The Vermont Gardener

Dealing With Spring Freezes

noreply@blogger.com (George Africa) — Tue, 21 May 2013 11:56:00 +0000

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

55.2° now after a noisy night of pounding rain and winds. Things quieted down just after 4:30 this morning and the lighter rain was a welcome change. Karl the Wonder Dog greatly dislikes rain and thunder and he is now settled in beside me snoring away as if it's just another day in Vermont.

We have been busy at Vermont Flower Farm and many things are coming together at the same time. Worker bee Michael finished up his third year at Castleton and started back with us yesterday and Gail was dancing in great glory to have a helper other than me. Michael and I will work together from 9-noon every day for the next couple weeks before I go to Maine and we will get the daylily beds weeded out so we can begin bringing down the last of the daylilies from the house. Still over a hundred-- I think many more--different daylilies left to move, divide and line out for sales. They are 6-7-8 year old clumps so there are a lot of plants.

During the past week we experienced our typical spring freezes. These are scary days when you have no real idea when the wind will stop and how low the temperatures will fall. The freezes always occur after repetitive days of higher than normal temperature. Our experiences have not often been good ones as anything below 28° will freeze new hosta growth back to the ground and make them useless for sale until late July or early August depending on the summer. We say this from experience because covering a couple thousand square feet of pots as well as the 18,000 square foot display area is just not feasible.

So last week when very low temperatures were predicted, Gail pulled out a quart of a product she purchased a year back and put on the shelf "Just in case". It is named FreezePruf and it's made by EcoLogic, the same company that manufactures the Liquid Fence that many of you may use for deer and rodent control. Anyway while I was away Gail mixed it up and sprayed everything in the display gardens and all the potted hostas. Then she covered every potted hosta with whatever she could find from shade cloth still available since it's too early to install it on the shade houses, to plastic tarps.

The first night the temperature at the house was 26° and I had serious worries. The second night was 25° at our friend Jerry's across the road and up the hill so I knew the hosta display garden would be lower than that. Miracle of miracles the FreezePruff worked and the only losses were leaves that the sprayer missed or leaves that had come in direct contact with the tarps. The tarps conducted the cold and froze the leaves in any place that touched.

Now it's been 3-4 days of waiting to see what the real result is as freezing sometimes takes a bit to really show. Regardless of the time, things look very good and at this point I am really pleased with Gail's purchase. I will not know 100% on this for another week but if what I see now continues, I want to research the product a little more. An anti freeze for my truck is understandable but for plants--I'm still learning.

Time moves on here and I have to get to the farm and get working. If you are out and about over the next few days, stop by and visit. Things are looking great and we hope they continue.

Best gardening wishes from the mountain above Peacham Pond where loons are calling.

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 always here to help you grow your green thumb!

Diggin' and Dividin'

noreply@blogger.com (George Africa) — Tue, 07 May 2013 10:37:00 +0000

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Already 6 AM and I am supposed to be at the flower farm watering, digging plants, dividing and repotting. This time of year we are very busy and this year is no exception. We finished with the last of the new plants yesterday but do have two more shipments arriving Thursday and Friday. I don't like to have a lot going on during Mothers Day weekend because people are out and about and usually have lots of questions but freight companies send shipments when trucks are full now so your choice on arrival times is slim to "here it comes".

Gail and I bought in a number of perennials to line out in the gardens for use as cut flowers and also for direct sale to customers as the plants mature. The stock all looked quite good and should make for more interesting bouquets come July. The caveat is I have to keep things watered well as Mother Nature is not helping well in the east. Up top I have pictured Savlia nemorosa Caradonna, a meadow sage I really like. I have 72 to line out today and have to get some of the two-three year old plants potted.

I planted Aconitum Napellus, a nice monkshood (also very poisonous, so don't eat any!!), Helianthus Lemon Queen, a 5 foot sunflower type and Campanula Border Blue. Blues and pale yellows work well together and these all hold up well when cut. I lined out a row of Achillea Summer Wine. Yes, this is a yarrow but it holds up forever in arrangements and adds a different texture. I planted three sneezeweeds--funny name for Helenium-- for August bloom and I am trying a couple astrantias and an Anchusa Loddon Royalist. Most of these are planted over by the river so if you come visit, ask and we'll point out where so you can see how they are doing.

A fishing boat is bouncing along the road heading to Peacham Pond and Karl the Wonder Dog is all upset with the sound. I ran into summer pond neighbor Chuck yesterday at the recycling center and he reported seeing his first bear of the year. He said it would probably go 350 pounds but if it is the one that I am thinking of, it's actually larger than that. I haven't see the old boar for a couple years but he is a beautiful animal that is quick to bring about a "Wow, look at that one".

Gotta scoot but would love to have you stop by soon and give me a break from planting, dividing and potting. I think Gail would spare me a few minutes for a chat.

