Hostas on the Rise

Sunday, May 20, 2007

A very dark morning here on the mountain.....with a sky so dark that it's difficult to believe that the thermometer, standing at 52.8, could possibly be right. The heavy rains of the past few days have encouraged all the trees to spring forth with new leaf growth in various shades of green. I never thought I'd say I was happy to see leaves but there is a very tall green ash tree by the edge of the foundation garden. The emerald ash borer has been killing trees right and left here in recent years and this tree is too nice to lose. Last year it lost a section at the top and although I couldn't find any "D" shaped borer exit holes, I suspected that was the problem. Once the borers are in your neighborhood there is no hope they will leave. It's not a good thought and some agencies try chemical attacks which to my way of thinking just slow the inevitable. There are so many new insects in the gardens this year that even an entomologist would have to work over time.

The hostas jumped out of the ground this week with all the rain after two weeks of hot, dry weather. I'm trying to learn them from their spring display but this is not an easy task, with leaves rolled tightly and grouped closely. Pacific Blue Edger, pictured above is a very nice hosta at about 12" tall. Whiskey Sour, pictured next, is one I picked up from the New England Hosta Society last June. Its spring display is an eye catcher for sure as is Golden Scepter which comes next. Probably the one that has caught gardeners eyes for years how is Sea Fire. I have to keep buying it in because the interest for it between now and mid July is always strong and greater than the speed with which I can reproduce it.

When the hostas break though the ground I begin a fertilizing regieme which works for me. First I take the hand spreader and lime everything. The soil around here is some of the most acid I have encountered and lime helps us get through another year. Since we water the hostas a lot, there is a degree of lime loss to other parts of the garden. A new soil test would be good but I just don't seem to get to that.

After the lime, I spread on commercial 5-10-10. I don't get carried away as too much fertilizer can do your garden in quickly. The little Scott's hand-held plastic spreader set on opening number 5 does just right. Once in a while it stops spreading as a coagulated piece of fertilizer clogs the exit port but all in all it works fine for this task. Something like $12 at the box stores.

Finally I give each plant a good drink of Epsom salts and water. This is magnesium sulphate and a great addition to stimulate root growth. If you looked around the stairs to the cellar of about any old farmhouse in Vermont you'd likely find a discolored box squirreled away someplace. In the old days when it was cheaper, it was used on all the corn fields but in the home it was used to soak feet in tubs and people in their baths to ease the physical stresses of difficult farm chores.

I like magnesium sulphate because it stimulates root growth, doesn't affect the soil ph long term, is easy to use and and enhances leaf color nicely. A competition rose grower told me about it several years ago. My very unscientific distribution format is one heaping handful in a 5 gallon of bucket of water, stirred a couple-three times until it dissolves and then dumped on liberally to each plant. If you want to experiment, buy a carton in about any store's drug section. It comes in little pint and half gallon milk carton sized boxes. Usually in that format it's in crystal form and the crystals take a while to dissolve. It's also more expensive. I buy from the agriculture stores like Agway, Blue Seal and Oliver Seed. 50 pound bags have run about $16-$18 and that's more than enough to carry me through the year. It can be used on anything you grow and the results are significant.

My last fertilizer is fish/seaweed emulsion. I mix 3 ounces in a 5 gallon bucket and again dump some on each plant. It's $14 to $25 a liquid gallon but worth the price because of the inert minerals which come from the sea. All this mixing and lugging and dumping is not easy but it's a worth it. If you can't get through the task yourself and want a real challenge, find a school kid and try to assure them that this is a good job for them to help with.

Hostas in spring are fun to watch. They grow quickly and after they're up, the warm days encourage the leaves to unfurl and grow in size. As you walk your gardens in spring, keep in mind your younger days when you folded a piece of paper and made snowflakes. When you unfolded the paper, the cuts repeated themselves. In spring look for freshly opened leaves and look for repetitive holes of the same size and shape on the same leaf. This could be the sign of insects or worms eating into your hostas at ground level when they started to rise. Take appropriate action and try to eliminate the culprits early on.

There are thousands of hostas available now and the best have yet to be released to gardeners. We have a good 165-175 different varieties for sale this year from minis to extra large. If you like hostas, stop by any time now and you'll get to see unfolding beauty on the mountain above Peacham Pond.

Have a nice Sunday! Garden walks bring peace and a to-do list at the same time.

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

Pack and Ship

Thursday, May 17, 2007

A very long day is coming to a close for me and it can't be soon enough. I was in and out of the truck a dozen times since 7 this morning and ended the day with wet feet from hitting too many puddles. Right now it's quiet outside and 42 degrees. The 80 degree weather of last week has been replaced by cold and damp which will continue until next week.

The good news at Vermont Flower Farm is that plant orders continue to arrive by email, website, telephone and the mailbox. So far we have kept up with everything. Gardeners seem very interested in hostas and daylilies but the number of specialty plants has been surprisingly good, almost to the point I'm getting worried about supplies. I'll have to do a good review this weekend.

The daylily pictured above is not a new one. It's named Over There and it was hybridized, named and released by Darrell Apps. It's listed as bright red with a dark red halo and green throat and as a dormant and a rebloomer. I like everything about it but the "rebloomer" part because just saying that sends Gail into a tizzy that doesn't stop for a while.

I have learned that Mr. Apps, previously Prof. Apps, has given retirement a try and is returning to Wisconsin from New Jersey. I "heard" that but it's probably true. His work in the world of daylilies is special and he came to understand how to produce a daylily that bloomed and bloomed. When Over There gets going, it does just that.

Gail doesn't like the word "rebloomer" because she says it suggests that the plant stops blooming for a while and then starts again at some point in the future. People almost think that there is an end-of-bloom on July 10 and on July 25th the plant bursts into flower again. It's not quite like that but plants carrying this description probably bloom more than usual and make the owner very pleased.

Here at Vermont Flower Farm we ship plants that might be smaller than those shipped from the southern states. That's because the weather is different here, it's not as warm and the rain is not as frequent. This picture is of one of four Over There that Gail shipped out today. This is a healthy plant with a strong root system and thick fans. The water droplets look like dots from outer space but they're just part of yesterday's +2.2 inches of rain. Nothing wrong with this plant. Our website has many more to view so if you get a chance, scan our pages and try to pick a few plants. None will rhyme with Over There but we guarantee that they'll grow well and make you pleased.


