The Vermont Farm Show

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Before we moved to Marshfield in 1989, I wondered what it would be like living in a small town. I had grown up in Woodstock and had the opportunity to experience a community where everyone knew everyone else and showed respect and was somehow part of a greater family constellation. In 1966, I moved to Burlington to attend UVM and there was no looking back. Burlington was my idea of the perfect sized community and no matter where I travelled, I always maintained that feeling and always returned.

In 1989, I knew we were committed to returning to a small community. I really wondered what it would be like and what I'd miss. Quickly I learned that some things I had become accustomed to were not meant to be available in a little town. I also found that a real community provides all the other supports you don't necessarily find in a city and it provides them almost every day. Between Marshfield and the adjoining villages of Cabot, Plainfield and Danville there is some event just about every day of the year. With not too much looking, you can also find an "authority" on just about any subject that interests you.

Today was a long day and between the Vermont Farm Show and Sunset Woodpeckers that I just wrote about, I was wearing thin. But tonight was one of those special events at the community center that Gail and I just didn't want to miss. Charles Fish was going to visit at 7 and discuss his new book, In The Land Of The Wild Onion. His book chronicles several trips down the Winooski River from its source in Cabot to its mouth in Chittenden County. In the book he talks about farming, geology, pollution, hunting and fishing, tracking, transportation and various aspects of hydrology. With the skill of an experienced knitter, he draws his subjects together with Vermont history and local anecdotes. Knowing some of the personalities made the presentation more fun but Charles is so skilled that you left knowing many people as if they were long time friends.

I don't recall hearing Charles mention wild onions once although I noticed he represented them on a hand made map that he used as an initial overview. The Winooski is the Onion River in Abenaki and along the way there are many patches of wild onions that smell strongly when you inadvertently walk through a patch. Thoughts of onions and other horticultural delights and the peoples that have walked the banks of this river for thousands of years left the community center with me. I'll track down his book and fill in the spaces soon. If you get a chance to hear Charles, don't miss it!



But the Vermont Farm Show, what happened at the Farm Show? When I said earlier that I'd have to put the Farm Show on ice in my previous post, I'm alluding to something you only know about if you've been to the show before. The show is held in the Barre Auditorium but it spills out of the auditorium like milk spilled from a 40 quart milk can. The balance of the show is held in the the hockey rink. The ice is covered with rugs and platforms and without looking you might not know where you are.

I went to the show this year with three agendas. I wanted to check out the American Chestnut Society display, find some emu oil and look at tractors. I accomplished a lot more than this and really enjoyed myself. I always go kind of crazy looking at the baked goods that have been brought in for judging. They shouldn't put them by the entry door. To me maple syrup and honey are maple syrup and honey. We use these two products weekly and often daily at our house and we support local producers and would have it no other way. But seeing the baked goods is like going to a specialty bakery. I have never heard of someone trying to snag one of these beauties and take it home but I know I'm not the only one who has ever thought about leaving with a fresh baked apple pie or a maple cream cheesecake or honey glazed raspberry tarts. This competition is fierce and Vermont obviously has some great pastry chefs.

The whole issue of the American Chestnut really intrigues me because this is just another tree that built America but is in serious trouble. Kind of like maples, hemlocks, ash and beeches. The American Chestnut Foundation was represented by Leila Pinchot, the New England Regional Science Coordinator from Yale University. Leila makes a good presentation and answered all my questions. The Foundation is trying to establish a Vermont chapter so if you have any interest in saving and promoting a great tree, contact Leila at leila@acf.org, by phone at 203-598-5808 or via the Foundation website http://www.acf.org I have some literature to read and when I get caught up here, I'll try to give a little summary of what's going on with the Foundation.

My search for the emu exhibit was not because I was interested in raising these birds. I've tried the meat on several occasions and even though it's supposed to be great for the non-cholesterol dieter, I could never figure out how to cook it correctly so it didn't dry out. It's like venison as there's no fat in the meat. Expensive meats are fun until you mess up the recipe or the cooking and have to start over at another $14 a pound. I also have limited respect for anything that reproduces by laying eggs in the snowbank after sunset in January in Vermont. Walking around in the dark with a flashlight looking for eggs from a big bird you just paid $1000 for makes no sense to me.

So the attraction? --it's the oil, the incredible oil that I was looking for. An ounce for $8 and change and four ounces is $25.00 This oil is marvelous. It is one of the very few oils that actually can penetrate human skin. It is an extremely good joint lubricant and makes knee and back aches disappear after a couple days. I have heard that it has been used to massage heart valves in open heart surgery --I said "heard" but for me the $25 means that joint pain goes away. Today I found the booth and got what I needed for myself and some as a gift to a friend with lower back problems.

Tractors? I'm in the market for a new tractor for the "new Vermont Flower Farm" (see http://vermontgardens.blogspot.com) The Farm Show has tractor vendors lined up so it's easier to go from one to the next asking questions and dickering about prices. I'm keeping all options open and trying to learn as much as possible. The difference between a 30 hp and a 29 hp may not be much but the gear ratios and an assortment of other factors deserve review. I'm still thinking about one guy's response when I asked about warranties. He said that no matter what the color of todays tractors, green, blue, orange, yellow or red--the warranties are all the same. Three years and xxxx number of hours. I left the Show a step closer to making a decision but not quite there yet. Right now, day is done, and I'm a step away from sleep.


From the mountain above Peacham Pond, where George Winston is playing in the background and the ever so slow piano notes mimic the movement of the digital thermometer as it goes -2.3, -2.4, -2.3, -2.3, -2.4.................

Good gardening thoughts,

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

Sunset Woodpeckers

Sunset in January often suggests a temporary unknown. Darkness comes quickly when the sun falls behind the mountain and with it the temperature drops quickly. There's often no hint of how fast things will change or whether the harsh winds will follow. Clear skies at days end is a guarantee that cold is coming.

I just came in from a real quick walk with Karl, the wonder dog. I wasn't in a rush but the temperature is already down to 11 degrees and Karl likes the wood stove more than snow and ice on his feet. He's one of those modern day dogs that doesn't have the spunk my old beagle Barney had. Barney could run rabbits, foxes or coyotes for hours from afternoon on into the night and then spend the rest of the night finding his way back home. Karl, in contrast, thinks a good distance from the back door is the mailbox at the end of the driveway. He only makes it that far if he feels certain there's a good chance of being carried back to the house. He's too big for carrying very far but house dogs are like that.

It's been quite an afternoon already and rest seems good. I went to the Vermont Farm Show this afternoon. It's a three day annual event held in Barre and it draws exhibitors and visitors from far and wide. I just about got home and a bird missed the feeder and bounced off the kitchen window. I got up and looked out and there in the snow, twitching a wing, was some type of woodpecker, Hairy or Downy, I couldn't quite tell. I don't know if you have ever watched the Dog Whisperer on the animal channel on TV but here at Vermont Flower Farm we have the Woodpecker Whisperer. That would be Gail, my loving, jack-of-all-trades wife. If she could find a reliable day stretcher that really worked she'd be more exceptional than she already is. With birds that are down for the count she is really something else.