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

At VFF we're always here to help you grow your green thumb!

Hot Milk Sponge Cake

noreply@blogger.com (George Africa) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 11:25:00 +0000

Sunday, April 28, 2013

A beautiful morning here on the mountain. Up to 35.4° in the sun, windless, birds everywhere. The lone male Hairy Woodpecker continues to beat on the electric fence charger outside my office window in hopes I guess that he'll drum up a girlfriend. This is the third day of this noise and apparently his tune is not yet spot-on as he continues, interrupted only by my occasional tap on the window.

I should be at the flower farm already but my writing has encouraged tardiness and I have to get going. But first, I want to post a recipe I mentioned on Facebook last night. It's called Hot Milk Sponge Cake. As chronology, Gail got the recipe from her mother who would be 96 if she were still alive. Gail's mom, Miriam, got the recipe from her good friend, Etta Dickey who got it from her mother in Maine so you can see the recipe is "old" and well traveled. Back then, exchanging recipes showed respect for the persons exchanging and receiving them and many used to call them "receipts" not recipes. Now days people seem to want you to deliver the finished product more than provide a copy of the recipe but that's another story.

So without further "anything" as I really do have to get to work, here's the recipe.

HOT MILK SPONGE CAKE

Scald 1 c. milk

Beat 4 eggs until thick

Add 2 c. sugar (slowly)

2 tsp vanilla (slow beater)

Add hot milk

Combine, then add: 2 c. flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

Just mix.

Place in 11" X 13" baking pan

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

Recipe assumes you know how to "scald milk" "add slowly", (use) slow beater (speed), and "Just mix". I love it!! We never apply icing but here's the recipe if you want it iced.

Mix together 1 c. sugar

3 tbs cocoa

Chop in 1/4 lb margarine

Add 1/4 c. milk

Boil full boil one minute.

Add 1 tsp. vanilla.

Beat, cool, spread.

Now The Vermont Gardener must garden!

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where I can hear the loons saying something very loonish.

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 always here to help you grow your green thumb!

Social Networking Works! ©

Changing Interests, Changing Colors

noreply@blogger.com (George Africa) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 11:17:00 +0000

Friday, April 19, 2013

The wind continues to howl this morning, slightly less than last night when I found myself tossing around in bed as it beat the walls of the house. It was noisy enough to suggest someone needed assistance and was at one of the doors but no one was there. Karl the Wonder Dog did not take kindly to the noise and interrupted an already disrupted night with barks to chastise, ward off something that didn't exist. Now it's 6 AM as the neighbor's dogs bark continuously telling me they want someone to let them back in the house. Gail just succumbed to Karl's "Let's go out again, let's go out again!" and with fresh coffee in hand, she is heading down the road. It's blowing at about 5 mph now as masses of lower level gray clouds sweep quickly northwards against a backdrop of distant blue. I hope that single nice day that is predicted will make its way here. We all need some sun!

Reports are beginning to come in to me about flowers and bird sightings, things that suggest that despite the continued cold, spring is really here. A friend in Calais spotted a toad while cleaning up some gardens as well as a couple bluebirds, and two others have mentioned male bluebirds checking birdhouses, cleaning out old boxes and making nests. Waterfowl can be heard all day long and the Fish and Wildlife fish truck dropped off 2500 brown trout from the hatchery into Peacham Pond here yesterday, Change is everywhere!

When I was a kid of 12 and just leaning about flower gardening, there was probably a single garden related magazine out there named Horticulture. Things are different today and the obvious evolution of journalism has traveled from dozens upon dozens of gardening magazines in print to bankruptcies and command decisions to cease publication. There is also the transition to on-line publications replete with so many apps we cannot count them all. And already cell phones have become Smart phones and websites must be able to work over several platforms to mesh nicely with the variety of smaller handheld devices.

The flower industry has changed too as gardeners are impatient for new plants, new colors. For years and years this was ever so noticeable within the floral industry but if you talk to a florist now, they will tell you how their industry has diminished as people buy and send fewer flowers now just like there are fewer funerals, more family oriented services and more cremations, all of which take away from that industry.