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the cold evening temperatures have turned off the frog chorus switch.

Damp gardening wishes,

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

Tool Time Reminder

Tueday, May 15, 2007

Way past 10 PM and gardening chores never seem to cease. I made a mistake to stretch out to watch the news just after supper and woke up at 9:30 in time to be reminded by Gail that I hadn't dug the hostas for two orders that have to go out tomorrow. Good thing our only neighbors are used to flashlights in the garden and night time expletives when I drop things in the dark.

Tonight's digging involved the last of the Raspberry Sorbet for this year and six American Sweetheart. I always run out of Raspberry Sorbet because it's a later flowering hosta with a great purple color that lasts. I'm going to have to spend some time and buy in a bunch and squirrel it away until I have a better supply. If you don't have one in your collection, buy it up when you see it.

One thing I do on these night time missions is leave tools where I shouldn't. This picture of my old spade fork laying in the Lysimachia nummularis 'aurea' represents poor behavior which I will regret. I know other gardeners are lazy about their tools too. Flat on the ground is a good way to ruin a wooden handled tool in a year or less. If you have to leave tools in the garden, buy the cheaper, plastic coated handles. These are typically guaranteed to last three years which means they will probably last two years but the cost is a little less than a good wooden handled tool.

We haven't had rain for over two weeks and today things changed a little. Although people at work made contrary comments, I think everyone knows how dry it is and how high the forest fire threat is. My man-made (that would be me) bog garden has begun to shrink and the vernal pool which usually is full of water into July has dropped two feet. When I cleaned out the little frog pond near the ligularia display garden I safely removed the various frogs eggs to a bucket and transported them to the vernal pool. I noticed most have hatched but now I have a bigger problem with the water going out of sight earlier than expected. Four days of good rain would make me happy.

Spring chores continue here at Vermont Flower Farm. We had a great planting crew this year and finished up most of the work on Sunday. Gail and I are now digging plants from the garden and I have a lot of hosta dividing to do. With this rain I have to hustle because it's a bunch easier to divide hosta when they're first out of the ground than when they begin to unfurl. Yesterday I got the lower hosta garden limed and fertilized but it is far from what I'd like it to be. I have decided you can tell what kind of a gardener you were last year by the number and assortment of weeds you have growing this year. From this springs perspective, I was too busy last year and I will pay this year.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where 55 degrees is perfect encouragement for the frog pond chorus which I hope will sing me back to sleep.

Good gardening from the tired gardener!

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

Happy Mothers Day

Mothers Day

May 13, 2007

Good morning mothers, good morning gardeners! It's a beautiful day at Vermont Flower Farm even though the wind is strong and the 56 degrees on the thermometer in the sun is misleading. Karl the wonder dog and I went for a morning walk while the rest of the house lay quiet with sleepiness. It's Mothers Day and although there's a lot to do, Gail can sleep as long as she wants. Yesterday she and the crew planted over 700 pots and ended the day with sore hands but a sense that the end of planting is near. She deserves a little extra snoozing.

Karl and I walked out back. The turkeys were off the roost earlier than I expected and three hens were scuffing the new piles of leaves I spread across the back field. The soil is very poor there so I gather spring and fall debris and spread it out and allow sheet composting to take place. It works well and gives the turkeys a place to feed. Try as I might, I could not get a tom turkey to talk to me again this morning. The season is on and perhaps hunters are disturbing their daily patterns.

Two male ruby throated hummingbirds are already fighting over the feeders but to date, no females have arrived. The males arrive first but usually by now we see at least one female. Perhaps later today as it is Mothers Day.

Good gardeners develop their eyesight so they can be watchful for insects and plant diseases. I have always been a detail person and although my eyesight isn't as strong as it used to be, I know how to notice things which are out of the ordinary. This morning a yellow crab spider was obvious to me on one of the daffodils planted outside my office window. There are many crab spiders and this one is a female golden rod spider. The two brownish colored bars on her abdomen tell her gender. This spider enjoys anything white or yellow to hide against while eating.

I have read that these spiders lie and wait for a meal and don't spin a web. Whenever I see one I visually check this out and always thought it to be true until this morning. I noticed that Mrs. S. was raising and lowering her right leg and I could see a tiny web across the daffodil.


Daffodils are a great bulb and make springtime in Vermont a lot brighter for us. I am always amazed how many people stop this time of year and want to buy some and actually ask for "daffodil plants", not knowing that they are bulbs. We don't sell bulbs, even in the fall, as by that time we are busy enough with cleaning things up and getting our own bulbs planted. We have thousands in the garden now and daffodils are a favorite.

Gail and Alex enjoy tulips but they have a short life in Vermont and for me, I like to plant things once and have more than just a memory in future years. There's plenty of time to give this some thought between now and fall but if you don't have any daffodils yet, plan to go to your garden store or online and buy several varieties. They are often sold in 10's and clumps of 5 or ten in your garden will bring enjoyment and welcome comments from your visitors, neighbors and other gardeners. Bulbs usually appear in stores by the first of September. And don't forget, there's also a chance that next year you'll see a golden rod spider.

As I head for the kitchen to begin making my Mothers Day chores, I wish all mothers a happy day. Everyone loves flowers and today is a great day to enjoy your flowers or get out and see what others grow or sell.

Happy gardening, Mothers and others!

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

Bloodroots Abound

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Just in from my morning walk which started about 5. For me there's nothing better about the part of year when mornings and evenings apply a day stretcher and give the gardener the biggest opportunity. It was a nice walk out to the small spring on the mountain and then back to the old log landing, the long needle pine stand and then back through the peony nursery.

Difficult to figure what's going on this morning. The weather report is for fine weather but the morning sky is stacked up with black clouds like a January afternoon when a snow storm is approaching. I know that won't be happening as it's already up to 58 degrees en route for a predicted 80.