One mention of what had occured and Gail went into action. She has a portable dog kennel we used when Karl was a pup. It's lined with a flannel sheet puffed up irregularly to accept a fallen body no matter what shape it's in. Out the door she flew with Alex, Karl and me all peering out the window hoping to see a wing flutter or maybe even see her get bit like the time she saved the baby pileated woodpecker from a cat. This bird showed little encouragement of making it. Alex and I could hear a very sad "Oh no, poor thing." even through the window. The bird didn't move as Gail gently slid it into the kennel and backtracked through the snow and into the house. Like spectators at a sporting event, Alex and I ran for a visual inspection.

The bird lay motionless on the sheet, one wing splayed out away from the body, its head at a strange angle. It made us wonder if it was finished, done for, expired, just plain dead. Gail placed the kennel on top of the dryer in the utility room and affirmatively told us to leave. The Woodpecker Whisperer made it clear that the bird was in precarious health and poking it with words or fingers wasn't going to be at all helpful. We both obeyed like good schoolkids, all the time hoping that she could revive yet another fallen flyer.

Half an hour went by. Forty five minutes went by. We knew that Gail's experience has taught her that it takes a good hour for dizzy, injured birds. The time approached and we slid on our boots and headed outside. These are not good moments because you just don't know what will happen when you open the kennel door. Gail held the kennel and I opened the door. As I reached in, there was an explosion like a fine Springer Spaniel putting up a woodcock in the swamp off Lanesboro Road. The bird flew almost parallel to a maple and then turned its wings, landed and began doing the typical woodpecker climb up the tree. Every foot or so it shook itself. Something was not quite right. Ten or twelve feet higher and it pecked at a bug, then it pecked again. Recovery is golden! The Woodpecker Whisperer had succeeded yet again. This was a Hairy Woodpecker, a fairly common bird that is one of the janitors of the forest. It eats bugs and in so doing slows down some infestations. This Hairy has another day to enjoy life.

From the moutain above Peacham Pond, where the temperature has dropped to 8.1 degrees and my description of the Vermont Farm Show will have to be put on ice until later.

With gardening thoughts,

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

Insect Recollections

Saturday, January 20, 2007

7.7 degrees here at Vermont Flower Farm. The temperature is dropping as the afternoon progresses. The wind has been constant since daybreak but now there are stronger gusts which pick up the fluffy white snow and blow it into disorganized swirls. It's almost like looking at a National Geographic movie of the arctic.

I've been to the platform bird feeder with fresh seed twice since breakfast. As the sun peaked out this morning, the Juncos were here when darkness was just breaking. Then an abundance of blue jays arrived, 6-7-8 of them in noisy conversations I cannot understand. Chickadees flirted in and out and since then its only been Juncos. My guess is that the blue jays will be back by late afternoon to stock up on corn and sunflower seeds to provide caloric warmth through the night.

Yesterday I was looking at garden blogs and up came May Dreams Gardens. From there I checked out Carol's other blogs, stopped at her Hoe and Pictures page, and quite by accident started a circuitous, bunny-hopping search that took me past bed time.

There was a picture of an Imperial Moth, which I had never seen before. Now many of you know I'm very interested in hostas and as a result I found myself at a New England Hosta Society annual meeting one time in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Like all the flower societies, annual events usually include a fund raiser auction and this one was no different. One of the hostas on the block was a fine specimen of Mildred Seaver's Imperial Moth. What was better was that Mildred was there herself. What wasn't good was the thing raised a lot of money and my poverty became apparent somewhere around $50 with the bidding still going. Since that day I've probably added a couple hundred hostas to my collection but still don't have an Imperial Moth.

As I continued reading Hoe and Garden I was interested in a link named Whats That Bug.When you're out in the garden most every day, you unknowingly train yourself to recognize details that others might miss. New insects are always on my radar so a website that could help on the identification end of things was a welcomed find.

Years ago I found these metallic blue-black insects in the grass along the potato patch. They always seemed to be in 3's or 4's. I remember getting down in the grass one time to look them over and recall thinking that they would make a good model for one of those creatures in the Star Wars movies. The color is impressive but the antennas and body dimensions are really neat. I kept thinking some computer loving kid could use a name generator and come up with a 12 syllable name no one could pronounce but everyone would love. For me, I just wanted to know what this bug was and which of the flowers I admire that it ate. The website got me started.

The bugs in the top picture are the Shortwinged Blister Beetle. A common name is the oil beetle, no doubt because of the blue-black coloration. My search determined there are several blister beetles out there but I probably have this one right. If not, rest assured someone will remind me of my error.

Oil beetles are often hanging upside down and their size makes you want to right them but that's the wrong thing to do. As with anything in the wild, plant or animal, if you don't know it well, don't be messing with it until you do. Blister beetles get mad if they are touched and they excrete a caustic chemical from their leg joints. The outcome for the intruder is...you guessed it....blisters, and not very nice ones at that. Not everyone is affected adversely but is makes no sense to try first.

As I continued on with Whats That Bug I was pleased to find another insect that I had been searching for. I have no aspirations of being an entomologist, and ever since Mrs. M. made everyone wear a toga and eat weird food in Latin IV, I've never had an interest in going that route to figure out what I'm looking at. What I need is easy descriptions and clear pictures. The end.


My second "mystery solved" turned out to be a Pelicinus polyturator. That would be a Mrs. Pelicinus because the Mr.s are apparently in hiding and difficult to find in the northeast. This is an unusual wasp, glossy black coloration with nice antennae and a long tail, specially evolved for sticking into the ground and directly into June beetle grubs. To keep its energy levels up while hunting for grubs, it drinks flower nectar. This particular one I found on a hosta leaf en route for some blooms but the previous one I located was on a Trillium undulatum in late August.

Finding a website to assist in identifying insects is not difficult to do but this one worked well for me. These two insects will have more interest to me in the future and I'll be able to share what I have learned with other gardeners. Some may get blisters from raking too much without good gloves but blisters from the blister beetle just won't happen if we remember what we've learned.

From the mountain above frozen Peacham Pond, where cold ice fisherman are driving home, wind burned, chilled and minnowless but if luck prevailed, with some fresh fish for supper.

With shivering garden thoughts,

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

Blue Jays and Spent Astilbes

Sunday, January 14, 2007

A quiet afternoon here at Vermont Flower Farm. This morning's snow has tapered to an occasional ball of fluff floating awkwardly to the white carpet below. The weather of late has given everyone a challenge as several fronts have merged with each storm and the outcomes have not always been as predicted.

I've always enjoyed watching weather and if I had things to do again I might even study it. Lyndon State College is about 30 miles from here and it has a very reputable meteorology program which meshes well with its Televisions Studies program. Learn to "read" the skies and then get a job on TV someplace. Not bad! There's also the possibility of working at a place like St Johnsbury's Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium that houses and sponsors The Eye On The Sky, a weather forecasting station and educational center. These are great resources and we are very fortunate to have them so close.

