The Gardener's Clothes

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

40.8° already with a bright sunshine rising above the tamaracks and spruces. Gail just headed out withe Karl the Wonder Dog for his "real" morning walk, suggesting that my walk at 5:30 in starlit darkness really didn't do the trick. The critters of the woods will be out and about now and there's no doubt Gail will return with a story. She and Karl have seen more big game on their morning walks than most hunters see in a season. I cannot get many stories out of Karl save for a waggy tail but Gail gives good detail about how close they get to deer, bear, moose, woodcock, partridge and turkeys. Their encounters have always been positive but some of the stories raise concern.

I really intended to get back to Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay and then head up the coast for a ways before returning to Portland for a night or two. I usually do this in October by myself but this year there have been too many chores and I have to be content with looking at pictures from previous years. This one up top is from a few years back and I always look it over again because of the great use of color, height and texture.

Every gardener has fall chores and one of ours is the local winter clothes exchange. Years back a local lady who runs the food shelf and handles all kinds of situations for needy people started a winter coat exchange. She had always worked with local kids and ran a day care that cost free-to -nothing because she knew the long term importance of starting kids off with a good education. She was also concerned about kids keeping warm during Vermont winters. Over time the coat exchange became a clothing exchange and a sandwich board notice by the side of Route 2 brings in a bundle of people each year. This happened last Saturday and Gail volunteered as she always does. It was not a gardener's fall responsibility perhaps but for Gail this was an important part of community life in rural Vermont. After this year's floods and the very poor economy here, being warm is a serious challenge so warm clothes can help.

The stories Gail brought home of who she helped pick out clothes would bring tears to your eyes. Getting a warm thank you hug and a smile from someone you've never seen before is a memory that doesn't leave quickly. I mention this because every gardener needs new clothes once in a while--jeans without holes in the knees, socks without toe holes, gloves that match and don't have missing thumbs, a hat with a visor the dog didn't eat yet. But gardeners all live in a community where everyone may not be as fortunate as they are. If you are a gardener and your community is having a coat exchange soon, go through those closets and drawers and help out. If you have a little time, volunteer to help. The reward will be like planting seeds. It may take a while to see the real proof but it will come in great glory.


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where a flock of Canada geese appears heading in the wrong direction if they want to spend Thanksgiving on the Chesapeake.
"Nav-i-gator--check the maps!"

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm

Floor of Leaves

Saturday, November 5, 2011

23.1° with a 3 mph wind and a sharp cold that makes the morning dog walker walk faster. Karl the Wonder Dog was not the least bit enamored with the sky of stars and pulled hard on the leash to get back to the house quickly. He wore his "I don't like this a bit" face as if reminded that the joys of summer have passed. He is correct.

This part of the year is a time of flux for Vermont weather. Some days you really don't have a clue what the weather will bring and the weather forecasters seem to miss their mark often as weather here in Marshfield turns out different than predictions coming from Burlington or even St Johnsbury. Alex and I headed for Littleton, NH yesterday afternoon and when we hit Danville the sleet was pelting the truck at a 45° angle and some parts of the road were white while others were wet with rain. The tops of the White Mountains held up true to their name and Alex and I complained to each other about who would move the recently split wood that needs to be stacked for next year before the snow comes and doesn't leave.

In the world of gardening, I repeat myself a lot about fall opportunities and raking leaves. Few gardeners have really good soil but leaves are a great soil amendment and they have a place in your garden--not all leaves but most leaves. Vermont has a good collection of hardwoods and maples abound. There are ash, black cherry, white and yellow birches and some lesser hardwoods that are useful too. Trees with tannic acid should be avoided if possible because they tend to inhibit some seed germination and plant growth. Those involve oak, chestnut, black walnut, butternut, and sumac.

So even though it's colder out and the winds swirl, rake, vacuum or shred your leaves and get them into a compost situation for the winter or tilled into your gardens now. Some perennial flower growers and many nurseries use shredded leaves now as an annual mulch in lieu of the bark chips that used to be so popular. If you only have time to rake and bag your leaves this fall, stack the bags someplace out of the way and by spring, they will have begun to decompose and they will be perfect for you gardens. If you doubt the benefits of composted leaves it will only take one garden over one season to see the difference. And if you are a vegetable gardener, trips back to the house with baskets of produce will be the obvious result. Give it a try!


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the only noise is the wind. The neighboring rooster down the road will not crow until 8:30 and a neighbor on the other side and up the mountain will not turn his sheep out until almost 9. No critter calls until then.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm
Call Gail for holiday or special occasion gift certificates with pictures of our flowers.

Final Frost

Friday, November 4, 2011

30.9° with light winds here on the mountain this morning. A thick bank of gray clouds is prominent in the east with a band of open, gray-blue sky and then a swirl of fast moving clouds above. It appears that the fronts are changing and last night's sprinkles should turn to this morning's sunshine.

The Vermont Gardener has been absent from his writing desk since the 21st of October as fall chores create more than tired fingers. Here at the house and at the nursery too it's fall clean up time and we had tons of potted plants to line up and cover for winter.

Fall clean up is very important to maintain healthy gardens and a bountiful harvest of flowers and vegetables next season. We try to clean up all the dead foliage each fall to prevent the spread of fungus next spring and also minimize places for bad bugs to winter over. In recent years we have seen more and more "new" bugs and for whatever reason they have ended up in Vermont, we don't want them to stay in our gardens. We have a few different compost piles and good , clean refuse is mixed with leaves while infected or questionable refuse is bagged and headed to the landfill. Since we are diligent about minimal use of any chemicals, this format works well for us.