Every day more wild flowers catch my attention and I thoroughly enjoy them. I know that more and more gardeners are incorporating them in their gardens and that's the good news. The bad news is that wherever I seem to wander, I find pockets in the soil where shovels have dug out scoops of wild flowers. I understand this, but I don't like it.

Wild flower cultivation is sometimes easy, sometimes difficult. For example, the Trillium grandiflorum I grow take 6-7 years from seed if all goes well and the deer don't top off the flowers. If you're out and about and you see a big colony, there's no way you'll understand the age of the group and what it took to get them to that population. "Big" or "many" translates to "ok to dig" and that's just not right.


One wild flower I write about too much is bloodroot. That's because I have always enjoyed it since a kid and I like to see masses of white undercarpet. This is a quick-to-reproduce plant which some see as a weed because of the way it can take over the right location. I really like to watch the way the flowers open and close and the way it unfurls in spring. It's a photographer's challenge because some afternoons it begins to close back up around 3. White is nice and so are bloodroots. I guess the juices are poisonous but apparently not to touch as the native Americans used the orange juice to color their skin before ceremonial events. I'll stick to flowers and avoid the rest of that story.



If you're out and about in the next couple days and you know an area with moist soil

that's open to sun such as along a brook or stream, keep an eye out for bloodroot. Up this way it will only be in bloom until the weekend as the warm weather is making it drop its petals and form seed pods right now. In the meantime, remember my comments about taking wildflowers from the wild. Check out the New England Wild Flower Society too as they have plant sales going on right now and the prices are very reasonable and the proceeds support a good project.

With that thought, I'm out of here for the day. I wish I could wait for a while longer. As I look out the window, Gail and Karl are in the lower garden in front of my office window. Gail is scuffing leaves around like a wild turkey looking for a snack. She's really looking for where she lined out a row of Tiarella 'Iron Butterfly' last summer. From my recall she looks like she's about 2 rows away from the right place. Karl is using his sniffer to help but that's not working either.

From the moutain above Peacham Pond where the potholes in the road get deeper and the sun now rises higher.

With great gardening wishes,

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

Remember Astilbes!

Saturday, May 5, 2007

Almost 6 AM and the sun is finally crawling above Peacham Pond to light up a previously dull morning. Last night's temperature dropped to 28.9 but I notice that the water flowing over the lower road is still moving fast enough that it didn't freeze. There are still great patches of snow in the woods which keep the water flowing.

Busy day coming today. Gail is finishing up lunch for the planting crew which will begin arriving at 8. She and Alex are heading for Jericho for much of the day so I will be here mixing soil, barking directions, and doling out bags or buckets of plants that must get into pots. The crew is never the same but always interesting and the conversations can cover quite a spectrum.

Gail is usually in charge and about the only thing we do differently is lunch break. I'm big on a break around noon but Gail has this thing about grabbing a good five hours from people, having lunch around 1:30 and then saying "That's all folks!" Her management philosophy is that people who have had a good lunch don't bend as fast and she expects people to keep up with her non-stop performance. I'm getting too old for that but when she's the leader I have to follow suit, often in verbal, badger-like protest.

One of the flowers we'll be planting today is astilbe. I really like this plant and Gail must too as we have 60-70-I don't know how many different astilbes. I like to offer a self preservation comment about this plant every spring because you must be careful when cleaning up last years stems.

We leave all the previous season's flower scapes through the winter because they turn a rusty brown and they look very nice in contrast to the snow cover. What this does, however, is give them a chance to dehydrate over the winter and it turns the stems into upright pin cushions of thin needles which can easily--and I do mean easily--penetrate finger tips and any other unprotected skin.

Be wise about this and always wear a good pair of gloves any time you are cleaning up astilbes. The work goes quickly but again, it's better to put on a pair of safety glasses and gloves and move slowly.

Astilbes work well in semi shade or fairly open settings in this part of Vermont. They'll do fine in full sun as long as moisture prevails and the soil has been amended to maintain moisture. Their thick, mat-like root mass maintains lots of water but if it dehydrates, it's difficult to rehydrate and keep the plant looking good.

So far this has been a dry spring in the gardens and the first leaves have just started to unfurl. If we don't receive any rain by Tuesday, we'll get the hoses going on the potted plants to bring them along. In the meantime, planting chores abound. If you haven't given astilbes a thought before, stop by later this summer and take a look. This is really a low maintenance plant that provides a different texture over a good period of time. Heights range from 10 inches to 5 feet.

Here are close ups of Montgomery and Bressingham Beauty.

From the mountain above Peacham Pond where the temperature is already 38 and a nice day is forecast. For bird watchers in the audience, yesterday at about 2 PM we have a visit from an absolutely superb specimen of male Osprey. Gail's distance vision is not good and she was in awe at this master of the air as he spent about twenty minutes here trying to figure out if our trout pond menu was to his liking.

I don't know if it was the mallards on the pond or our neighbor on his riding tractor but Mr. Osprey failed to complete the entertainment with a dive for a fat trout. This was an adult male and if you haven't seen how big this bird can get, keep an eye out if you visit Peacham Pond. Last year one showed up the same day the state fish trucks dumped 2500 brown trout into Peacham. My guess is this guy checked his calendar yesterday and headed over our way. His wingspan is etched in my mind--giant and masterful!

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

Morning Walks

May 2, 2007

The second of May and a beautiful day here on the mountain. I've been out for a walk already and Karl the wonder dog is reflecting dismay that he was left in the house, snoozing and snoring as I exited without him. Sometimes I need a little peace too! I'll be on the road all day today in southern Vermont so the calmness of the morning will be the best part of the day.

Yesterday was May Day in America. It was not a day that's necessarily celebrated with fanfare as it is in other parts of the world. To me it signals having made it through another Vermont winter. The day is a jump start for a summer that once started, just flies by. Operating a nursery, working a full time job, looking out for a couple 89 and 90 year olds, and continuing to learn about autism at home is enough on my plate.