As I watch the weather, I also watch the birds, my very own weather predictors. As the snow stopped, the birds began to appear in large numbers. First the Juncos began leaving the comfort of the large forsythia bushes and then the Chickadees followed. Both were quickly chased away by 9 noisy Blue Jays who succumbed to "flock intimidation" by a group of about 20 Evening Grosbeaks. On goes the images I get to watch every day, supporting the notion that birds and animals feed heavily before a storm.

The clean white snow also accentuates the leftover plant stalks and seed heads left from autumn. Some folks are possessed to clean their gardens each fall and to a degree I follow that philosophy. Close to the house, however, I leave the spent flower stalks to stand out against the winter snow and give remembrance to the beautiful summer, just passed.


One of the seed heads I like comes from the various astilbes we grow. I'm not sure how many we have now but those for sale are worth a look on vermontflowerfarm.com. The flowers bloom here from the end of June on into September with heights from 10 inches to almost 6 feet. Although there are four basic colors, white, red, pink and lavender, there are many shades of each to choose from.


Astilbes prefer shade and moist soil conditions although they can handle sun if the soil is well amended with organic material. Pumilum, one of the smallest astilbes, grows into a tight mat of late blooming, pink flowers.I've used this plant as a rock garden accent and despite the arid conditions which prevail, it always looks quite nice.

As you walk your gardens on the next need for some fresh air, pay note to the leftover foliage and seed heads. If our selection of astilbes doesn't quite give what you're looking for, give Leo Blanchette's a try. Leo and his family live in Carlisle, Massachusetts and they know a great deal about astilbes. Try Blanchette Gardens


From the mountain above Peacham Pond where winter trout season has begun and where George, the anemometer-less weatherman sits and predicts on a quiet, wind-free afternoon.

Gardening thoughts and wishes,

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

Stary Night, Star Shaped Thoughts

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

A nasty day in these parts today, partly because we haven't been accoustomed to winter and partly because it was .....nasty. A week ago it was almost 60 degrees here and this morning the thermometer struggled at 6. Right now it's at 5.2 degrees and as the sky becomes more dotted with twinklers, the temperature slides down another notch. Welcome! Winter in Vermont.

I had to go to Burlington today and I had planned to slip down to Gardener's Supply on the Intervale and see if they had any more amaryllis or paperwhite bulbs. The crumpled cars from Bolton Flats on up to French Hill in Williston was enough to convince me to stick to real business. By late morning the highway crews had things cleaned up and there was enough sun to chase the snow and ice away.

Tonight is a good night to spend by the fire and thumb through garden catalogs with a pad and pencil close by. Years ago I made our first catalog for Vermont Flower Farm on the computer. I was really pleased with the MS Publisher production of two pieces of paper folded to make eight pages, stapled in the middle and on one edge, labeled, stamped and in the mail. As years advanced the catalog grew to 40 pages and was mailed to over 1500 gardeners. That was the threshold that encouraged me to take the step to http://vermontflowerfarm.com and there hasn't been any looking back. I read recently where 90% of catalogs never are even opened and for me that's a lot of trees and too much waste.

We receive few catalogs anymore as we have our suppliers narrowed down and we aren't interested in adding to that "do-not-even-open" category. Nonethless there is something special about a well written catalog that a computer just can't provide. If you are new to gardening and need a start, go to http://www.gardenlist.com which is an extensive list available by plant type. The owner of the list has been working on it since I first broke into computers and last I looked it was quite dependable.

One plant that has really interested me for several years now is epimedium. I can tell it's a plant my Mom would have enjoyed. Around Vermont I don't see it offered that much but once you get some growing, you'll want to add to your collection. I've mentioned before that the best place to begin learning about epimediums is with The Epimedium Page This is Darrell Probst's page and I doubt anyone has knowledge of this plant as he does.

Epimediums are forgiving plants which work well as a ground cover and can handle various soil types. They fare well planted in difficult situations such as under trees and they can handle some shade and acid soil as you can see in our lower hosta garden.


The flower shape, color and foliage have some variation and this gives the gardener something different to work with. Up here they are slower to cover big areas but June flowers and lesser September rebloom makes for an interesting addition.

I didn't check to see if epimedium sources are included in the garden list I cite, but when you do get to see some, you'll know why tonight's stary night and epimediums are on my mind.


From the mountain above Peacham Pond, where moose are shedding antlers and people are adding layers of clothing they didn't need until today.


Gardening thoughts,

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

Soggy Seeds, Flighty Birds

48.3 degrees this morning at Vermont Flower Farm. The fog has been with us since about 9 last night when the temperature dropped from another record setting high. Near sixties in early January is certainly not close to the below-zero temperatures we often see from late December into early January.

As I look out the office window, the rain has quieted things and save for raindrops, everything has stopped. The birds and animals of the fields and forests hunkered down last night, knowing that low pressure and bad weather were upon them. The platform bird feeder is actually tipping south, rearranged a couple nights ago by a doe deer looking to nibble the last of the cracked corn I leave for the blue jays. It matters not, as the rain has been so heavy all night that the corn, sunflower and millet seed is soggy now.


Many gardeners enjoy birds and incorporate feeders and bird friendly plants into their gardens. I've mentioned before that I leave the wild mullein to grow close to where I place the feeders because the small birds like those seeds. We also plant lots of rudbeckias and coneflowers to provide selections to our bird buffet. That way we have swaths of great color during the summer and from late fall through spring we can enjoy bird visitors.


Internet resources, TV and radio shows about birds are plentiful and make it easy to work into a really interesting hobby. At some point I'll write some thoughts about birds and gardens but in the interim try http://vt.audubon.org for the Vermont Audubon Society, http://www.nekaudubon.org for the Northeast Kingdom Audubon Society (8 Audubon chapters around Vermont), and http://www.vinsweb.org for the Vermont Institute of Natural Science. If you have elementary school age children, track down the VINS ELF Program. Environmental Learning for the Future is a program you and your kids will really enjoy.

Finally, one of my favorite local resources appears every Tuesday in the Caledonian Record newspaper. This is an old newspaper from St Johnsbury Vermont and it's still one of the best. Science and Nature is one section followed by Education. As example, this week's paper includes an article entitled Birding In A Winter Wonderland. It's a regular in the Bird Notes section that the NEK Audubon Society does. The same section also includes The Night Sky Observer sponsored by the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium. Between the two sections you can bring the heavens to the earth with a quick study specific to whats happening that week. The weather may be challenging this year but the world outside your back door places you just steps away from some interesting lessons.


From the mountain above Peacham Pond where 5 Evening Grosbeaks just appeared at the feeder, satisfied with soggy seeds for breakfast.

Best gardening wishes;

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

Peace and Eucharis grandiflora for 2007!!

