THE VERMONT CLIMATE ASSESSMENT
I often mention climate related topics here or on my George Africa or Vermont Flower Farm & Gardens Facebook pages. Climate change is significant and I figure if I can feel the impact on a 4 acre flower farm, others should recognize the change too.
Here is a report worth reading. If you have observations or questions, please share them with others.
George Africa
This article was posted in the latest online version of the Smithsonian. If you are a gardener you are outside a great deal and you have an opportunity to contract Lyme disease from ticks. There's more than one disease you could contract and none of them are anything you'd ever want.
The article tells about the progress we have made using guinea pigs and applying a testing technology we learned when working on a vaccine for Covid. The results to date are positive. Read on to see where the research is heading from here.
Consider a Visit!
For a couple years now I have posted this link to the Mt. Cuba Center in Delaware. My theory has been that maybe some of those heading south for the winter might be going early enough to stop in Delaware if they were not yet familiar with this special horticultural magnet. In the previous years a couple travelers each time thanked me for mentioning it. If you have visited there and have any comments that might encourage people to stop, please post here.
For the past month, Gail has been picking flowers every morning and filling Mason jars with colorful arrangements for visitors to take home for their enjoyment or to pass on to friends. I sold a nice arrangement yesterday and then watched Pay It Forward in action as the customer handed it to a new-to-the-farm young woman with two little kids. So nice!! Lately, the arrangements have included zinnias, Verbena bonariensis, ageratum, 'Lemon Queen' helianthus, vibrant orange-red tithonia and some peony leaves for filler. As we enter further into September it's always a guess as to when an abrupt weather change will bring a single night of frost and many of the annuals will be finished for the year. But as for now we are enjoying the colors and watching various bees fly into our display area and work the flowers in the very same arrangements. We all get along!
I have mentioned writer Mary Holland many times. She comes from down Hartland, Vermont way and she writes about all things nature. I love her writing and always learn something. Today she writes about the relationship between bumble bees and the flower Bottle Gentian. It's worth reading. Earlier this week when I was brush hogging a backwoods road on our Peacham property I noticed that the gentian was in bloom. The wild gentian is shorter than the hybrids but their blue color is so very beautiul I always stop the tractor and just gaze at the blue blossom. If you have a chance to get into the woods soon, keep an eye out for the gentian. We have blue and also white growing wild on our property.
https://naturallycuriouswithmaryholland.wordpress.com/2021/09/09/a-win-win-situation/
It's too late to plant them for 2021 but sunflowers might be something you would like to consider for 2022. Here's an article from the University of Connecticut which provides a great summary. I buy ten varieties of sunflower seed every year from my favorite supplier, Johnny's Seeds in Maine and I plant 1 of each variety in a hill together so size, shape and color bloom at different times. Give it a try.
Celebrate the Sunflower! | Uconnladybug's Blog (wordpress.com)
AN ECOLOGICAL APPROACH TO GARDENING
It was a foggy morning at the farm an hour ago but now
at 8 AM the fog has lifted and the eastern sky has lost its pink hue and blue
predominates. August is here and the weather prediction for the next couple
weeks is more like August should be than July was. We received slightly over 8
inches of rain in July while towns in southern Vermont received 18” and some
parts actually washed away. I hope we’re back on track.
Two years ago, I began a pollinator garden and it’s
beginning to shape up. It represents what I intend to do with all the gardens
here. I want to showcase an ecological approach to flower gardening whereby we
interplant gardens with flowers that will complement the native flowers along
the river, the roadside and the adjacent field to the southwest. Flower
varieties translate to pollinators as well as the animals that rely on them too.
I began the garden in the fall of 2019, by working on
the soil and mapping out what plants I might incorporate. I asked my friend
Kate Butler, owner of Labour of Love Nursery & Landscaping in Glover,
Vermont to choose 5 or 6 plants that over time would exceed 7 feet tall and
hide the deer fence. I wanted a backdrop of enough tall plants so as to make
the fence lose its identity—except to deer. I love tall plants and have carried
that love into all my garden design. I try to grow some daylilies which will
offer some height as well as a long bloom time too. I have begun weaving them midpoint
through our gardens, not towards the back portion as tall plants were traditionally
planted. Kate didn’t disappoint with her selections and now those tall plants
are knockouts and although I still struggle with their Latin names, their
presence adds the strength to the garden that I sought.
The largest plant which surprises me more every day is
Silphium perfoliatum, Cup Flower. This is a giant now that exceeds 9 feet in
height and 6 feet in width. Its large leaves catch water and the yellow flowers
draw in so many flying insects that even my part time entomologist friend, Jody
Frey can’t keep up with the photographing and identifying. I believe theplants
are responsible for many new butterflies that I have never even seen before.
Then there is Cephalaria gigantea, the Giant Scabiosa,
Macleya cordata, the plume poppy, Coreopsis tripteris, Rudbeckia lacinata a.k.a
Golden Glow, the 8 foot tall daisy that was always planted by milk houses and
outhouses when I was a boy. And there is Helianthus salicifolius, the willow
leaved sunflower that misled me the first year I planted it. After a couple
days in the ground, woodchucks ate it down and then the original 3 tiny stems
put up mountains of stems that whisper kind gardening thoughts as the winds
blow from the west.
From the tall plant showcase I began to integrate
pollinator plants of all colors, heights and textures. 60” tall Asclepias
incarnata ‘Cinderella’ and 24” tall Asclepias tuberosa, the butterfly weeds
came next. People had mentioned that tuberosa didn’t grow in Vermont but I
don’t believe it. They are slower growers and if you expect their height to
match A. incarnata it won’t happen but the flowers are constantly covered with
insects and butterflies. Heleniums from 36” down to 15” came next, 3 varieties
of purple and one of white liatris planted in groups of 6 -10 corms, echinaceas, emphasizing the “originals such as
“purpurea” but including some of the brighter, modern hybrids too, and then the
salvias (with their strong, sometimes offensive odors if the leaves are crushed)
which offer bountiful blooms in blue, purple, rose and white. Vernonias, the
ironweeds, fill in spots and offer more “vertical”. I include the very tall
Vernonia noveboracensis a.k.a. New York Ironweed, and a few of the broadleaf
Vernonia too. When these begin to bloom, they are wonderful to watch on a clear
morning as butterflies can be seen flying into them from distant locations.