The picture has changed even for little nurseries such as Vermont Flower Farm as every year people get out of their cars and ask "What's brand new?". This is very obvious to me because I live with a gardener who tries to track local interest, local change and despite how good Gail is at this, it's difficult for her to keep on top of interest. Here's an example. Astilbes. We have always loved astilbes, a very hardy perennial with varieties that range in height from 8" to 5 feet and bloom at various times, usually from June into August but with some varieties blooming into early September too. Five years ago we had one of the largest collections of astilbes offered for sale and as I recall it was in the 75 variety class. That was a lot of choice and I wish we still had such a sizeable offering. Three years ago astilbe sales slowed and gardening magazines overlooked astilbes so Gail responded accordingly and reduced our numbers. Many visitors went home with incredible displays for very little money. Gail's plan was to maintain half a dozen good astilbes and forget about maintaining such a wide assortment. What happened, however, was that the plant industry developed new varieties which contained the attributes people were looking for including quicker growing plants with more flower scapes and longer bloom periods. The industry did this to rejuvenate interest and to sell the millions of older varieties still in production cycles worldwide. So now Gail is rebuilding a selection which meets common needs, a smaller number sold in larger pots affording the look that they have been in the garden for some time. The cycle continues as home gardeners will have new opportunities, slightly different shades and heights and perhaps a new look to older gardens. That's how it works, here at Vermont Flower Farm as well as in the the flower industry anywhere. Stop and see what Gail decided upon!

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where a flock of Canada geese just went over, still flying low because of the clouds but honking what I will accept as "Good morning" wishes to gardeners.everywhere. I don't speak Canada goose but I always wanted to learn goose calling the way experienced callers do, not with a commercial call but with their hands and mouth. Interesting!

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
Always here to help you grow your green thumb!

An Outside Perspective

noreply@blogger.com (George Africa) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:03:00 +0000

Tuesday, April 16, 2012

A windy morning here on the mountain above Peacham Pond. The 38° temperature is tolerable but the wind provides a chill we wish would dissipate. Yesterday afternoon's sun and warmth were the harbinger of the spring we really want but apparently it was short lived and we'll have to dream a little more. I had the first delivery truck arrive yesterday morning and it's an interesting annual event meeting the same truck drivers you have met for years and years. This truck was from Griffin Greenhouse Supplies in Tewksbury, Massachusetts and we have known the driver from the years he used to deliver here at the house. I always ask about his kids as one had some very special needs at birth but now both kids are fine, doing well in school and playing sports too. 6 and 9, 7 and 10 years old--I can't remember for sure but like all kids they are kids that grow fast.

We order specific supplies from Griffin because they are a wholesaler and even though we have to pay freight, we can do the best with their prices for pots, landscape fabric, certain potting mixes. Yesterday we had 1500 black plastic nursery pots arrive as we are repotting the hostas into 6 quart pots from 4. I was surprised that the pots were only 60 cents a piece because being plastic, they are actually an oil related product and such items never go down in price. I think Gail should have ordered more but maybe she has a plan she hasn't shared with me yet.

Griffin recently bought out the only other New England greenhouse supply giant, W H Milikowski, Inc from Strafford, Connecticut back in January. I had read about this in my trade magazines but I wanted to ask the driver how the transition was going during the busiest time of the year. He was very positive about the purchase even though it probably made some of his days longer than last year. As he prepared to leave he tried his cell phone to call the next stop and get them to expect him because they have to pick up from the side of the road--their nursery and greenhouses are a ways off the main road and a small bridge with weight limits prevents him from driving in. "Heh, when you gettin' cell service in Vermont? 'Bout time isn't it?" A perennial question for sure! Seems like every year the driver asks the same thing, knowing that his job is sometimes more difficult when he has to take the truck off the main road to a new location in the middle of nowhere--like today when he made his first trip to East Hlll Tree Farm in Plainfield. Been there?

So with a yard full of supplies to deal with and plastic covering to get off the potted perennials today (winter is over, right?) , I guess I better get going here. For those of you who are new to The Vermont Gardener or our Vermont Flower Farm web site, you might enjoy reading a recent story Andrew Nemethy from Maple Corner Media wrote for release to VTDigger and other publications. It gives a different insight into Gail and me and the flowers we love to grow and the customers we enjoy meeting again and again. Take a look on VtDigger at
http://vtdigger.org/2013/04/14/in-this-state-for-this-gardening-couple-lifes-been-a-moving-busy-experience

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
Always here to help you grow your green thumb!

Your Lawn

noreply@blogger.com (George Africa) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 11:29:00 +0000

35.1° here on the mountain this morning and windless for a change. That's nice. The crows are pleased with me at the compost pile where they are going over last night's vegetable parings and egg shells. They love those shells and fight over them until they have all been carried away, over the back fields and into the red pines. I never figured out what the attraction is but it is always there.

As a professional gardener trying to act professionally, I am always reading web magazines and various trade magazines. The amount of garden related information available now, whether you grow vegetables, flowers or a mix of everything, trees and shrubs included, is mind boggling and it seems that every company has their own site to offer new products, new opinions.

One of my favorite companies is Ball Horticultural Company. One of their on-line publications is titled Landscape Insider and they just released these statistics on lawns and the value a good lawn has relative to your home. Read on.

Green = Home Value Boost

Think having a healthy, green lawn contributes to the overall value of a home?

So do 79% of homeowners, according to TruGreen's new Lawn Lifestyles National Survey of America.

