, stop at the observatory and see if there is any action. The entrance fee includes entrance to Ft Knox too. Here's a Maine tourism video to give a quick overview. 

If you have any good pictures of peregrines, please send them along. My trip to Maine was too quick--almost peregrine-like, but I loved every minute of it as I always do. For now, I have to get heading to the flower farm. The sun is bright and flowers await. Lilacs are blooming and their fragrance is a lure to tiger swallowtail butterflies.

George Africa

The Vermont Gardener

Vermont Flower Farm.

On Facebook at Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also at the George Africa page.

On Twitter at vtflowerfarm

And always at Vermont Flower Farm where we're there to help you grow your green thumb!!

The Green Garden

Monday, May 28, 2012

My kind of morning here on the mountain above Peacham Pond. It is clear except for some very high level, broken mackerel sky and it's windless. The quiet of the morning is interrupted here and there by the songs of tiny, secret, warblers and vireos with nice voices and an ability to stay hidden. There is no concert here but one voice after another calling and replying in pleasant sounds that want me to find the source but I never can. I need some time and a very good pair of binoculars for tired older eyes--mine.

The Vermont Gardener spends winters reading and writing and sometimes there is something that really catches his attention. Two months ago now I received a copy of a very special book that deserves attention. I have pictured it above for reference. It's Ellen Sousa's The Green Gardener. The subtitle offers a good indication of the paths it follows. "A New England Guide to Planning, Planting and Maintaining the Eco-Friendly Habitat Garden". If that doesn't jump start you enough to purchase a copy, I think the Forward by William Cullina will help. Mr Cullina is the Executive Director of my very favorite Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay, Maine.He is known to me as an expert in the wild flowers I love so dearly. When you get a few minutes, check out his site and go from there. From one gardener to another, believe me, Ellen's book is a worthy journey into garden planning and planting in a manner that remembers habitats the way I think they should be remembered.

When I first heard about Ellen's book I knew it was the kind of book I kept telling myself had to be written. There are bazillions of gardening books out there and many sell because they have fine pictures of perfectly manicured gardens that some people pay to have recreated and others dream about or put into a twenty year plan of development, one or two plants at a  time. The Green Gardener is so different however, because it commands us to look at everything that resides in and about our gardens and passes through at different times of the year. It emphasizes the relationships of wildlife to our plantings and speaks confidently about the virtues of relationships some have forgotten. I like that thinking a lot.

Last week I spent some time in Maine at Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park, and two very special gardens in adjacent Northeast Harbor, the Asticou Azalea Garden and Thuya Garden. I also visited Coastal Maine Botanical Garden as I have perhaps 6-7 times now. These garden tours were a living reflection on what The Green Gardener offers as guides for keeping nature in all garden planning schemes.

Ellen Sousa is a master of photography and she knows how to incorporate just the right picture with just the right description of eco-friendly habitat gardening. I could easily write a book of gardening short stories to coincide with each of her pictures as they are so very powerful. They run like ocean currents with the adjoining flora and leave the reader this a list of "must dos" for their own garden development.

Last week as I sat on Sand Beach and then on Cadillac Mountain in Acadia I thought through The Green Gardener time and again. I kept making mental notes of things I had read and garden elements I saw along the way that came close to Ellen's design ideas. When I finished at the botanical gardens I was possessed to get back home and tell others they have to order up The Green Gardener. As I sit here this morning, the tiger swallowtail butterflies Ellen pictures on alliums are heading in droves to our just-opening James MacFarlane lilacs, bumblebees are pollinating the blueberries,  a phoebe is finishing a nest, Mr. Tom turkey just strode by Mrs Turkey's nest along the woodland perimeter, and spent dandelions wait for a morning breeze, their numbers reminding of soil that needs attention, not weeds that need herbicide. 

Regardless of whether your gardens are well established or still on the drawing board, I know you will find Ellen's Sousa's The Green Gardener a friendly read that will leave you with a list of things to do as well as many, many good conversations with fellow gardeners. I know it has made me look at things differently and helped with lots of new ideas. One more cup of coffee and I have to head to the flower farm where before the day ends, I'll share some new ideas with some new visitors.  Good reading to all!!

