Late Walk

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

46 degrees here on the mountain, 29.64 on the barometer and windless which I like. Gail just brought Karl the Wonder Dog back from a morning walk during which he offered a not so welcome morning bark to neighbor Michelle's new puppy. Older dogs and younger dogs sometimes need a period of socialization before greetings are amicable.

Returned home yesterday from a long day at the nursery and decided I needed a walk through the gardens here at the house. A machete would have been an appropriate companion as I just cannot find the time to continue to develop a 5 acre nursery and maintain what we had going for twenty years here at the house. Hidden among two years accumulation of weeds that represent my absence from here grow some very nice perennials. I had plans for returning the gardens to their previous glory but have found once again that it's not that easy to hire people who have gardening skills and can work independently. Sometime this summer I still have hope that we can get this mess squared away.

When we moved here in 1989, Gail brought a number of rugosa roses. The single and double pinks are in bloom right now and the fragrance is beautiful. I miss the old William Baffin that lived with us for perhaps 15 years before the red vole population found Baffin roots good winter food. It died over just one winter.

The Siberian irises as well as the tall bearded irises are in bloom. The blue Siberian, Double Delight, has always been popular and Gail has sold off too many to the point that they need to be lined out again. There is no impressive lineage with this one but it is a blue that beckons visitors to walk to it and comment and ask for it. Gail has been known to give a piece to even unknown friends who she liked but it's to the point now where the five gallon pot at the nursery needs a sharp knife and subdivision. I think I planted a few down along the far fence row but they too are hidden in swamp weeds.

The are a bazillion tall bearded iris on the market now and my Facebook page has a couple friends who are excellent iris hybridizers. Our garden contains hand me downs but in their way, each has merit. No ruffles or multiple colors like we see being released to the market now but still quite nice.

I receive lots of comments and questions about iris and even yesterday two customers asked why their tall bearded iris failed. I remind people that soil heavy in organic and water retaining materials is not good for tall bearded iris but often gardeners can't make the distinction between when poor soils are really better. I have a memory of our first house in Vermont that was ringed in a row of blue iris. The soil around the home was about as bad as it gets but my father often took out the shovel and just rooted up a couple shovelfuls for any friend who liked them. Within a year the holes were filled in and with no care they still prospered. If you are interested in iris, try the American Iris Society.



Finally I noticed the lupines and great orange poppies last night. The poppies were just beginning to close as they do each night but the lupines, stood tall and obvious, having self seeded from we don't remember where. Gardeners love lupines but they have an aphid (the lupines, not the gardeners!) specific to themselves and as such lupines are made for planting where you can see their color from afar but not their bug infestations from close up. I have given away lots of lupine seed over the years and like hollyhock seed which now grows in other gardeners beds, I can recognize customer's gardens as I drive around the county. Sometimes even the most common of flowers make people happy!


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where Gail is stirring madly on a bowl of some (?) coffee cake recipe. She will manage the nursery today while I wait for the oil burner service person to show for our annual furnace cleaning. I see lots and lots of female gardeners but have never met a female oil burner technician. Why?

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
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First Daylilies

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Just back from a morning walk with Karl the Wonder Dog. He was feeling poorly last night and this morning he was eating grass during our walk. If you have a dog you know what this means. He's seven years old and what he thinks he can eat and what he should eat are two different things. Kind of like older people.

It's a beautiful morning out there. 40 degrees and motionless. The small birds of the woods are in conversation. As much as I wish I knew these birds I have never had anyone around to teach me their names and calls. Warblers prevail here but they hide well. They must take music lessons from a very good voice instructor at an early age as their songs are so beautiful.

Gail made me laugh last night as she pulled a Vermonter trick and as soon as she got out of the car on return from the nursery she walked straight to the lawn mower, pulled the cord and mowed for a tank and a half. I guess she bored of waiting for me to catch up with the high grass. As I prepared dinner I could see her following the mower through hidden rows within our old flower gardens. It must be a genetic thing as her dad did the same thing at age 80 when Gail's mom instructed him to weed the flower garden and he knew the ground was too far away from his finger tips. Gail said later that she wanted an easy way to go look at the various lupines at the far end of a row.

Up top is a picture of the daylily known to many as 'lemon lily'. I took this picture last July 9th at the nursery with a bleeding heart in the background, still in bloom. Things are much different this year after one of the warmest Mays in history that arrived with snow and presented repetitive storms on Mothers Day weekend and the week before. Despite the snow the month still averaged quite warm. This year the bleeding hearts are about done and other daylilies such as Corky and Jersey Spider are already (oddly) budded out.

Lemon lilies typically are the first to bloom here in New England. They arrive on tall, thin scapes and bloom nocturnally causing fragrant notice to happy gardeners because they open with a light perfume that makes gardeners smile.

During this morning's walk I noticed three different trollius continue to bloom here although only Pritchard's Giant remains in bloom at the nursery. The difference between elevations of 1530 feet (here at house) and 780 feet (at nursery by river) must make the difference. The trollius are a nice companion to lemon lilies and the yellows that some gardeners report being bored of are actually complimentary.

As well as the lemon lilies, lupines and trollius, the gardens are beginning to brighten with Oriental poppies, perennial bachelors buttons, lots of peonies, Siberian iris in shades of blue, purple and yellow, and tall bearded iris in various colors. Some late blooming scilla bulbs continue to bloom on old flower bed borders and the entire area surrounding the house is perfumed with the fragrance of the lilac Miss Kim. I like this lilac a lot, Gail doesn't and neither of us have taken to pruning it back away from the walkway......perhaps a ruthless job for Alex but not until the shrub is past bloom time.

I have to get moving here as I need to get back to my job at the new hosta garden at the nursery. I toiled for 6 hours yesterday putting stay mat down for new garden paths. This is crushed granite and granite dust and even with the tractor it is very heavy. Gail has the Vermont Farm Bureau coming next week to do an article on Vermont Flower Farm and I want to have the old John Deere and plow moved down and on display as it's such a treat. Cannot make the move until I use the brush hog to trim the fields and woods roads here at the house. Boy it's going to be a busy day!

Out an about today? Stop by Vermont Flower Farm and see what's going on. I may not be there but Gail will be for sure.


Writing from the mountian above Peacham Pond where a boisterous loon just flew over the house heading for Osmore Pond. After 20 years I could be a flight director for this bird simply by the direction of their calls.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
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