Where's George?

Saturday, August 22, 2009

5 AM on the mountain above Peacham Pond. Where's George? Last night's heavy rains have all the trees hanging low and the critters of the woods are out and about in numbers now that 10 hours of rain has stopped. Rutland and Chelsea, Vermont got hammered yesterday with inches in minutes as the rains of Summer 2009 continue.

Karl the Wonder Dog had to go out before five. His sniffer was in full gear and he half ran from here to there trying to pick up scent of big animals and small. The bears have been through here again and it drives Karl silly as he tries to figure out which way they went.

Daylily season is different today than it was back on the 8th when I last wrote but the bloom has been special and customers and visitors alike have kept us very busy. The early morning sunshine of June is long past and this morning's darkness reminds me how much I already miss early summer. Gail is already up trying to get ready to head to the nursery before 6 so we can split up all the daylilies we will be selling today as bare roots. When we have too many of one variety or something is not moving along or has lost popularity, we dig up most all and prepare them to sell 5 for $15.

I have tried to manage the new gardens at the nursery as if they were shelves at a supermarket. In those situations vendors pay for shelf space so items must sell or they are replaced. Same thing is happening at Vermont Flower Farm. We are often sad to see nice flowers go but part of selling flowers is an eye of the beholder thing and what's nice to me might bring harsh opinions from others. Up top is Apricot Sparkles which Gail bought in this year. We both think that by next year it will form nice clumps and be a great bloomer but for now it is an unpopular apricot which needs too much conversation to sell. It's on the table this morning, marked down enough not to make me happy but some gardeners should be all smiles come summer 2010.

Pastel Pink is a daylily that I really like. When it clumps up, it is a nice addition to the later garden here and it has a nice flower and a strong rib. I can never keep enough of it and this year's offering are a couple fans each even though summer rains were perpetual. Some things you cannot grow fast enough.

Double Yellow intrigues me as many of the doubles do. They are a little different from flower to flower but they bloom very well. This one is a late bloomer and brings forth dozens of buds that go on and on. I like it more than Double Gold with its habit of buds hanging on too long after they bloom. Mix in a couple blues or purples with Double Yellow and Apricot Sparkles and you'll catch folks attention in seconds. These two show that you don't have to spend lots of money on a nice late display. Late displays is what Gail continues to work on because she maintains gardeners need color until Columbus Day and it truly is possible, even in this part of Vermont.


Dominic is another mid to late addition we like. This picture is a bit duller than the color really presents. It's interesting and creates attention but this year for some reason it also drew in rose chafers, an insect we never had to deal with before.

There's plenty to do this morning so I must get going. I'm sure you have things to do today too but if you have a few minutes, stop by and look over the bare roots. Last night I dug some Fragrant Treasure, some large Bama Music, some fair clumps of Stella and there are a few Grand Masterpiece, Siloam Space Age, Butter Curls, Autumn Red and a Chicago I cannot remember right now. Good choices for a garden, along a drive or to cover a bank that you're tired of mowing. Come see!

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where brown trout fishermen are heading to the pond and ravens are waking up everyone with harsh calls using words I do not understand.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener

Check out Vermont Flower Farm our website of pictures and good information. If you are trying to learn a little about autism, a non gardening topic for sure, try our autism page. Autism may not yet have touched a family you know, but the incidence suggests it will. Be thoguhtful, be supportive!

Pat's Nearly Famous BBQ

Bonanza

Just past 8:30 PM here on the mountain. It's been a hectic week but with sunshine at last, Gail and I cannot complain. When I finally made it to the nursery this afternoon, Gail had customers scattered around, she had a tired look on her face and what appeared to be Bela Lugosi stains on her shirt. She pointed in the direction of a couple in the lower shade house and I knew that meant she had not greeted them yet. Everything that happened from that point on for the next couple hours remains a blur.

When gardeners and visitors stop at the nursery, we always try to greet them as soon as possible and orient them to what is available. Many haven't been to a nursery that digs daylilies from the garden and some don't even feel comfortable walking into the daylily fields or down to the work-in-progress hosta garden without asking first. Making that first connection with first time visitors is really important. It shows we care and shows what kind of folks we are.