Sunday, December 31st. 14 degrees out and the temperature is dropping rapidly now. This year quickly slips from the grasp of Father Time with but a few hours left to savor before 2006 dissolves into 2007. It's been a great year here at Vermont Flower Farm and we hope it has been positive for you too!

This time of year we like to enjoy potted amaryllis on into January and we're always pleased to see the Amazon Lily bloom again. With a minimum of care, this houseplant springs forth a handful of scapes three times a year. The blooms last for some time and their pure white intricacies encourage a number of "What is that plant?" queries.



I truly can't recall where our plant came from but it's been with us for a long time. It has suffered neglect and near freeze-ups from being too close to the door where the firewood comes in. One time Gail tried it in the bedroom in a north window thinking it didn't need much light. Within a week it began shedding its large green leaves, one right after another until she abandoned the experiment and returned it to the front room. Just like the ligularias in the summer garden, this plant has be well watered to maintain stem and leaf turgidity. Let it dry out too much and the leaves topple and fold on top of each other. If you are interested in houseplants, give this one a try.

As I sit in the front room "plant" reminiscing far into the past, a couple plants prevail in memory alone. Not significant houseplants but a couple that I recall from when my family first came to Vermont in the early fifties. We moved next door to a very old farm, known locally as the Century Farm, which confirmed only part of its real age. There were some neat Vermonters living there and for years they helped raise me and my sister when our mother was ill. All the old folks are long since passed but I'll never forget what they taught me and how in their own way they influenced my green thumb and what has become Vermont Flower Farm.

There were two sisters, short, round, and caring. One was Fidelia, the other Lilian. They handled the domestic side of the farm as well as the milking and feeding chores under the watchful eye of sharp-as-a-tack, 93 year old Eunice, their mother. Summer vegetable gardens were always well tended and at this farm there was a separate flower garden which served to keep flowers on the table and bouquets ready for summer visitors who stopped for milk, eggs and baked goods. There were rows of tall sweet peas, zinnias and asters, and a minor number of other flowers, now only represented by a blur of color in my mind. To the women, the flowers meant ribbons from the county fairs that equalled or exceed those won by the "men" for their maple syrup, fine milkers, and horse and oxen pulling events. Those gardens were very special and the soil the flowers grew in was 100% pure Vermont farm!

But we're talking winter in Vermont now and back then there were no Amazon lilies in the farm house. The white curtained windows were lined with geraniums planted in old Red and White brand coffee cans and a wide array of African violets which Eunice tended daily. She was very proud of the collection and especially liked to point out the doubles and a couple with variegated leaves which were not common back then. I recall when I first saw an angel wing begonia at their place and how they always planted baskets of tuberous begonias. "Never water into the center of the bulb", explained Fidelia, "you'll rot the bulb." She was a good teacher and showed me the shape of the bulb and the importance of a lesson, never to be forgotten.

I can't remember when I last saw geraniums in used coffee cans or African violet cuttings stuck in water-filled glass jars, held upright by wax paper with rubber-bands across the jar mouths. That's a memory. Eunice and Fidelia and Lilian, and others at the farm contributed to some very fond gardening memories which set my course for a life time of horticultural endeavors.

Today memories turn to 2006. There are lots of good memories!


Peace and best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year!


From the mountain above Peacham Pond where deer wander through the field, checking the apple trees one by one for errant droppings while some of the residents of the pond have already started a fireworks display, almost as if begging 2006 to leave so 2007 can begin.

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

Fresh Snow

30.8 degrees here on the hill. It is quiet now. The kids down the road had friends over, and there was enough new snow to make new sleds slide much faster than on yesterday's mud and leaves. The new snow, slight as it was, cleansed the landscape and gave folks the opportunity to feel differently about the winter solstice. For the kids, it was an opportunity to let voices and spirits run free.

I returned home from work today and Karl the wonder dog greeted me as always. His trot-trot-trot across the kitchen floor, eyes wide open and both ears layed back made obvious reminder to the fact that yesterday, amongst wrapping paper and ribbon, food and drink, friends and neighbors, Karl got lots of attention....and too many snacks. What he didn't get was a good walk out back through the fields and into the woods. His behavior begged "Let's go!" and I knew I was obligated.

We got in the truck and drove out into the woods as the light was fading quickly and a cold rain was falling. I wanted to get out to the white spring and park and then walk from there. Karl didn't care, walk or ride, as long as he was out with me and he could smell the smells of the forest.

The big buck's track came off Blake Hill and onto our log road. He carries a beautiful set of antlers. His front hooves, splayed widely in the snow, serve as reminder to how heavy this deer is. I was surprised to see how far he walked down the road, apparently feeling safe during the storm when he left the tracks behind.

Karl ran, stopped, sniffed, and then ran, stopped and sniffed the tracks again. Every once in a while he would blow air out his nose in a big blast, apparently bragging in dog talk about his tracking ability.

We went on for several hundred yards until we came to the old refrigerator. There was something strange about folks in the old days and out of sight meant out of mind. They often had a habit of dragging broken household items out into the woods and just discarding them. Over time, the old refrigerator has become a landmark among hunters on the Peacham property. Directions like "wait for me at the old refrigerator" or "I'll be between the refrigerator and the pulp pile" sound odd to some but in hunter speak these are clear and important directions. Fortunately the fir balsams have grown quickly in recent years and the landmark is mostly surrounded now. It still represents an animal crossing point and hopefully will forever.

Karl stopped and began sniffing a foot tall balsam. The snow was bare of footprints but it was obvious the tiny tree was recently well marked by fox or coyotes and Karl was interested. I respected his interest in the spot but a clump of snow dropping from above had hit my shoulder. It splattered inside my collar and down my neck, cold enough to want to make me move along.
Karl wouldn't budge save for his sniffer which was in overdrive.

My thoughts of feeling sorry that he didn't have a nice walk on Christmas were fading quickly. Just then a red squirrel, obviously late returning to his nest, chattered loudly from the balsam above. Karl spotted it quickly and began to yelp like a true hunter. Red squirrels are always saying something and they seem to want you to believe they own the woods and are always in charge. This one looked a little odd. It was so wet its tail looked hairless. Just the same it scolded Karl for even thinking he was important and it scurried higher and into a hole in a dead poplar tree. For Karl, that was a sign to head for home.

As we walked along the woods road, I noticed again the death within the forest. The balsams on this property have reached their age peak and they are declining. The white and red spruces appear to have some blight or insect as many do not look as healthy as I'd expect. The long needle pine are tall and wave nicely in the wind but I notice they have a blight beginning on the north side of the stand. All of the forest is in transition. Regardless, the snow lends a silence and a peace that is powerful and calming.

We got back to the truck and Karl jumped up and in. He had a nice walk. I did too, I really did!


From the mountain above Peacham Pond where the night is still and the storm has stopped. Soon the birds and animals of the night will shake off ice pellets and snow flakes and head out to meet friends and find some dinner.

With frosty winter thoughts....for just a day.....