This moring's walk was pleasat as the sun rose quickly. The spring turkey hunting season started yesterday and once again my hunting will be no more than this morning's walk. I take along my assortment fo turkey calls and try to see how good I am at bringing in the big toms. They are magnificent to see and their competitive antics are interesting. I bought three decoys last year and they remian in the original box in the cellar. I had hoped to use them just to call in some big birds and watch them. Big toms do not like competition for their hens.

The wild flowers are coming out now and this weeks warmer weather after a couple good rains will bring on lots of flowers. The hepaticas are looking nice and today I want to try to get some pictures in central Vermont of bloodroot and marsh marigold. Our Trillium grandiflorum are doing well and the flower buds are swelling but it will be another week before they first bloom. I am pleased with the way I have reseeded them each year and the numbers are expanding.

Shelburne Pond south of Burlington probably has a great carpet of these trillium right now, decorating the limestone hills with white, accentuated by the yellow of dogtooth violets. If you have a chance, take a walk this week with a good wild flower guide and a bird guide if you have one. Your lists will be interesting as well as a good test of what you know and what you need to learn. I'm on the "need to learn" side of a lot of things but it's fun to learn more about what we share Vermont with.

Speaking of sharing, get those bird feeders down if you haven't yet. I've already heard two reports of hungry bears. In contrast, get your hummingbird feeders disinfected, thoroughly cleaned, filled and hung. Here at Vermont Flower Farm the ruby throats come like clockwork and they should be here soon.

Spring walking wishes from the mountain above Peacham Pond where loons brag about morning minnow breakfasts and a lost gray squirrel looks at our missing bird feeders wondering what to have for breakfast.

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

A Morning Ride

Sunday evening, April 29, 2007

Quiet and 46 degrees here with rain still coming down. I'm going out in another hour as part of the amphibian monitoring program but in the meantime, a quick update on today at Vermont Flower Farm. I picked up what I needed at the store and Karl and I headed for Lanesboro Road for our trip back home. The actual road name is RR Bed East and you turn off Route 2 by Rainbow Sweets, drive past the Community Center and then up the hill taking either fork in the road. Either way you go over a tributary of the Winooski River and you get to see part of Vermont's longest, least know waterfalls.

As Karl and I rounded the corner and approached Bailey Pond on the left, my eyes scanned the water surface quickly as they always do. Karl was motionless as he knows the routine well. My eyes picked up two very large birds on the opposite shore, one pure white and the other a duller color not easily recognized from the distance. I assume these were swans and probably the same ones I saw last year about the same time. They are not domestic but I cannot prove what they are as the distance was too great for eyes even with my camera.

As I watched the big birds I let the truck roll ahead on its own. Suddenly Karl went nuts at the same time a yearling moose landed in the road in front of us. It had been in Bailey Pond but I was so intent on watching the birds I didn't see it. Even a yearling moose meets you eye-to-eye in a truck and it's apparently not easy for a dog like Karl to figure out where something so big came from.

The rain was pouring down and I had to put the wipers on, then off and shoot a quick photo through the water-covered windshield. If I didn't have Karl I could have gotten out for a couple good shots but there was no way that could happen. In time the moose left the old railroad bed and headed up the mountain for breakfast. Many would have liked to have seen this animal as close as I did.

If you enjoy wild flowers, this is an enjoyable ride in another month. Long about Memorial Day week, many flowers are in bloom or well budded. If you travel slowly you can find many good examples. If you have a field guide such as Kate Carter's Wildflowers of Vermont you'll have a nice trip and be challenged by what you see.

Today I had to get right home before the ice cream melted. There was planting to be done and that meant getting the little greenhouse set up. Things went very well and we got another 250 plants potted up. Today it was Hosta 'Abby' freshly dug and divided from the lower garden and then 11 different daylilies. We finished at 3 to do paperwork and have some quiet time. Tomorrow the tractor trailer arrives with pallets of potting mix, pots and other supplies. We'll be a different kind of busy tomorrow.

From the mountain above Peacham Pond where the peepers orchestrate fine spring melodies as a barred owl, somewhere down in the maples, hoots calls for companionship.

Good garden wishes,

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

Virtual Garden Tour:

Good morning from Vermont Flower Farm where the falling rain is getting stronger and Karl the wonder dog keeps scratching my leg. The rain, I cannot control, but the scratching means Karl knows it's Sunday and time for me to head for town for the Sunday paper and a half gallon of milk. Karl knows the routine and knows he will ride shotgun in the truck, barking at red squirrels and turkeys and generally irritating the silence I prefer on a Sunday morn. Today we'll try to make the first return route of the season along the Lanesboro Road--the railroad track bed of the old Montpelier to Wells River RR that was thrown up in the fifties.

I'm just getting back to writing so things are slow. Patience please. Yesterday we planted 375 gallon pots of perennials and got a lot of other work done. Gail and Winnie did a lot of the planting while I mixed most of the soil. Michelle was here too and she moved hundreds of pots, raked leaves and cleaned up some messes. It is so nice to have a person who knows what to do and does it right the first time.

I spent another couple hours raking the lower hosta garden which is a magnet for maple leaves in the fall. I had spent hours there in October mulching piles of leaves but the late fall winds backfilled my work with more leaves and I probably have a couple days left to get that in shape.

If you have a minute check back at http://vermontgardens.blogspot.com and see what is going on at our new property. If you want to see the latest addition to our business website, check out http://vermontflowerfarm.com/virtual2006/index.html and you will see some very nice pictures from last year's gardens. Maybe these two sites will buy me some time as I get back into the swing of writing about the gardens of Vermont Flower Farm and the gardens we are going to develop along Route 2 just below Marshfield Village.

In the meantime, have a nice Sunday and get gardening! Spirits improve when you're in the garden.

Rainy day gardening wishes,

George Africa

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

Rising temps, rising flowers

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Up to 45 degrees here on the hill, the light drizzle has stopped and a bit of sunlight is encouraging me to write faster and get outside. I really wanted breakfast to serve as a jump start today but Gail suggested a piece of freshly frosted carrot cake instead. She just finished making a beauty for the planting crew that will be here shortly.

