LATE SUMMER PLANTING

Sometimes I get busy at the flower farm and forget to post articles that are published in North Star Monthly, a very special monthly journal that I write for. NSM is a Danville, Vermont publication with a long Vermont history. Whether you live in Vermont or not, it's a subscription that will keep you entertained. Here's what I wrote this summer.

LATE  SUMMER  PLANTING

 

48 degrees this morning here at our home on the mountain above Peacham Pond. Gail and Alex just headed for the flower farm and I’ll be on my way soon. It’s a foggy morning with heavy dew dripping from the branches but sun is on the way. A doe and two fawns are in the field below my office window having breakfast as crows fight over scraps at the compost pile. The morning serves as a reminder that fall will be here before we know it and there are many garden chores that need attention.

 

For two weeks now we have been digging and dividing daylilies. Some have been potted up as replacement to what sold out during our greatest sales season ever. Others have been lined out in rows in the field so we continue to have adequate inventory for subsequent years. It’s all part of the nursery business. Covid-19  brought us a new crop of wanna be gardeners and I’m happy to report that many brought their kids along to see the plants, walk the fields and learn about pollinators and gardening. Many maintained the thought that we only plant flowers in the spring so they would announce that they were just looking for plants for next year. When I’d mention that fall is the absolute best time for planting perennials, they often acted surprised and decided to make purchases. It’s all part of educating the public about gardening. If you have been growing daylilies and think you need to divide what you have but are afraid to try, stop by the farm and I’ll give you a quick demonstration. It’s really easy to do and there’s almost no chance you’ll ever kill a daylily.

 

Hostas are a popular plant and over time they form large clumps that some times have grown out of proportion to their surrounding plant companions. Again, fall is a good time to divide these. I use a shovel and dig all the way around the clump about 10-12” away from the edge. Then I use a pry bar to pop the clump out of the ground as they tend to grow heftier than we think. I hose the clumps off and then cut them into small clumps depending on whether I want to pot some for spring sales, spread them throughout the garden or pass them along to friends.

 

Peonies are a favorite at Vermont Flower Farm and each year we offer more varieties for sale. We rely on commercial growers for our product as our 4.4 acres of flower farm is not large enough to put peonies into production. Peonies must be divided each three years when grown commercially so the roots are easy to divide and each root has 3-5 eyes. I tried to grow them to dig and divide for sales but quickly learned how difficult it is to successfully divide large quantities and not break larger roots while dividing them.

 

During 2020 we offered 45 varieties of peony and for 2021 we will order another dozen or so varieties. My message on peonies (actually on any plant in today’s strange commercial world) is that whatever plant you see at a nursery that you want should be purchased when you see it. Here’s an analogy. Gail questions my sanity at times when I go to the hardware store or farm equipment store…even the grocery store because if I see something, I know I will use again—such as oil filters for the tractor—I buy them in multiples when I see them. Many items are just not consistently available anymore and I dislike being disappointed.

 

We sell our peonies in 12- quart pots so they are likely to bloom during their first year. Peonies are very hardy plants that live for lifetimes but to get them to flower in abundance you must plant them at the correct depth. I suggest that gardeners follow the “two-digit rule”. Plant the roots so that if you push your finger into the soil until it touches the top of the root, you will have extended your finger two digits into the soil. This translates to no more than 2 inches. We pot our peonies at the correct depth so if you carefully remove them from the pot and keep the soil together, you will have it at the correct planting depth. We recommend over- digging the hole and adding good compost 4-6” deep in the bottom of the hole. Peonies have lots of leaves and large, abundant blooms so they require plenty of food to grow successfully. Keep the future of the plant in mind.

 

Fall is a great time for adding any perennials into or around in your garden. We seem to have this “spring is best” attitude about our flower gardens but should reconsider fall planting. If you have questions, give us a call at 802-426-3506 or stop by the nursery. We’ll be open until mid-October. Garden design questions? Ask Gail.

GYPSY   MOTHS

I often read news releases from  Michigan State or Penn State University Extension Services  because they give me a great idea of what problems might be heading our way here in Vermont. These are two schools that have super agricultural programs and they offer ongoing social media releases and webinars via Zoom. 

Here's a release on gypsy moths that is important. I have seen the caterpillars in larger numbers over the past few years. If you travel  US Route 2 between Plainfield and Marshfield and look south across the big fields and the Winooski River, you can spot a straight grey line across the mountains. The line delineates the tracks of the old Montpelier to Wells River RR that was thrown up in the early 50's. It also shows where gypsy moths are prevalent in this area. After dealing with these moths for over 50 years we know the reality involved. Just the same there are some controls that are organic and do make a difference. Read on to learn about a program that I am certain will offer good information.

