Blustery December Welcome

Saturday, December 1, 2007

This past week has been a blur of events at work that left me in Burlington at the close of the work day yesterday afternoon. Until I dropped off a passenger in Montpelier on the way home and he wished me a good weekend, I wasn't even tuned in to the fact the week was over. Some weeks are like this, and that's why I enjoy gardening a whole lot more.

It's bitterly cold here this morning with a temperature of 8.3 degrees and a wind that is brutal. Karl the wonder dog had to go out and out he went. My right arm is still kind of stretched out straight because when he decided to come back in, he booked for the back door like a phantom T. Rex was on his tail. It's just not nice out there.

Yesterday in 1846, a major storm hit New England and it dropped 26" of snow around Hanover, NH and White River. The weather forecasters have been talking for three days now about a big storm coming in from the west but my best weather forecaster is my wife. Gail used to work as a florist and florists are consulted about the weather more than you'd believe. People plan weddings and anniversaries and receptions and retirements and they are possessed to plan months and months ahead, even years, for outside events in Vermont. The Vermont part is nice but fair weather is not always in the cards. You know..... the nice weather, the 72 degrees and no wind, humidity or black flies weather.

Gail tells me that the first week in December has a reputation for a big storm and she says I should look for about 8 inches on this one. Guess we'll see. She has also asked umpteen times if the plow is ready to put on the truck. After last February, I sure wish she would show some interest in learning to put on the plow and move snow herself. Such a wish, George, such a wish!

I'm behind on a few things this year, actually quite a few things. The new nursery has taken a lot of time and modified some of my priorities. I'm playing catch up now and there is a penalty for some oversights. One is my amaryllis.

Amaryllis are bulbs but the ones I'm talking about are really a relative named Hippeastrum. You can quickly see by the name why the marketing world tuned in on "amaryllis" and not Hippeastrum. Kind of like the time that they changed a great daylily, originally named Jen Melon, to Starstruck because it wasn't selling well under the first name



Whatever the name, these bulbs are easy to grow. You can buy them in supermarkets, box stores and garden centers pre planted in pots and soiless mix so all you need to do is unwrap and water. You can buy bigger bulbs at garden centers and agricultural stores and plant them yourself, and of course there is the Internet where the selections really become obvious. I really wanted these ready for Christmas and New Years but there's little hope mine will grow that fast. When they do bloom, the snow will be halfway up the snow fence and new color in the house will be a welcome sight.

I better get going here this morning. Lots to do. The howling wind has taken all outside chores off my list but there's still plenty to do. If you get to a store today, buy an amaryllis for yourself or friends. Or would that be Hippeastrum?

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the hard wind shouts notice that today is World AIDS Day and I see the faces of two gardening friends who are gardening in a different place now.

Gardening thoughts,

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
http://vermontflowerfarm.com
http://vermontgardens.blogspot.com

Heirloom Thoughts and New Ideas

Thursday, January 25, 2007

The weatherman reported that this week is typically the coldest of the year here in Vermont and none of us are doubting that. Right now it's 5 below and dropping slowly. Last night in the northern part of Vermont the lowest temperature was minus 29. Tonight is supposed to be colder. A month ago 60 degrees was an oddly uncomfortable temperature and now we're heading in the other direction. Ski areas have finally been able to make and keep snow and the various industries which depend on cold weather are finally getting started.


Here at Vermont Flower Farm we are entertained by birds and snowfalls as we return from trips to the mailbox with garden catalogs of great variety for further entertainment. Today's mail brought Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Raintree Nursery, and Brent and Becky's Bulbs. Baker's is a Missouri company in its tenth year of catalog sales. It has some interesting squash and pumpkins including the giant pink banana squash we grew when I was a kid. I'll have to spend a little more time with the catalog because the seeds aren't in alphabetical order by common name or species so beyond the general heading, it's not that easy for me to reference things from past gardens. Raintree is from the state of Washington so one has to be careful not to get excited about something new without first checking zones. Fruit trees, bushes and vines are in abundance but they might not all make it in Vermont.

Brent and Becky's work with bulbs has a long history and their company shows their perseverence through some interesting times. I don't remember when I saw their catalog last and I'm surprised at the diversity of bulbs. Towards the end they have a list of books for sale and I noticed a couple that I have. Their Daffodils for North American Gardens was one I bought in the days when I decided that buying daffodils by the bushel was the way to go. I'd always buy a bushel of larged flowered, quick-to-naturalize bulbs and then a bushel of mixed bulbs. Spring would come and by late May I'd be doing a lot of "what is its????", hence the need for a reference book. Since that time the number of daffodils on the market is so great that I doubt any book has kept up with what's available.



The other book they sell is Lilies: A Guide for Growers and Collectors by Edward Austin McRae. If you enjoy even the thought of lilies, buy this book. It's a great book just like the author who I got to meet this past June. I attended a meeting of the Pacific Northwest Lily Society in Brush Prairie, Washington and my memory of the events, the lilies, the people and of course Eddie himself are ever present. I had planned to ask for a trip to his species gardens up towards Mt Hood but an earlier storm had brought crushing hail so the trip didn't make sense. Gardeners and growers are nice people and they are willing to share their knowledge. Eddie is the nicest!

We're not into vegetables any more as life, time and flowers have a way of limiting what we can get done. In the past we grew many, many vegetables and in fact one of the first things Gail and I grew together was eggplant, in an old barnyard, under black plastic. The plants prospered and I swear each plant had a bushel of fruit. I was quickly elevated to the chief and only "picker" position of our two person company. You see the black plastic made a second home for the spotted adders that had been living in and around the adjacent barn foundation. The first day Gail saw the plastic moving and a big head pop out at her was the day of my promotion. It wasn't a meritous event but it did mark the last year I layed down plastic.

Heirloom seeds are now in vogue in the garden world and justifiably so. Many people are growing, saving and exchanging old seeds to maintain the great varieties from who knows how many hundreds or thousands of years ago. My mother was a seed saver along with everything else you could save. The Depression did that to a lot of people and many glass Hellmans Mayonaise jars became her seed vaults. I never knew anyone who could polish a glass jar so shiny clean just to put seeds in and stick on a tape label naming the contents. She saved about every seed going and I only realized this when she and my father passed away and I had to clean out the house. They would have made some seed collector happy but for me it quickly became a piece of history I had to close the book on. If you are interested in old varieties, start with Baker's catalog. I can tell that if you get stumped for something special they will try to help.

Along with all the old seeds come new and unusual seeds from all over the world. A long time ago I studied and worked with seed samples I begged from companies whose names I have long forgotten. Their research and development divisions were always so exciting you'd constantly see things which you just had to have. In Japan there was some great work with pansies and dianthus and in Europe echinacea were produced in colors and petal combinations that seemed to grow butterflies and hummingbirds right out of the package.

The lesson I learned early on and have shared with many gardeners is "new and shiny" doesn't translate to a good plant for your garden. Zone classifications that come with plants might not have been zone and time tested. The plants might do well for a year or two and then just when you're beginning to brag about what you have, it's gone. A good mix of dependable heirloom varieties and a handful of new and "what you can afford to try and perhaps lose" makes sense.

There will probably be another offering of catalogs tomorrow. And the way the thermometer is falling, there will be another morning in the minus numbers. Catalogs and winter evenings jump start the planning process. Deep cold reminds me of Paul Simon's How Can You Live In The Northeast? Gardens and Vermont keep some of us here.

With fine gardening thoughts, clear nights and warm woodstoves, from the mountain above Peacham Pond,

Winter wishes,

George Africa
http://vermontflowerfarm.com
http://vermontgardens.blogspot.com