Gail had called me at work earlier in the day to say that Lynn from Lynn's Garden: Best In Bloom Today had phoned to say she would be stopping by for a visit. I really wanted to get in the truck and come back to meet her personally but I had a meeting that just couldn't be changed. Lynn and I have conversed via our blogs for some time and she has made some purchases from Vermont Flower Farm. It was quiet when she arrived and she and Gail got to spend a little time together. Maybe next time for me.

Later in the day, a family from Utah finally made it to the nursery. They have bought hundreds of daylilies from us. It was really great to meet them at last and let them see where their plants were grown. They have become ardent daylily fans although there's no doubt they are real gardeners anyway. I say "ardent" because the Utah deer ate the buds on their daylilies and they moved everyone of them from their first planting spaces to protected gardens within a fence at their house. I've never been keen on planting things twice but gardeners have a devotion and a drive for success that doesn't stop.

As customers and visitors thinned out a bit I got on the tractor and began mowing the 3 acres of grass lawn that intersects the gardens. About half way through it occurred to me that I'd really like a pulled pork sandwich for dinner. There was no convincing Gail that after the long week, one less meal to prepare sounded good. She picked up Alex as I finished mowing and we headed to Hardwick, 20 miles away.

Hardwick is an interesting town that to a degree has become almost a suburb of Montpelier. Housing in the Barre-Montpelier area has increased in price and people have moved 20-25 miles away for quieter living and nice houses at less expense. The community is reorganizing and there is a great restaurant there named Claire's. Hardwick is the home of the Center for Agricultural Economy that deserves a lot of praise, is just down the road from High Mowing Organic Seeds, offers up the Galaxy Bookshop and the Buffalo Mountain Coop and has an assortment of other restaurants, coffee shops and stores. Hardwick is not big but it is fun to visit.

Hardwick has had several fires in recent years and the tragedies have encouraged rebirth and everything has been very positive. The old boxing club building along the river that offers up histories you don't necessarily want to know about needs a little help; so does the three story store/apartment complex at the center of town that caught fire but was saved--kind of. The mix of residents is interesting for sure and there's plenty going on. Then there's Pat's.

Earlier this summer, a small trailer moved alongside the highway over towards Riteway Sports. It's the seasonal home of Pat's Nearly Famous BBQ. Pat and his wife and helpers make a pulled pork sandwich and curly fries and slaw that just tickles my fancy even though I have to drive to get it. This is one of those walk-up, place-your-order, sit-outside-under-a-little-tent places. There is a little chit chat as tables get bused and food is delivered. White vinegar in a spray bottle is in the condiment tray. Pat's wife told me Pat was a pipe fitter for a while but I am happy he mastered pulled pork sandwiches. Gail and I enjoy them while Alex repeatedly has less creative sauerkraut piled on his hot dogs. If you're in Hardwick in season, try Pats. He's open 11-2 daily and until 8 at night Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

There was a chill in the air as we left Pat's. The Eye On The Sky weather folks at the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium predicted 40 degrees or less tonight and it feels as if there's a good chance for "or less".

Daylilies at Vermont Flower Farm continue to bloom. Many have slowed to occasional flowers while some later ones are just starting their first bloom. Every morning we pick representatives of what is currently in bloom and put the blooms on display in the shed in small jelly jars so you can see everything in one small place for easy comparison. The fields are colorful and have dried out from July's 15" of rain so walking is easier now. If you have some time this weekend, stop by and walk with us. if you aren't familiar with daylilies, we're sure you will be impressed.


Now in bloom including Bonanza up top and about 140 others:

Becky Lynn

Barbary Corsair

Anne Warner

Best garden greetings from the mountain above Peacham Pond. Karl the Wonder Dog just said "Let's walk" so I have to get going!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener

Business Cards

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Almost five AM right now. Dark and quiet. Very much darker than the 4 AM mornings I enjoyed in June. Just the same I have been up since just after four when a combination of circadian rhythm and melatonin change boosted me out of bed pretty much on time. We don't use an alarm clock at our house unless we are heading to the airport at 2 or 3 AM and it's a very rare occasion when we are a few minutes late. Alarm-clock-less: Life without the ringing or buzzing sound of a clock going off. We like it.

