Daylily 

Ruby Throat 

THE COLOR RED

Morning on the mountain. Working in the woods makes me sleep well and until the snow begins and gets deep, that's where Alex and I will be part of every day. It's 25.3° right now, windless, quiet. I just looked at the storms coming east over the next couple weeks but there's still enough debate that I am not getting excited. We need a foot of snow to fill in the ruts in the roads. They are all a mess. Last week our town guys spread three loads of stay mat/crushed granite down our road and then graded it but it was raining so everything turned to mud, vehicles of all sizes went through and now its 8-10" ruts frozen solid. That's Vermont!

I have written before about Fine Gardening Magazine which I have read since the 70s. My only complaint is that it doesn't cover enough gardens and plants in the northern northeast and it doesn't always get the temperate zones to reflect that some of what they feature will actually grow here.

Here's the latest garden and this one is about red. I wrote previously that I read an article one time that said of 500,000 daylilies growing in our world, 90,000 are red. Some gardeners say they love shades of red and others are like those talking about oranges and yellows---"No more for me!" I'm not like that . I like them all. That's why I have contemplated making a garden that contains every red in a group, every yellow, every orange, every white, every purple, every pink, etc., etc. I have the space to do this but ever since Mother Nature teamed up with climate change, my daily schedules have been reworked and new gardens aren't on the horizon.

https://www.finegardening.com/article/red-in-the-garden?

Abbot's Old Fashioned

Cabot, Vermont

Unregistered

 INVASIVE INSECT ALERT!

Climate change has brought a number of new insects to Vermont. Read about the latest which is attacking the few elm trees that remain here. In the past ten years we have had to deal with the Emerald Ash Borer, the Pine Borer originally from Montana, the Eastern Tamarack Beetle, and now the Spotted Lantern Fly is in southern New Hampshire so probably here in Vermont too. Things are not looking good for our forests.

Read on.

https://vtdigger.org/2023/08/15/invasive-insect-found-zigzagging-on-vermont-elm-trees\

 

GARDENING UNDER WATER

If you have been watching the news you might well have seen what has happened in your favorite Vermont during the past couple weeks. The rain turned on and never turned off and as a result the worst flooding since the 1920's has devasted many places in Vermont. We have been through the 2011 floods--two in May of that year that brought +10 feet of water over our propagation fields, display lilacs and hydrangeas, and over our entire hosta display garden. Then in August of the same year, Tropical Storm Irene did it to us all over again. That was nothing like what we have just been through.

Take a look at this link from VTdigger, one of Vermont's premier news resources. Check out our Facebook pages too. Not pretty, but we are rebuilding where necessary. All our potted plants grown for retail and wholesale escaped the flood which increased the height of the Winooski River by 20 feet. We are entering daylily season with +500 varieties side by side with +400 varieties of hostas, and exciting examples of astilbes, shade plants, pollinator plants--over 10,000 pots ready to move from our nursery to your gardens. Come visit!

https://vtdigger.org/2023-july-flooding/

 

PEONIES

I just finished updating the Peony page on our website https://vermontflowerfarm.com. Peonies are available for sale at the farm as potted plants in 12-quart peony pots. Each root is planted at the correct level so you can take pots home and replant them at the same depth they  are currently growing. Planting depth is very important to your success so please be sure never to plant the roots deeper than 1.5" to 2" deep. Plant deeper and the peony will live well but as for blooms--it probably will not happen.

Peonies are only available at the farm--no mail order is offered. They are available until they sell out and it's first come, first sold. We do not reserve pots in advance but feel free to call us at 802-426-3506 after April 15 to check availability. There are four peonies that are noted as being in short supply but the balance of varieties will begin the season with 20 pots or more.

Here's the peony page with pictures and descriptions. Herbaceous peonies are $32. Most Itoh peonies are $65. 

https://vermontflowerfarm.com/category/d-peonies/

 TICKS

April 2, 2023. 7:30 AM. 24.4° The wind is swirling snowflakes in big circles as small birds such as nuthatches and chickadees have trouble landing at the feeders. The temperature is dropping because of the wind but also in front of another weather pattern that made us smile yesterday with 62° in the afternoon but frown now. Spring is fickle and what we want is not what we always see. There is +2 feet of snow here on the mountain above Peacham Pond but a walk in the woods requires snowshoes as the snow depth exceeds 3 feet. It will be a while before the snow is gone but in the meantime, maple sugaring is doing well and with cooler forest floor temperatures sap should continue in better quality and quantity longer. "Should" is the operative because one weather front from the southwest and things can look different in a day or so. 

Here's the latest from one of the organizations that keeps me informed about ticks. Because of climate change Vermont has declared that there is no "season" but instead ticks should be considered a problem year-round. In case you have gotten lazy over the winter on tick control, get with the program right now. 20 miles to our west are towns such as Montpelier and Barre and many properties have no snow left. Yesterday I saw people working in their yards and if you are outside now, ticks have to be a concern. I have permethrin spray bottles by the back door here at the house, in the cars and truck, and at the flower farm. Don't wait until it's too late, take command now. Keep reading sites and newsletters and check yourself, and your family members including your pets. Becoming infected is just not good.

https://lymediseaseassociation.org/news/newsletter/

Vermont Flower Farm

https://www.facebook.com/george.africa

https://www.facebook.com/VFFG20/