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

Hard and Heavy Holiday Gifts

27 degrees here on the mountain. I had to walk to the window to see if the stars were shinning and they are. I flicked on the light switch and the outside light startled the doe deer and twins just over the bank. I hadn't half expected to see them as they have been missing for several days. They appear to be headed for the only apple tree that holds fruit this late--some kind of a small yellow apple that doesn't appeal to me but does appeal to deer. There are very few apples remaining but they will kick the snow and leaves around until they find every last one on the ground.

I'm pleased that my thoughts about using stone in gardens encouraged others to ask questions and show interest. I think I have answered about everyones questions. I cannot say that it's inexpensive to work with stone or easy on the back or wallet (your preference) as it isn't. The thing about stone is when it's done, it's done and it can be enjoyed until you change your mind. Personally, I like Dan Snow's philosophy and abide by it--"Only lift a stone once."

When I wrote about holiday gifts I mentioned stone but forgot to give examples of a different use that interests some gardeners. Chris Cleary lives in Jericho, Vermont. His Dad owns a great stone yard in Richmond on Governor Peck Road and Chris has worked there in the past. His real strength however, is working with his hands as a sculptor. The example above is a recreation of a Zuni piece from out west. He did this on bluestone. He drew a stencil and then sandblasted the design. Somehow I hit the wrong button when I was resizing the picture and I inverted the dimension so you don't see the depth of the cuts. Regardless of my error, it's a neat looking piece of work. Chris varies the design size as you prefer based on your intended use. Stone types and colors are also available.

I have always like kokopeli and at one time researched myself silly on this interesting representation. Sometime I may craft a large one to center in a labyrinth garden. Gardens by themselves can offer fine music but there's nothing like a flute to encourage thoughts of new gardens and new designs.


The lizard in this last design may not fit well in a Vermont garden but it is also well done and offers conversation. These happen to be three pieces which I have collected but the concept
and the sculptor are what I wish to convey here. Vermont has some fine craftsmen and their work displays well in garden settings.

Still stumped for a gift for you favorite gardener? Running short on time? Try a pair of Felco pruners and a leather holster with belt clip. Trouble is they'll last forever so start thinking about next year's gift right away.


From the mountain above Peacham Pond where Karl the wonder dog just brought me his stuffingless sheepskin animal toy in hopes that I'd toss it back out the office door a few times before his bedtime...and mine.

With kind gardening thoughts for safe travel,

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

A list of "should haves"

A sliver of sunlight grows more and more slender as it pokes through the needle-barren tamaracks, casting a long reach across the forest floor. Its decreasing size signals the impending clouds which will bring us yet more rain. It's an odd sight for mid December as the fields are bare below my office window, save for snow swaths trapped between the rows of brown and tipsy daylily scapes, long since the colorful attention grabbers of the lower field.

One-two-three, ten-eleven-twelve, sixteen in all..... mounds left on top of the septic leach field by the star nosed mole or one of his relatives who enjoy burrowing through damp locations, looking for worms and other delicacies. I need to make a mental note that come spring and soil temperatures of 50 or higher, I'll sprinkle Milky Spore down there on the off chance that the area also holds a collection of beetle grubs. Piles of fresh dirt left by these little animal rototillers are a signal to gardeners that something is going on in that area and needs attention lest the mole or the beetle numbers grow too fast.

As I sit here to write, the outside temperature is 41 and there is a slight wind blowing. I just returned from walking Karl, the wonder dog, and the temperature feels lower than the reading. If Karl could talk I know he would have commented because he dislikes cold and hates wet feet. He's really not meant for Vermont but there's no challenge that he was meant for this family!

Gardeners like the population at large, always have a list of "should haves". I'm looking at a "should have" right now. On the bookcase next to me sits a Hippeastrum.... a "should have"..... an amaryllis. I should have planted my amaryllis back in October but I didn't plant them until late November. Now it appears that my reds and whites and pinks, intended to complement our poinsettias on Christmas Day will give no more than a pale green accent. Yes, I should have planted them earlier.

Amaryllis are a great houseplant which is readily available online, in garden centers, hardware stores and big box stores everywhere right after Labor Day. They are priced from about $5 on up to $16. The come in a variety of colors and bulb sizes, some sold boxed, some in bulk, often sold from wooden crates. The convenience of the plant leaves no excuse not to try a couple for additional holiday color around the house.


We generally buy several prepotted amaryllis so we can give some away as gifts to guests who stop by to see our tree and have never seen or grown an amaryllis before. I sometimes buy slightly larger bulbs in bulk to plant ourselves but this year we were just too busy. The larger bulbs produce spectacular plants with several strong scapes which bloom on and on way past the celebration of the New Year.

When amaryllis are finished blooming, many think of them as disposable plants and with one plop they're in the trash. My mother was a junk collector from Depression days and she couldn't throw away a spare smile. She'd always carry the gone-by pots to the cellar and put them in an area which wouldn't freeze. Since the house was built in 1826, there were too many places in the cellar that did freeze in those days so care was important. When spring came and we were well into June, she'd drag out the bulbs and give them to my Dad to plant. He'd care for them until fall, dig and dry them in the sun for a couple days and then scoot them back to the cellar until Mom could plant them in October. Every year the bulbs got bigger and those two gardeners would pat each other on the back for what a good job they had done. You can do exactly the same thing, hopefully without an 1826 house, and enjoy a fine flower again and again. Go ahead! There's still time to find some and they'll be in bloom long before you ask which day Lincoln's birthday falls on.


From the mountain above Peacham Pond where wrens continue to feast on mullein seeds and tall gray clouds close out the last of the afternoon's sunshine.

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

Holiday Thoughts

Monday, December 11, 2006

32.5 degrees here on the hill. Same temperature for the past 3 hours. Gail has a nice roast chicken in the oven. It smells delicious and prompted Karl, the wonder dog, to jump up and trot-trot-trot to the kitchen in hopes that something dropped off the counter onto the floor. He and his vacuum-like mouth just returned to his dog bed beside me, empty with disappointment but obviously relieved, knowing that the oven timer is wearing down. Dogs are smart critters and Karl, the wonder dog is exceptional.

Not only is the oven timer wearing down but the number of days left for rational holiday shopping is drawing down too. I have never seen myself as a shopper and as many can attest, I am not known for my package wrapping skills. Some have even commented that I clearly own stock in 3-M based on the amount of Scotch tape I go through. Regardless of that, I guess some think I should be consulted for gift ideas. With reluctance, and in hopes that none of this will be held against me, here are some ideas.

There are three words in my garden vocabulary that come to mind when I think through the first suggestion. Peace, tranquility and water. Hemingway was an author I admired and he commented on the relationship of man to water from the perspective of one's sanity. He usually was thinking of ocean-sized bodies but I think we can agree that water has a tranquilizing affect which brings a peacefulness to us. To that end I recommend a pre-made pond liner available at the Home Depots and Lowes of the world, rural farm stores and probably many hardware stores. A liner is as close to "instant pond" as you can get.

