Sunday, June 8, 2014
Up early this morning to get some paperwork out of the way and get to the flower farm to get set up for a busy day. Just spent two days getting the shade cloth on the three shade houses. This is a lot of up and down ladder work and is tiring to the hands because bungie cords are used to secure the cloth to the pipe frames. You have to hang onto the ladder and pipe frame, thread the cords through the cloth grommets and then wrap the cords to the pipe. Trouble is it's required every two feet (lots of ladder moving!) and in the end you have to secure the cloth against high winds with rope criss-crossed across the roofs. My friend Michelle helped get it done this year as Michael is a new college graduate and on to a new job, Steve is cutting and delivering firewood like crazy and Gail and Alex have never developed a fondness for anything above the first step of a ladder.
I continue to dig and divide daylilies that did not get finshed last fall and I have 9 buckets of new daylilies lined up to plant today. I dug this Citrina altissima a week and a half ago but wanted to mention that this is still a fine time to do the dividing. Although some people think it's too late, there is no bad time with a daylily although most prefer to see them bloom first or divide them early on before they produce buds. I like any of the Citrinas because of the high bud count, vigorous growth rate and nocturnal bloom, and lemon fragrance.
So get out the spade forks or shovels and dig out some clumps ( I dug Alna's Pride yesterday), stretch a little first and then use a sharpe knife or even a sheetrock knife to cut the pieces apart. Some daylilies will come apart with your hands but others need some extra help. If you can't seem to get it, stop by and we'll find something here to let you work on.
Be well and have a fun Sunday. Lots going on at the flower farm so stop by if you are around.
George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens (Like us!!) and a personal gardening page, George Africa
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm
Always here to help you grow your green thumb!
No comments:
Post a Comment