In fact, 56% of homeowners say when buying a new home, a nice lawn could warrant a higher price, and 53% say the quality of a homeowner's lawn can tell a lot about the quality of the home overall.

According to the National Association of Realtors, the majority of homeowners (71%) surveyed in the TruGreen report say curb appeal was important in choosing their home. Most of the homeowners surveyed report having purchased a home with a healthy, green lawn (71%) and well-maintained landscaping (72%).

I haven't verified these stats but have no doubt they are accurate. I also did not check to see if Ball sells any of the chemicals I complain about. But here's the rub for me, not with the statistics but with the green lawn part. People seem to have the sense that having a nice looking lawn means going to the store and buying bag after bag of weed and feed, get-rid-of-the-dandelions, etc etc etc. Much of the industry has turned lawns into three season "dump on more product" and that is a concern. As example, yesterday's mail contained an offer for buying the first three bags of what was purported to be a plan of four chemicals/fertilizers/ insecticides/herbicides guaranteed to make your lawn took great. What wasn't advertised was that dumping on that many chemicals showed complete environmental disregard. This "chemicals are good" approach is not the way to go. As you tell me "Yes, but I really want a nice lawn." I ask if you remember that this is Autism Awareness Month, and that there are dozens of neurological diseases with no known cause, no known cure, that might be caused in whole or part by our overuse of chemicals. And if the autism/neurological notion doesn't interest you, then how about the notion that over 30% of honeybees have died in recent years and we aren't sure why---and--here's the big one--over thirty per cent of what we eat is the direct result of bee pollination. Does dumping more chemicals on you lawn with these two consequences make it look any different? I hope so.

If you get a chance, Google up my friend Paul Tukey founder of SafeLawns and take a look at a different way to think about green lawns. I like Paul's ideas a lot better and you can still reach that green-is-good lawn look you might want.I know you can!

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where recent rains have lowered the snow in the fields and woods here but boots remain a necessity for travel anywhere. Deer are beginning to get out and about and a growing flock of red winged blackbirds, here for two weeks now, are cleaning up last falls leftovers. Spring is nice!

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 always here to help you grow your green thumb!

Nursery opens Mother's Day 2013 for the season; web opportunities every single day!!

Grounded Design

noreply@blogger.com (George Africa) — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 11:51:00 +0000

Just want to mention a blog I like. It's new to me and a winner for sure! Grounded Design by Thomas Rainer, a landscape architect from Washington, D.C.

Try this post for starters. http://landscapeofmeaning.blogspot.com/2013/04/noel-kingsbury-ghost-in-machine.html

Feedback welcome!

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
Always here to help you grow your green thumb!

Just Willows

noreply@blogger.com (George Africa) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 15:24:00 +0000

Thursday, April 4, 2013

A bright, sunny day here on the mountain with a temperature that is slow to rise. Heading for 11 o'clock and still only 43.9° and that's "in" the sun. The wind has finally slowed and 3 mph seems quite acceptable after two full days of 7-14 mph.

As we get the impression that spring is really coming, it's fun to prune various shrubs and bring them inside to force. I usually begin with forsythia which is ready to force any time after the end of February. The bright yellow flowers take a week to come around but when they do there is a brightness that brings on smiles. Forsythia is easy to root in straight water although I usually take a two foot piece of willow and cut it in 3" pieces to add to the water. Willow contains a natural rooting hormone and was used back in colonial times when propagating many shrubs and trees. You cannot see what it does but do trust me, it works!

Willows of all types have caught on again in America and the choices exceed 125 varieties even here in New England. Up top is a row I have been propagating of Japanese or Dragon Fantail Willows mixed with Twisted or Curly Willow. I am growing these because the floral industry loves them and Gail, an experienced designer with skill on oversize arrangements knows the mechanics of using large stems to make for dramatic show pieces. This row is in its third year now. The following two pictures are of Fantail and then Twisted or Curly. The fantail is not on every branch and is actually fasciation which is common to that willow.

In 2-3 weeks, Alex and I will spend a day cutting all the pictured willows to about 8" from the ground. Then we will roll out a 4' wide piece of landscape fabric into rows for weed control and we will push freshly cut willows through the fabric and into the ground so they will remain as weed free as possible at their bases.They will root in a couple weeks and by the end of May we'll go back and lop off the top of each piece so that it will branch out over time. To get to where each willow is marketable, we'll wait for three years. By then the willows will be in the 12 foot range so not that handy to cut for sale but always plentiful.

Guess that's enough willow talk for this morning. I better get outside and getting going before the morning leaves me. The birds are mad at me for pulling back on the bird seed but spring warmth translates to bears out of hibernation..... and .....well.....I can't keep everyone in the animal world happy. If you drive by the flower farm and see me out there in the snow working, stop by and I'll cut a couple willows for you to root. A couple.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook at Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens (A Like page) and also as George Africa
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm
And always here to help you grow your green thumb!

