Happy Easter from Vermont!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

34° here on the mountain. Easter morning and the sky looks as if it has been painted in horizontal pastel pinks and blues interspersed with thin lines of grey-white clouds. The rain and wind have stopped and the fog that was obvious as the moon went back to bed half an hour ago has now dispersed. Robins talk to each other along the road looking for worms and other breakfast foods and a lone pileated woodpecker pounds hard on a dieing sugar maple over by the mailbox along the road. It looks like the start to a nice day.

Yesterday Gail and friends went to Montpelier for an illustrated talk by Dr. Leonard Perry. He is the Greenhouse and Nursery Extension Specialist at the University of Vermont and if you know flower folks in Vermont, you have probably already met Leonard. He spoke about new or underused perennials and provided everyone with a very informative program.

Dr Perry offered a handout where he broke down topic plants according to growing conditions, so "Shade", "Part Shade" and "Sun"--over 8 hours per day. I'll scan the list sometime but for now, here are the newer plants on the "Sun" list for your review.

1. Achillea millefolium-Tutti Fruitti Series
2. Baptisia australis 'Purple Smoke', 'Screaming Yellow', 'Twilight Prairie Blues'
3. Echinacea purpurea 'Green Envy', 'Coconut Lime', 'Tiki Torch'
4. Geranium x 'Rozanne--perennial geranium
5. Geum 'Totally Tangerine'
6. Leucanthemum x superbum 'Broadway Lights'
7. Phlox paniculata 'Peppermint Twist'--a tall garden phlox
8. Panicum virgatum 'Ruby Ribbons'--a switchgrass

The only one on this list I am not so sure about is #8. I shouldn't speak with doubt about something I know nothing about but I have this thing about grasses. One time a friend of Gail's gave her a "you must have this" grass and she planted it by the back door. It's not there any more because I spent three years getting rid of it. BUT------If you walk down the George Jewett Road from our house towards the backside of the pond and look, you'll see some that got away. I'm just not enamored with grasses because I have yet to be introduced to varieties that stay in place and don't over seed the world. If you know grasses and can help me, I'd like to learn. Please.


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the moose tracks in the snow from a couple days ago have melted bigger and Sasquatch-like. I have to get out of here now and get down to my friend Mike's and do morning chores for him. Bucky the bantie rooster will be greeting me with a morning melody and I expect there is a fresh little egg from his friend Becky who pecked me twice yesterday afternoon when I tried to slide my hand under her during egg collection time. The other girls were more friendly.

Happy Easter wishes!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm

August Colors

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Already heading for 8 PM here on the hill and I'm finding it difficult to get ready for tomorrow. Sat down to read mail and get off a little something at Vermont Gardens and I remembered that both pairs of glasses were sitting on the window ledge at the nursery. Four miles is a long reach when you can't read without your glasses. Karl the wonder dog and I headed down and it was apparently enjoyable for him as he got to bark at 5 different deer and one young turkey that should have been on roost by now.

Back here I just began to settle in and Gail presented me with three envelopes of checks that have to be processed for the bank. Apparently it's my turn to do this and I don't remember. We add the names and addresses to our data base which we use for mailing out notices about special events, overstocks, and that kind of thing. It's important data but not something you really want to do at the end of the day. I'll get to that a little later.

I made a quick tour tonight of the gardens here on Peacham Pond Road. Yes, they have not received any attention this year but they contain surprises along the way. Along the fence are some very tall Lilium superbum. They are in the eight foot range and they were obviously planted by chipmunks some time ago. Rodents love the starchy sugars of lily bulbs and as they scatter scale pieces about and store some for winter snacks, they are really planting future flowers. Rodent memories are apparently about as good as mine at times as this spring we have a collection of misplaced looking lilies that neither Gail nor I planted. This is obvious down in the lower hosta garden where lilies are out of place but actually quite strong and interesting. I suspect the work of chipmunks as that area is more popular with them than the red squirrels which work up closer to the driveway.


As Karl and I walked along the sandbox, prominent with untouched metal Tonka trucks from days gone by, I noticed a very old Asiatic lily which was like meeting an old friend. This was something we carried at least 8 years ago--probably closer to 12. It was not the strongest lily back then and it had some bad traits including an affinity to botrytis greater than usual and a habit of picking up tulip breaking virus at the blink of an eye. These must have come back from scales that were dormant for years as I just cannot remember how far back these go. I do remember that people used to call them tiger lilies like the old orange lancifoliums and that drove me nuts.

As I continued along, a phlox caught my eye, pushing away Sweet Annie and other improper weeds which have gotten more and more carried away by our brief absence. The phlox is a strong signal of what we will have in a couple more years at the nursery where Gail intends to build a substantial collection of various varieties. I am just beginning to learn the names of what we stock this year but I do know we already sold the last Starfire today and the Tenor, a less bright red, is going fast too.

