I just received a kind thank you for posting gardening information during the 94° heat of summer. The reader said it was too hot to be working in the garden but reading about gardens fit the bill--inside and iced tea!

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

 

 

Spring Ephemerals, Spring Smiles

 

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 8^th 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.”.