Soil Testing

noreply@blogger.com (George Africa) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 14:22:00 +0000

Monday, April 1, 2013

Good morning from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the snow is now several inches lower than it was last night after hard rains and wind. Just the same there is plenty of snow in the fields and woods and the larger critters of the forest such as the deer and bear have yet to make it out to our fields. The next few days of warmer weather should see a difference. Snowmobile trails have all been closed around here and other winter snow sports are tricky based on where you live or visit. Many have decided to close for the season.

It seems strange to Gail and me that we are already entering another year the our flower farm on Route 2. We should be "over" calling it "new" now but there are many customers from our Peacham Pond days that still haven't made the visit.

As I was culling some of last year's pictures this morning, I came across an old folder entitled "Clay" It contains pictures of my first introduction to real clay...the stuff that suggested on our first year of ownership that perhaps we should become potters. I remember so well when the real estate broker asked if we wanted to test the soil before we bought it and I said no that I could fix up about any soil and based on it's proximity to the Winooski River, I expected that there would not be a single type of soil but multiple types, each with it's own challenges. I didn't know for sure but it turned out that I was correct.

As the bulldozer began working the top of the land to make an entrance off Route 2 and a place for a building, the cursing of the operator signaled one of the soil types--clay. As the dozer pushed forward, clay rolled in layers like a jelly roll until it couldn't move any more. The big machine's tracks become packed with clay time and again and we had to stop and use shovels and bars to free them. It was not good work and all of us were covered in gray clay before we finished. I had chosen a good contractor who knew Vermont and just because he used expletives as he worked didn't mean the end product would be less than I expected. He was good with the dozer and I would hire him again. Several days later after tons of gravel and a couple thousand feet of road fabric, that task was complete.

No matter how big you intend your garden to be, I strongly suggest soil samples and soil tests early on. Vermont does have a number of soil types and some are better for grapes or apples than for flowers or strawberries or corn and it's helpful to know that up front. From my days helping people write business plans, I know that it's best to eliminate as many surprises as possible. Master gardeners, farmers, successful gardeners in your neighborhood are all examples of people who will be happy to offer advice and make your gardening endeavors much more successful. Every state has an extension service within its agricultural department and these are the people who can help right from the start. Private greenhouses and nurseries often offer springtime courses to answer the same questions and make it easier to understand what to do after turning that first shovel of soil.

So if a new garden is in the cards for coming weeks, plan now, draw a map, line up a soil test kit, attend seminars, talk to your neighbors, figure wind direction, notice where the sun rises and sets. Gardens are great fun and like anything else that we do, planning ahead makes for a bigger smile in the end.

Writing from the mountain where the sun has come out again and the temperature has risen to 48.1°. I like this a lot! Gotta get going.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as George Africa and also as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm
Always here to help you grow your green thumb!

Beaver Buddies.....Or not?

noreply@blogger.com (George Africa) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 11:43:00 +0000

Friday, March 29, 2013

The dark sky over Peacham Pond has been at a standstill for a couple hours now. The temperature hangs at 32.4° and the windless morning is only interrupted by a few raindrops that fall-stop-fall-stop. Still no birds at the feeders but the red squirrels are having a convention. But this morning I just want to mention beavers, a fascinating but often troublesome critter known to bother me at the flower farm every spring.

Our land is surrounded on a couple sides by the Winooski River and each spring as beavers seek out new places to live, they always seem to arrive at the nursery. Beavers care little about flowers but they enjoy the poplars, bass trees and the few birches that line the river. At one time they even dammed the river on the Marshfield side of the property and caused quite a mess until the river was freed again of tons of trees.

This picture is of an old but still very active beaver house on Bailey Pond just outside Marshfield village. I never got a firm count on the number of occupants but during the past couple years they have taken out the road twice that I know of. They dammed a culvert and flooded a whole length of the old railroad bed during a rainstorm and it took bazillions of loads of fill to get the road back.

I like to see beavers work but as trapping has almost become a thing of the past, beaver numbers have soared and they have begun to bother people by flooding large areas and even changing pond levels by plugging overflows and exit culverts.

These last two pictures show a strategy at Marshfield Pond to keep the pond level constant and not allow beavers to dam the overflow at the bridge and possibly take out the entire front of the pond during a heavy rain or spring flood. The wildlife folks always employ these culverts to keep the water level low even though the beavers think they are creating a bigger dam. You need a few engineering skills yourself to calculate water flow in and out but if you stick with it, even trial and error and more pipe will work.