I bought the liner pictured above about ten years ago. It was inexpensive then so is probably about $135 now. 7-8 feet across, 28" deep, with a shelf for placing potted water plants and little raised bubbles on the bottom so when you step in to wash it out, you won't pull a Simon and Garfunkle "slip-sliding away" and get hurt.

This gift would best be purchased for someone who really wants one but doesn't live close by. That's because someone has to get it into the ground. When I close my eyes I can still see the sticker plastered on the side with that adhesive that never comes off. It stated that "In just 4 hour hours you'll be enjoying the beauty of your first water garden." Yeh right! With a back hoe, a truckload of sand and two helpers you couldn't get it done by noon if you forgot about breakfast and just started before the sun got hot. If you decide to buy one, write me and I'll explain how to install it the right way. Once it's in the ground you can plant around it, in it, add an electric or solar water pump, buy all sorts of water nozzles and add a number of other things to your list of garden chores and garden budget. Oh yes, and where do those goldfish go every fall???




Antique garden art is a broad category but some people do like to complement their plants with other items. Gail picked up two of these cast iron garden urns at an antique store in St Johnsbury for $250. They are in perfect condition and give her a chance to practice different container gardening styles each year. I half expect someone to stop by at night and grab one but so far they're still here. After the last good frost we clean them up and bring them in for the winter to display in the front room. Nice addition!



The armillary is another find. It came from an old dairy farm in Beverly, Massachusetts long ago. It's missing part of it's directional arrow but it's an eye catcher and a conversation piece. You'll also find out how many people haven't heard "armillary" before. You can still find which way is north even if you buy one without the pointer like we did.




Birdhouses come in all sizes and they're really nice. As long as they have a hole size of 1.5" you're guaranteed of getting some bird to set up residence for a while. They might not be bluebirds but they will be birds. The best might be handmade houses, especially those made by a kid with developing carpentry skills. To me there is only one place to purchase birdhouses and that's from Brown's Foster Home in South Gardiner, Maine. I stop by their booth every September at the Laudholm Craft Festival in Wells, Maine but their website http://recycledbirdhouse.com will tell you the whole story. You'll get a warm feeling and a great "like-no-other" birdhouse made from recycled materials and found art.


If you want to give plants, our website http://vermontflowerfarm.com
is one of thousands of nurseries available to help with your questions and your gifts. Gift certificates are commonly available and they often make it easier for the shopper who isn't up on botany but does like to see holiday smiles.

Garden labels are something lots of gardeners haven't figured out yet but want to. We use a very basic metal product from Eon Industries http://www.eonindustries.com but there many varieties available. Search under "Plant Markers" and you'll find quite a selection. Ken and Sue from KS Plant Markers http://www.ks-plantmarkers.com will show up and I know Sue will be happy to answer questions and help with an order. If you want to go one step further, kick in a box of Avery waterproof laser labels and you're likely to hear "How'd you come up with this?" The labels come in clear or white. We use clear with Times NewRoman font but the choices are endless.

A subscription to a gardening magazine is priceless if it's a regional magazine that tells you who is planting what and where. People, Places and Plants Gardening Magazine covers New England and upstate New York. Paul Tukey is the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher and one of the nicest in the business. Take a look at http://www.ppplants.com Right now if you buy yourself a subscription you get another for free.

And if all these choices fail to stir an idea that seems just right for your special gardener, a hand made gift card with an invitation to spend the day on the road shopping nurseries near or far, will certainly do the trick.....and Vermont Flower Farm could be one of those stops.


From the mountain above Peacham Pond where the temperature remains 32.5 degrees and a light mist continues to fall while last night's snow slides slowly off the roof, one section at a time.

Warm Gardening Wishes,

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

Vermont Reflections

Tuesday eve, December 5, 2006

I just put a couple logs in the woodstove. The warmth feels very good, especially to Karl the wonder dog, flanked out in front of the brick hearth acting as if his spot is not to be intruded upon. In a few minutes he will probably become oblivious to his surroundings. Soon we'll hear his erractic snoring and twitching as he goes into dreams of chasing red squirrels and rabbits. Much has changed in the past couple days and the weather has shown it is in charge of our outside world.

Sunday morning Karl and I headed out early to try to get a few late fall pictures. We headed south on Route 232 and then took a right turn across from the turn to Owls Head. If you haven't been there yet, locate it on a good map and make a note to visit any time after Memorial Day next spring. That's when the state park system begins to open. Owls Head is special to me and I speak of it often, to friends, to visitors, and in our blogs. The profile shot of me on this blog is one Alex took several years ago when I was sitting up there enjoying a time of peace. For Alex and me, we don't make the trip up there often enough but when just the two of us go, we have good conversation.

Karl and I headed down the road until we came to Marshfield Pond. I have no idea how many pictures I have taken of the pond but Sunday morning we got there as the sun was just tossing back the bedsheets. The mountain looked cold and dark even though the temperature was almost 30 degrees warmer than it is tonight.

Marshfield Pond is a kettle pond, less than 35 feet deep and filled with browned, acidic water, warm water fish and is surrounded by some fine wildflower specimens. Despite all that beauty, the shear granite headwall has always intrigued me, forever beckoning me to visit.

The visual entrance to Marshfield Pond is similar to the entrance to our hosta display garden. It makes you catch your breath with all there is to see and as soon as you cast your eyes right or left, you're instantly fatigued by how much there is to see. Once you've looked around , you know you'll return time and again to compare differences and savor the tranquility that is so difficult to find these days.



The hosta garden entrance is impressive but it didn't turn out as expected. It serves as a good reminder to other gardeners that a good garden plan is priceless. If you visit before mid May when the hostas are first breaking ground and then visit again around the third week of June, you'll notice that the beauty of the hostas has covered the beauty of the stones that delineate the old barn foundation, three stone walls holding firm grasp to hundreds of hosta so they can't escape to adjoining land. Had I done it correctly, I would have spaced the larger hostas further apart and would have planted the smaller ones 5-6 feet from some of the larger varieties. Seeing a Sum and Substance hosta that's 6 feet across and almost four feet high makes you "wow!"; having to peal away 20" leaves to find much smaller Kabitan, Lemon Lime, Twist of Lime and Little Sunspot is not nearly as fun as seeing them well grown as perimter hostas.

Planting a hosta garden the right way makes you want to keep bending over to grab another hosta to plant. The new garden looks sparsely planted and open at first and makes you feel too stingey with the plant material. This feeling continues for at least the first two years when the plants begin to fill out.

If you can't resist that urge to fill in between plants with yet more hostas, you can always buy some fast growing annuals and pop in a few here and there. It's also prudent to remember that the first full year after planting, the hostas are typically adjusting to the soil and putting on some nice root growth. The second year they will start to grow and the third year it's a whole different look

These last two pictures show the same hosta bed two years apart. It's been two additonal years since the last picture. If you stop by to visit, you will easily see what we're trying to communicate on the spacing issue. And I'll bet even a quick walk through the lower garden will give you the encouragement needed to try some hostas. If the look is enticing but the courage is lacking, courage is something we dole out for free. Just ask!