With the advent of container gardening, we are often asked how to overwinter containers. The biggest mistake gardeners seem to make is not keeping the water out. Freeze-thaw cycles are common through the course of winter and pots that are left upright and uncovered serve as catch basins for rains or melting snow or ice. The top of the plant roots thaw ever so slightly and the water, when it freezes tight again, kills the plants. Another mistake is thinking that placing containers in an unheated garage makes sense. That may work in northern climates but if garages heat to above freezing for even a day and then tumble back below freezing, some loses will occur.

In the old days we always turned each potted plant on its side and then raked some leaves around for insulation. With the advent of good insulating microfilms and insulations, we made the investment and now cover all our pots each year. The insulation cloth is 3/8" thick and is easy to roll out. Some products are available with a 4-6 mil plastic cover bonded to the fabric but we prefer to purchase the plain fabric and then cover with 6 mil plastic. Although clear plastic is often recommended, we have found that black construction grade plastic does not break down as quickly via ultraviolet rays and we can get 4 years out of a roll if we fold it and store it out of the sun over the summer. Box store type lumber yards sell the 6 mil grade for about $70 for a 100 foot roll 20 feet wide and sometimes you can get small rolls or find a friend to split a roll.

As small critters scurry about hiding seeds for winter buffets, spend a little time this fall cleaning up your gardens and covering your container plantings. Take a few black and white photos of your gardens now so you have reference for winter planning/replanting projects. Review your garden magazine subscriptions and prepare to be a winter gardener too. You'll be pleased with yourself knowing you put clean gardens to sleep.


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where a flock of noisy Canada geese just flew over. A fresh cup of coffee and I'm out the door to split wood.

Fall gardening wishes;

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm
We'll always help you grow your green thumb! Write us, call us, ask us!

Tiger Eye Cutleaf Staghorn Sumac

Friday, October 21, 2011

Already 8 PM here on the mountain. My late afternoon nap was interrupted by the ring of the phone and the bark of Karl the Wonder Dog and things have been pretty much a constant interruption since. It was one of those questionable weather days but perfect for outside work for me while Gail stayed inside and caught up on cooking for the weekend. I rose long before daybreak this morning and by noon had been to Montpelier, Barre, and into the woods for wood cutting. I had late lunch at 3 and was snoozing by 4. Retirement is good, interruptions, less so.


For days now I have been thinking about offering some thoughts about sumac. I love to see sumac in the fall and single, colorful sumac leaves, pendant from soft, brown stems, always remind me for some reason of a puffin on the Maine coast, sitting on a seaweed covered rock ledge with a minnow hanging from its beak.

Back here in Vermont, thoughts of sumac include deer munching on the seeds and birds eating away as they prepare for winter. The red of the leaves is a foliage season standout and some folks even pick the drupes--the little red seeds in clusters-- and cook them lightly (no boil) to make a beautiful red liquid for coloring jellies.

I have to laugh when visitors to Vermont catch a glimpse of a row of run-away sumacs along our property line by the Winooski River. The bright red after the first frosts is highly visible from Route 2, two hundred yards away but that doesn't stop the cameras from clicking a bit later. Very few gardeners would ever consider planting this sumac in their own gardens as it has a bad reputation for spreading underground and turning up everywhere. It will never be as nasty as Japanese knotweed but it has a manner of latching on to your land and your neighbor's that conjures up a word of caution.

The plant world is ever changing and each year more and more plants are offered up, some new plants, some old plants with new names. Three years ago while visiting the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay I noticed an impressive planting of sumac. The plants were 4 feet tall and not quite that wide when I visited and the bright yellows showed prominently from the raised planting. I was impressed as its color, texture, height and width made me visualize lots of planting opportunities. Trouble was, at that point I knew the plant no better than those who included it in the garden. (My opinion, no offense offered)

This sumac was Rhus typhina 'Bailtiger' also known as Tiger Eye Sumac, Tigers Eyes Sumac, Tiger Eye Cutleaf Sumac and Tiger Eye Cutleaf Staghorn Sumac. Plant names are confusing that way and you can often be wrong with a name for no good reason. In this case, the "eyes" don't have it as it's Tiger Eye.


As you can see from the picture up top, the plant is a standout and an attention getter. At the botanical garden it was planted alongside a mass of rudbeckias and the contrast was captivating. My mention of it here is not to discourage but to caution you that planting 'Bailtiger' will require work to keep it in control. In my opinion, this is not a plant to encourage neighborly friendships and to end this thought I'll just leave a portion of Robert Frost's poem Mending Wall (1915). You figure out the rest.

There where it is we do not need the wall;
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, "Good fences make good neighbors."

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where it's 46° and quiet, save for a 4 mph breeze. If you listen you can hear the big critters of the forest crunching apples in the back meadow.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm
Ask, and we'll help you grow your green thumb!

Fall Cleanup Finds

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

A noisy, rainy night but things have calmed this morning. Now 42° with a 4 mph wind that is fairly constant. Already 6:15 but morning light will be slow in coming this morning. Even Karl the Wonder Dog wants no part of this morning after listening to the rain all night.

