No Snow Lilies

Saturday, February 28, 2010

Gail is in the other room still listening to tsunami news as I think about the weather and the world. Recent earthquakes in Haiti, China and now Chile stir geologic curiosity. I have heard of these events so probably others occurred someplace in the world.

Here in Vermont it has been snowing off and on all day. The flakes were those large, fluffy type that come down is great white-outs and then stop short for a while only to restart and add enough depth to make sweeping the steps imperative.

I noticed today on Twitter that several gardeners are mentioning lilies. These were a favorite at Vermont Flower Farm in pre-lily leaf beetle days but now we enjoy what are left in our gardens and keep a small library of images for people looking for a special image or to resolve a gardener's "discussion". It's sad not to be able to grow something so beautiful but the beetles are a serious critter and we refuse to use chemicals and don't know of an organic or insect alternative that works in this zone. Just the same, some gardeners continue to grow them and we enjoy seeing them.

Here are some pictures. If you have lily growing questions, write or call us. We still have answers, just not many lilies.

Siberia

Rosy Dawn

Luxor

Dizzy

Bright Star

Arena

As reference I like two books very much. I like Edward McRae's Lilies: A Guide for Growers & Collectors and I like George L. Slate's Lilies for American Gardens. McRae's book is readily available but you might have to look for the Slater book. 1939 by Charles Scribner's Son, New York and London. I found it at Flora & Fauna Nature and Garden Books, 3121 Government Way, Seattle, WA. I could get lost in there......in thought.


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where Karl the Wonder Dog snoozes by the wood stove, thinking springtime thoughts.

George Africa
Vermont Flower Farm
http://www.facebook.com/george.africa
http://www.twitter.com/vtflowerfarm

Lilium Concerns

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Evening comes too early for me now. Gail and Karl the Wonder Dog joined me in a quick walk out back after I returned from work today. I had been sitting too long and needed some fresh air and a little of the stuff that makes me love living in Vermont. We returned too quickly but the light was fading and I had a few things to finish up before dinner. The smell of acorn squash baking with maple syrup challenged my need to finish this blog on lilies.

Fall is the time many folks finally decide to plant some spring bulbs for the first time. I encourage such plantings as they make the dreary days of the last snows and snowbanks melt into great colors that beckon warmth and spring. Daffodils have always been high on our list because they are about impervious to animals, big and small. Neither deer nor voles will eat them and even in poor soil they reproduce and present more flowers for each year to come.

Besides daffodils and probably excepting the tiny crocus and muscari that are seen by the hundreds, tulips are probably the most popular spring bulb. They are less likely to succeed over time and are on about every animal menu somewhere near the top. I tell people if you can get three years out of tulips in Vermont, you're lucky. The species tulips do much better but most that we see in the stores are hybrids and susceptible to "munching". Here are some daffs pictured up top and three tulip bulbs just below.

As much as we like tulips, those who like tulips and lilium have to use care. Tulips are notorious for Tulip Breaking Virus and tulips planted in close proximity to lilies are a gardener's guarantee that in a year, two at most, both the tulips and the lilies will be gone. Aphids are usually the vectors in the case and they do their work around May here but I'm sure they keep spreading the virus into the summer according to their life cycles. I have written before about Gail and Alex planting some nice red tulips close to the walkway garden for their enjoyment. The process resulted in me losing some of the original Journey's End oriental lilies that I had cherished for years. Long and short of it is consider where you plant tulips if you like lilies. Gentle, seemingly insignificant winds might well carry virus laden aphids downwind to your lilies and after that there is no cure.

While I am at it, here's one other caution for fall planting. Stores often carry what many gardeners call "tiger lilies". I'm not sure I can think of another common name ascribed by so many gardeners as representative of the wrong plant. In this case the tiger lily people are mentioning is pictured just below. This is Lilium lancifolium, originally Lilium tigrinum, first named in 1810 and used like potatoes as food in Asia. I never got this figured out because tigers have stripes and tiger lilies have spots and sometimes people call daylilies tiger lilies. This is how I get more confused by what customers really want to by.

Tiger lilies often carry viruses but do not display any symptoms. When other lilies are planted in proximity, aphids, wind, roving animals spread the virus and both varieties die off in a year. Since the tiger lilies reproduce by tiny bulbils generated in leaf axils, there is always ample supply to regenerate another colony. These are nice lilies, very common in most every old time New England garden, but just beware of this caution when planting in your garden. That way you'll protect the beauty of other lilies you have already planted.

Here are a few more from our collection that we enjoy. Until late spring of each year, we have no idea what we still have growing.