Gail makes one of the best carrot cakes you'll ever eat--to me "the" best. If you want the recipe, let me know and I'll send you a copy. I like moist cakes with good flavor and this one fits the bill. But for this morning I was thinking about some eggs and toast and juice. I've been informed that I'm on my own, but that's not uncommon around here this time of year. Already Alex and I have found ourselves looking at each other at 9 PM asking "Did we have supper yet?"

Apologies from The Vermont Gardener for taking a leave of absence from this blog without having the courtesy to advise regular viewers we'd gone into hiding. It wasn't really like that, we were just plain busy. There's legislation in Montpelier related to autism and that's a subject that's dear to us. That meant a constant daily/nightly email campaign. Monday the House will get the bill out of the House Education Committee and we're hopeful on that. Two weeks ago we had Gail's mother's 90th b-day party and in between we have raked tons of leaves, planted a buckets of lily bulbs, put the cover on the greenhouse, and split two cords of wood for next winter. We've also compared aches and pains which prevail when out-of-shape +50 year olds come out of hibernation and find out how far it is to the ground all over again.


The forsythia is finally coming into bloom and the pulmonarias are already putting out flowers for the first hummingbirds to savor. If those tiny birds got a good travel agent this spring, they should be arriving here on time the end of next week, beginning of the following week. They are like clockwork in their arrival here unless there is a big storm someplace that delays them just like the big jets that can't get out for a few hours or a few days.

Gail's favorite, the hepaticas, began to bloom earlier this week and as always with her first look, shel begs me to plant her some more. This is one of those childhood loves that never fades. I agree they are a very nice wild flower and they help jump start our gardening enthusiasm for dirty hands and happy spirits.

I have raked off a third of the lower hosta garden pictured above. This is the garden built inside an old barn foundation. It's coming along nicely and with the rain this weekend, the first hostas will begin to grow. Montana aureomarginata is usually the first or second to break ground. It does this just in time to get nailed by a hard frost or two but it always comes back in all its glory. The lancifolias break through early and hold tight as they can handle temperature change better.

The hellebores are in bloom and for once the foliage looks great but the first flowers look a little weak. That will all change in a week or so. If you don't have any of these, stop by and take a look. We don't have any for sale this year but will next year when we move.

The first daffodils are in bloom over the bank here by my office. The tulips are up about 2 inches and growing fast. I raked off the hosta garden by the little frog pond and already the blue scilla are up two inches so bloom should be this week too. The list goes on and on.

If you're out and about, Peacham Pond Road is muddy in a couple places. Our place looks like a bomb hit as there are piles of tires stacked here and there and hundreds and hundreds of feet of rolled up plastic and folder insulating cloth. Place looks like a big recycling center but this is how it should look as we uncover the gardens and prepare for another season of growing good plants.

As I have said for many years, we grow hardy plants for hardy Vermonters and their friends. Be a gardening friend and keep us in mind for a visit this season. In the meantime, show compassion for my absence from this blog and give us a question or two to help your gardens grow better. We don't have all the answers but we know a lot of people who do.

From the mountain above Peacham Pond where a tom turkey is calling his female friends and looking for a fight with competing males, while two docile mourning doves coo happy thoughts and act out plans for a new family.

Gardening wishes,

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

Desirous of Spring

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Sunday, April 15, 2007

Already 7 PM and the snow continues to fall heavily, drifted first left, then right by shifting winds that care not where the flakes fall. The seedheads of the various rudbeckias have pretty much been pecked clean by the goldfinches but tonight they are like mini towers with 2" of snow stacked like a tube on top of each head. The still-firm stalks hold strong and the snow waves back and forth in the wind. Nature's super glue at work!

No one can deny the beauty outside with today's snow but you'll be hard pressed to find words of encouragement from anyone around here. It's an even 32 degrees now and has been for an hour. Before that it was 34 degrees which made the sticky snow cling tightly to every tree and shrub. There it remains. The blackberry bushes look impressive but already the birches are weeping under the heavy weight and these trees never seem to rebound from wet snows. All is not as beautiful as first glace suggests.

Today we had a get-together to celebrate Gail's mother's 90th birthday. It was a low key event with family members from Massachusetts and South Burlington. Another couple from Johnson caught one of those spring viruses that are going around and they had to cancel. I was sorry as I knew they would come early and if they had come, Jan and Al would have enjoyed a sight at the bird feeder at about 11 AM.

I was shuffling things around tryng to get the seating set up and I caught a flash out of the corner of my eye. It came from the birdfeeder outside my office window. Earlier I had chased away a flock of grackles and two ravens which were trying to steal some small pieces of suet yesterdays blue jay visitors had broken off the bigger pieces I set out Friday.

As I stopped and turned back to look at the feeder, I peregrine falcon burst from under the feeder, chickadee in its talons, and it fanned its tailfeathers and headed aloft with tremendous power and speed. These are beautiful birds and they are here because of a successful restoration program several years ago. Their favorite food is pigeons and their favorite residence has become cities, not pigeonless, houseless forestland like Groton State Forest. I do wish they would rewrite their menu to include a few grackles but they have no preference for those birds. Maybe it's the grackle's eyes and their finicky, easy-to-startle attitude.

Usually I am out raking leaves by now, or putting a new cover on the greenhouse we use to plant inside. In typical years the hellebores in the lower shade garden are forming buds and although the left-over leaves from last fall are wrinkled and brown, the promise of fine colored flowers and new leaf growth is encouraging.

Some years the first crocus would have come and gone by now but this year even by the house, the ground temperature never got warm enough to jump start the bulbs higher than half an inch out of the ground.

Gail just looked over my shoulder and commented on the hellebore pictures. She likes them too and thinks Barry Glick at Sunshine Farm and Gardens is the best US grower. I concur. I also wonder if he has snow cover today like we do. We're at 1530 feet and as I recall he's at about 4200 feet in West Virginia. Chances are it's warmer than here but snow may be in his vision too.


Time to move along as I need to get get organized for tomorrow morning. I plan to be in the truck by 4 AM to get things plowed out and cleaned up so I can get to work. If it keeps snowing like this, it could be that the "get to work" part won't be possible. We'll see.

From the mountain above Peacham Pond where Karl the wonder dog is asking to go out, just as snow slides slowly off the standing seam roof with a "thud-thud-thud" noise as it hits the piles of snow now far above the bottom of the window sills.