This is clean up time at the flower farm and Steve spent the day working with me. He finished the last of the fence taken out by Hurricane Irene and once again I said that if I have to replace the fence again, a For Sale sign will be standing by Route 2. Some people laugh at me but those who know me well know I don't waste a lot of words when I am serious. When the state river engineer finally showed up and said to call again when I had lost "significant" land I knew that "we are green in Vermont" is just not true. The government comment that Vermont is business friendly is just not true too because friends of business and real conservationists don't make comments like this. Take a look at aerial pictures of the new delta at the mouth of the Winooski River in Lake Champlain and you'll see why I think we need to do a better job curbing the flow of pollutants into the lake. Think this through and share some comments with me as maybe there's something I am missing besides fence, plants, soil, sleep and money. (Senator Leahy's 20 million dollar earmark to study the impact of Irene on the lake is an interesting use of money, but as you should now know, I am very disappointed with how we spend our tax money.)

Steve started planting a sedum garden for us and it should set in good between now and hard freeze. There are about 15 different sedums from the taller Autumn Joy, Matrona and Purple Emperor types down to Angelica, Voodoo and the lower types. We have a nice start on a collection of sempervivums too and I intend to expand that this spring. Come take a look next spring/early summer. If you're bored this winter, join the North American Rock Garden Society and learn what sempervivens and sedums are gaining popularity as rock gardens return to favor in New England.

As Steve and Gail worked along, I cleaned up old sunflowers and other annual plants. During the process I came upon this wriggling pupa of a tomato hornworm moth. Although we don't grow vegetables, visitors always ask for advice and there was a lot of discussion this year about the giant green tomato hornworms that most people just don't like. I don't know the cycle that insects go through as populations explode or are minimal but I know we had quite a crop on the few tomatoes we grew this year for the first time. At some time I'll have to study these some more to determine what other crops such as tomatoes they seek out.

As I looked over the pupa I wondered if Steven Spielberg and the Dreamworks Studios folks ever used one of these as a model. Check the head area. They also go by the names hawk moth and hummingbird moth as they mature and sport wings again.

As you complete cleanup at your place, keep an eye out for signs of insects. If you find an especially good website or book to help identify your finds, let us all know.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where Karl just suggested we go for a walk. I'm ready!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook at Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm

Everyone Needs Safe Food!

Sunday, October 16, 2011
Blog Action Day

44° here on the mountain with a 6 mph wind that offers up gusts with much greater speeds. At 5:15 AM it's darker than a pocket and I can hear rain on the standing seam roof. Karl the Wonder Dog is laying on the rug in front of the soap stone wood stove, still warm from last night's fire. He snores loud snores for his size and occasionally does dog mumbles during obvious dog dreams.

Today is Blog Action Day, a world wide event that brings together comments from around the world about a single subject. I try to participate but haven't made it every year. This year's topic is food and there probably could not be a more important consideration after the disasters that have occurred not just in Vermont but world wide this year.

Vermont is an agrarian state and it has been one since the early 1700s when new villages formed and farms sprang up in river valleys and on mountain tops. By the end of World War II tiny Vermont had over +10,000 dairy farms, cows were still hand milked and milk was shipped to processing plants in 40 quart milk cans. Unpasteurized milk was the norm and rural neighbors took their jugs every couple days to farms for a fresh supply and often added a couple dozen eggs or a couple pounds of homemade butter to the journey back home. Fast forward to 2011 and there are well under 1000 dairy farms in Vermont, many well automated, some organic, most not, some as small as a dozen cows, some exceeding 400 milkers. Things have changed!

Along with the dairies are CSAs, Community Supported Agriculture opportunities at their finest. These are growers and producers who offer vegetables, fruits, flowers, cheeses, meats, trout....anything you can grow, raise, produce or preserve offered up for an annual price over the summer season or more recently almost year round. In Vermont there is an extensive and growing number of CSAs but their popularity has now reached out to even the largest cities. Vermonter growers now travel weekly to places such as New York City and city folks have organized CSAs, farmers markets and traveling markets that stop at apartment complexes and senior housing facilities to extend the reach of good food for everyone.

Discussions about food have broadened of late and concern for safe food is real big. It should be. Although family dairy farms continue to diminish and large, bazillion cow farms replace them, we still have to be vigilant about the food we offer up for sale. Bigger doesn't always mean better. Up the river from my village of Marshfield is Cabot, Vermont, the home of Cabot Creamery. This is a milk cooperative that buys dairy farmers milk at a good price and turns out a variety of award winning cheeses that make cheese lovers smile. But Cabot Creamery is only one of many cheese producers in Vermont. In fact cheese is so big in Vermont that the Vermont Cheese Council has prepared a marketing scheme named The Vermont Cheese Trail to help residents and visitors learn about all the great cheeses we produce in Vermont.

But CSAs, great farmers and special cheeses is only part of Vermont and safe food is dear to Vermonters. Also in Cabot is a young writer named Ben Hewitt. Ben is one of those off the grid kind of guys, a family man who farms about 40 acres where dairy, beef, pork, lamb, vegetables and berries prevail. Ben's first book, The Town That Food Saved told about Hardwick, Vermont and how food and people became so important to each other in a struggling Vermont town that was stepping boldly into the future. I liked the book a lot and you will too but perhaps his latest book is spot on to my title Everyone Needs Safe Food!

Making Supper Safe: One Man's Quest To Learn The Truth About Food Safety
is Ben's second book. It informs and scares at the same time. It's not a Halloween scary book it's a "do things right or get sick or die" kind of book. It contains tales, research, and discussions that are so accurate that a few times I stopped reading and went to the kitchen and rewashed fruit and vegetables from the grocery store. It's a book to read and it offers some clear thinking about some things that need to change.

Here in Vermont we are a small state of 630,000 people. But we love our farms and farmers and we love buying locally produced food. The food needs to be safe and we are on track here. No matter where you live or how you eat, remember that everyone needs safe food and part of that experience is knowing where your food comes from and how to handle it. Those might be topics you have overlooked but try reading Making Supper Safe and I'll bet you sees things differently.



Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where a couple stars still twinkle outside my office window. Canada geese compare breakfast notes and talk loudly on the pond, waiting patiently for first light so they can become airborne and continue their journey south. I'm off to the kitchen to make an apple cake for breakfast...with local apples, butter, milk, eggs...most everything local but the cinnamon and nutmeg. Be safe, eat safe, everyone needs safe food!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm

Voles and Moles

Saturday, October 8, 2011

The various daylily and hosta listservs have had questions about controlling moles and voles in the garden. Here is a post I offered from my experience.

>As cold weather approaches, I always remember vole and mole control with a technique someone from the hosta list mentioned years ago. I take 2” diameter by 2 foot pieces of PVC pipe and shake a couple ounces of d-Con granular into the middle of the pipe. Then I lay these flat throughout the gardens and also among the potted plants at the nursery. By using granular instead of pieces of the bars, the critters can’t conveniently carry big pieces away and leave them someplace a dog, cat, kid, etc might pick them up. Tractor Supply sells Tomcat brand and it’s cheaper and can be purchased in buckets of 1 ounce packages which makes it easy. I use an assortment of leftover and recycled pipe but it’s not that expensive anyway. I wash the pipes clean each spring and let them dry and then bag them up for the next year.

I am a strong advocate of milky spore to eliminate a food source of Japanese beetle grubs. Urban areas are often difficult because neighbors are often possessed to use beetle traps and the pheromones are so strong in those they draw in beetles from miles away so your work becomes less effective.

I have already notice way too many voles this fall and know we have a problem building. I am also finding some very long tailed mice I have never seen before. I have seen “pieces of mouse” in the morning so I figure we have one or more owls close by now that find them tasty.


George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm

Fall Pig Roast

Just in from a walk with Karl the Wonder Dog. The morning is awakening with raspberry red sunlight pushing from the east to brighten the day. The noisiest part of the morning is the crunch, crunch, crunch of the maple leaves which are rapidly leaving naked branches everywhere. Peak foliage in this area was last Monday and Tuesday. The colors are still nice but just not the same, but that's no reason not to get in the car and head into Vermont to enjoy the beauty.

Fall is the quickest season for me. My list of things to do is ever so long but frosty cold mornings and short afternoons have a way of making things speed up. There are all kinds of special events in Vermont in the fall and it's not easy squeezing everything in. This weekend will be very busy with parties, music, crafts and great food everywhere. I am sure there will also be many, many fund raisers as local towns still try to rebuild from the waters of two, really three, devastating summer storms.

A couple years ago we received a notice from our insurance agent that if we joined the Vermont Farm Bureau, we would get a discount on our insurance. We have had Nationwide Insurance since 1989 but with a house, a business, car, truck, farm equipment, workers comp, etc., the premiums were noticeable and anything to bring them down sounded great. We joined.

Nationwide is a great company although admittedly we have little record of claims to back that up. In fact I actually felt guilty calling when my brand new truck met a flying deer one morning several years ago. But the fact that our agent talks to us all the time gives us confidence that we really are protected, most flood related issues expected. And during the floods beginning back in May, our agent was regular with excellent email postings of all manner of important info for all various farmers in Vermont, flower farmers included.

With Farm Bureau membership comes the opportunity for meetings and decision making but we were always too busy. But last week we received an announcement that even tired, end-of-season flower farmers couldn't pass up. A free pig roast. The Washington Country Farm Bureau to which we belong was planning a pig roast in Berlin, Vermont at Fresh Tracks Farm on Route 12. We had heard of Fresh Tracks through the Vermont Grape and Wine Council so the chance to visit a vineyard and a winery and have a pork roast too was too much to pass up. It also meant we could attend our first meeting and listen to other farmers. The pork was being provided by Gaylord Farm so that would give us a chance to learn about another farm. All the foods were Vermont grown and that made the event even more special!

As we drove home, we were really pleased me made the effort to go. Yes, the food was terrific and I ate too much pork and not enough baked beans, but what we learned about farming and how farmers were impacted by the floods was most forceful. Yes, we had personally lost fences and plants, fertilizer and some land in the floods but we didn't lose 30 acres like one farmer and end up with a bed of useless gravel, or buildings or equipment or an entire season's worth of food or feeds crops like others. There was another reminder to check corn carefully as corn that had been flooded might well be full of sand and gravel and impact on livestock and machinery. Corn might look ok but was possibly/probably full of mold and much of it was not fit to be eaten by any animal. The list of cautions continued but it all translated to examples of what makes farming an everyday challenge.

As you get out an about in the next week looking at Vermont foliage, keep an eye out for farmers. If you get a chance, thank them for doing a great job and being there no matter what bad times they experience. And support your local farmer because they're hard workers and they bring you food you can trust. It's the way to go.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the sun is sparkling off the frosted grasses. The temperature will rise by noon and it will be a beautiful day. Enjoy Vermont, it is special for many reasons!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm
We are open this week dividing daylilies and pulling annual flowers. Stop and see us!

Cleome Continues

Saturday, October 1, 2011

It's already after 5 PM and daylight is dimming. The afternoon is windless, 41°, and the rain pours out of the sky, heavy at first, then lighter, then heavy again. Gail and I were just talking about the Groton Chicken Pie Supper. The first seating is probably lined up right now and I expect there is an abundance of colored umbrellas offering obvious contrast to the fall foliage that surrounds the town.