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/gypsy-moth-populations-explode-in-michigan

 

HOSTA  CONFUSION?

We have been collecting, buying, growing and selling hostas since the early 80s and we love them. Last I looked there were around +8000 registered hostas and many, many more that were never registered. Each summer without fail, gardeners arrive at the flower farm with baskets or bags full of hostas leaves (or daylily blooms) and ask for help identifying them. Here is an example: Hosta Dream Weaver and Hosta Thunderbolt. A casual glance will challenge you to ask which hosta is which.

Dream Weaver

Thunderbolt

Dream Weaver is a sport of Great Expectations and Thunderbolt is a sport of Elegans. Notice similarities---or not---next.

Great Expectations

Hosta Elegans

I would say that 8 of 10 people who visit our hosta display garden and see Dream Weaver, Great Expectations, Elegans or Thunderbolt prefer Thunderbolt.  I guess this is a perfect example of eye of the beholder. My problem has always been that I have one very nice specimen of Thunderbolt and I have never been willing to divide it for propagation. I finally found a source online from a reputable grower and I may spring for a couple-three plants and get some going. In the meantime, make your own choice. Any of these are very nice!

Writing this morning from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the sky is dark, the temperature is 20.1° and the on and off wind is currently at 9.8 mph. We only received 3" of snow compared to our hosta friends in New Jersey. Be well!

Gardens With A Personal Touch

I prefer to share articles I have written for limited publication sometime after they are released. Gardens With A Personal Touch appeared this winter in The North Star Monthly, a Danville, Vermont publication I admire. Covid-19 has changed many things but it will never change how important gardens are to us. In a time when we need calm from the storm, our gardens can help.Read on and think how to make your gardens more personal.

GARDENS WITH A PERSONAL TOUCH

A snowy morning here on the mountain above Peacham Pond. I’ve finally shaken off several weeks of a cold virus. The woodstove is going, the birds have been fed and it’s time to turn to garden thoughts. I read an article yesterday about a gardener who bought the house of her dreams and always wanted a row of Hyperion daylilies along the road out front. Hyperion is a wonderful daylily introduced in 1924. It’s +40” tall, a nice shade of yellow and it’s fragrant. Sixty feet of garden is a great deal of work so the woman started 10 feet at a time each year, turning the soil, removing the stones and roots and debris and then amending the soil to accommodate healthy plants, 30 inches on the center. The article included a picture of the finished garden and it was really impressive!

The message here comes with a suggestion that this time of winter is perfect for planning new gardens and improving upon those you already have growing. Garden catalogs have arrived in the mail and online catalogs have been updated. So grab a pad of paper and pen and map out what you have and what you want to create. Think in terms of adding a personal touch that is specifically yours. Think of adding items that will remind you and your visitors that this garden is really “you”. This can included new plants, shrubs or trees, anything vertical, bird houses or bird baths, stone features, a piece of pottery, a piece of garden art, a single garden bench or a set of garden furniture, an arbor or a trellis….or just a good cleaning out, soil amending and a few complimentary plants.

When folks visit the flower farm and say they would like some help picking out an assortment of plants for a new garden, the first question we ask is whether the garden space is already prepared.  If the whole thing is still a vision we explain we don’t want to sell plants if the garden isn’t prepared yet. Garden shortcuts never work and only create more work down the road. We also verify soil condition, whether the soil has ever been tested, sunlight, soil moisture/proximity to streams, ponds, seasonal water runoff, and visiting wildlife. When we hear plants or shrubs that other nursery and garden center staff have said “it should grow for you” we validate the temptation with reality and our experience. We encourage our “plan it, validate that it will be a success here and plant it once.” We have never been believers in “There’s never time to do it right but there’s always time to do it over.”

