Stone Cold Reading

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

It's a beautiful late afternoon winter day here at Vermont Flower Farm. The beauty I must admit, is best "viewed, when not bundled" .......kind of like when James Bond calls for a vodka martini, "shaken, not stirred." It is furiously cold this afternoon despite the bright sun and the only way you will get me back out there is if I bundled in layers. Tonight's low is predicted to reach minus 15 degrees. 'Nuf said.

The birds are feeding at all the feeders as if there is no tomorrow. As I watch them, I can feature Charles Schultz-like chickadees in tiny sweaters and nuthatches in little hats--that's how cold it feels with the wind.

Competition is fierce. Earlier I saw my first Northern Shrike of the New Year. They are the blue jay sized harrier jets that make quick meals of smaller birds. We have seen them here fall and winter of every year with increasing regularity and spring and summer in less frequency. It's easier to see them when the feeders are out; there's a chance they are always here but summer foliage makes spotting them more difficult.

Cold days make the wood stove and a good book or magazine feel all that much better. Gail just brought me a cup of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Gingerbread coffee to encourage me to write faster and get on with income tax preparation. It won't work. Tracy and Diana from Marshfield Inn brought the coffee on a recent visit and I have to say it's a very nice change for holiday time. A little gingerbread man to dunk would be very nice but those were devoured days ago.

Christmas was good to me in the book department and one nice gift from Gail and Alex was Dan Snow's In The Company Of Stone. Dan is a southern Vermont drywall stacker and an accomplished stone craftsman to say the least. This book gives a great pictorial review of his work but if you get a chance to hear him speak, be sure to go and listen. He crafts good travel stories twined with a picture show of his accomplishments. He's one of those presenters that you hope will not stop.

Stone has always been of interest to me. When I was a kid I started a rock collection and my grandmother, who liked to travel the US, sent me pieces from all corners. Our first house in Vermont had an old barn foundation upon which my father planted an American flag and declared it my mother's new rock garden. I helped her toil through that creation until times got rough and the bank felt their mortgage was more than overdue and we moved on. I can still remember the creeping phlox in the spring that slowed dirt road travelers, and the blue Campanula persicifolia that was a gift from one of my dad's customers.


Stone belongs in gardens, at least my gardens. I know that many spend years ridding their gardens of stone but I like the way the hardness works to soften the garden and brings new lines that draw focus to special plants in close proximity. Here at Vermont Flower Farm I have incorporated stone in many ways. Our website contains pages titled Building A Hosta Garden and Stone Steps: A Garden Journey These pages should give you an idea of my philosophy and how I go about moving stones.

Back in 2000, I dragged the "seven sisters" out of the back lot and "planted" them as the next picture shows. These are big, odd shaped pieces of granite around which I have begun a new hosta garden incorporated with a small collection of epimedium. There is a back drop of Hosta 'Tall Boy' and Lilium superbum with a mix of Lilium henryi and a row of Hosta 'Fragrant Bouquet' The picture shows the start of a really nice garden vignette.

I have placed pieces of green shiest at various locations. This is a native stone that I buy in from John Cleary's stone yard in Richmond. I took a couple pieces and "planted" them next to two pieces of native granite (next photo). This was three years ago. Various monardas have encroached on the left and daylilies, actea, lilium and hemerocallis have filled in on the right.

Gardens, as with people, age quicker than we hope for. This last picture shows Alex and his friend Mat in heavy snowball combat five years ago. Today both kids are 15 and about 5 feet 9 inches tall and still growing.



Although it's cold outside today, there couldn't be a better time to think about a new garden or restructuring one that you planted years ago. Some graph paper, a pencil and garden thoughts will be a fun project. If you get a chance, take a look at Dan Snow's book. The inspiration you'll find will jump start you even at below zero.


Writing from the mountain above frozen Peacham Pond where the sun has fallen, the birds have retreated and the temperature is minus 3.


Garden wishes,

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
Vermont Gardens: Another Blog

Cold Temperatures, Warm Lilies

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

A beautiful day here at Vermont Flower Farm. The sky is almost out of clouds and the sun is shinning brightly. Only the faintest of breezes comes and goes, spreading tiny black Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' seeds about the snow crust making it easier for the smaller birds. This morning's -18.2 has been transformed into 22.3 degrees on the thermometer but I suspect it's really colder than that. The sunshine knows how to deceive even the best thermometer.