Cold gardening wishes,

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

Happy Easter

Sunday, April 8, 2007

21.3 degrees on the mountain. Just back in with Karl the wonder dog. His sniffer was in overdrive this morning as a red squirrel had just dug out a cache of seeds from the wall by the driveway. Karl is difficult to coax back into the house when he has a likable scent, even on Easter morning.

The sky is open and the moon is lingering on the horizon. There is an obvious cloud above Peacham Pond, probably caused by the water that has opened up parts of the ice. The water enters from a couple larger sources like Sucker Brook and the overflow from the white spring but there are a couple other lesser sources that help to weaken the ice and change the surrounding temperature. I won't be surprised if we receive a flurry of sugar snow this morning as the air just "feels" like snow will be part of the morning.

Today is Easter and for the second year in a row we don't have an Easter lily in the house. The Amazon lily, Eucharis amazonica, pictured above, can be a substitute. Easter lilies as we know them are Lilium longiflorums although the lily mentioned in the Bible was really the Madonna lily or Lilium candidum. The flower industry needed a big showy lily with trumpet flowers and big buds and their work is obvious by the millions.

Growing lilies for Easter is a moving target and quite a challenge. When you see one in the box stores marked $6, respect what the grower has gone through. Easter falls on different dates and Easter lilies must be grown in greenhouses. In a state such as Vermont, winter climates are moving targets too. There are temperature and light changes and both of these are critical to bulb production. Growers have resorted to chemicals to regulate height and speed of growth. At the end of a winter like this one where February and March had many nights close to or below zero, the production costs rocketed just to keep the bulbs growing. A producer's goal is to have just a couple buds opening when the plants hit the market.

This year the lilies I looked at had spindly stems and were blooming long before they should have. Florists usually have the best selection which has received more attention, hence the reason why you traditionally pay a little more. It's worth a little more to have a healthy, balanced plant that will be in bloom for 2-3 weeks. At least I think so.

Just in the time I am sitting here, the sugar snow has started. There are 11 blue jays and a pair of doves competing for their Easter breakfast. A lone grackle without an invitation keeps appearing from nowhere.

Whatever your celebration, whatever you have planned for today, enjoy yourself.


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the fire in the wood stove feels good to Karl and to us too!

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

Textures, Shapes and Colors

Friday, April 6, 2007

An even 25 degrees here on the hill as snowflakes float around and the recent wetness begins to firm hard and crunchy under foot. Winter has pushed Spring back out of the way...actually more of a hard shove. The weather report looks more like late February than early April. Our road is a mess as even the snow plow driver put off coming down as long as he could because the ruts were deep and uneven. Now he has left and the ruts are blazed off on the top but as deep as ever. He was mad enough to have to put the plows back on the trucks but madder still to know how much abuse he and the trucks would take to keep impatient drivers happy. The road travelers are his customers but he clearly didn't read that book on customer relationships. Spring will come again but not before as much as another foot of snow arrives over the next week.

Today was one of those days that shouldn't have been. Things went from poor to just plain terrible and I was asked twice why my face was so red. If you know me, you understand. Today was the day everyone wanted to be right and I held in a lot of comments that should only have been thought. Turning off Route 232 onto our road was a relief as I knew I was home for the weekend and there would be little to bother me. As I unloaded groceries, I noticed the trees over the bank looked especially nice and I wanted a picture.

Sometimes gardeners find it difficult to understand how to mix colors, shapes and textures to their advantage as they create a standout garden. Years ago a Canadian photographer who only shot black and white film taught me how to deal at a very basic level where these attributes exist in nature. Color is easy but our eye does not necessarily pick up texture and plant form.

Take the picture of the snow covered trees for example. If you click to enlarge, you'll be able to see the variety of trees involved and the way the different textures combine nicely. The tall tamarack on the left is skirted by some fir balsams and then there's an apple mid-picture and a maple. Each lends a different look. Although these are trees, not flowers, the concept is the same.

Often if you take a flower you don't understand and use about any of the photo manipulation software products (I use IrfanView) you can use the feature that changes a picture to appear as a negative. In that format you are viewing blacks and whites and greys and the textures become apparent. Use one plant's stronger points to enhance another plants hidden virtues. Lilium for example, don't have the greatest looking stems but if they are planted among astilbes or even monarda you maintain the stand-straight feature with more accent on the blooms which then stand out and grab more attention.

Spring is not going to be quick this year so there's still time to do some planning. Every year people come by and explain they just can't design and they want to know who they can hire. I always try to convince people that they don't need a designer to step into the world of good gardening. They need to remember that any color can work its way into a garden .....and if it's not pleasing, it can be moved.

With that said, I'm retreating to the cellar to work on some wooden tool handles. Still enough time to sand off rough spots, apply a new coat of polyurethane, and sharpen up the points. You need sharp tools to move your mistakes. And yes, I have made some. Ask Gail!

From the mountain above Peacham Pond where the temperature continues to drop and the gardens I think of and mention are covered under one to three feet of snow.

Almost spring wishes,

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

Bird Names, Daylily Names

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Wednesday, April 4, 2007

30.2 degrees here on the hill and the snow flakes have changed from the size of half dollars to a fine mist of snow moving south east parallel to the earth. Karl the wonder dog is upset with an unknown contractor who didn't please me all that much by turning his trailer complete with Traxcavator around in our drive. He was just leaving when I got up to watch the rear wheels coming off the front astilbe garden which now looks like a pair of drainage ditches. It is probably good I didn't get to this sight sooner as I have an unpleasant and vociferous way of reacting when our property has been stepped on.

The weatherman suggests a storm is coming and Gail reminds me that I might be plowing in the morning. I'm not happy about that thought either as plowing snow in the spring is a difficult job and you often end up plowing things you shouldn't. We have to get going early tomorrow to Burlington so any detraction to early morning responsibilities is not well thought of. Heavy snows in April are not uncommon in Vermont but as you get older, they are much less welcomed.