Their fragrance must be insect-strong as I cannot detect anything but the
insects certainly do.
Throughout the summer the garden perimeters provide a
plethora of native plants which bloom at various times. I can count on Lilium
canadense as blooming around July 4th and being gone by mid-August
but there are the native milkweeds now, goldenrods, eupatoriums including the
white boneset variety, cardinal flower, woodland phlox, early asters and
chelone a.k.a turtlehead which is host to my favorite little butterfly the
Baltimore checkerspot. With this many opportunities give your garden an
ecological approach and enjoy all the visitors who arrive to enjoy not only
what you plant but what surrounds your home. Be well, happy gardening. Have
questions? Email us at vermontflowerfarm@outlook.com
or call us at 802-426-3506. We are always here to help you grow your green
thumb!
Summer heat is back again and each day this week the temperature has risen and the water level in the Winooski River, our water source, has gone down. Read my thoughts! Keep hydrated!!
GARDENING
IN DROUGHT CONDITIONS
Gardeners cannot forget Summer 2020, not just because
of Covid but because of drought-like conditions that dropped water levels,
dried up springs and even made some artesian wells disappear. Summer 2021, has
proven to be even worse and the latest drought maps show we are in tough shape.
Farmers had trouble with their first cutting of hay being so light and corn
plantings found it difficult making it to “knee high by 4th of July”
although this week’s rain has helped it catch up.
In Vermont,
farmers can draw water from rivers but that has been a challenge too. The
Winooski River borders our flower farm but getting water from the river has
been difficult. Over the years we have owned the land, the river has broadened
up to 20 feet wide in places due to the floods of 2011, and the almost daily rise
and fall of the water that has eroded the banks. Green Mountain Power controls
the water levels at Peacham Pond and Molly’s Falls Pond and typically on hot
summer days the power company opens the gates at 2 PM to make electricity for
the Washington County area grid. They do this based upon usage projections so
as to be helpful when consumers return home at 5 PM and start turning on
appliances.
If you are a gardener, you depend on water to make
things grow well and look great. When you come to our farm and ask about plants
you are considering for your landscape, we always ask you to describe where you
intend to plant your purchases. We’re not nosey folks, we just want to make
sure you put the plants in the best place so you and your new plants are both
happy. We ask about the orientation of your home and outbuildings, the presence
of large trees or big shrubs, your soil type, and the presence of water that
might puddle up, especially during springtime snow melt. We always ask about how
and at what time of day the sun shines on where you intend to plant. These may
seem like easy questions but unless you have considered them you might have to
think a bit for the correct answers.
In addition to good information about where you want
to plant, we try to be sure you know how to plant in a time of drought. I
mention this because yesterday a customer arrived with three plastic baskets of
astilbes that had been purchased from us 2-3 years back and they were not doing
well. It was fortunate that the customer brought the plants with soil included
so I could figure out the mystery. Astilbes are a great plant for New England
landscapes as they are very hardy, grow wider each year and produce more
scapes. They like damp soil and can tolerate springtime puddles. In fact, at an
old garden that I have at our house, many of the astilbes are in a low spot
that holds water like a vernal spring each April-May. Despite being under water
for much of their height, they always survive and look bigger and better each
year.
As I examined the customer’s astilbes, the planting problems were obvious to
me. The first clue was the presence of peat most. There appeared to be a one-two
inch layer of peat moss that lined the bottom of the planting hole before the
astilbe plants were added. The peat industry has done a great job explaining
how great peat is but they have not told us that it’s expensive to buy, hardly
fertile at all, very acidic and to top that off, if it is added to a
planting—annuals, perennials, shrubs, trees—before it is thoroughly mixed with
water to the consistency of soup, it will never, never absorb water once it is
buried. Need an experiment to confirm this? Put a handful of peat in a glass of
water and watch it—float, and float—and float. As I examined the astilbes, the
peat moss was as dry as the day they had been planted 2-3 years earlier. That
meant that any roots that tried to develop grew into the dry peat and stopped
growing and then died. I was happy the plants were still alive and could be
saved when replanted correctly but frankly was surprised.
The second issue with the astilbes was the soil they were planted in. It was
clay soil and lacked any organic material at all. Between the peat and the clay
soil, there was nothing of benefit for the plants to use to grow. I summarized
the problems and the solutions and suggested the plants be replanted. The
customer had a source of good manure and I suggested as I usually do that
composted maple leaves are another readily available example of an amendment
which has many inert minerals by its nature and will improve the soil and
provide nutrients to the plant. Mystery solved.
This week another customer appeared with a hosta leaf (lost the name tag) and a
description of her disappointment that the plant hadn’t grown in three years. I
asked my usual questions and found that the hosta was planted on the north side
of the house, under a tree (competition with major tree roots), without any
soil amendment and without being watered during previous years. Case closed.
Our gardens are like our bodies. They need attention.
The rules are simple. Still have questions? Stop by at 2263 US Route 2
Marshfield or drop us an email at vermontflowerfarm@outlook.com.
We’re here to help all gardeners.
I wrote this for North Star back in June when the +90 degree days had already started. Then 8 inches of rain fell in July and now in August 2021 it's heating up again. Quite a year to be a gardener. Read some of my thoughts.
SUMMER HEAT
5:30AM here at the flower farm. I arrived earlier than
usual to get things organized for another busy day but the storm I heard about
last night that dropped +2 inches of rain in southern Vermont is just around
the corner. Thunder, lightening and increasing winds are in Central Vermont and
the sound in intensifying here. We need rain desperately but a gentle rain, not
a washout. We’ll see what happens.
If you are any kind of farmer, you probably look at
the weather on a regular basis. We always do because storms such as the one
knocking on our door today very often follow the Winooski River from Burlington
to us. We have seen many storms over the past fifteen years that follow the
river right to Vermont Flower Farm and have flattened plants, taken down trees,
and ripped the shade cloth off our shade houses. There’s nothing that can be
done during such times than to be vigilant and protect oneself as the storms go
through.
If you track recent weather history you can be assured
that Summer 2021 will be hotter than 2020 and set more and more heat records.