From the mountain above Peacham Pond where colder temperatures will lead to some snow on Thursday and then slightly warmer days by the weekend. "Warmer" is relative in a Vermont winter but it's always nice for us to hear.

Happy gardening thoughts!

George Africa

http://vermontflowerfarm.com

http://vermontgardens.blogspot.com

Remembering Summer

Saturday afternooon and the wind doesn't seem to have let up a bit since daybreak. The temperature has dropped to 31 and it has been holding there for some time. Last night after supper I dumped a couple 5 gallon buckets--my "rain gauges"--and this morning there was over 3" in each. The daily paper said there was an inch an hour falling in Burlington last night and it flooded out the sewer network. The Winooski River goes through Marshfield village and continues for 65 miles before it gets to Lake Champlain. Today it is flowing about as high and fast as I have seen in quit a while. This isn't the first year the weather has acted like this but with the land saturated as it is, it doesn't take much to create problems.

Usually there would be snow on the ground but this year the rain and warm weather has kept us snow free. November finished the month in number two place for the warmest on record. It hasn't been this warm since 1948.

I guess it is the warmer November that continues to remind me how much I enjoyed the flowers this summer. They seemed to come out early and hold their color longer than usual. The rain which came mostly at night kept the daylilies looking beautiful and the scapes seemed in great abundance for weeks on end. Just a great memory!

There are a couple things which I can't seem to follow through on from year to year. It drives me nuts as soon as I find out I have messed up again but apparently I never feel guilty enough to mend my ways. I have three good cameras and I know how to take pictures. You'll never see my stuff in galleries or with price tags but usually you can honor whatever it is I have photographed with the ability to name it generically. ...mountains, river, brown tree, red flower, little fluffy dog....that kind of thing. My problem is I never take the pictures that I should.

Each year I make a new list of pictures I need for our web site. You'd think after 4 years I could get around to a picture of the daylily Chicago Apache instead of taking twenty each of Witch Hazel or Wayside Green Lamp. I can't. You'd think I could take some garden photos to break out when the snows of January are three feet deep. I can't. This got so bad this summer that I actually had to contact a writer/publisher and say that I had to forego being in her book because I couldn't get the pictures off to her.

It's not so much taking the pictures that is the problem. It's identifying them. I actually bought a camera with a recorder so I could walk down the rows and say "Nefertiti, Rococo, Mauna Loa, Hesperus, Citrina, Lusty Leland, Night Beacon, Alaqua, chipmunk, another damn snake" but I didn't like the feature. I probably have 500 beautiful close up photos of daylilies and at best it's a crap shoot as to what they are. When I try to coax Gail to look at the monitor with me she always reminds me "I can only identify them in the garden." Somehow I have to get better at this for next year.

The other thing I have gotten terrible about is updating my maps. When I plant a new something-or-other I always write the name on a tag and bury it in the same hole, always at 3 o'clock. That's so if the tag that's above ground is grabbed by the tag fairy or some child aspiring to be a plant tag collector at maturity, I can still determine what is what by digging down on the right side of the plant til I find the tag.

Having a garden map makes it easier to replace tags in the spring, and to plan garden revisions during the winter. But maps around here need to be updated every year. I like to do mine in the fall when customers have forgotten us and the frost has had a chance to make mush of all top growth. Again this year I have failed with my maps. Frankly, I can't even find my maps. Gail got so tired of hearing me ask "Have you seen my maps?" that she bought me a new pad of graph paper in hopes it would quiet me. It did silence the irritating questioning but it didn't get the maps done.

The other day I saw some free software in a gardening magazine. It was supposedly made for designing gardens. By the time I had logged in and taken a ridiculous survey and finally got to the design feature, I found out the thing was set up for an 8 foot wide garden. We don't have gardens like that and when I tried out their icons for various plant varieties, the space filled up so fast I had little chance of ever getting from Abba Dabba Do to City Lights let alone Wylde Green Cream or even Zounds. I guess all software designers are not garden designers too.

Regardless of current photos or updated maps, the flowers of the summer of 2006 were very special. If you didn't have an opportunity to stop by, now is the time to pencil us in for next year. The picture up top is typical of what you might see here, late July, first week of August. It could be a memory you'll want to relive annually. Hope to see you next year!


From the mountain above Peacham Pond where the blustery winds are so strong they encourage the smoke from the woodstove to come back down the chimney...... instead of floating down the valley and through the fir balsams where the deer rest quietly.

Gardening thoughts,

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

Creative Hardscapes

Tuesday afternoon and the outside appearance is no different now than it was at 7 this morning. The temperature lingers at 37 degrees as a fine mist drifts to earth, now mixed without choice, with the gray wood smoke which floats about horizontally. I tried writing last evening but the weather conditions and Cyber Monday slowed our new satellite connection so much that Gail felt dial-up looked good again. With anything new, there is a period of adjustment.

The weather last evening was interesting. My son Adam lives in Seattle and it was 31 degrees there. A lady wrote from British Columbia and offered pictures of 24" of snow which shouldn't have been there. It was 50 degrees here in Marshfield at the very same time I was checking out other geography. I have seen times in Vermont when today would be 12 degrees below zero with a howling wind and 2 feet of snow. The current temperature puts us one day closer to spring gardening and gives a few more precious hours to walk the gardens and make notes for winter's garden design projects.

Hardscapes are the supportive skeletons of our gardens and they can take many forms. Here in Marshfield where glacial erratics are common, a few common tools and primitive knowledge of mechanical advantage can lead to some interesting hardscapes. Like a chiropractor says he realigns vertebrae, the gardener can rearrange stones to enhance plant life, define garden rooms and accentuate paths and garden architecture


As rock is degraded by nature, the sizes and shapes we are left to work with have great variation. Depending upon our skill and resources we can incorporate stone from bonsai sized pebbles and sand reminiscent of aged coastal Maine rock to Volkswagen sized boulders tossed off Vermont mountains or left along volcanic pathways.

Many have written about using stone in horticulture and volumes are left to be composed. It's not that techniques will change a great deal but more artisans will wish to share their mix of stonework, plantings and photography. Any online search will produce numbers of books which can assist your decision to get involved with stone or not.

My personal library has a few books on stonework and I go back to each at different times of the year. They serve as reminders to the potential beauty of stone and also caution me to work carefully so that the weight of the beauty doesn't become a physical weight on me personally.

Last winter I had a chance to attend an evening lecture at the Cabot Library. Connie, the Cabot librarian, does a special job with lots of interesting folks. The lectures draw good crowds and fine conversation for days to come. She invited Dan Snow to discuss his profession of dry stacking stone. He has written a book I am fond of entitled In The Company of Stone. Between the book and the lecture you want to grab some tools and go to work.