Older gardeners and New England gardeners like phlox even though they remember the mildew problems of the older varieties. I was told one time that if you plant phlox within other perennials, the mildew will be less of a problem and the individual plants will stay very strong. That may be true but I like big swaths of color. If any of you are successful with phlox and have any pointers or written resources, we'd all be very appreciative I am sure.

Adjacent to the phlox but very much unplanned were groupings of pink hollyhocks which add nice contrast to the phlox. Again this was probably part of the rodents seed relocation project, an annual event which precedes winter. Regardless of the "how did they get there?" it's a fact that they match nicely.

I keep eyeing the pile of checks and guess I better end here. I hope the buckets of rain haven'
t bothered your drive for a handsome garden. If you can't stand the rain, get in the car and get up to see Gail. She always has a new idea and a new surprise color to consider.

Good garden wishes,

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
Vermont Gardens

Cautious Cleanup

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

5 AM and 26.7 degrees here on the hill. This was the kind of temperature I expected a day ago but there's no doubt it's here today. The lawn grass is white and crunchy as I walked Karl the Wonder Dog. The air is crisp and serves as a reminder not to go too far from the back door without a jacket. Karl didn't like cold feet and he headed back to the house with great speed. He can go back to bed but I cannot.

This is the time of year for fall cleanup. It is not necessarily a great sport but one that gardeners accept. Part of my problem is where to start. The Mad Hatter told Alice in Wonderland, "Start at the beginning and when you get to the end, stop." I need a Mad Hatter that says "Start here, sir."

There are a few cautions I suggest to anyone, regardless of where you start. I think they are worth a little consideration. First, put on a good pair of work gloves and keep them on as you progress. Gloves can be like socks if you're not careful and then you have several pairs of lefties or righties but no pairs left. I've ended up at times wearing two different gloves and folks know immediately that I never followed my own suggestions.


One of the nicest annual plants in my book is cleome. I have been growing it for several years and I can't start summer without it. Actually all I do is stop at a greenhouse and buy a couple flats and Gail or Michelle get it into the ground. Although there are many varieties out there now, I always buy the taller variety because I like it interplanted along the split rail fence where all the plants are 2.5 feet and up to 6 feet tall.

Cleome is a good plant because it keeps growing upward and it blooms as it grows. As the individual blossoms fade, a long slender seed pod is formed, adding interest to the overall plant. The plant does reseed but the soil has to be closer to neutral than ours is.

The part most don't know about cleome is that it has a good root system and invisible thorns on the lower stalk. When a gentle tug from the mid-plant doesn't free it from the soil after a hard frost, many people bend over and grab tight and pull in one, quick, thoughtless process. That's fine with good gloves but if you're not careful you'll turn into a sophisticated expletive machine spouting nasties as the thorns prick your hands. Don't try to figure out where the thorns are, just wear good gloves and don't forget.

Cleaning up the garden means cutting down plants and getting them out of the garden. This slows down the spread of disease and eliminates places for the bad inspects to lay eggs, hide and winter over, etc. Some people are big on composting and they try to move everything to the pile. I disagree. Here's an example.

Last week on a local television station, fall clean up was mentioned. The host showed how to do some things and specifically talked about cutting down garden phlox even if they are still blooming. He suggested cutting them to 3"-4" and throwing the stems into the compost pile. That would be a "do not throw" to me.



Modern day phlox have been bred to be more resistant to mildew and other fungal problems but many New England gardens have older varieties which have been passed down. As lovely as they are, many are mildew magnets as these pictures show. These were from a nice lavender unnamed variety (that means I don't know the name!) The older whites are even bigger problems, especially during summers like this one with cold, wet weather early on and into July.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend eliminating them if you have a place at the back of the border or far enough away that the foliage can't be noticed ....but...if you can afford replacement, give it some serious thought. In the meantime, do not put this diseased material in your compost pile. In the first place the stems will take another dinosaur age to break down and the fungus will not cook away no matter how hot the center of your pile measures. Let's just say that when you do your garden clean up, think about where to put diseased materials. Whole hosta plants with virus and lilium stems covered with botrytis are other examples.


Along with plant problems at clean up time, I try to remind people about one insect here in New England. My guess is that it's prevalent in many places now as insects are spreading with ease I don't even want to talk about. This is the short winged blister beetle. It is obvious this time of year. I have been noticing small ones in the half to three quarters of an inch size in the grass now but as they mature as in this picture, they'll be an inch and a quarter long and fat. Blister beetles might attract you to pick one up and look it over or show it to someone. Don't. The name says it all and the blisters you will probably get in a day or so will be a bad memory. Just like poison ivy, not everyone is affected but the fact is the per centage is high so just don't do it. Look with your eyes and leave it at that.


I've got to get going to my other world of work right now but if the weather is favorable you might want to start some garden clean up today. Start at the beginning and when you get to the end, stop.


Gardening thoughts from the mountain above Peacham Pond where darkness prevails and the temperature hasn't budged.

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