As gardeners we may not like this but we have to make changes to what we grow
and how we grow to accommodate the weather and grow better plants.
How we prepare to add new perennials to our gardens is
the place to start. I over- dig all new holes so I can add amendments which
will help retain water whether it comes from the sky or a garden hose. Then I
add several inches of aged maple leaves to the bottom of the hole. Maple trees
have long tap roots and the leaves store a variety of minor minerals which are
of great benefit to our plants. I use leaves that I have composted from
previous years. They not only provide minerals but they serve as sponges to
hold water when it finally arrives. Then I thoroughly mix the soil from the
hole with rotted cow manure. Finding old manure that doesn’t come in a bag is a
challenge since Covid but I have been fortunate to be able to lay in a
temporary supply. Don’t be stingy with the manure as your perennials are
intended to grow bigger over the years and they need a good food supply at root
level. Follow this recommendation and you will notice exceptional growth even
during dry times.
Today I am planting more annuals which can handle any
amount of heat. I have grown these flowers from seed in my tiny greenhouse but
you can purchase seed packs or starter plants from your favorite source. I have
already planted some of these flowers and am starting round two so I can be
assured of a longer bloom period on into fall. When summers heat up like 2020
did, fall temperatures hold the heat and annuals can continue to please which
makes them valuable. Today and tomorrow, we will be planting Benary’s zinnias
in various colors, Love-Lies-Bleeding, a five-foot tall deep purple-red
amaranthus, Verbena bonariensis, a 3.5 foot blue pollinator magnet, some
verbenas, red and yellow tithonia, and some marigolds. These will help with cut
flower sales and will provide great garden color by late July. Along the Route
2 border garden we’ll add more Pro-Cut sunflowers in various colors. These grow
quickly and provide an abundance of 4-5” flowers and short stems so they are
great cut flowers too. As fall approaches the small birds of the forests arrive
and feed on them so you have ongoing entertainment when the colors begin to
fade.
Planting perennial flowers that can handle heat is
something we work on all the time. Along many of our borders we edge with
various shades of liatris. These perennials look like gladiola corns but they
are perennial and need no care after planting. They grow wild in the west so
are accustomed to dry soil and as such do not need or even like any manure.
They attract all sorts of pollinators and are a favorite of monarch
butterflies. We sell these as potted plants easy to transplant. They grow
bigger each year and the color is a long-distance attention getter. Salvias are
great plants for hot weather. We use four varieties for color and sell them
too. One I really like is Caradonna which grows to 24” with deep purple stems
and violet-blue blooms. Being a salvia the leaves have a sage-like aroma you
only learn about when the leaves are crushed. Some folks don’t like the smell
but unless you crush the leaves you’ll never know. Cut off a stem and plant it
4” deep and it will root itself and add to your collection. All the rudbeckias
and heleniums can handle intense heat and drought so try any of those. Heights
vary from 24” to 8 feet tall so you can add vertical to garden backgrounds with
no trouble.
The possibilities are endless and I know you will be pleased to know that you can have gardens that look good even as climate changes. I have been adding the tall perennial grass Karl Foerster for a couple years now and although some people ask “You’re adding grass to a garden?”, Yes, I am. Keep hydrated, use sunblock, rest often and maybe even come see us at Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens. Despite the heat we’ll be here 7 days a week.
SPRING
GARDENING THOUGHTS
43°
here on the mountain above Peacham Pond this morning. Quiet, windless, cloudy.
I’ll be heading to the flower farm for another busy day but first, some
thoughts about gardening this time of year. As I look outside, I see a phoebe
catching bugs for her new brood down at the machine shed, and the mourning
doves are cooing from the white pines. I am surprised that I still have not
seen a hummingbird although many gardening friends have mentioned them. They
are usually here this week but often bad weather south of here slows their
migration north. The males come first and now that we have various hanging
baskets at the farm, I bet I’ll see them today. It’s rewarding to see how many
people, kids included, see them at the farm for their first time ever. Gail
always has some nice red geraniums for sale and those lure them without fail.
The
spring ephemerals which I mentioned last month have come and some such as
Dutchman’s Breeches and Galanthus, the Snowdrops, have begun to fade away. This
week the yellow trout lilies have begun to open and our trillium, the T.
erectum (burgundy red), T undulatum (painted/pink edged white), T. grandiflorum
(white), and T. luteum (yellow) are
open. When visitors see the trilliums in bloom, they expect to see them in pots
for sale but they transplant best in August and that’s when we sell a few,
dormant and easier to move.
From
May on is the time to begin enjoying primulas, the primroses that sometimes
confuse gardeners because the common varieties (P. vulgaris) can be seen in the
floral section at grocery stores. There they are sold as house plants even
though they are Vermont hardy perennials. A month ago, my favorite, the Primula
japonica, were hidden away in the gardens but by the first of May they came
through the soil and put out leaves. The surrounding ground began to turn light
green as last year’s crop of seeds began to germinate with great ease—a
gratifying trait of this plant which translates to “bazillions of plants over time”,
all starting from a single plant. The Japanese primroses go by a common descriptive
name of candelabra because the bloom scape has 4 and sometimes 5 rings of
bloom. The scapes are typically at least 14” tall and more so as the plants
grow bigger from year to year. Shades of red, yellow, orange, white and purple
are common. Another popular primrose is the species P. sieboldii. I have some
growing under a row of winterberry in the hosta display garden where the soil
is always damp. The fringed leaves on these pink or white plants offer good
contrast to the garden. I have some P. kisoane growing for future sales but
they aren’t ready yet. Mine are a nice red and the cut leaves are fuzzy
attention getters. I’m also growing some drumstick primroses, Primula
denticulate, for the future. Mine are shades of purple and they truly are round
balls of color atop short, 8”-9”” stems. The list of available primroses goes
on and on and the majority grow very well in Vermont. There are many active growers
in Vermont who are members of the American Primrose Society who would be
pleased to introduce you to this great plant. (https://americanprimrosesociety.org). Stop
by and I will show you what I grow.