Yesterday was a busy day at the farm. Gail had worker bee Gail T. from Peacham spend the day with her as I had to take Alex to a program in Jericho. People stopped by the nursery to walk the gardens, some to buy plants for themselves, one family to buy perennials for a cemetery location. The fields are wet from what totalled over 15 inches of rain in July. Holes left from vacant daylilies have become mini ponds and the rows where water gushes out of the clay soil have sprouted mini rivers that flow in all directions by gravity to the Winooski River. We caution everyone to stay out of the rows themselves and on the grassy paths as warning to stuck boots and dirty shoes. What a summer! It still hasn't hit 90 degrees for even a day and +80 degrees can be counted on fewer than one handful of fingers.

This year Gail had some business cards made and she passes one along to every visitor whether they visit to look around or they make a purchase. Our card has our web site URL and the blog address for The Vermont Gardener. Many people find us through Google but many more just don't know we have had a site for over 5 years and a blog too. The business cards confirm what we explain and make it easier for folks to remember. We know it works based on gardeners getting back home, planting their plants and then telling us the visit was fun, the plants good and the blog or site entertaining. That's great to hear.

Many times, people exchange cards with us. Here are two from this week that I put in my pocket for too long. One is from The Marble Man, Jack Hahn, who travels with his wife, Sue as they go from craft show to craft show. They are daylily enthusiasts too and they stopped as they headed back south after a show in Camden, Maine. Jack gave Gail and Michelle each a hand made marble. They use recycled glass and the thought of marbles brings back memories of games from fifty years ago. Just finding marbles in a store to share with grand kids is a chore so Jack's visit was valuable as a resource. He and Sue make and sell game boards too and board games are something families should get back into versus the techno stuff kids expect now.

Corky

We also had a visit from Robert Bangs, owner and designer at Windswept Gardens in Bangor, Maine. He is another daylily collector and he spotted Corky which he purchased because he has a dog by that name. The daylily was registered in 1959 by HA Fischer so it's been around a long time. I like to use a single scape with a florists frog and a piece of clematis to make a quick and easy Ikebana-like arrangement but for Robert it's another Corky now residing in Bangor, Maine.

I keep looking out the office window for wildlife this morning but it seems quiet. Karl the Wonder Dog wants to go for a walk and the coffee pot gurgles "I'm ready!" so it's time for me to get going. If you're out and about today, stop by and see us. Try 2263 US Route 2 Vermont Flower Farm in your GPS and you'll be there soon. We'll be open until 6 tonight, maybe a little longer if the predicted rain doesn't come too early. Hope to see you. Web orders are fine if you aren't in the area.

Good gardening wishes!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener

Vermont Flower Farm

Bountiful Blossoms

Friday, July 31, 2009

The clock read 4:03 AM when Karl the Wonder Dog's thunderous commands brought me to attention. I neither understood his message nor really wanted to hear it. Yesterday's arthritic leftovers made thoughts of an early morning walk less than desirable.

I layed there for a minute waiting for the noise to stop and then between barks I heard the calling of a cat. The voice was different than any of the neighbors cats and I assumed that it was a "left-over", a cat that was brought on vacation to Peacham Pond and then left behind as it wandered while the family packed and left. Not all cats are good at adapting and this one is on that list.

With reluctance I got up, started the coffee and headed out with Karl. 57 degrees, still and overcast as if more rain is predicted. The previous night the rain gauge measured 2.75" here and exceeded 5 inches in southern Vermont. The wet summer that is not a summer continues.

I have to say the gardens are lush with all the rain and the daylilies are especially thick and full of blossoms. Morning walks here at the house are best for me because the absence of foot and car traffic allows me to hide from the embarrassment of gardens in shambles around the house. This is the second year we are trying to get the new nursery organized and priorities require that sacrifices be made. The wild impatiens is 4 feet tall with the rain and even some of the grand hostas in the lower garden are almost out of sight because of the rain and weed growth.