Beavers can flood your land and if you are a gardener not interested in water gardening, you have no choice but to help them move along. They generally remain in an area until the food source/dam construction material source begins to diminish. I have read that this is 7-9 years although the beaver house pictured above has been active for 20 years. If you call a game warden they will probably tell you that you are permitted by statute to kill the beavers to protect your land. This is like saying that the warden has bigger fish to fry. He or she might be able to suggest a trapper who will remove the offenders by shooting, live trapping or (leave it said) other forms of trapping. But keep in mind that trappers are not really interested in beavers if the time of year is off and the pelts are not viable. They also want to be paid for their service time and that means not only setting traps but checking them regularly by law. This all may sound pessimistic and it is but keep in mind you are placing your resources up against a beaver's and the beaver feels your property is his/hers. My only suggestion is that if you see any beaver activity on your property, work fast and don't delay. Protecting your home, out buildings, equipment, lawn, gardens, fields, crops and livestock is important.Give it some thought.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where 7 blue jays just arrived at the feeder by my office window. It still looks like heavy rain before too long.

Best Spring Wishes!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as George Africa and also as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm
Always here to help you grow your green thumb!

Crows At The Compost Pile

noreply@blogger.com (George Africa) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 13:59:00 +0000

Thursday, March 29, 2013

34.5° now, windless, as the sun struggles to get through the clouds. Sugar snow fell briefly last night and the close-to-freezing temperatures after midnight allowed the snow to cling to everything above ground like a kid's hair to a party balloon.

A sat here a while ago cruising along through email and thinking about how much easier it has been to write on Facebook and Twitter than on this blog. I have neglected the faithful and seem to return with an excuse like a person of religion returns to church on Easter but not again until the following year. I have been disappointed with blog readership and have yet to figure out why when I link blog posts to Facebook, many fewer people read the posts than read regular posts. Perhaps notice of a blog posting suggests something too long to read and folks allow their brains to redirect themselves to reading that which requires less concentration. I don't know but maybe one of you who understands social media metrics better than me can share some thoughts.

I went outside earlier to dust off the bird feeders and replenish the breakfast buffets. The red polls are in their glory and their numbers are the largest I have ever seen. Over two hundred were here earlier this morning and I just did a quick count out the kitchen window and stopped at 239 on the feeders on that side of the house. While outside I heard the conversations three crows were having from the maple that hangs over the compost pile. I don't speak crow very well but I do know that these were conversations of spring and the happiness that it brings to all critters, humans included. The crows talked for quite some time excepting the two pictured above who have been in that maple, quiet and motionless since I screwed their plastic bodies to a limb years and years ago. They are crow decoys that some people actually use for hunting. But to me crows are the scavengers of the world, the clean up batters who clear bases and win games. The decoys are well known to the real birds but over the years the phonies have conjured up a lot of "Heh, look at those birds!" as visitors have toured the gardens.

I'm still thinking about blogging and social media. I like it all. I started yesterday morning with a phone call from a FB friend in Erie, Pennsylvania who reported it was snowing there and spring was not quick to arrive. An hour later I received a call from an incredible cypripedium grower in Germany and we started by comparing weather issues across a very similar latitude. That grower is Michael Weinert, owner of Frosch Exclusive Perennials http://www.cypripedium.de/English/english.html Michael grows lady slippers like you have probably never seen before. I fully intend to begin to grow these at Vermont Flower Farm in another year after I raise up a guard dog to stand post because Michael's hybrids are beauties!! Check out his site if you get a minute.

The clock is moving faster than I am this morning and I have promised Alex we will leave for Hanover and West Lebanon by 10:30. I better get going! Be well and enjoy today. If all else fails today, find a maple sugar house that is boiling and go taste a fresh crop of the best syrup the world has to offer. Vermont is the best!

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

Always here to help you grow your grow thumb.... and remind you "Social Networking Works"!

Coleus, Not Impatiens

noreply@blogger.com (George Africa) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 12:55:00 +0000

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Good morning from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the snow has just begun. An hour ago friend Carlene wrote from mid Vermont to say that there was an inch on the ground and it was snowing. I took Karl out again and a couple flakes drifted to earth but before I just got back to the house the snow was pouring from the sky. At this rate I can envision an inch an hour and with the temperature at 28.8°, the snow will be plentiful and the possibility of rain should diminish.

If you read my Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens Facebook page (Like it?) or my personal George Africa FB page this week, you'll have seen my comments about avoiding impatiens this summer. For a bazillion years impatiens have been used in shady places and half sunny places as a dependable annual with plenty of blooms and lots of color. But in the past couple years Downy Mildew and other plant maladies have struck and not long after the impatiens are planted and have caught on nicely, they seem to fall over and die. For a year now the word from the plant production world has been to think differently about your bedding plants and avoid spending time and money on something that may well fail.