Think about pockets of spring bulbs that you always wanted but never got around to planting. Spring is the wrong time to plant spring bulbs but the right time to figure out where you want to plant them come fall, and then mark your calendar with a note to order or purchase bulbs in September. Consider primulas, the primroses you see almost year round now in grocery stores and garden centers, Vermont hardy perennials that begin in late spring and grow into summer. They often self-seed well and come in many colors and leaf types. The Japanese primroses work well at the perimeter of shade gardens and can be planted in moisture-retentive soils. They stand tall enough to offer a showy presence, especially after a couple years when they have started to make colorful colonies. Consider the penstemons, the salvias, the veronicas for a variety of heights, bloom and leaf colors as well as bloom times well into summer. Spend a little extra on brunneras and pulmonarias for leaves that offer excellence as attention getters even after the flowers have passed. Give hellebores a try for early spring color and forget about the notion that they are difficult to grow or won’t survive here. And consider saving a package of dill to sprinkle around your gardens in mid-spring. Dill plants are home to hoverflies which love to eat aphids. They also are a magnet to a variety of butterflies such as the tiger swallowtails. Add a package of Verbena bonariensis to your dill seed and the result will be 3.5-foot tall flower scapes with a wonderful blue color that all pollinators adore. And finally, if through the process you have questions, send us an email at vermontflowerfarm@outlook.com or call us at 802-426-3505 with questions. We’re always here to help you grow your green thumb!

Gardening With Deer

The next few posts will be articles I wrote for the North Star Monthly, a Danville, Vermont journal first published starting in 1807 and reestablished in 1989. I love the paper and you will too. info@northstarmonthly.com.

GARDENING WITH DEER

It’s a dark and quiet morning here on the mountain above Peacham Pond. It has been cold for a couple days and the way the birds are feeding serves as confirmation of the weather report of incoming rain in inches, possible freezing rain and then snow.  There are so many blue jays coming out of the woods to feed this morning that they have displaced a flock of 26 evening grosbeaks to eating sand and white birch seeds in the road.

During the past couple weeks I have received ever so many requests for suggestions on dealing with deer and rabbits. Fact is we live in Vermont in or close to a rural environment and as a result the critters of the forests have become our daily companions. We have a friend who moved back to Vermont from Long Island and she lives in Northfield across Route 12 from Norwich University. In the past couple years she has had deer, coyotes, fisher and a bobcat by her back door and a sow bear and cubs repeatedly walking down the road in front of her home. No longer is this uncommon.

Deer bother gardeners most followed by rabbits and woodchucks. The trouble with deer is they eat a lot and once they find a place with good things to eat, they revisit until the food is gone. Often this involves your favorite shrubs, trees and flowers. The deer population continues to grow as interest in deer herd management through hunting seems to decrease each year. My suggestions are twofold. 1.) Don’t ever intentionally feed the deer because if they like what you offer, they will return forever. Even if the temperatures are below zero and the snow is deep, don’t feel sorry and buy bagged deer food. It’s very bad for the deer and the deer are bad for your gardens. 2.) Research plants that are less favored by deer and stick with them in your gardens.  Don’t allow yourself to think “I know what they say but maybe the deer won’t touch this.” They will.

Here are some examples from our experience. The notion that plants are “deer proof” is a poor one. If deer are hungry they will seek out any plant that doesn’t smell noxious to them.

Achillea/Yarrow. Lots of colors

Aconitum/Monkshood. Poisonous, late blooming.

Allium. Onion family. Lots of colors & heights.

Anemone. Late bloomer. Good cut flower.

Aruncus and Astilbes. 9”-5 feet tall.

Brunnera. Many varieties, beautiful leaves. Love shade.

Catmint/Nepeta. 8-30”. Silver foliage.

Chelone/Turtlehead. We sell ‘Hot Lips.’ Late.

Cimicifuga. Now named Actaea. 3-9 feet.

Delphinium. 3-8 feet. Blue, white, lavender, rose.

Digitalis. Biennials & Perennials. Camelot is best!

Epimediums. Can use as groundcover or specimen.

Ferns. Hardy. Try Lady in Red.

Hardy Geraniums. Many colors. Some are invasive.

Helleborus: Blooms when there may still be spring snow.

Hibiscus: Very hardy perennial in right place.

Pulmonarias. Accept shade. Wonderful foliage.

Siberian Iris. Plant throughout your gardens.

Stacys Humello. Remember Lambs Ears?

Check with fellow gardeners, local Master Gardeners, garden club members, the Extension Service, nurseries or garden centers for more ideas. Notice I didn’t mention Fish and Wildlife? That was intentional.  As much as you might like rhododendrons and arborvitaes, the deer like them too and once they have been browsed heavily, then will not grow back.

Still have questions? Drop us an email at vermontflowerfarm@outlook.com. We reopen for 2020 on Mothers Day but until then we’re happy to work with you on garden designs and finding the right colors. Need a boost of color during the white days of winter? We post lots of pictures and gardening advice on Instagram, and our Facebook pages including Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and my personal George Africa FB page. Read on!