Up top is a picture of the Lilium superbum which came out yesterday. It's a poor picture but I'll get back to some better ones tonight if the weather comes around. These are tall lilies, sometimes reaching ten feet here. The bulbs are actually in the shape of a dog bone. They are easy to scale and start anew but even the simplicity of that reproductive process is something I couldn't find time for last fall or this spring. I have lost a few to voles and other critters and it's about time to get with some restoration.

Bee balm, monarda, Oswego tea, that mint family herb that does make a tea if you are into that stuff is in full bloom. I should dig and bag some and sell it but it's just another thing on the "to do" list that makes sense but I don't get to doing. I promised some more to Leslie down at the pond and I'll have to give her a call and tell her where the shovel is.


Again, my photography skills show the bad side of working in haste but this daylily picture is of a daylily known as the best coral colored daylily on the market. It's not new but it surely is nice. It's named South Seas. If you see it in our gardens, you'll think there's something wrong with the photo or the photographer and both are a little off. The daylily is a beauty!

Lilium that did not succumb to the lily leaf beetles are in bloom and doing well. An assortment that Brent and Becky's Bulbs sent me a couple years back to trial are in bloom now and most are longiflorum-asiatic crosses. These tend to be taller lilies with thicker stems and larger flowers. Some have faint fragrance, others almost none.

Some Asistic lilies have been with us since the 80's. Tags get lost, memories get foggy and yet some still return despite thick weed competition and the beetle. I forget the name of this 5 foot tall Asiatic over by the compost pile but it returns each year even though I dig away a few each season for customers who bug me for a chance to add a strong bulb to their collections. Some days when I am tired I give in because it's easier than repeating "No, not this year".

Gail is in the garden now making notes of things she wants Austin to dig and bring down to the nursery today. Some of the plants will require lots of digging as they are older, established plants. I sure wish Austin would find my 6 foot pry bar. I don't need it today but he will.

I'm heading to the nursery in a few minutes. Gail will have breakfast at Maple Valley mid morning with some friends from the autism community. Autism is an important reality in our lives and with a couple of the ladies attending this morning. They have sons, ages 25 and 43, who have presented them with lots of challenges. At some point in most gardeners lives, autism appears as a family member, friend or community acquaintance and things look a bunch different. Among the many things Gail juggles in life is how to make a better world for those on the spectrum. Her knowledge gets applied first right here at home. She is quick to answer gardening questions but speaks authoritatively about many aspects of autism too. If you have a question, feel comfortable asking her. We have a list of resources on our website

Got to scoot. If you some time, stop by and see us at the nursery.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where ravens and "raucous' are made for each other.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener

Gardening at Vermont Flower Farm where we grow hardy plants for hardy Vermonters and their friends. Come visit!

A Presentation Of Lilies

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Not too quiet at 4:30 this morning here on the mountain. For some reason there is heavy snoring competition going on in our house and Karl the Wonder Dog is one of the three competitors. It's probably well that I woke up during the competition as I have to move the tractor back to the nursery this morning and it's best to get going before the traffic begins to get busy.

This is lily time in Vermont and surprisingly, the presentation is gorgeous despite the cool weather and heavy rains which often complicate good flowering with botrytis and other fungus type problems. The bloom started around Fourth of July with the native Lilium canadense (directly above and just below inc. red variety) and the beautiful martagons. It continues now with the various Asiatics, the longiflorum hybrids, and early Orientals. The few trumpets we have left are mixed in someplace here and the Oriental-trumpet crosses, the orienpets, are not too far behind.

If you have followed our flower journey over the years, you recall that up until last year, we always presented gardeners with a super selection of potted lilies. Perhaps eight years ago now, maybe a little longer, we were one of the top lily retailers in New England. I came across a photo a few weeks back that I'll have to find again to post as it shows our old nursery with our house completely surrounded by thousands of potted lilies. That's the way it was when lilies were king here.

With the planned move to a new nursery last year, Gail and I decided we just could not deal adequately with the lily leaf beetle. If you search this blog and our former Vermont Gardens blog (use search option in upper left corner) you will find information about this insidious insect. Try http://thevermontgardener.blogspot.com/2009/05/beat-rain-beat-beetles.html for some info and pictures. For gardeners with a few lilies, perhaps hand picking is a good option but when you're growing in the thousands you want plants to be insect free and for that to happen, the challenge was near impossible and we disbanded a beautiful plant from sales.