The birds are coming in waves which would make an interesting movie. I filled the top of the 20" square platform feeder with 1/3d cracked corn, 1/3d millet and 1/3d black oil sunflower. Three equal stripes of feed as if someone took a paintbrush that changed colors and painted three downward strokes. Bluejays first, totaling about 12-15, some young, some old. One has a bad wing but makes up for its disability with a tough beak and a short fuse. It regularly says "Step back, brother" with a couple hard pecks to any other jay which tries to move in on its territory. These jays are all relatives of each other but family ties means nothing when you're hungry.

A mature jay, fluffed out to fend off cold and looking bigger than it is, kicks sunflower seeds from side to side like a mad bull pawing the ground before the charge. Then suddenly the Evening Grosbeaks move in, 15-18 strong, eating as if it's their last trip to the feeder. They are flighty birds, quickly spooked by the slightest movement from inside the house or in their outside world. They come one or two at a time but leave in unison in split seconds. Then the Juncos and chickadees arrive, on the platform and on the ground. Their diminutive size affords inspection of the seed remains at the platform and it becomes obvious that they were taught better manners than the jays and grosbeaks.

Yesterday I saw a Northern Shrike again. A friend from Danville reported one too. It is fortunate these birds do not come in flocks because they are mighty warriors and like harrier jets they swoop out of the sky and grab up small birds first. I have read that they have been known to impale their prey on wire fences or tree limbs but I would have to see this first to believe it. Factually they have great speed and they have total disregard for my admiration of small birds.


The mail will be here in a few minutes bringing more catalogs and more documents to go along with income tax preparation. Lois is our mail lady and she packs our mail meticulously with catalogs at the bottom and letters carefully secured so as not to get mixed with the junk mail. I'm hoping that she is bringing a particular lily catalog more than I'm wanting to get back to the taxes.

Gail and I started with lilium about 1983. At that time there were so few people growing lilies in Vermont that we had a hard time getting started. That was pre-Internet and also before we knew of the North American Lily Society. Once we got started, things increased rapidly. Every year Gail bought in more and more new varieties and we always have had a great selection.

I'll never forget the first order we received from Europe. It was a very large and expensive order for us and we didn't know what to expect. When the boxes arrived it was like kids at Christmas until we opened the boxes. The freight bill should have been an indication of what we'd find but we were neophytes in the vast world of lilies. As we opened the boxes, inside were blocks of ice with 25 lilies frozen in each block. I was convinced we had been had.

Courage sometimes takes a while to conjure up but looking at the frozen bulbs prodded mine into full gear. I got on the phone with the company and the US bulb rep. He was Dutch and he listened politely to my description. I thought I could hear him laughing in the background and kind of hoped that wasn't true. But he was laughing and he apologized for himself and then said to think of the blocks of frozen lilies as an American turkey at Thanksgiving. Thaw slowly and patiently and the bulbs would be ready to plant. He reiterated the company's guarantee and we thanked each other graciously. True to statement, the lilies thawed, were planted and flourished. The very next year all lilies were shipped dry in peat moss but the memory of the first year will last forever.


In recent years Gail and I have each developed greater interest in daylilies and hostas but we still offer some lilies. Our website, http://vermontflowerfarm.com explains the different varieties and how to successfully grow them. If you're interested in a quick breakdown of what is on the market, take a look at our pictures at http://vermontflowerfarm.com/lilies_cat.html
You'll get an idea of what's out there and whether lilies are something you want to add to your gardens. The North American Lily Society website has a good resource list and lots of good information to help.

Karl, the wonder dog, is barking. That means Lois is out front. There are three other mailboxes in a row with ours and it takes her a bit to fill them, all the time being barked at by Karl. He only barks happy barks to her and they both know it. For me, I'll tolerate the barking, I'll tolerate the tax forms but really I want to know if that great lily catalog is there. Have to go see!

Cold gardening thoughts from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the rural delivery mail people are an important part of every weekday........even if you're a dog.

Goerge Africa
http://vermontgardens.blogspot.com