I felt badly about all the birds coming to the feeder only to find it covered with three inches of snow. The seed bucket was empty so I left the computer for a minute to go downstairs and get a refill. Every time I open the galvanized trash cans that serve as seed reservoirs, I scold myself for leaving brand new containers outside last fall before the bears went into hibernation. The two cans in the cellar are shiny, new and clean but they are also well dented and neither covers fits right. The cans were empty when the bears struck but they didn't know it at first. I guess they thought the assortment of bungie cords I tied the cans together with represented food inside. Bears make good can crushers and men with poor memories give them new targets each fall.

On an afternoon like this, it's difficult for me to understand geography and meteorology. Gail received an Internet order yesterday from Kansas for some of the Munson dayliles. It is often clear that I'm not the only one with poor geography skills as people often ask what day we can ship and Gail tells them it's tough to tell with several feet of snow on the ground. If you live in another part of our country you might not understand that your warm day might be different 12-1500 miles away. It was 80 degrees in that part of Kansas but only 48 here with a wind that made things feel like 30. I'll be the iris and peonies were up as the customer said the daylilies were almost a foot tall.


As I look out the office window and down onto one of the daylily nurseries, I am reminded how much I like the daylilies named after birds. Big Bird, Cedar Waxwing, Starling, Sceech Owl, Ruby Throat, Bald Eagle, Scarlet Tanager, Nile Crane, Wood Duck. Not the same hybirdizers but some fine plants with some nice names. No Pileated Woodpecker, no Yellow Sapsucker here but some real nice daylilies. Maybe some day I should round up one of each and plant them in a special garden with a variety of bird houses or bird feeders. Right now I'll just think about them. The smell of the pot roast cooking is enough for me to keep my eyes on the monitor. I have to get going here.

From the mountain above Peacham Pond where light snows fall from grey skies and the threat of more snow encourages workers to head right home tonight.

Gardening wishes;

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

The Pruner, Gloves and Socks Mystery

Monday, April 2, 2007

32.7 degrees here on the hill. I just came in from walking Karl the wonder dog. He is not too wonderful tonight because he doesn't care for cold, damp nights with a mix of big snowflakes and sleet pellets. Neither do I. Nights like this one remind me of when he was a pup and I volunteered for the last walk at about 10:30 one night. Although you are taught to always be in control of your dog, the last toe stumbling walk of the night is not a time to reflect on what you have been taught. I had given him too much lead after plowing through six pots I had pulled for an order. Out of nowhere I felt wind swooshing over my head just when Karl, the wonder dog, jumped into a nearby lilac tree for protection. He barely made it. It was some kind of owl, raptor, or pterodactyl-like winged creature with small dog on it's menu and me in its way. I never got a look at it in the darkness of that night but I have told many people since then to "hold tight at night". Owl or raptor doesn't do as much for the memory as pterodactyl, especially if you ever saw one in a science fiction movie.

Gail was reading an article yesterday about pruning and it reminded me that I wanted to write something about taking care of tools and even buying good tools. Time is getting short here and we already have too many irons in the fire with the bathroom renovation project finishing up just in time to cover the little greenhouse and begin planting. When you buy new tools, expensive isn't necessarily "best" but it's "better". Hand pruners is a good example. I have a bucket full of hand pruners that won't cut butter but probably cost $8-$9-$10-$12 a piece. I bought them because at the time I needed a new pair and I kept telling myself to "buy better" and they'll last longer. Sometime I'll throw them on a canvas and let you see what I mean. Even a picture will convince you never to buy anything but quality.

The pruners pictured laying on the magizine above aren't even available now but if they were I would buy a box full. They were made by the Scotts Company somewhere between 25 and 45 years ago. They still take a file well and sharpen up with a few strokes going each way. The spring mechanism is still strong and the bakelite handles make them light weight and easy to hold onto with wet hands.

Certain hand tools are like socks and gloves to me. Friday we needed work gloves to stack a couple cords of wood I had split. Gail pulled out the bag of gloves we always have clean and by the back door for workers and visitors. She found a couple-three pairs but also found 11 left handed gloves. How could we lose 11 right handed gloves? Gloves are like socks around here. Just a mystery will a smattering of laziness I guess. Our house may be no different than yours except that we start out with more and still end up with half. Gardening has strange math which I do not understand. If you can help me out, drop me a line. If not, just remember to buy well and take care of your tools and other possessions.

From the mountain above Peacham Pond where Karl snores by the woodstove while sleet hits the office windows.

Gardening wishes.

George Africa


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

Amphibian Monitoring Program

Thursday, March 29, 2007

I'm running short on time tonight but want folks to check out a special event that may be of interest to those in central Vermont next week. Read today's blog on Vermont Gardens for the details. Those with home schoolers, or those interested in ecology and protecting native resources might be interested.

Click on http://vermontgardens.blogspot.com/2007/03/amphibian-spring-migration.html


Spring wishes from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the temperature is dropping ever so slowly and the muddy road is becoming a bigger challenge every day.

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

A 5th Vermont Season

Tuesday March 27, 2007

It's heading for 7 PM here and despite the weather I have to say how much I do enjoy the time change and the advent of spring. It still has Karl the wonder dog a little confused as to when he's supposed to go for a walk after dinner but the rest of us have adapted well. Tonight there is a heavy fog and the temperature of 43 this time of day is uncommon. We would like to see the temperature fall into the mid twenties and refirm the earth to something you can walk on without wondering how deep your shoes will sink. This is early spring in Vermont and this is the start of our fifth season--Mud Season.

Evenings like this one remind me of being 6 years old and wondering if we'd make it home for supper. The old early-forties Buick was a fine car with Bondo patched fenders and a good array of dents, scratches and rust. It mattered little what a car looked like back in 1954 as no one had a new car and during mud season no one would know if you did anyway as every car was covered with mud.

My Dad always figured if he could make it over the hill by Frenches, we'd probably be golden. He'd always make an initial run and just gun the motor for all it had in hopes that he'd make it and not have to put on the tire chains. That philosophy worked in early spring but it seemed as if it created more problems than it was worth.

One night we waited for one of the Reeds to finish milking and come down with the tractor to pull us over the top and on another night we blew a radiator hose and walked home. These memories repeated themselves over time with only the date changing.