Lilium regale

Oriental Rosy Dawn

Siberia


Smokey Mountain Autumn

Uchida

Lancifolium ??? can't remember

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where tonight's temperature will fall into the teens but rebound to the high forties tomorrow. Still time to plant bulbs!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm

Lilies, Oh My Lilies!

Sunday, June 24, 2007

A great morning here at Vermont Flower Farm and a good day to get out and visit nurseries in your area. Flowers are popping right and left and even though we have had some strong winds and hard rains of late, things look great. Today's weather is much improved over yesterday. I spent ten hours on the tractor on our new property on Route 2 and I'll be heading back there in a few minutes. Yesterday was one of those "coat on, coat off" days. The 42 degrees at 5 AM took a long time to get to 60 and every time the cloud cover moved in, we were back to wind and low fifties.

Karl the wonder dog and I made our 5 AM walk this morning and were bothered that a young deer, only one, decided to visit the lower hosta garden for a late night/early morning snack. Two hostas I really like were on the menu: Rascal and Alex Summers. A few others such as Inniswood and Revolution lost a leaf or two.

I tracked the deer through the peony garden and into the back field. It spent some time finding a piece of fence that looked like it had a big enough space to scoot under. As soon as the fawns are able to run with their moms, the deer head to our hosta heaven and try to find leaves that I haven't sprayed with TreeGuard. It's a great product but not worth much when it's still in the jug. I have been too busy to spray but that has to happen by nightfall. Hostas turn into "deer lettuce" this time of year and you have to keep the deer from thinking it's the best eating crop available.

Before I head out of here I want to ask that you go out today and check all your lilium. If you know Gail and me, you know that we have grown tens of thousands of lilium over the years. We have dozens of customers who have better collections than we ever had because they purchased and cared for new bulbs from Vermont Flower Farm. The current problem is a big one so please listen and look well.

As our climate changes, our lands our invaded by more and more insect life from afar. In 1992, a very destructive, small red beetle, the lily leaf beetle, Lilioceris lilii, entered the east coast at Boston. This picture from the University of Rhode Island isn't the greatest but try http://bugguide.net for some other pictures.

Our insect communication was not all that good because the beetle actually entered Montreal in the mid forties, fifty years before we might have shared that information. It immediately began its migration south and east. The various lily listservs I subscribe to have now documented the bug in all parts of the US east of the Rockies and now through Nova Scotia.

The reason I am mentioning this beetle today is that the beetles were visible three weeks ago and by now, the first set of eggs have no doubt hatched and the larvae should be obvious if you haven't taken any counter measures. Here's a larvae picture I took last year.


If you do not eliminate the beetles and the larvae by either hand picking or some chemical or organic means, this is what your stem of lilies looks like in short order.


So the question is "Control". The research funded by the North American Lily Society resulted in a recommendation of a parasitic wasp. That's fine but it's questionable if the wasp will live in Vermont and similar climates and production never even started. The second recommendation was Neem oil spray. This works well, is very expensive and has to be reapplied several times. A friend of ours in Burlington has been using dormant oil spray for years and even though he lives in a well established pocket of lily beetles, he has never had a problem.

I followed friend David's suggestion and went one step further and bought a light weight dormant oil with a built in fungicide and miticide. Remember, this stuff is made for fruit trees and people in the industry only know it as being used for that. I sprayed early after seeing a few beetles which I presumed probably had already layed some eggs. To date there has not been any hatch and if there was, the oil prevented the eggs from developing. Is this accurate? I think so, but we have lots of gardens and I only sprayed the lilies I saw on the first passing. To continue with the study, I have sprayed gardens of two friends. One is a half mile from here and one is 3.5 miles from here. One had noticed beetles, one had not. Neither has larvae yet. I also gave some oil to a friend in Morrisville and it appears to be working there too.

Please do some careful inspection today and if you find beetles, please let me know. Sevin has been recommended but that is a spray which kills the good bugs and beetles too and I am a butterfly man so I'm reluctant to get carried away with that stuff. A friend in White River said the price just went up as the announcement of the beetles ran in the local paper. Similar stories abound. A month ago, another friend asked the Dept of Ag to comment and they kind of did a "what beetle?" response. That would not be the case today. So-o-o-o if you want some good looking lilies like this Uchida (below) do a through inspection and formulate a control plan today.

And since this picture just came through from http://bugguide.net print it off and put it on the fridge. With luck, it will be the only one you'll see. Unfortunately, I fear for the worse as I think this beetle is here to stay.



Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where a trailer of canoes and kayaks just went by--probably heading out on the water to check on the loon population. As for me, I heading into the garden and then out onto the tractor. Enjoy your gardens, stop by for a visit! Ask us a garden question!

George Africa

http://vermontflowerfarm.com

Have you checked http://vermontgardens.blogspot.com
lately????

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