Coleus are one of the substitutes and there is no shortage of color and leaf styles to substitute for your favorite impatiens. Gail has always bought in coleus from her friends at Clausens' Greenhouses in Colchester and we have never been disappointed. Each year new varieties are released to the market and it's not that difficult to have something that fellow gardeners have not seen or grown.

The leaf styles are intriguing and leaf size ranges from petite to 10"-12" leaves 3"-4" wide. Some coleus can be trained to 5 feet tall and a couple feet wide and those "big guys' look great in the background or planted in large containers.

I'll make an album on Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens to show a full dozen coleus we grew last year. I suspect the flower show in Essex this weekend will have a good display too. If you want to replace impatiens and haven't tried coleus before, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where mourning doves are feeding heavily on cracked corn and millet as two red squirrels circle the bottom of the feeder eating leftovers. Safe travel!

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
And we are always are here to help you grow your green thumb!

Red Squirrel Visits

noreply@blogger.com (George Africa) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 15:01:00 +0000

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Just finished plowing two driveways to be sure I have room for snow if the impending storm turns out to be snow instead of a mix here on the mountain. The forecast has changed for three days now but something is coming this way so I wanted to have things cleaned up. I try to keep in front of the mailboxes clean for Lois the mail lady as I don't like to make it harder for her to reach from her driver's seat with that long pincher thingy she uses to get the mail in the box. She's still the kind of mail lady who will bring anything to the door that doesn't fit in the box and she's always certain that Alex gets his books at the door because she knows he counts on them.

I've been in my office a lot lately because I've been wrapped up in a cold virus that just wouldn't quit. It seems a lot better today and I am already grateful not to be coughing. Many reminded me that it was a three week virus and it looks as if it will end in about that amount of time. Being inside I have had time to begin making changes to our website that Gail wants completed before I report an updated version. None of it is difficult, it just takes time and I am making progress. I should have it ready to post later in March.

Being in the office means that I have been able to watch the platform feeder. A flash of feathers causes me to turn for a look-see and thus far there is nothing new from the bird world but I have seen lots of birds. As the snow here deepens, the bird population increases and of all the birds I have probably seen more woodpeckers of late coming out of the forests for suet.

During the past month the number of red squirrels has increased to six and I cannot say they please me. They are always hungry and they scare away the birds. They refuse to feed on the ground despite my attempts to leave plenty of food by the holes they leave in the snowdrifts. They are used to me now and when I approach with a morning buffet for the birds, they seem annoyed to have to move out of the way.

Red squirrels can be a real nuisance if they get in your house but so far we have never had the problem. I contend with their ravenous behavior and enjoy their smiling faces, sometimes reminding them to behave or face death. A neighbor told me that last year he relocated dozens but frankly I have no time for live trapping and squirrel relocation programs.

As thoughts turn to spring and this weekend's flower show in Essex, I still have a few more orders to place. We need a few more hydrangeas and there are a few common perennials I need in quantity to finish the swaths of color I am planting along the river fence. Check it out next summer for a display that is more colorful each year.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where blue jays just succeeded in taking over the feeder from a very irritated squirrel. Best gardening wishes! Write us with design questions.

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
Always here to help you grow your green thumb!

New Garden Construction

noreply@blogger.com (George Africa) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 21:33:00 +0000

Sunday, February 17, 2013

A cold, windy day here on the mountain. The temperature struggled to get to 10.2° and then faltered and slipped suddenly back to 9.3° and now it is slipping further. We are on the edge of a front that is moving up the coast and apparently delivering some snow but all we have here is the cold. Inside work is providing a chance to catch up on overdue thoughts and today it involves garden design.

When Gail and I purchased the land on Route 2, we wanted a place to reconstruct a very popular part of our business on the Peacham Pond Road. That involved an intensively planted shade garden that grew bountifully within the confines of an old barn foundation.The place had acquired a reputation and for us the good part was it sold a lot of hostas and associated shade plants when gardeners could see mature examples of what they were seeing in 1 gallon pots. I knew that recreating what was in place for +6 years was going to be a challenge in an age of gardeners wanting "instant big" and I knew folks would be disappointed for a while. Not only were they disappointed, they regularly shared their feelings!

The new land had what I thought was a great site and I learned the land as I learned how to pull stumps with a new tractor. Weeds and vines were thick, alders, both dead and alive, were everywhere and the land went from bone dry on the east side to damp-all-summer on the west. It was wrapped on two sides by the Winooski River but the advantages outweighed the disadvantages.

I was working days back then so each night after work I'd cut brush and load the truck until it was full and another area was ready. When everything was cleared I began with herbicides to get rid of the weeds and vines. Then I came in with the tractor and rototiller and spent hours going back and forth to bring up hidden tree roots and stones.