During the early
part of June you will see various bleeding hearts blooming. Dicentra spectabilis
provides little pink or white hearts. Gold Heart is a yellowy gold foliage with pink
hearts, Dicentra eximia are the fern leaf varieties and they provide a nice
blue green shade of finely cut foliage. They are great for woodlands and bloom
for a long period of time. Some times they take a break and then rebloom. They
come in ruby red, pinky-red and white.
Brunnera has
become a well-established favorite. We have grown Alexander’s Great, Silver Heart, Sea Heart and Jack Frost
for several years. The blue flowers are a wonderful shade of blue, somewhat
darker than the wild forget me nots that bloom during June here and somewhat
earlier along Vermont’s Champlain Valley.
Spring is a time
of renewal and that has special meaning this year as we are finally able to get
out into gardens and nurseries and relax. If you have the time, visit us at
Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and walk our displays with us. We’re here to
answer your questions and teach you how to grow your green thumb! Best
gardening wishes!! George, Gail and Alex
I'm still trying to catch up on posts from earlier this year that I did for a local monthly journal. Read on. Yes, spring 2021 was a few months back but plan ahead!
SPRING
EPHEMERALS, SPRING SMILES
Sunrise on the mountain above Peacham Pond where we
live is absolutely wonderful this morning. The clear sky and slight pink at
horizon level at 6 AM suggest nothing but a perfect day to be in the
gardens….and that’s where I will be. Springtime work at Vermont Flower Farm
continues nonstop nowadays because there is so much to clean up on +4 acres of
gardens. Gail, Alex and I have been at the farm every day for a week now and
although it may seem disorganized to many, once the insulating blankets, poly
coverings and sandbags come off all the potted perennials, everything goes
into full gear. If you have any desire to see what a nursery goes through in
springtime, stop by and say hello.
Spring ephemerals are beginning to show themselves and
some spring flowers are already blooming. Hellebores, those much sought-after
garden additions that have wonderful flowers but guaranteed ratty-looking
foliage are ready to fully open any day now, especially with a week of warmer
weather coming. It’s April 8th as I write and this is a plant that
will bloom and remain open through mid-summer when the seed pods swell and all
the blooms turn a shade of light green. What appear to be bloom petals actually
are not but that’s another story.
Galanthus, snowdrops, appear in clumps of various
sizes in many gardens now. They are a very dependable spring ephemeral and the
blooms hold for a couple weeks. The Internet has helped increase their
popularity and there are many organizations worldwide devoted to sharing
hybridizing news, sales and distribution. Facebook has a number of groups
devoted to snowdrops and one I like is Snowdrops in American Gardens. Take a
look. I have always been interested in them but have never grown them save for
a clump that arrived as a single bulb in the floods of 2011—an unnamed gift,
disrespectfully torn from someone’s garden.
Bloodroot are common in the east and they begin to
surface in mid-March and start to bloom by the end of April. They will continue
to bloom into May. The blooms look like troops of little soldiers each morning
as they close each night, only to reopen with the next morning’s sunshine. They
seed easily and I have found then growing near roads and above streambeds. I
grow the common one as well as Multiplex, the white doubles, and ‘Venus’ a
light pink single.
Trillium have always been a popular ephemeral. They
begin to surface in late March here and by the end of April they are in full
bloom. Vermont has three of the +40 species known in North America. Insects have helped with hybridization and I
have found some with similar colors but larger leaf and bloom sizes. T. erectum
is the maroon-red, T. grandiflorum is the white and T. undulatum is the small,
rippled petal, pink. Of the three, T. grandiflorum does best with alkaline soil
as is found along Lake Champlain where lime deposits are common. Here in
Marshfield, I give these a handful of lime each spring and they seem to grow
much better. Trilliums have a reputation of being difficult to propagate but
that’s not true. They do require 3-7 years to come to full bloom but it’s worth
the wait. Vermont is fortunate to have Stephanie Solt who is an authority on
trillium and has published information on growing if you have any interest. Check
online. The plants are best dug and divided in mid-August when they have
returned to dormancy. Although we grow them, I almost never sell any because
they bloom before people are thinking about them and when they are best divided
and transplanted in August, most people have stopped planting. Just the nature
of people and the reality of trillium’s cycle.
Trout lilies, Erythronium americanum, also known as
Dog’s Tooth Violet or Adder’s Tongue are another popular ephemeral. They bloom
in May here in the hosta display garden at our farm. They were here when we
bought the property and seem happy with the river-side soil. They have
stimulated sufficient interest in the world of horticulture to result in some
nice hybrids that are not as prominent on the market as I would like. It’s so
nice to have swaths of bright yellow in the garden in mid-May and then the
speckled leaves, resembling a brook trout’s spots, growing on in the garden
afterwards.
Dutchman’s breeches, Dicentra cucullarius, carry white
blooms that look like pantaloons from days of old but think of the bloom shape
like the common bleeding hearts you
might be growing. The slate blue, fernlike foliage is a nice garden addition in
the spring and this ephemeral is easy to dig and divide later in the summer.
Finally, a garden favorite that I have always planned
to grow and sell but have not—Hepatica nobilis, the jewel of the spring garden.
This flower is of great interest to Japanese hybridizers and sometime soon I
expect to see retail markets showcasing new hybrids. Those that I have growing
are ever so special with a blue-purple color and a sparkle that is awesome. If
you learn of good sources before I do, please share.
Now that the snows have melted and the woods have
begun to dry, use care where you walk but get out and about and try to learn
the native flowers that grow nearby. Take your eyes, not your shovels and enjoy
what makes Vermont the special place that it is. We officially open for
business at Vermont Flower Farm on Mothers Day weekend and would enjoy talking
with you about your favorite plants. Come visit and bring a friend—and a mask.
Gardening has helped Gail and Alex and me get through the pandemic and we know
it will help you too!
Sometimes a brief speck of information from an article about the type of gardening you enjoy can direct you along what had been a challenging path. Here's an article I wrote this past year that might help with something you have found difficult to master within one of your gardens. Still have questions? Stop and visit us at Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens, 2263 US 2, Marshfield, Vermont 05658. 802-426-3506. Email at vermontflowerfarm@outlook.com
SPRING IN
THE GARDEN
It’s a bright, sunny day here on the mountain above
Peacham Pond and the sunshine is most welcome
after the month of February when we experienced four consecutive weeks of cold,
windy weather that lacked any thaws and consequently stacked snow everywhere. There
is little doubt that the climate is changing and being any kind of farmer, even
a flower farmer like me, brings you closer to those changes.