Getting buried and then having to put on the chains was no guarantee that you'd get out but it was the last resort. My father would curse the chains being stuck together and I feared him too much to remind him that he was the only person who put them on and took them off. Often he'd have to jack up a tire at a time to get them on and sometimes he'd have to take them off and do on-site repairs with a giant ball peen hammer and a cold chisel. These were skills I did not want to learn but the repetitiveness buried them back in my mind. I can still see my father's arthritic knuckles covered with mud but powerfully draping the chains under a wheel well and over the tire before he layed on the ground and pulled the pieces together to lock them. Yes, mud season in the old days was something you expected but did not look forward to.

We've been here on Peacham Pond Road since 1989. Gail lost the entire exhaust system only once, and since '89 I have had enough discussions with the road foreman to get the road built up more each year. Tonight the pot holes are so deep that Karl barks each time a vehicle approaches as even at slow speeds there are loud rattles. Yes Vermont's 5th season, Mud Season, is memorable!

This is the season when Gail and I can take a brief walk every night after supper. That's a nice change. By tomorrow night I expect that enough snow will have melted off the potted plants that we'll have some discussion about when the insulating blankets will get torn off this year, who will fold the 500 feet of plastic, how much damage we'll find from the vole population and whether Hosta "Montana aureomarginata' will sprout first and get nailed by frost as usually happens. All the conversations will be interesting to us and have relevance to what we grow and sell. Farmers, even flower farmers, trust each other with their conversations and they look forward to them.

Gail just interrupted my writing by asking that I come into the kitchen and listen to VPR and a couple senators discussing education, funding, taxes and spending too much money on special education. One of these has been around for a long time. He hasn't been around long enough to have learned that he should answer constituents questions and at least fake an interest in thoughts. I wrote him on March 7th and I haven't even received an acknowledgement yet. Perhaps he doesn't answer email or maybe he doesn't read it. Apparently he doesn't know me yet, but he will.

Mud Season is not a planting season, it's a time for final preparation. It's a time to sharpen tools like hand pruners and then wade through the snow to cut some pussy willows or some forsythia for a vase on the side board. It's time to push a hand file or a power grinder on the edge of all the shovels to sharpen their points. It's time to sand all wooden handles and apply a fresh coat of oil or sealer. There's actually a long list of Mud Season chores that have to be completed quickly. As the snow melts and the grass greens, planting time will be here and there's no spare time. Here on the hill there's still over two feet of snow on the ground but that too will be gone soon.

Mud season is a time to reflect on last year's gardens. The picture above is from late last summer. The daylilies had just peaked but other flowers held strong and the color combinations attracted new customers. Garden memories are peaceful.

From the mountain above Peacham Pond, where summer visions are clear, just separated by three more months, more rain, more snow and more fog.

Spring gardening wishes,

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

Sugar House Smoke

Friday, March 23, 2007

32.3 degrees here on the hill. As the temperature drops tonight, bigger and bigger smiles form on sugar makers faces each time they look at the thermometer falling into the twenties. A hard freeze tonight will guarantee a good sap run tomorrow and sugar house smoke should billow skyward by about 2 PM.

The maple syrup industry is important to Vermont and although the process of gathering sap and making delicious syrup is foreign to most folks, it's something many of us have grown up with. It's worthy of explanation and if I get a chance over the next week, I'll shoot some pictures and tell a story or two. Let me leave that as a promise.

Gail and I have been busy for a couple weeks now and regrettably we have wandered away from work on our website and writing to each blog. Autism is a big part of our family and there is legislation in Montpelier that is dear to us. I must add that some of what I have learned about the legislative process I did not care to know. No matter how big a state you live in, politics is just that and everyone has agendas which may differ from yours. I have written to over 35 legislators and as things stand now, there's a good chance a very important bill will never come out of Senate Appropriations because .......of politics. I had to catch myself there and for those who know me, you can let out that sigh of relief now. I won't go further on this one.

Today's warm weather dropped the snow and I can begin to see the pots we covered with an insulating blanket and plastic last fall. As the snow has melted, too many rodent trails are appearing in the snow and that's not a good feeling. We knew in January when the ground was barely covered with snow and the voles were feeding everywhere that there would be losses we couldn't control. It will be another month before we can accurately access the damage but don't be surprised if you lose a few things in your garden too. Usually you lose the expensive plants first. It's a tough world out there for animals so they like expensive things and they go for them ambitiously.

One plant I really like is coneflower or echinacea. It is not expensive unless you buy the newer varieties. It is an enjoyable plant because it lures birds and bees and butterflies in abundance. The white varieties tend to bring in Japanese beetles if there are any within miles of your property but the plants stand out nicely in early evening light and make gardens look bigger as only white can do. The various heights and sizes of pink are also very nice.

The reason I go with the whites and pinks is that the newer creams, reds, oranges, yellows and marmalades are just not hardy here. I'm told that with protection they fare better but for the current price I don't think it's worth the possible enjoyment. During a winter like this last one, I doubt any amount of help would have brought them back as they tend to be susceptible to multiple freeze-thaw cycles and we sure had those this year.

Coneflower exits fall each year as a large seedhead packed with seeds that are bird feed for months to come. Although the plants produce thousands of seeds, few germinate each spring. Regardless of the weather or the variety, you're likely to see some new growth. As spring approaches and cleanup time begins, be sure to find a good pair of gloves before cleaning up this plant. The remaining seeds and stalks are prickery and if you don't use care you'll find yourself performing minor surgery. I have no problem digging out prickers or broken stems with a sterilized needle and some magnifying glasses but the room seems to clear out quickly around here. In your house do everyone a favor and wear good gloves to start with. In the meantime think about buying some coneflowers to add to your gardens. Varieties range in height from 20"-36". The bloom time is quite long and the accompanying display of critters is fun to watch.


From the mountain above Peacham Pond where the wind is silent, the stars are shining and the word "prickery" eludes Webster, even though I still like it. Karl the wonder dog wants to go out just one more time before he goes to bed. Sounds good to me.

Gardening wishes,

George Africa

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