May Day

Sunday May 1, 2011

Bright sunshine is everywhere and the crisp, wind-free morning made it difficult to get Karl the Wonder Dog to return to the house. I have a ton of things to do before our crew shows up at the nursery but the overwhelming cheerfulness of the morning makes me wish I could stay here on the mountain and enjoy the new sights and sounds of spring. All manner of birds are singing this morning with mourning doves adding their part and pileated woodpeckers drumming on sugar maples.

In just a couple days the spring flowers have really advanced. Daffodils are popping out, drumstick and common primroses are adding spots of color, and the hellebores, heads hanging, offer contrasting whites and purples. The Trillium grandiflorum I seeded in four summers ago are up 6 inches and looking good but the larger clumps have hardly started to break ground. The Trillium luteum that will offer yellow later on are up two inches and Trillium erectum, the odoriferous "stinking benjamins" are coming along nicely . Someplace here I planted some bloodroot but in contrast to along the Winooski River at our nursery where they are in bloom, I cannot even find them here.

Walk your gardens today and get a final look at your layout before the leaves really pop. Make mental notes of spaces that need attention with another plant or shrub and keep your friends in mind for a shovelful of extra plants that need to be divided. Your friends will smile like the spring flowers knowing your gift will add to next spring's beauty.

I have to get going here. We open the nursery next weekend for the season but if you're passing through today, stop and say hello. We're plating madly but we always have time to help you grow a greener thumb!

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where loons are calling.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
Helping you grow a greener thumb!
Find us on Facebook and twitter

The Primrose Collector

Thursday, May 13, 2010

There are days and then there are days. Today is tornadic and I'm not talking weather. Gail has a to-do list that won't stop. It involves caring for her +90 year old uncle. Alex and Karl the Wonder Dog will have their own responsibilities as my order of trees and shrubs arrived last night and I'll start the day planting a hundred each of 10 varieties of lilacs and ten of hydrangeas. Someplace in the boxes are witch hazel and flowering quince if I remember my order from back in January. There are other things too in boxes I can barely move but by nightfall everything will be planted, some things in the shade garden among the hostas.

Sometimes people write and ask if I am ok because I haven't written in a while. Some people stop at the nursery and inquire and others leave voice messages at home. It makes me feel good that people care but a gardener's life in the spring becomes complicated when you take the step from being a collector to operating a nursery. That 's what Gail and I did several years ago and despite the responsibilities, we love every minute of it!

Last night we did what you have to do once in a while. We closed the gate on time and headed to East Montpelier to visit another "collectors" garden. This time it was a primrose collector high on a hill above the Winooski River. We took Winnie, our Chief of Hydrologicl Services and friend Diana from the Marshfield Inn. We are all flower lovers and trips like this are special.

Time is short this morning but I want you to get an idea of the garden layout and the primulas that grow in the gardens we visited. There was so much to see I traveled the paths three times and knew at the end that I had to go back again to see what I had missed. Tonight I'll put up additional pictures on our Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens Facebook Page. In the meantime, take a quick tour with me. Click on each image to enlarge.

Soloman Seal backdrop against rock.

This plant looks great in the garden but is difficult to sell in pots because it is forever escaping through the drainage holes and growing like an unruly teen. In the garden it is tall, straight, perfect, with fine flowers followed by hanging, berried fruit.

Looking toward upper gate

Example of nicely mixed, extensive collection. Individual examples follow.

I have to get clicking here but these examples should remind you how nice primroses are. I have several hundred Japanese primroses naturalizing at home in the lower shade garden. I have been too busy to see how they are doing but they are one of the last to bloom. We usually have some of these for sale too. More later! Tardiness is bad, even worse for the owner!

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the sun is bright, the temperature on my window reads 52 degrees and the sound of loons having breakfast at the pond resonates in the clear air. Enjoy your day!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm Now taking web orders for those who cannot make it here
On Facebook as George Africa and also as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens
On Twitter most days but not today as vtflowerfarm. Come visit through social networking or in person!!

Primroses, Small Faces, Big Smiles

Monday, November 2, 2009

Monday night here on the mountain. 30 degrees out and the temperature is dropping as the full moon is rising. It's been a great day although off and on windy. Rain will be returning in the next 24 hours but for now it's a fairly typical November evening. Tonight's news spoke of snowflakes and indicated that November's average snowfall is around 5". That doesn't seem quite right as deer season in Vermont is the last couple weeks in November including Thanksgiving and it seems to me that in my younger days I remember hunting in deep snow many times. I'll have to check the statistics.

Although color in the gardens is left now to the blankets of fallen tree leaves, gardeners still seem to end up with plants that have to get into the ground. There are other chores which need to be finished as well. Halloween eve our friend Harold called to see how things were going and he said he had been forced out of the garden by heavy rain and the approach of kids trick or treating at the house. He said he still had 800 daffodils to plant. Same kind of thing around here. In our case the to-do list includes the pot of primroses up top....Primrose 'Sunset Shades'.

Vermont has an interesting group named the Hardy Plant Club and last week was the annual potluck supper and plant, bulb, seed, book, you-name-it-hort related exchange. I wasn't feeling all that well but Gail and Diana went and Gail returned with the pot of 'Sunset Shades'. We have enjoyed primroses for some time and it's one of the few plants we like where we have not joined the national or international society. In this case the American Primrose Society really does a good job and continues to produce more events and more information on what we feel is an underused plant.

Years back someone in a trading mood brought some of the small common varieties you see in lots of stores and then a lady from Maine brought me some red Japanese Primroses--the tall 4-5 tiered candelabra types to go with 4-6 colors someone else had already donated. Then Gail's friend Elizabeth gave her some lavender drumstick types and the list and our interest grew.

We have some planted out front and the Japanese favorites are naturalizing well in the lower hosta garden at the house. I'm personally embarrassed to have anyone enter that garden anymore as I haven't worked there for two years now and it's out of control. Just the same, when the primroses are in bloom, there's no trouble finding them.

One of the things I like is they transplant well and each spring I pop a few dozen plants out of the ground and sell them as "color unknown". We never have any trouble selling them. This spring I will move a hundred or so into the new shade garden perimeter and in a couple more years they will give nice compliment to the blue, pink and white swaths of forget-me-not flowers.

In the meantime, give primroses a thought and try to find a place for them in your garden. They don't need very good soil to do well and like it more dry than even damp. Wherever they naturalize, you'll be pleased and in a couple years your friends and neighbors will beg for "just a shovelful please". That's fine, you won't miss them, and smiles and thanks yous are worth it.

Thinking and writing about primroses from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the temperature ticked a degree colder as the World Series warms up.

Good gardening wishes,

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener

Vermont Flower Farm