Yesterday I received an email agricultural report that
summarized major storms that hit the US since 1980. The storms had to exceed a
billion dollars in repair/replacement costs to be included in the total which
was $1.87 trillion. The early 80s is when I began a perennial flower business
in Shelburne, Vermont. The only negatives I can remember from back then were a
hail storm that knocked down all our Pacific Giant Delphiniums and a herd of
deer that arrived three weeks before Halloween and ate the entire pumpkin crop
the day before we planned to harvest.
Fast forward to our move to Marshfield and weather
issues have evolved. Only a couple instances of hail, but several sheer winds
that took down trees and ripped the tops off our shade houses. There were years
when cold would just not leave and I remember one June when there was a killing
frost that flattened our entire potted hosta crop. And then there was extreme water
as in floods. One year we had three floods between May and August. That was the
year that bad times culminated in Tropical Storm Irene. What a mess! And since
then, we have become used to sheer winds that follow the Winooski River from
Burlington. They arrive quickly and leave swaths of trees on the ground in
their wake. When I think back on these events, I’m just happy we live here and
not in Louisiana or Texas.
But spring is coming and by mid-April most of the snow
should be gone and the harbinger of spring should be spring ephemerals that are
awakening. In 1990, our first year in Marshfield, the weather was so warm that
our peas were in the ground April first.
Most all years, early in May everywhere, and usually May 5-6-7 or 8
here, the male hummingbirds arrive to get started on their nest building
chores. By then red winged blackbirds, grackles, starlings and brown headed
cowbirds have returned and are busy cleaning up bird food leftovers underneath
the feeders.
Early May provides the first color. Pulmonarias join
hellebores no matter how much snow might be left in shady places. Granted the
hellebore foliage from the previous year looks a little ratty but the flowers
bring smiles and lure the hummingbirds and bumblebee Queens in for food. By the
third week of the month, Trilliums including grandiflorum, erectum and undulatum
have broken through the ground. The wild Dicentra you might know as Dutchman’s
Breeches are in bloom and the woodland Fernleaf Dicentra eximia in pink, red
and white are right behind. At the same time, ferns, both native and hybrid,
have begun to show their height and color, and a combination planting of native
Cinnamon, Ostrich and Northern Maidenhair fern serves as a good foundation for
a mix of spring ephemerals including trout lilies, violets, bloodroot and
Japanese primroses. By this time Brunnera has opened its heavily veined leaves,
variations of white and pink Dodecatheon are in bloom, native orchids are
coming along nicely, Great Blue Heron have fledged and osprey kids are
teenagers ready to shove off for a new life along the river and area ponds.
So as spring moves your way, enjoy the longer and
warmer days and map out your gardens for the 2021 season. They will need
clean-up work, pruning, and perhaps some soil amendments. Have confidence that
you are already your best designer so sketch out some new plans, read new
garden books and locate sources for new products. Check what made it through
the winter successfully and what plants might need to be replaced. Join a plant
society for rock garden plants, daylilies, hostas, peonies, perennials,
conifers, lilacs. There’s no doubt there’s a group for every interest. And
above all, relax in your garden and invite others to join you. 2020 was an
incredible year for all of us but our gardens always have and always will
provide peace. If all else fails, remember this line from Minnie Aumonier. I
like it enough to keep it hanging on the wall at the flower farm. My copy is
part of a poster by Mary Azarian.
“When the world wearies and society fails to satisfy,
there is always the garden.”.
Here is a continuation of articles I have pushed with the North Star Monthly during 2021. I hope some of the thoughts and ideas will help you be a better gardener.
CABIN FEVER
GARDENING
It
was clear, bright and beautiful this morning so I decided to go to the flower
farm and walk the perimeter to check for animal intruders. I hadn’t seen any
deer tracks when I passed by on Route 2 but last year deer came in and ate a
couple of dwarf conifers even though I had enclosed them with a wire fence. One
experience with any kind of loss will always remind me to check. I know from
many reports from customers last spring that I was not alone in seeing some
damage from deer. This year, things look good….so far!
As I walked along the
river, I noticed a pair of cardinals hiding in a wild honeysuckle and later on
a small irruption of evening grosbeaks resting in a Katherine Havemeyer lilac
before heading for the village where bird feeders are available. I have noticed
that the colder temperatures have caused snow and ice to hang on the trees for
three weeks now and this has made it more difficult for birds to find their
favorite foods. That causes them to move into adjacent fields and appear at
feeders. It also has given bird watchers an opportunity to see birds they might
not normally see. Snow buntings have been at our feeders this week and despite
their hyperactive moods they are nice to see.
Covid has kept us inside
more than we want so this year it’s more than seasonal affective disorder and
deepening snow that reminds us that it’s winter. Cabin fever has kept more than
just gardeners inside but there are some things we can do to boost our spirits.
We belong to plant societies and online specialty groups for the plants we grow
and sell. As example, hostas are an important plant that has always interested us
and the American Hosta Society (americanhostasocity.org)
is one of the best organized societies I know. I think they have the absolute
best journals which arrive twice a year as a published, image packed, journal
and then again as an online journal. It costs $30 per year for an individual
membership which arrives with a voucher for $15 towards a hosta. I especially
look forward to the journals because they have biographical sketches of
hybridizers, terrific pictures and stories about display gardens, hosta
history, advances in viral testing, and great information on the latest
registrations.
In addition to hosta
journals, I use the online Hosta Library (hostalibrary.org) which is free. It
contains summary information, abundant pictures (1000’s) and registration
detail on all hostas, registered and unregistered. It is the best resource I know of for anyone
interested in this shade tolerant plant that’s perfect for Vermont gardens. Take a look-see and you will
see what I mean.
While at the flower farm I decided to take some lilac cuttings. I usually take
them a few weeks after the lilacs have bloomed in June but I read that you can
also take cuttings now and root them in sand, covered for the first weeks in
plastic wrap or plastic seed tray domes. I took cuttings from 8 lilacs to try
this out and I’m being positive about my success. I dipped each one in rooting
hormone and then put them in the front room under an eastern facing window. I mist
them every day or so. If you have visited us at the farm, you might have seen
that we have much of the perimeter dotted with multiples of +20 varieties of
lilacs. Each spring by mid-May we have 8-12 varieties for sale if you are
interested. The International Lilac Society is a great organization for lilac
lovers and it’s very helpful as you learn about growers, retailers and how to
grow successfully.