For many gardeners, growing lilium is a "must do" and they are willing to exchange the use of strong chemicals with the luxury of nice blooms. We are not. We enjoy birds and bees and butterflies too much to spread chemicals at the level that would have been needed to control three annual generations of lily beetle. So for us, it means enjoying our lilies as they continue in our gardens, for as long as they live on their own. The beetles defoliate the stems and over time this weakens the plants, the bulbs shrink in size and finally they succumb to an inability to replace food matter with bulb size to live in Vermont's climate. That's just a reality. So for now, here are pictures of a few still showing in the gardens. Our good friend Winnie, our Chief of Hydrological Services, lives down the road four miles. She maintains a very nice representation of our lilies and does so through rigorous hand picking and use of dormant oil spray. For Gail and me, a visit during our busy schedule is a reminder to where we were a few years back. It's certainly not the same as looking out your window to your own gardens but that's just how it is.
Here are some pictures.

Asiatic named Update

Tiger Babies, a strong grower

Shiraz, an Asiatic

Mona Lisa, 18"-24" tall Oriental. One of the first Orientals to bloom here.

Asiatic Lollypop, well known, well distributed, quick to reproduce in large clumps

Golden Torch, a Longiflorum-Asiatic cross. Large flowers.

Arena, a strong Oriental that has been with us for over ten years. Someone should study the genetics of this one.

For this morning, these thoughts of lilies will have to suffice to jump start your day. I hope your gardens are doing well and you are enjoying this gardening season.


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the snoring festival has subsided and I have to get moving. Stop and see us if you have some time. 2263 US Route 2 Marshfield, VT. The daylily field is intense and there's no way you can miss the color as you travel Route 2.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm Our easy to use web site for ordering plants when you aren't close enough to visit. A daylily order will not disappoint you!

Valued Colors Continue

Catherine Neal discussed below

Sunday, July 18, 2009

Already almost 5 AM here. I have been reading mail and looking out the windows since 4:30 when light started poking through the balsams. Karl the Wonder Dog has been sitting beside me at attention all the time and he senses something moving outside but neither of us can locate any real movement. I think the bears are passing through, looking for breakfast.

Just a quick continuation of yesterday's daylily pictures before I head for the nursery. Lynn from Lynn's Garden: Best In Bloom Today wrote yesterday after seeing my picture of Catherine Neal shown again just above. Lynn was questioning the lack of roundness to my example which admittedly isn't the greatest but it was one of the first on that plant to come out. Lynn included a picture of her Catherine Neal last Friday when she wrote Fertilizer Friday! Take a look for comparison. Lynn is a very good gardener and spends lots of time observing change so I value her question and pass it on.

Vermont is a long haul from New Jersey and this morning's 47 degrees is already down to 45 degrees as the sun comes up, dragging a very noticeable breeze with it. This has been the summer of no summer in Vermont and cool temperatures slow the bud size considerably. The coolness also prevents the flower from opening all the way and you find yourself questioning if the plant that's opening for the first time is really the one you bought last summer. Bela Lugosi is one we like a lot and pictures I took a week ago when it first started to open and those from two days ago are much different as the plant has slowly matured a little more and had the luxury of one day in the seventies. From what I have heard from other gardeners, parts of Maine, even on the coast where you'd think it might be a little warmer, are even worse off with bloom time than here.

There's nothing we can do about the weather but times like this prove the importance of getting daylilies planted right to begin with and sited where sun, however limited, is maximized for use when it does shine.

I've got to get going here as Karl needs a walk and I have to get to the nursery pronto. Breakfast will be lunch before I know it.

Try these on for size!

Tuscawilla Tigress. Our plants were split up three weeks ago so they are smaller than most we sell but we like this one nonetheless. Many folks in New England say they are tired with the oranges because the so called ditch lilies are everywhere. In contrast, I have been selling those oldies every day and have 20 Kwanso that have to get dug and potted today as people keep asking. Consider a garden of just oranges. You'll be surprised how many great ones there are. I place Leebea Orange Crush in that category and it is almost at peak bloom today. I hate to see it go as it has a special quality for bringing out adjacent colors.