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the Vermont Gardener is getting back into writing as days get longer and flowers boost enthusiasm. If you have read The Green Gardener or another gardening book you would like to recommend, please leave a comment here. 

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

Stop by and let us help you grow your green thumb!!!

Where's the Vermont Gardener?

Thursday, May 24, 2012

A gray sky, 51°, windless morning here on the mountain above Peacham Pond. Karl the Wonder Dog has been out for his morning walk and although he pulled hard on the leash to walk deeper into the woods, he finally got the message that home was where he had to head. I have a ton of things going on today and the dog walking chore will become responsibility for Alex for the remainder of  today.

I have always had this really bad feeling about people who start blogs and then let them lapse. Sometimes people ask me to add a link to my blog and when I go to see theirs I see that nothing has been written for 5-6-7 months, sometimes longer. I always have this devotion to readers and feel obligated  to write about gardening and Vermont and keep people interested. This morning when I finally went to click on Blogger and begin writing,  I had to think for a minute about my password. I told myself that 5 AM was the problem but when I got to the blog I could see that my absence was all too long. I apologize folks, for this is not the way to run a blog, a business or a friendship. So what has been wrong with The Vermont Gardener?

No matter how old you are, getting older makes it a little more difficult to juggle responsibilities. Owning an agricultural business adds to it, as does being responsible for a 19 year old on the autism spectrum and a 93 year old uncle who doesn't remember much more than his name. The list goes on. and we do too. This winter we helped a good friend on her first house buying process and have been helping with renovation work. Gail has had a difficult spring learning that arthritis strikes at inopportune times. The auto start on the truck went crazy and burned out the ignition and had to be towed around Montpelier to find a mechanic that understood Chevy wiring systems. The pump house at the nursery had to be moved up the riverbank and a new pump installed to compensate for last summer's flood damage and this summer's watering needs. The 1982 Troy Built Horse rototiller blew a wheel seal in the middle of spring clean up. In between all this there was more wood to cut and split and work to finish on the writers cottage which started last fall and is finally moving to completion. When Gail ran out of things to do she worked at the Food Shelf. and I guess I just made lists of things I need to do.

A week ago I said to Gail that I needed a break to boost my spirits and prepare myself for a summer of 7 days a week nursery work. I made some reservations, packed a bag and headed to Maine, my favorite non-Vermont place. Like Hemingway, I find solace in the sound of the ocean and I needed that peace for a while. My journey was short but it did what it was supposed to do and I am ready to roll again. In days I'll write about visiting the +400 foot observatory over the Penobscot River,  watching Mrs Peregrine Falcon hit a nesting box at +100 mph with food for her young, sitting on Sand Beach at Acadia National Park, listening to the roar of the waves crashing into Thunder Hole, climbing Cadillac Mountain, visiting my favorite Asticou Azalea Gardens and Thuya Gardens at Northeast Harbor, seeing bald eagles, moose, and an elusive yellow throat,  touring the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens for the umpteenth time and .watching tides come and go at the Reid State Park. People rejuvenate themselves in different ways and this is what I did.  

So once again, I am sorry I have neglected The Vermont Gardener blog for a bit but I'll get back here on a regular basis. In the garden the Hemerocallis dumortieri have tall scapes that should begin to open by Monday or Tuesday. Primula are in bloom, hostas are getting fat and leafy, lilacs popped yesterday, dandelions are too frequent, primulas are beautiful.....the list goes on and on. The various white, pink and yellow lady slippers have replaced the passing Trillium erectum, grandiflorum, undulatum and lutuem in our gardens and the adjacent woods. Mrs Bear #1 has 1 cub. Mrs Bear #2 has two cubs and Mrs Bear #3 has 3 cubs and they have all stopped by for a visit at the house. Maybe if you get a chance, you can stop by Vermont Flower Farm and say hello too!

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the loons are quiet with nesting responsibilities and a doe deer feeds at the edge of the lower field, pregnant with one or more kids who should be born in a couple weeks. Life is good, busy but good. Come visit! Bring gardening questions and smiles

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

Let us help you grow your green thumb!