During the last few days of September and first week of October, Vermont towns often offer foliage dinners, Many of these are booked a year in advance and the Groton event is no doubt sold out. Vendors and local folk set up along Route 302 selling homemade goods and foods, the historical society is open for tours and local businesses like an excellent little forge and a mead producer are open for demonstrations and sales.

This is the time of year when we should expect a killing frost. Some years we have already had a frost but so far things have been mild. That is supposed to change soon. Two annual flowers that I enjoy right up until frost are nicotiana and cleome. For some reason we never planted any nicotiana this year but the cleomes have been special.

Many visitors to Vermont Flower Farm ask for help identifying cleomes and are surprised they are annuals. Some people try to convince us to dig a up a few and although they have a shallow root system, we always decline the request despite the pleading.


The seed industry has done an excellent job offering cleome in heights from a little less than a foot to 5-6 feet tall. They have become a popular show flower and smaller varieties have been bred for use in containers and window boxes.

This summer I saw a very nice planting of a smaller flowered cleome named Inncleosr. It's pictured just below here planted with a backdrop of very tall ironweed. The surrounding garden included several colors of perennial asters and rudbeckias too. The combination was striking and I could visualize a beautiful vase on the sideboard at home.

As our outside gardening season draws to a close, it's a good idea to make some permanent notes someplace of flowers, shrubs and trees you want to add next year. If you haven't yet, consider cleomes.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the only noise is the rain on the roof.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa.
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm

Coloring Up

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Layers of grey clouds slide over patches of blue and white as the morning tries to sort out what kind of a day it will present. 57° and windy with movement from 2 to 6 mph and back to quiet again. Maples drop leaves already and the bright reds and oranges we all love do not seem to predominate this year. Strange summer, early fall.

The gardens change this time of year and less experienced gardeners have already given up the opportunity for color. As the last monarch butterflies go from flower to flower loading up on food to start their journey, wild asters of all heights predominate the fields and roadways. In the gardens the cultivated asters prevail and they are a very low maintenance, welcomed addition to a garden's color palette.

Butterflies in abundance enjoy the various actaeas that offer long, bottle brush flowers this time of year. The plant's fragrance lures in all sorts of insects and it is fun to just stand and see who shows up to display their bright colors.

Annuals hold on for their last breaths not knowing when that hard frost will strike them down. The tall Verbena bonariensis that I love so much as a cut flower still stands tall and like the actaea, it lures in butterflies. The other day I picked a large bouquet of various hydrangeas and I put them in an old watering can with spikes of verbena for accent. Lots of compliments on a very quick and simple arrangement.


Within the gardens, the late daylilies still bloom and the zinnias and ageratum such as Tall Horizon offer slightly faded colors. The zinnias dull out as time passes but they are a welcome addition to a table vase. A friend brought over a nice pink daylily named Scatter Brain the other day. I assume it was tagged correctly but it was fully budded and just starting to bloom. Here at the house the ligularias still offer an assortment of bright yellows and oranges and the hostas in the lower garden senecse and turn bright yellow.

Try to get into the Northeast Kingdom if you have some spare time today or tomorrow. Rain is coming and the foliage is peak up that way but it won't last long with heavy rains. The little kettle ponds around here like Bailey, Marshfield, Goslant, Osmore, and Kettle offer incredible photo opportunities and Osmore, viewed or pictured from the picnic area on Owls Head just off the parking area is special. The climb to the top of Owls Head will make you ooh and aah but it might make you pant a little too. Give it a try. If you cannot climb, drive to Cabot Plains and from the car you can see views you may never know existed. Stops for apples, cheese, wine, maple syrup, homemade goodies--it's all part of fall in Vermont. Lacking anything else, stop by Vermont Flower Farm where Gail still has some very good sales items and will always help you grow your green thumb.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where a noisy flock of Canada Geese just honked by.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm

Fall Anenomes

Sunday, September 25, 2011

62° here on the mountain, dripping wet from last night's rain but quiet, save for the loons at Peacham Pond and the rooster down the road. My walk with Karl the Wonder Dog was uneventful but after the heavy rain, the critters of the woods are slow to stir.

Yesterday was an interesting day here at the house. The State of Vermont marketing folks have yet to gain my trust and yesterday in conjunction with the Agency of Transportation they pulled a nice one. Vermont has two major east-west roads and Route 2 is one of them and it misses our house by exactly three miles. Yesterday the highway folks closed part of Route 2 so they could work on repairs resulting from Irene. We'll be happy to see the work by the Marshfield Reservoir and the bridge over by Roy Folsom's farm replaced with a real bridge and fewer potholes but the way they pulled this off could have been handled better. September should be when Vermont has a bazillion tourists coming to see our fall foliage and help our businesses but because of so much national media on the destruction, travel is down. Yesterday didn't help.

The highway staff erected a small detour sign in Marshfield village pointing to Cabot and left it at that. At the bottom of RT 232 they closed off Route 2 so anyone who missed the sign in the village kept coming until they reached the barricade. Typical response was to turn just before the barricade and presumably turn again at some point to get around the problem area. Only problem was there were never any signs and the highway folks wanted everyone to use the Cabot Road. The marking was small, poorly placed, not identified as a problem in advance and just plain incomplete.


On an average day, Route 2 has 12,000 vehicles worth of traffic. Yesterday a bundle of these ended up going by our house on Peacham Pond Road. You had to see it to believe it. I thought something was strange around 5 AM when it seemed like a lot of people were going fishing at the pond. It was too dark to see that I was not seeing boats and trailers but just plain lost people. By 6 when the first person stopped for assistance, I knew what the problem was. Two men were heading to Maine moose hunting and their question to me was "Where'd Route 2 go?" By nightfall we were still giving directions and a lot of these folks were out of state tourists trying to reach their accommodations. This is the second time the State crew has done this but this is the time when struggling businesses need happy customers, not irritated, lost, confused travelers.