Had to take this one, Silver Sprite, out of our offering as we sold more than we should have. The picture isn't that great but the color really is neat! More available next year or maybe this year if I keep forgetting to tell Austin to stop digging it.


Salieri has been with us a few years and this year the plants are monstrous and for some reason, people don't want them. Twice I have received repeat history lessons about the name "Salieri" and although I am aware of the background, I like to hear people tell their versions with authority. Salieri was a friend of Mozart and admired him greatly. Mozart's untimely death raised forensic questions of poisoning and there's a chance that the friend became a murderer. Records from the early 1800s are like records on early daylilies--some having missing pieces.

Ruffled Apricot is one I have grown to like. It's large, a real strong grower and it challenges you to combine it with other colors, other flowers for a stunning display. Sometimes the common plants deserve more commentary, more credit, than they traditionally receive. This is one of those.

Rudy Spider is no longer for sale this year. It's readily available at other places but we had to put the binders on our sales as we have to get our production up on this very popular daylily from Stamile. I noticed some rose chafers eating the flowers yesterday and that's the first time I have seen them here. This is the year of heavy rains and new bugs so nothing surprises me.


Gardeners always want reds and Rooten Tooten Red is not the dark red many are looking for but the center and the edge are admirable and it works well with some of the blue campanulas and delphiniums that are in bloom right now.

I have always liked Real Wind and these flowers are almost 8 inches across this year. The plants are robust and the flower works well with other pastels and accepts the accent from darker colors too.

Missouri Beauty blooms and blooms and that's what we like. It's clearly visible from the roadway here as the rows will be in peak bloom in about a week. The dark stamens are a nice contrast.


Our lemon lilies are about done--maybe one or two left blooming in the garden. This one was in a pot by the shed and is now in someones garden along with the bleeding heart in the background. The placement wasn't intentional but the gardener liked the look and bought a couple of each. That's good because lemon lilies are not quick to reproduce.


Lady Scarlet joins the available reds. It's been blooming for almost two weeks.


Joylene Nicole is a front of the border plant to me but you cannot beat the flower qualities. Sold a couple last night while we were closing up for the day.



That's it for this morning. The ravens are boisterous now and reminding me to get dressed and get out of here. Now 46 degrees and I am wimpy enough with the wind to think I'll change back to dungarees and worry about shorts when it (hopefully) heats up today.

From the mountain above Peacham Pond where blue sky makes me smile!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener


Vermont Flower Farm A web site to visit before you come see us. We are at 2263 US Route 2, Marshfield, VT despite the fact that Google Maps still lists our old address too. If you know how I can get this corrected, let me know and I'll reward you with daylilies. I have been trying to get them to help since last November.

Valued Colors

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Greetings from Wet Marshfield, Vermont

Chorus Line
This is a beautiful flower that some seem to miss in the gardens. Early through mid season bloomer with a high bud count and some more bloom into August.

It's another wet morning here. It rained from late evening until about 4:30 and the air is still and quiet now, save for the dripping tree leaves. Karl the Wonder Dog wanted to go out early. He must have heard the bears go through as his sniffer went into action as soon as we hit the road. He's a funny canine because if he sees a bear, it's one of those tag-wagging, "Hello friend" ordeals but if he only smells their scent, he freezes tight and won't budge because he cannot relate the smell to the animal. By now he should be well versed in bears as he and Gail have seen enough but it hasn't quite connected yet. It still bugs me a little when I want to head down the Peacham Pond Road and he reneges before we really get started. Dog decisions don't always match people decisions.

Chicago Peach Parfait

The daylilies are beautiful this year and we should have a bountiful display today if the sun decides to shine. The colder temperatures as this morning's 51 degrees have delayed bloom times by over a week. The flowers are abundant on more scapes than we have ever seen before but some of the plants have smaller flowers because of the cold.

The rains which started when snow still maintained a patchwork around the nursery have continued so the daylily plants are extra large. I shouldn't, but I laugh on occasion when I see Gail dig one out for a customer and then has trouble figuring out how to get it into a wagon or cart. No customer has said he didn't want such a big plant as most are very good size after just two years in the ground. Were not talking 2-3 fans here but now they are often 5 and up to a dozen.