This time of year the larger grocery stores often have primroses in their
floral departments. Primulas have become very popular perennial garden flowers
in recent years even though they are sold as houseplants too. They come in all
colors, bloom for some time and are attention getting, front-of-the-border
plants. If you get serious about them, the
American Primrose Society (americanprimrosesociety.org) is a membership
you might want to purchase. It publishes 4 information filled journals and can
direct you to specialty gardens and retail sources. The Society has just
completed its annual seed exchange which is an inexpensive way to purchase
primula seeds from around the world to add to your collection.
Garden blogs, garden clubs and societies, plant societies, university and
extension service groups as well as a plethora of gardening magazines can help
you get through cabin fever. All gardeners are generous with their time and
information. Be positive. Have questions? Can’t find something you’re looking
for? Need a gift certificate? Drop us a line at vermontflowerfarm@outlook.com. We’re always here to help
you grow your green thumb!
Here at Vermont Flower Farm, we try our best to share our gardening experiences good and bad, with new gardeners. We also use social media extensively and we write a short monthly piece for the North Star Monthly (http://www.northstarmonthly.com) that shares our messages all over. We're very busy at Vermont Flower Farm now and hope you can come to visit sometime. In the interim, here are some pieces I have written through the last year. Remember that we're always here to help you grow your green thumb so ask questions!
WINTER GARDENS
PLANNING THROUGH CRISIS
It’s been a cloudy morning here on the mountain above Peacham Pond. At 6 AM, I asked myself “Where’s the sun?” and now at 1 PM, I am asking the same thing. Minor snowflakes float to earth from a gray sky as the temperature holds at 26.8° and birds and red squirrels share the feeders for a late lunch. They seem very happy despite Covid.
Each year a company named Pantone® announces its color choices for the upcoming year. They factor in their complete understanding of the psychology of color and come up with colors which influence everything from fashions and home and garden furnishings to the vehicles we drive, and every purchase we surround ourselves with from home to work to vacation and back…including…. the plants we grow. This year the color choices include Pantone Illuminating and Pantone Ultimate Gray. The color descriptions tell it all. “Illuminating is a bright and cheerful yellow sparkling with vivacity, a warm yellow shade imbued with solar power. Ultimate Gray is emblematic of solid and dependable elements which are everlasting and provide a firm foundation.” If you scan through gardening or home decorating magazines by late Spring you will see these colors surfacing. New colors make us review our gardens and decide what additions, subtractions or rebuilds we need to make come spring….as the new colors warm us in difficult times despite the fact that in a sense we have been here before. Here’s a thought.
Rewind to 1943. America was in the throes of war and times were tough. In some respects, it was different than our current Covid crisis but some of the problems were the same. A broken food supply chain was an example. From the war came the Victory Garden Manual, a book that taught us that gardening was a way to feed ourselves, our friends, neighbors and soliders. We learned what fruits and vegetables would grow in our temperate zone and we were reintroduced to the Universal Food Grinder, the Foley Food Mill, hot bath canners and pressure cookers. Not only did we learn to grow and harvest food but we also learned to put foods by.
Now more than 75 years later, 1/3 of American farmers are over retirement age but still working. 6% of all farmers are under age 35. Climate change is upon us, and pollinators, ever so necessary to help with our food production, are in decline. Invasive plants and invasive insects which we have never before seen in such large numbers are prevalent in our backyards. Beetles are taking down red and white pine trees, tamaracks, hemlocks, ashes, sugar maples and beeches. Is positive change possible? Yes, it is! Gardeners by their nature are always changemakers striving for a better tasting fruit or vegetable, earlier and higher production, and resistance to more viral or fungal issues. Gardeners share with us the importance of learning about new plant or seed varieties before we buy and plant them. They learn the right plants for where we live, and the right place to plant respective of sunlight, soil type, hydrology, and the plant’s growth rate to maturity. Gardeners teach us the importance of pollinators and how to grow plants that pollinators can reproduce on while they carry out their work.
If you haven’t gardened much before, give it a try. Raised bed or container gardening are two ways to get started. You can add fruit trees or bushes to your property and start that way with blueberries, elderberries, strawberries or apples, pears, or plums. In the process you can expand your backyard bird and animal habitat as your gardens grow. Add vegetables to your perennial flower gardens and consider when your gardens bloom and how to add color from flowers next to the blooms of vegetables you grow to eat. Blueberry bushes planted in flower gardens provide red leaves as fall approaches. Tricolor beets—the reds, oranges and yellows—seeded into flower gardens provide color and textures that contrast with your flowers and grace your table with healthy food. Clumps of purple, pink or white liatris or swaths of 3-foot-tall blue Verbena bonariensis lure all sorts of pollinators and in so doing provide entertainment as you watch them work and learn to identify them one by one. Kids love to learn insects and teaching them early on will encourage their respect for environmental concerns forever. Clumps of grasses such as Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’ become floral targets for insects you probably have never seen before while offering 5 foot scapes by year 2.
Yes, gardeners and their gardens truly are changemakers. In times such as these, gardens offer a peacefulness, a place of respite, an activity that calms when other news is something to avoid. Give gardening a try! We know you will enjoy it!!
WINTER GARDENS
PLANNING THROUGH
CRISIS
It’s
been a cloudy morning here on the mountain above Peacham Pond. At 6 AM, I asked
myself “Where’s the sun?” and now at 1 PM, I am asking the same thing. Minor
snowflakes float to earth from a gray sky as the temperature holds at 26.8° and
birds and red squirrels share the feeders for a late lunch. They seem very
happy despite Covid.
