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