My plan was always to sell directly from the garden, no longer from pots, and this has worked well. It requires a little more thought and is a bit difficult to keep the production tied to the demand. Some reds such as Spider Man and Ruby Spider (no more for this year) have already been broken down to single fans to regrow for next year. Something as simple as Double Dream has been popular and we have stopped selling it to rebuild stock too. Respighi, Sir Black Stem and Sinbad Sailor have joined the list of "look and wait until next year".

I'm heading to Jericho with Alex in a few minutes as he has a program to attend there this morning. Gail and Austin will work until I return at 1:30 and we are all hoping for a busy day. If the sun shines, I am sure there will be plenty of company.

Here are some more blooms you can see today if you visit. Mail order is available on all these and as I mentioned, the plant size is impressive.

Chicago Arnies Choice
Large flowers on thick, strong scapes. Many concurrent blooms.

Catherine Neal
A little darker purple than this picture

Joylene Nicole

Long a favorite for the front of the garden. Shorter scapes but good quality and easy to match with many companions.

Gordon Biggs
This one blooms all season with lots of blooms and consistent color.

Golden Chimes
Gail and I have come to love this flower. Three feet tall, sturdy, bronze-black scapes, lots of substance. Easy to use in a quick flower arrangement.

Fragrant Treasure
A profusion of blooms so pleasant in the morning when the flowers open and you glance around wondering where the fragrance is coming from.

Good gardening wishes! If you are out and about today, stop by and stroll the gardens. The tall Citrinas, Hesperus, Lady Fingers are out. Spider Miracle may still be in bloom along with Jersey Spider, Amazon Parrot and Bela Lugosi. Thousands to see to complicate your decisions.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm: A website with great pictures to make your choices easier! Call Gail today at 802-426-3505 with questions.

One Sunny Day

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

A beautiful morning here on the mountain with an encouraging look about it suggesting that the sun may come and stay all day. That is unusual this year as rain and cold weather have prevailed.

For years now, Gail has predicted weather. Now she references the Farmer's Almanac but for years when she worked as a florist she simply predicted based on year upon year of wedding work. Even now, people will stop and ask her "What do you think about July 30? August 7th? September 11? She is quite accurate and the real "bad" days are obvious.

As I was reading daylily listservs last night, it became apparent that everyone is sharing the same problems. Cold weather and rain have postponed daylilies from flowering by more than a week and many flowers appear smaller this year. The good part is there are many, many scapes on very strong plants. At our fields the yellows, golds and oranges are obvious first bloomers but by now there is usually a variety of strong reds and velvety purples, some off whites and some big flowered oranges and dark purples with strong eyezones. Just today with very limited "don't go swimming yet" warmth, the buds are beginning to open.

At the same time we welcome daylilies, we have about said goodbye to the iris. Iris pseudacorus, the Yellow Flag Iris, has only a week left and the Siberian's had a very short bloom time to begin with because of constant, heavy rains. The tall bearded iris were very nice but again quite short on flowering time. When I saw the last petal on Beverly Sills begin to brown last week, I knew I wouldn't see any more until next year.

For those of you who have not grown iris yet and have questions or need some courage, try the American Iris Society. The journal is a wonderful source of suppliers and growing info and there's always a calendar of events and addresses of people who can help get you going.

Another perennial I hate to see go is the primrose. The candelabra style Japanese primroses with four or five tiers of flowers have been gone for well over a week. This new blue one name "Salvana" tickled Gail's fancy this past winter during the time she was putting orders together. It's a great looking primrose and has an interesting presentation. Try the
American Primrose Society if you have questions.



I'm getting ready to head to work now. I can see a little wind starting but I don't care as it will dry the vast wetness and freshen the smell in the gardens. If you get a chance today, get out and about and enjoy the sunshine. Vitamin D is important!!


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where I have misplaced summer but I'm not alone.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
http://thevermontgardener.blogspot.com
Vermont Flower Farm
http://vermontflowerfarm.com A great place to visit, in person or on the net