Each
year a company named Pantone®
announces its color choices for the upcoming year. They factor in their
complete understanding of the psychology of color and come up with colors which
influence everything from fashions and home and garden furnishings to the
vehicles we drive, and every purchase we surround ourselves with from home to
work to vacation and back…including…. the plants we grow. This year the color
choices include Pantone Illuminating and Pantone Ultimate Gray. The color
descriptions tell it all. “Illuminating is a bright and cheerful yellow
sparkling with vivacity, a warm yellow shade imbued with solar power. Ultimate
Gray is emblematic of solid and dependable elements which are everlasting and
provide a firm foundation.” If you scan through gardening or home decorating
magazines by late Spring you will see these colors surfacing. New colors make
us review our gardens and decide what additions, subtractions or rebuilds we
need to make come spring….as the new colors warm us in difficult times despite
the fact that in a sense we have been here before. Here’s a thought.
Rewind
to 1943. America was in the throes of war and times were tough. In some
respects, it was different than our current Covid crisis but some of the
problems were the same. A broken food supply chain was an example. From the war
came the Victory Garden Manual, a book that taught us that gardening was a way
to feed ourselves, our friends, neighbors and soliders. We learned what fruits
and vegetables would grow in our temperate zone and we were reintroduced to the
Universal Food Grinder, the Foley Food Mill, hot bath canners and pressure
cookers. Not only did we learn to grow and harvest food but we also learned to
put foods by.
Now
more than 75 years later, 1/3 of American farmers are over retirement age but
still working. 6% of all farmers are under age 35. Climate change is upon us,
and pollinators, ever so necessary to help with our food production, are in
decline. Invasive plants and invasive insects which we have never before seen
in such large numbers are prevalent in our backyards. Beetles are taking down
red and white pine trees, tamaracks, hemlocks, ashes, sugar maples and beeches.
Is positive change possible? Yes, it is! Gardeners by their nature are always
changemakers striving for a better tasting fruit or vegetable, earlier and higher
production, and resistance to more viral or fungal issues. Gardeners share with
us the importance of learning about new plant or seed varieties before we buy
and plant them. They learn the right plants for where we live, and the right
place to plant respective of sunlight, soil type, hydrology, and the plant’s
growth rate to maturity. Gardeners teach us the importance of pollinators and
how to grow plants that pollinators can reproduce on while they carry out their
work.
If
you haven’t gardened much before, give it a try. Raised bed or container
gardening are two ways to get started. You can add fruit trees or bushes to
your property and start that way with blueberries, elderberries, strawberries
or apples, pears, or plums. In the process you can expand your backyard bird
and animal habitat as your gardens grow. Add vegetables to your perennial
flower gardens and consider when your gardens bloom and how to add color from
flowers next to the blooms of vegetables you grow to eat. Blueberry bushes
planted in flower gardens provide red leaves as fall approaches. Tricolor
beets—the reds, oranges and yellows—seeded into flower gardens provide color
and textures that contrast with your flowers and grace your table with healthy
food. Clumps of purple, pink or white liatris or swaths of 3-foot-tall blue
Verbena bonariensis lure all sorts of pollinators and in so doing provide
entertainment as you watch them work and learn to identify them one by one.
Kids love to learn insects and teaching them early on will encourage their
respect for environmental concerns forever. Clumps of grasses such as Calamagrostis
‘Karl Foerster’ become floral targets for insects you probably have never seen
before while offering 5 foot scapes by year 2.
Yes,
gardeners and their gardens truly are changemakers. In times such as these,
gardens offer a peacefulness, a place of respite, an activity that calms when
other news is something to avoid. Give gardening a try! We know you will enjoy
it!!
Here at Vermont Flower Farm, we try our best to share our gardening experiences good and bad, with new gardeners. We also use social media extensively and we write a short monthly piece for the North Star Monthly (http://www.northstarmonthly.com) that shares our messages all over. We're very busy at Vermont Flower Farm now and hope you can come visit some time. In the interim, here are some pieces I have written through the last year. Remember that we're always here to help you grow your green thumb so ask questions!
Positive Gardening Thoughts
From December 2020
Winter
has arrived in New England and although the weather temperatures and
precipitation fluctuate from south to north, it’s still certain that our
outside garden work has come to a halt for 2020. During the summer the higher
than usual temperatures and very limited rainfall challenged all of us who
enjoy farming or gardening. Drought conditions required more attention to our
annual and perennial flowers, shrubs and trees than we might have been
accustomed to providing. In addition, we
had to keep an attentive eye out for new insects set upon eating up our favorites.
If you thought the Emerald Ash Borer was a big threat to ash trees, the Eastern Larch Beetle has appeared in our
area with a vengeance and in less than three years has devasted all the mature
larch trees on our property. Fir Balsams, our favorite “Christmas Tree”, has
also been doomed by insects and some reports suggest that a high per centage of
native ash, larch and balsams will be totally decimated in 4-5 years. Throw in
the problems with invasive plants such as Wild Chervil, Japanese Knotweed,
Hogweed, Wild Parsnip, Common and Japanese Barberry, honeysuckle, and with
invasive exotic earthworms –including those Crazy Snake Works/Alabama Jumpers
and the gardening challenge broadens. Be positive and try to learn as much as
you can about insects and invasives that are causing harm to your gardens.
Gardeners often can be heard commenting about weeds in their gardens but as the
quality of your soil improves to a better pH balance, weeds, which often prefer
poor soils, with become less of a problem.
Having
healthy soil is a great place to start but by itself it requires other
“helpers” too. When I bought the land for our flower farm in Marshfield, I was
visited by a member of a federal agriculture program. The immediate
recommendation even before a soil test was ordered was the need for a soil
management plan. A simple soil survey of our 4 acres determined 4 distinct soil
types, each with separate needs. The
predominance of heavy clay soil in the middle portion of the acreage came with
its own list of special needs as did the alluvial soil piece that historically
was overrun by springtime flooding, the sand and gravel piece that parallels
the Winooski River, and the wet loam that absorbed underground water runoff
from the mountains across Route 2. Soil analysis is not expensive and worth
requesting but it comes with a caveat—the cost in money and time to add the
suggested amendments to bring the soil up to the appropriate level. It really can
be a financial surprise and requires planning for. With all the new gardeners
in Vermont because of Covid, it’s difficult to find manure to amend the soil
and that means manures from your local farms or processed and bagged manures
from far away too. But planting green
manures such as buckwheat, clovers or winter ryegrass or by adding composted
leaves are ways to start the process. It takes time to improve soil but the
results are always worth the effort.
