Other Thoughts

Wednesday, January 9, 2019

A blustery day here on the mountain. I just came in from cleaing off the car and trucks and getting the tractor plugged in so I can move more snow in half an hour. It rained from 6 PM last night until  4:30 this morning when it changed to snow and it offers no sign of stopping yet. Estimates range but over the next 24 hours we may receive a foot of snow.

I do writing for social media and for an area newspaper. I have copied some of those pieces before and will add a few here. They may seem out of date according to their titles but there are some great rescources between the lines. Here's one from November. Tell what you think. Questions are always welcomed. 

Holiday Gardening Thoughts

45.1° with 9.8 mph wind gusts and a cloudy morning as I prepare for what will probably be the last day without snowflakes on the ground or in the air as November takes over. By the time you read this, winter will be more certain and you might already have left home without a warm enough coat.

When you live and garden in the northeast, summers seem too short but if you garden, you take pride in what you grow and share with others. When the land turns white some folks turn to indoor plants or birdwatching to fill that gardening void and either pursuit has a large following. Years back I collected begonias and these got me through the winter. For a few years Alex collected pots and pots of cactus and I learned a great deal from his interest. As for birdwatching it’s a funny recollection that when my family moved to Vermont in the early fifties, even at age 5 I thought that feeding the wild birds was something you had to start doing every fall because everyone seemed to do it. That’s when I found out about suet and cracked corn and sunflower seed and chickadees, nuthatches, blue jays and woodpeckers.

With the holidays close by, thoughts of gifts for gardeners, either friends or family, rise in importance. We sell lots of gift certificates redeemable at our flower farm for any of the perennials we sell. We make the certificates ourselves and each one includes a picture of one of our display gardens. They always seem popular. When I am asked about other gifts I always start by recommending a pair of Felco pruners. If you garden you always have clean-up to perform and Felcos are the best pruner out there. They handle well, stay sharp and clean up well after use with conifers that produce sticky pitch. Buy a pair with a holster and really make a gardener smile!

Books bring mixed reviews about the creativity of the gift giver but they have always been part of the holidays and I love receiving them. There are tons of really special gardening books on the market now and you can find one specific to your plant interest. Give a book and include a note saying that a complimentary perennial plant will arrive in springtime too.

Every plant has a well-organized society and membership to such a plant society is an excellent gift. All the societies have newsletters during the course of the year and these are great because they describe upcoming tours or training events, gardens that are open to the public for viewing and growers and vendors who sell that specific plant. They might seem expensive at first but for the amount of information provided, they are excellent. We belong to plant societies for about everything we grow as it’s the best way to keep up on changes. Here are some web addresses of some of the societies we belong to.

American Daylily Society   https://daylilies.org/

American Bamboo Society   http://www.americanbamboo.org/

American Bonsai Society   http://absbonsai.org/

American Conifer Society   http://conifersociety.org/

American Hosta Society   https://www.americanhostasociety.org/

American Daffodil Society   https://daffodilusa.org/

American Dahlia Society https://dahlia.org/

American Hydrangea Society   http://americanhydrangeasociety.org/

American Peony Society http://www.americanpeonysociety.org/

American Primrose Society http://americanprimrosesociety.org/

International Lilac Society   http://www.internationallilacsociety.org/

North American Rock Garden Society  https://nargs.org/

A final gift idea is a membership to an actual garden club. Chances are there are clubs close by regardless of where you live. I always promote the Hardy Plant Club of Northern Vermont which I joined 25 years ago—maybe longer. It was originally gathered by a number of botanists and University of Vermont botany/plant and soil science professors and grew to include gardeners and growers like me and Gail. It is a great group which has quarterly newsletters, an annual plant sale, and a number of lectures and many visits to private gardens. It’s an incredible experience which puts you in touch with the most experienced growers and collectors out there so no question goes unanswered for very long. And for $10 annually, how can you miss?

That’s it for 2018. Best holiday wishes from your friends at Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens! Thanks for following us!