Our governor is probably getting ready to go someplace right now to shake hands and hold babies but at some point he and his staff need to show some real concern about business in Vermont. One day's worth of half empty rooms, or a parking lot empty of cars translates to a long winter and pressures some businesses to cease. Many Vermont businesses are that close to failure right now. For years now there has been a philosophy that micro management is wrong and that managers should be left to make their own decisions. That's fine with me as long as the person calling the shots doesn't forget everyone that makes Vermont the great place it is. The Governor needs to crank some of these people up a little.

On a more colorful note, gardeners unfamiliar with fall anenomes might consider them. Several colors, a great cut flower, and a range of heights. They must have a fragrance I cannot detect as the butterflies love them!

Foliage in the Northeast Kingdom is changing nicely and there's lots to see. Bragg Farm down in East Montpelier has had a summer of road and bridge challenges too so if you're down Route 14 way, stop by for a maple creamee and some syrup. They have a fine business and it's a nice place to stop. The Cabot Creamery is always busy but this time of year more people get a chance to stop. Take the tour if you can as it tells a lot about cheese making. Plenty of cheeses to sample and many Vermont products to buy. Burtt's Apple Orchard is open and the apple picking is special this year. This is one of Vermont's younger orchards but the people are great and the produce is going fast. Try some Honey Crisp apples if you haven't yet and bag enough fresh Macs for a nice pie or apple cake. And if you get tired or just plain lost like many did yesterday, slide into the Marshfield Inn. No guarantees but they may have a room for the night or at very least will point you in another directions. Every one of these businesses care about Vermont and like visiting here at Vermont Flower Farm, you'll always leave with a smile and a welcome to return.


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where Mrs Doe Deer and the twins have just entered the field below my office window. Breakfast of fresh grass and late blooming daylilies! More coffee for me!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm
Stop at VFF where we'll help you grow your green thumb!

Dividing Daylilies

Dividing Daylilies

A quiet morning here on the mountain. There's a light wind and it's still raining. The walk with Karl the Wonder Dog was short as the rain pelted down through the coloring maple leaves and leaves joined rain drops, falling to the ground. I'm packing up in a few minutes to head for the nursery and get working. Sun is supposed to reappear by noon but I cannot wait for drier weather before taking on more refencing. Two floods in one summer knocked down lots of fence and it has to go back up as deer are moving more and I don't want them to get used to a new buffet at Vermont Flower Farm.

This time of year we clean up the daylily fields by cutting down the leaves and spent scapes and weeding as best we can before rototilling between the rows. Yesterday I noticed that Fire King, which started blooming August 1st, is still blooming in the garden and so is one of my favorites, Chrystalline Pink Both are pictured here. At the house a number of Olallie daylilies are still blooming too although the flowers are getting smaller now as the end of the bloom cycles nears. There are other daylilies scattered about in minor bloom but to see them you have to walk the rows.

Some people have trouble making themselves divide daylilies. We do it all the time and we dig and divide daylilies until about Columbus Day here when the soil temperature drops below 50°. We dig the clumps with shovels and spade forks by digging around the root ball and popping it out. With older, mature clumps that may weigh over a hundred pounds we use a six foot pry bar after digging around them. It's not always easy and it's good to do some stretching before you start. Once the clumps are out we hose them down with water so they are clean like in this next picture. Then we divide them down to the size we want. Two fans go into pots for next years sales, single fans get lined out in the gardens to grow on for later sales.....that kind of thinking.

Some daylilies split easily with your hands but others require a knife or other cutting instrument. I buy el cheapo knives from Wally World--knives like bread knives with serrated edges or the heavy bladed cutting knives. These are about $3 each and actually last a long time. I recommend to folks that they be ruthless and cut away but just the same, some gardeners just cannot make themselves do the cutting. Be strong, give it a try!



Gotta scoot. Much to do today. Stop and say hello if you are passing along Route 2.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where a flock of noisy, communicative Canada geese are passing overhead. We know their message!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm
Visit us, we'll help you grow a green thumb!!

Quick Journey

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Just 6 AM and it's dark but calm. Karl the Wonder Dog and I just returned from our morning walk and neither of us like the lack of sunshine and the fast moving cars heading from the pond en route to work. Road travelers on back roads are much less courteous than they used to be and I don't like it. A couple years back I was having a nice conversation with a neighbor who had stopped to say hello and one of these "get out of my way, I'm important" people yelled for me to move. I haven't been back to one of the annual Peacham Pond Association gatherings since. I don't need superficial friendliness. No reason to speed along like this in life but we have an assortment of folks now who live in a world of fast travel and money.

The Vermont Gardener is like a lot of gardeners and he needs a break once in a while. We just returned last night from a few days in Maine. The sun prevailed and we had a very special trip which I will describe over the next few days. We started in Rockland at the Farnsworth Museum viewing the Wyeth paintings which are dear to us. Then we walked the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay and then meandered down the coast to Wells where Gail and Alex walk miles of beaches in between reading books and magazines to the point we have come to be known as "The Readers". You see many folks book reservations at the same summer places each year so over 20 plus years we have met a lot of people who we only rejoin annually on the beach.

