Lily Prelude

Oriental Lily
Acapulco

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

6:30 AM here on the mountain and grey clouds speed across the horizon. Tiredness apparently prevails here as Karl the Wonder Dog snores loudly from his bed and except for me, there is no activity. Circadian rhythm? Timing is interesting, especially in the fall when darkness will not leave until about now, only to return again by 4:30 PM.

I often have ideas of subjects I want to write about but with too many irons in the fire, I forget more than I should. Top of the list today is writing a letter to IRS to tell then why we are not the business classification their computer thinks we are. There's something about today's world that makes us do a lot of things over. "There's never time to do it right but always time to do it over" was a little saying an employee actually told me one day explaining what I felt was unacceptable performance. I did what I always do and tried to work through the situation but in the end the person's understanding of my work ethic was such that I cut the strings of being nice and hired someone else. Small businesses have little money or time to spare and after satisfactory training, people have to get things right. I do wish more people would get it right the first few times but I guess we have moved into a new age I will always have trouble adjusting to.

On my list of things to share is more comment about lilies. I have written about them in the past and in early summer I warned gardeners about the lily leaf beetle. I want to mention where to plant and not plant lilies and why, but for the time I have this morning, here are just a few pictures of some lilies I have enjoyed in the past. If you visit Vermont Flower Farm I am sorry to say that we no longer grow lilies for sale, only for our enjoyment. The insect world has provided more competition than we can handle. We will not use heavy chemicals for the sake of a few flowers. End of story.

So for this morning, before I head for Newport, Vermont and the Canadian border, here are a few images. Please stand by.

Arena

Bellingham Hybrid

Black Beauty

Empress

Gold Band

Golden Stargazer

Leslie Woodriff

Lorelei

Mona Lisa

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where two mourning doves compete with seven blue jays for the cracked corn I just dumped on the platform feeder. We have to be careful and only put out what food will be eaten during the day as Mr. Black Bear is here every day, in the adjacent field, eating apples.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm

Snow Buntings and Lily Thoughts

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Another beautiful day in Vermont with bright sun, light wind, and temperatures into the 30s for a change. Now at about 9:30 PM the temperature is dropping and 10.3 dgerees seems a long way from the warmth of mid afternoon. I was up early and on the road towards southern Vermont even before the day sorted out what it would present. As I headed down Route 232, the clouds were stacking high and I wondered if the weather folks had erred. By the time I crested the hill on Interstate 91 where you can look southwest and see Lake Fairlee, it was apparent I was in a new world of sunshine.


On both ends of my trip today I saw flocks of snow buntings along and in the road. Oddly, the weather lady on Channel 3 News featured them tonight too so I guess I wasn't the only one to notice them lately. They are flighty little arctic loving birds that seem to scare easily and as a flock they rise and return to the ground endlessly. By the interstate they seemed to be gathering weed seeds but I can't be sure. In two places close to home this afternoon I saw wild turkeys eating burdock seeds. They can't eat enough of those in my book.

Although the land remains endless in its whiteness right now, I thought of lilies again as I drove south and then north. Lilies have been a flower I have grown since the early 80s. As I drive down Route 5 from Wells River towards White River in the summer, I can see houses with plantings of lilies which I know came from Vermont Flower Farm. In recent years lilies are more readily available in the box stores and of course people access more garden catalogs and magazines now and buy from them. The thing is that Gail and I bought so many different lilies over the years that we were always ahead of the curve and had varieties you just didn't find.

With the white landscape, the colors stick out clearly in my memory but there's always a little worry attached, not knowing how the weather has already influenced the bulbs and how many critters have found them to be the living sugar candy that causes me to come up short on favorites very year. Voles have apparently attended a lily school and have always aced the math finals because they are one animal that only goes for the expensive bulbs. Give them a hundred Asiatic lilies and they'll go for that one Smokey Mountain that was just looking really good.

If you have lily thoughts like I have lately, take a look at the North American Lily Society site or the Pacific Northwest Lily Society site. These are excellent places of learn a great deal about lilies and can help track down sources. The PNWLS site has a picture of the Conca d'Or I mentioned recently. When you see it, you just might understand why Gail cut one out of the front garden so she didn't have to explain why it wasn't for sale.


Time is moving by tonight like a snow bunting heading back to Canada. I have to get going too.


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where no one hears the temperature drop.

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