The Granite Kiss: Traditions and Techniques of Building New England Stone Walls by Kevin Gardner is another good resource. I like the title because it warns of the danger of stone work when the laborer put hands where they do not belong and they are "kissed" by the rocks as reminder to who is in charge. I don't like to be kissed that way and to this day have a dented, rippled thumbnail that reminds me.

Gordon Hayward from southern Vermont has those manicured garden thoughts in mind when he suggests uses for stone. In his book, Stone in the Garden: Inspiring Design & Practical Projects he presents pictures and writes about stone from an organized perspective. This is a good resource.

Sometimes simple is best of all, and my favorite book is also the best of all. It was written by Curtis P. Fields who I knew from my earlier days growing up in Woodstock, Vermont. His book is entitled The Forgotten Art of Building a Stone Wall. It was first printed in 1971 by Yankee, Inc. and by 1986 when I was gifted a copy it was in its 12th printing. To have known the man and to have touched the walls he built firmed up a memory and some benchmarks for working with stone.

I have tried to describe my enjoyment with working with stone and some of what I have accomplished on two pages of our website, Vermont Flower Farm. In each one, I've tried to show how the stone and the gardens evolve over time.

Building A Hosta Garden http://vermontflowerfarm.com/building.html and Stone Steps

http://vermontflowerfarm.com/stonesteps.html might interest you.

Using stone doesn't have to be any more dramatic that I did in 2000 when I started the lower hosta garden here at Vermont Flower Farm. 7 pieces of granite ranging in length from 6 feet to 11 feet, randomly set in the earth with no real plan have become a discussion piece for visitors and a backdrop for a future hosta garden. The ground beneath is carpeted with several varieties of epimedium and there are probably 35 different hostas mixed among the stones. The backdrop is formed by Hosta 'Tall Boy' and Lilium superbum and over time the grouping will flow nicely. In the meantime, a different application stands tall as an example of what you can do when you get creative with your garden hardscape!

From the mountain above Peacham Pond where the mist hangs tight and Karl the wonder dog barks gruffly at the kid by the mailbox leaving off the weekly buyers digest.

Gardening wishes,

George Africa

http://vermontflowerfarm.com

http://vermontgardens.blogspot.com

Hunting and Gathering

An absolutely beautiful day here at the flowerless farm, though a tad chilly to start, with an "even" twenty degrees on the thermometer at about 5 this morning. At that time the sky was full of stars and not a sign of a cloud was to be found anywhere. As the sun rose, the giant high pressure mass made obvious its presence with a light wind and lots more sun. It turned out to be a great day to work outside and get a few more things off the "have-to-do-soon" list.

Life gets complicated now days and it seems as if we have to stop everything once in a while and catch up on those items which just can't be overlooked any longer. Although I have been doing a good job juggling events lately, there are a couple things that need to be shared.

This blog has been very successful and has directed gardeners to our Vermont Flower Farm site. That's what I hoped would happen when I started it back in April but I didn't know how many people would write with comments and questions. Except for some time in June when I was on the west coast, I have kept all the mail going and only lost one lady with a question about hellebores. I caught up with her about the time our hellebores were going to seed. She said she was happy with my late answer and didn't mind the wait.

When I first signed up to use Google's Blogger software, I knew little about blogs. I just applied the templates and wrote myself silly. Then Internet Retailer Magazine had a great article on social networking and suggested you network your blogs to market your business products through your writing. It also suggested LibraryThing, Flickr and MySpace as inexpensive vehicles to this networking.

I signed up for LibraryThing for a start. (Look for VermontFlowerFarm -- no spaces) This is a piece of software that allows you to enter up to 200 of your private book collection into an online database which compares the books of your collection to those of other readers. From the shared books comes the start of communication and social networking which can include forming groups. If you go beyond 200 books it's $10 a year or $25 for a lifetime membership. Like the blog, I have found that people do express an interest in communicating with other people with similar reading lists. When I signed up there was no group for hostas, shade gardening, daylilies, or horticulture but just when I was thinking of starting a group, others had the same idea. LibraryThing is really catching on and is already establishing some interesting relationships.

I signed up for MySpace and then decided to back off for a while as some of it didn't seem to fit too well. Today an impatient reader asked if I was going to write or not. I will probably cancel that out and stick with what I have. It is a fact that this networking theory works well to direct people to at least look at your site. The downside is you need more time than I have to really do it all well.

One of the things I have turned on and off twice is the blog comments posting section. I like people who don't mind public postings to be able to see what they have written. People tell me they enjoy reading comments even though they might not feel comfortable making any themselves. Kind of like thinking about a letter-to-the-editor but never quite getting there. The thing I don't like is the spam which has infiltrated everything. I think I'll probably revert to accepting comments but not having them be publicly displayed. If you have a question or a comment that you want us to respond to, please e-mail directly at bizplanr@hughes.net Unless you grow hellebores or have questions about them, this will work fine to get a prompt answer from us.

The other housekeeping issue is the good news that Vermont Flower Farm has been well fed over the past few years and is going to move by 2008. Gail and I purchased a piece of property just outside Marshfield Village on Route 2. We will be open here on Peacham Pond Road during the entire 2007 growing season (starting next May!) and will be relocated by April 2008.

This is a really exciting thing for us and it couldn't have happened without the incredible support of thousands of gardeners who have made their way to Peacham Pond Road. Operating a nursery business is a lot of work but when you enjoy flowers and nice customers like we do, it's a little bit easier.

To let you know where we are going and how we are progressing, I have started a separate blog named Vermont Gardens. http://vermontgardens.blogspot.com My intent is to represent what goes on as we grow the new business from the earth up. Along the way I'll incorporate the same style anecdotes, local lore, and ecology that I do here, but I'll detail the business aspects along the way. Many people ask us about starting a nursery and this blog will help some with their decisions.

So with news updates out of the way, the question remains, what is this "hunting and gathering" title and what is today's picture? I've been working lots of hours at the new property and am trying to absorb every horticultural detail of this new piece of land. It is bordered by the Winooski River so it makes it even more of a challenge in terms of what grows there and what might have lived there or been brought there hundreds of years ago. We like history and horticulture in our family and this new project merges both interests well.

Echinocystis lobata is not a luffa-like deep sea sponge left from 7 million years ago but the totally inedible wild cucumber which grows happily in moist soil and shady conditons as we have on the east corner of the property. The seeds, usually four in number, are black to brown and they are held tightly in the cucumber until frost speeds up the ripening process. The seeds drop to the ground and the fruit succumbs to the weather. Over the following year the prickly outer coating blows off, allowing the internal fruit to dry and blow away leaving an interesting skeleton. I found some left overs today clinging to some equally dehydrated alders. They're kind of neat and they work well in fall arrangements. For me, they are a reminder that as a kid my pet goat, Martha, used to love to eat these despite their prickly outer skin.


From the mountain above Peacham Pond where the Vermont Castings wood stove has made the house toasty and where Karl the wonder dog snores loudly, laying on his back, all four feet pointed to heaven.

Gardening wishes,

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