I have a lot to share over the next week but want to get these pictures out so my friend Dianna can get an idea about garden arbors. These images are from a new arbor at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. Although I have the equipment to use a mortise and tenon form of construction, this one was put together with screws and nails. It's made of cedar and has some very nice qualities to it. By using old fashioned mortise and tenon construction, the arbor would be stronger. I like the way the builder bent cedar layers to break up the shape and this is a real standout. View the images and share your thoughts with us. Perhaps you have made one or more yourselves, have a time saving technique or an idea to make for a stronger product. I'll be back soon with more to share.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where a couple loons call out long sentences I cannot translate. Karl is begging for another walk now that it's getting light. Have to get going!!


George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm
We're still open at VFF but by chance or appointment. Call 426-3505 or the nursery at 426-3506 to be sure.

Flooded and Fruitless

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

51° and windless here on the mountain since 4 AM. The heavy rain continues to beat on the roof and although I would like to go check the rain gauge to see how much rain has fallen since 6:30 PM, I can't make myself step out into the mess. Even Karl the Wonder Dog is usually begging to go out by the time he hears me walk back to the kitchen for a second cup of coffee but this morning he is buried deeply into the bed clothes, disinterested in the weather.

What a summer, what a week! Irene flooded our lowers gardens again and the fences were flattened and ripped apart. I waited three days for the soil to dry enough to stand on it and not sink in and Monday I began to disassemble the mess and figure out how many materials I need to make repairs again. As soon as the sun begins to rise I'll head to the nursery and get an idea of what happened last night. I don't think we received as much rain as last Sunday with Irene and certainly hope not as I did not pull the pump again. The water pump is about 26 feet above the Winooski River bed but is in a narrow part of the river that comes up quickly. The pump and pump house have not been swallowed up by the waters yet and I prefer to keep it that way.

Earlier this summer Gail signed us up for Vern Grubinger's Vegetable and Berry Growers listserv at UVM. It has turned out to be a tremendous resource but of late it has been a tad depressing with comments about what growers have lost. Growers are very generous too and many are offering surplus produce to their counterparts to help everyone at lower elevations get through this weather mess. What is amazing is the destruction people have experienced and the amount of food they had to destroy because of contamination by flooding. The amount of land that is missing is incredible too.

Monday I pulled all our tomatoes and although it was a lot of work for me, it was nothing like what a tomato grower has experienced. I had been growing half a dozen Johnny's tomato varieties as an experiment. I was going to erect a high tunnel greenhouse and the tomatoes I was trialing were greenhouse friendly. Just prior to the floods, the tomatoes were doing what they should and although I planted them a little late to begin with, the production was outstanding and the volume of fruit was significant.

Bending over to pick a tomato or two after the flood is easy but what growers repeated time and again was despite the good looking fruit, dump it all because of contamination. Warnings included wearing face masks and gloves when pulling crops because of the assortment of chemicals that adhere to plants after being submerged. Picking a nice ripe tomato and rubbing it "clean" on your shirt seems easy enough but the chemical and bacterial adherents are the problem. Pulling the plants created a cloud of dust and chemicals that clearly raises safety concerns.

A grower spoke of dumping $50,000 in vegetables and said that having second thoughts about it prevailed in his own mind until he sat by the river and watched what was floating by and over his fields. Gasoline, fuel oil, two town septic systems, millions of gallons of foul water, all forms of household, agricultural and commercial residues, dead animals, tons of manures and fertilizers. The brief summary was sufficient to forget about the nice looking tomatoes and just pitch them into the truck for transport out of the garden.


As I pulled plant after plant, I noticed that the tomato hornworms were still easting away but their numbers were quite small. As I pulled a variety known as Defiant I stopped for a minute thinking about the name and the strength of the plant. Each plant probably weighed 30 pounds, often more, including the plant and the ripened or ripening fruit. Despite being pushed over into a 45° angle by the flood waters, the plants were firmly stuck to the ground. But they were covered in layers of silt and miscellaneous "whatever" and were unsafe to use for consumption so they had to go.

As you clean up any gardens, personal or commercial that may have been flooded over, wear gloves and face protection and don't try to save, eat, sell or donate the food. It's just not right. This is not easy but it has to happen. Next year will be better.



Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the darkness is broken only by the blinking green light on the electric fence that clicks on, protecting our honeybees from hungry bears. Click---click---click.



George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm

Late Summer Fireworks

Friday, September 2, 2011

55° here on the mountain this morning, 2-3 mph shifting breezes and dark clouds moving over quickly. Even at 5:30 it's still too dark to make a judgment on what today will bring. Karl the Wonder Dog barked loudly at exactly 4 AM when I jumped out of bed and he moved quickly into the warm, vacated space. Boy does he bug me when he does that! I scurried around the house as any arthritic 63 year old gardener does, turning on outside light after outside light--we have three--trying to detect the source of the unrest. By the time I circled back to the kitchen and grabbed the coffee pot, I heard the sounds of dog snores in the bedroom. Did I say "Boy does Karl bug me?"

Now an hour and a half later Karl and I made a trip outside and on the return walk to the house heard a very loud crash in the woods. When you live in rural Vermont you learn the "deer crash", the "bear crash" and the "moose crash" sounds like a pro and this was a moose, the loudest, more continuous of the sounds.

Late August is the time when a really coarse perennial flower blooms for us. Ligularia. Many gardeners do not like it because it can be a magnet for slugs and bugs but planted in the distance a bit there is nothing better than the scapes of bright yellow and orange on flowers of various sizes, shapes and colors.

These pictures are of Othello and Desdemona with Othello blooming first. We also have two taller types with multiple scapes and small yellow flowers, and hundreds of hybrids of our entire collection. I have tried the one with the common name Leopard Plant because of its yellow spotted leaf. It lasted 3 years but didn't make it but that was not bad for a zone 5 plant struggling in the wrong environment.