In times
like these, it’s ever so nice to look at our gardens and be able enjoy the
colors of the flowers or the food we can harvest. There are abundant annual
flowers that can be started from seeds if you are so inclined or purchased from
your local greenhouse or nursery. If you visit our farm you’ll notice zinnias
in all colors, the blues of Verbena bonariensis, mixed colors from single and
double flowered cosmos, different blues from ageratums, whites, creams, oranges
and yellows from marigolds with heights of 10-36”, 6 foot tall Rose Queen
cleomes along the fence lines or 10” varieties included in our potted displays.
There is amaranthus in lime-green, bronze, burgundy-red and coral, calendulas
in oranges, yellows and straw colors , 3 foot tall dill, and sunflowers from 4
to ten feet tall. The list of perennials flowers doesn’t end and when combined
with annuals you’ll always have a smile when you tour your garden. Your flowers
will be yelling out “Don’t you love us?” and of course you will.
With winter upon us now, this is a great time to catch up on garden reading. Plants often have societies of gardeners interested in growing them. Annual memberships are typically in the $25 to $30/year range which includes newsletters and/or journals, meetings, lectures and display garden tours. We belong to societies for daylilies, hostas, peonies, lilacs, and rock gardens which keep us current on the latest and the greatest of each plant. And above all, belonging to plant societies provides a world-wide friendship which is ever so dear when times are tough. Yes, recognize the reality of negativity but turn to your gardens and your gardening friends for warm and positive experiences. Dirty hands are a good thing!! And don’t forget to get your kids, your neighbor’s kids and your grandkids involved too. Kids love gardening and you’ll admire their positive thoughts and behaviors too! Best gardening wishes from your friends at Vermont Flower Farm. Be safe!
Daylily season in Vermont is upon us and as I write, the rain continues to fall. We were in a severe drought two weeks ago and have caught up to appropriate water levels in much of the east all in a few days. Monthly total rainfall for July has exceeded 6" and here at Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens there's a puddle from a poorly ditched State highway culvert that's diverting water onto one of our fields. The mallard ducks are loving it this morning but for me, not so much.
When our daylilies flower heavily like they do right now, we try to deadhead them every day. Some people enjoy doing this as part of their daily routine while others find it a cumbersome, hand staining nuisance...... so..... why do we deadhead thousands of daylilies? There are a few good reasons.
Some daylilies hold spent flowers for 2-3 days. These are generally more modern hybrids named tetraploids which are bigger in all respects. Bigger blooms hold more water and when they pass, it takes longer for them to dehydrate and fall from the flower scape. The name daylily suggests a flower that opens and closes all in 16 hours of a day. The "one day only" per bloom plant--a daylily. Daylilies have many, many buds and blooms however, so they bloom on and on for several weeks until the final blooms are spent. The first blooms to open are the largest the plant will produce for the season and as blooms pass on each day and other blooms open they tend to be smaller. When a plant is registered with the American Hemerocallis (Daylily) Society, the bloom size is represented by the size of the initial (larger) blooms.
Removing spent blooms will prevent them from setting seed and will make subsequent blooms larger since the plant is not taking water and nutrients to make seeds. It will also make the plant much more attractive without spent blooms hanging on. It keeps spent blooms off the ground so your garden is much more attractive too.
Probably the largest incentive to deadhead involves insects. Many insects love to find their way inside a bloom, even a bloom that is closing after it has flowered. Insects use the flower as a moist, warm place to lay eggs and generate more insects. If insects lay eggs inside blooms that will soon drop off the plant and fall to earth, the eggs are likely to mature more successfully. The heat of the earth warms the spent bloom, and as the bloom oxidizes and decomposes, that heat helps the eggs hatch. Picking the spent blooms before any of this can occur minimizes insects such as the tarnished plant bug, which love daylilies.
The final part about deadheading that bothers folks is their hands. Despite the way nitrile gloves have escalated in price because of Covid, we always wear them to keep our hands from staining. If you don't like plastic gloves (some people are allergic to them), then you can remove stains, especially purple stains from your hands with lemon juice. I always buy the generic brand and have it around in case I forget the gloves or run out of them. Over time you will learn which daylilies stain the most and you'll react appropriately. Large-flowered daylilies that are the darkest colors such as Persian Ruby, Ruby Spider or Wayside King Royale are examples that stain a bunch but remain our favorites.
Have other daylily questions? Email us at vermontflowerfarm@outlook.com or stop by for a visit at 2263 US Route 2, Marshfield, Vermont where the fields are ablaze with color and we still have thousands of 6 quart pots packed with every color daylily but blue. Come see!
I have mentioned The Hardy Plant Club of Northern Vermont many times in the past and try to mention it again as each gardening season appears. Today as I write there is snow on the ground and tonight there will be more snow arriving as well as high winds and dropping temperatures. Gail and I have been fortunate to be able to have worked in the gardens of Vermont Flower Farm for a couple weeks now as we prepare for an anticipated opening on Mother's Day weekend. But on a day like today, it's nice to turn to the Club's blog and learn more about the gardens we love so much. We know you with find the Resource section helpful.
http://hardyplantclubvt.blogspot.com/
As information, we are in the process of rebuilding our website for Vermont Flower Farm. We began our first site over 15 years ago (and our business +37 years ago) to represent what we grow, sell and do at Vermont Flower Farm which now located at 2263 US Route 2, Marshfield, Vermont. Progress is rather like this spring's weather. There have been temporary interruptions but the project advances. We expect to have the new site up by early June. In the interim much of the old site works. When you get to the page on Lilacs, scroll to the end of that section and use those links to move to other pages. If you see special plants listed that you wish to purchase, it's best to call Gail at 802-426-3506 and confirm availability and pricing as updates have been avoided this past year. We add new plants each year and can most always offer substitutes for plants that are out of supply.
Vermont has an abundance of great gardens to visit. Check the Hardy Plant Club's Resource Page and check with us if you have questions about where to find your favorite plants. Gardening, especially during a pandemic, brings peacefulness and reward that we all need.
From your friends at Vermont Flower Farm please remember: "We're always here to help you grow your green thumb!"
George, Gail and Alex Africa