Ligularias love damp feet and they will respond with a "2 o'clock droop" if sufficient water is not available to maintain their massive plant structure. Their leaves and stems are large and the leaves transpire quickly so soil must hold moisture.

You would think by now that I would have information on what happens when you cut them for use in arrangements. I can't really remember that we have ever even taken them from the garden as cuts but I bet they'd be special in late summer arrangements. If you give this a try, shake them well as bees in August are looking for a source of food and ligularias are the place they visit a lot.

I think I'll pick a bouquet today and take it to the nursery for the table. We have gallon pots of several varieties for sale and I'd like to see more of them move down the road from our garden to yours. Give it a thought and try to stop by in the next few days. Labor Day is our last official day to be open although we are open many days by chance or appointment through foliage time.


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where daybreak finds Gail heading out the door with Karl for another walk. In an hour I'll be at the nursery reinstalling the water pump I had to remove Monday morning as flood waters rose 25 feet in the river and lapped nastily at our little pump house. The joys of being a farmer! Be well, come visit!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm

Lifting Spirits

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

45° this morning. Last night's red sky has offered up a clear, cool morning and yesterday's breeze took away some of the sogginess that came with each step as Irene left us with almost 7" of rain here on the mountain. This morning's walk with Karl the Wonder Dog was uneventful but the sound of the water going over the dam at Peacham Pond and down the river to Marshfield Reservoir is thunderous and freight train-like. There's a sense of contradiction there as no trains are running in Vermont because over three hundred miles of track have somehow been compromised. The media has offered full coverage on what has become a disaster of bigger dimension than the floods of 1927. Gail's mom once told us of standing by the Winooski River in Chittenden County and watching cows float by but this year river watchers saw cars and houses and trailers and covered bridges.

All make of farmers have been devastated by the recent floods. The summer began in late May with some very serious flooding but Irene included every farmer in Vermont on her recent visit. Yes, there are some who fared better than others but everyone experienced damage, some so difficult that thoughts of career change or retirement prevail. It seemed to me as if I had just barely begun to catch up on the destruction of May 26th when Irene hit. Yesterday when it was over Gail and I went down to the nursery as soon as we confirmed that Route 2 had been reopened. It was a repeat of May only worse. I took a bunch of pictures and oddly as I scanned the SD Card later, no pictures were saved. Maybe that was good as we've seen enough for this year. Gail went back to the nursery later in the day to work but I needed a break from disaster and headed into the woods to cut woood and work on some new trails I am building. By the end of the day news reports and emails from other farmers gave all too adequate notice that we had done very well compared to farmers who had lost everything.

For us it is rebuild time and we will continue on. I am trying to connect with the correct agency to get some help with river bank management. Vermont is an interesting state and there is a group that is adament that planting trees and shrubs maintains the river in times like this but it just isn't so. Spring run off is consistently more of a problem than ever before and the rivers in some places have filled with silt and rock and the river beds have risen. At our place the Winooski River makes two right hand turns in a hundred yards and that prevents the massive water flow, pushing it instead onto our land. A new course is growing and if I cannot get some help changing the flow, much of our land and a couple acres of flowers will be lost. Sunday night Green Moutnain Power began plans for an emergency release of water from the Marshfield Reservoir. They think as a company they did a good job managing this emergency but they failed miserably in communication and management skills. Had the dam failed, Central Vermont on to Winooski and Burlington would be a different place today.

As the sun gets higher this morning, Gail is already packing for her daily trip to the nursery. I have banking to do this morning and need a few small engine repair parts while I am in Barre. Other farmers are going about their chores. Some are missing animals, equipment, land, or buildings. Some are very discouraged, most are working right now as you read this. No matter what you do today, stop for a minute and reflect on where your food supply comes from and what it takes to get food to your table. Give credit to farmers. Stop and say hello to neighboring farmers, CSAs, and offer encouragement. Encouraging smiles go a long way!


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the honey bees are flying well this morning to the background sound of ravens discussing breakfast above the compost pile and a pileated woodpecker working up breakfast on the maple outside my office window. Life goes on! Be happy!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm
We will always help you grow your green thumb!

Rainbow Lights

Friday, August 26, 2011

Still overcast here on the mountain but the weatherman says the sky will clear soon and we will have a couple nice days before the impact of Irene is obvious to us. Rain estimates over Vermont are now 2" to 7" and that is more encouraging to me having seen what the rains of late May did to our nursery. Storms can change, for better or worse, so we will wait and see.

Mrs Doe Deer and her fawn just passed by my office window but once again I was not awake enough to catch a photo image of them together. The fawn is energetic and has the courage to leave Mom at some distance before running back, checking and leaving again. The doe raises her head often to see where her kid has gone to and I notice she is watching behind herself a lot so perhaps she hears a coyote or "unlocal" dog. They are a pleasure to watch.

Swiss chard has been around for years and I have to admit that my childhood memories of it were not favorable. That has all changed now and like beets, I love the stuff. For several years now colorful mixes have been available, some called Bright Lights, Rainbow Mix, or Bright Lights Improved. Although vegetable gardeners plant them to eat, flower gardeners have been mixing them more and more in flower gardens and in container plantings. They last through the frosts of early fall and add a color and texture that other plants cannot offer. Consider them in the future and if you don't like the look--eat 'em!!

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where sunlight brightens the still-dark sky just a shade. I have to get going here. Alex is 19 today!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm
Still helping you grow your green thumb!