I cannot say it was easy but passing friends and people I have never met beeped horns and waved encouragement and I kept going. This was not a home sized garden by any means but the principles of good site preparation remain the same. You have to get to soil level, rid the area of unwanted vegetation and debris and then see what you have for soil, sun, shade and moisture.

With the soil well amended and a layout in mind, I began planting. Some mature hostas were brought in from our house while others I took from pots, grouping 3 to 5 together to form a showy example of each variety over time.

I added three varieties of maple trees for autumn color, some lindens, and some yellow leafed locusts and Nugget Ninebarks to contrast with the yellow hostas. I used orange flagging markers to lay out the paths so I could change them as the planting continued. By this point in the process I had a helper digging, labeling and crating hostas during the day and I was planting each night.

Now it's been five years since the garden was started. It's far from planted and atypical interruptions like the biggest floods in the history of Vermont slowed it's completion. But now the hostas are looking fine and the companion plants are maturing too. Most of the hostas on display are available for sale as potted plants and some are freshly dug depending on inventory.

The garden is worth a look-see if you are in the neighborhood as it provides lots of lessons in garden construction. I'm usually available for a tour but call or write ahead to be sure I'm there. Garden clubs are welcome too as long as Gail knows what's going.

Questions about construction?

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

Always here to help grow your green thumb!

Plan For Butterflies

noreply@blogger.com (George Africa) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 12:59:00 +0000

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Just back from a walk with Karl the Wonder Dog. It's early yet and there's a slice of moon showing between the naked tamaracks and fir balsams and there are a few stars around. Trees are cracking in the woods from yet another night of below zero temperatures. The sky over Peacham Pond shows evidence of a clear and beautiful day ahead but I know differently. I always trust the Eye on the Sky Weather at the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium in St Johnsbury and they are confirming we have snow coming late today and possibly into Saturday morning. It seems odd that over recent years, larger storms have settled in Boston than in Vermont but the two storms setting sight on New England will drop more on southern parts than here.

My pre-storm chores are already finished save for mounting the plow on the truck and that will happen this afternoon sometime. Everything is set in case we lose power as we did the other night. That leaves me today to continue updating our web page. Alex has some shopping he wants to do late morning and I don't know where that will take us. In winter when plants are dormant we have less of a schedule and that's really nice.

The latest series of trade and gardening magazines that have arrived have headlined using native trees, shrubs and flowers to lure butterflies and birds. I like that idea and have always kept it simple and productive. Years back--2004 I think it was--we put an addition on the house and part of the success was a steep bank outside my new office window. Long term I had plans for a patio affair but that part is still a thought, not a reality. What we did do was buy an assortment of 7 different spireas to hold the bank and bring in some flying beauty. It sure worked. All 35 spireas are now 3-5 feet across and each spring they put up new stems that turn to white, purple, red, maroon, lavender and creamy yellow flower heads that lure in all sorts of bees and butterflies by day, night flying moths after dark. This was an inexpensive fix for a large area. Gail added a few clumps of daylilies here and there and I added some basic echinacea, some yarrows, rudbeckias, and liatris.

Many of these plants including the spireas self seed so over time the area fills in nicely and the insect actors multiply too.

From my experience, the plantings brought on smiles as butterflies arrived that I had not seen before and that made the project even more interesting. Today a few more milkweeds and mullein have worked their way in and although some gardeners see these rouges as just that, I find them to be season extenders that keep me in Monarch butterflies into September and goldfinches all winter feeding on mullein seeds.

So if the snow deepens over the next couple days at your home, think about plants that will bring a different level of happiness to next summer's gardens. It's not expensive and it is rewarding. Kids love butterflies too and it's a way to encourage an early understanding of our earthly neighbors and how we have to work together to keep things in balance.

Guess that's it for this morning. A large blue jay is looking in the window at me as if to say "Sunflower please." I do not speak blue jay but I can "see" the request. Be well!

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
Always here to help you grow your green thumb!

Lilies, Lovely Lilies

noreply@blogger.com (George Africa) — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 12:20:00 +0000

Monday, February 4, 2013

11.3° here on the mountain with a 4 mph wind and puffs of large snowflakes covering everything in 2" of cotton candy-like fluff. The squall is supposed to end by mid-morning and then the temperature will rise into the twenties--for a change.

When you're in the gardening business, customers become family and sometimes you lose track of a few members once in a while but sooner or later they seem to return. Yesterday morning Gail was at the Cabot store buying me a jar of grape jelly for a batch of Super Bowl meatballs. An older couple came up to her and inquired "Hi, aren't you Gail, the lily lady?" Gail has a great memory and she remembered them as customers who purchased a number of lilium every year for years and then probably lost us when we moved. She explained where we are now and what we grow and they said they'd come see us this spring. The meeting is similar to inquiries I am receiving lately about where did the lilies go. Readers know the answer but gardeners who have been absent for a few years might not. But that's how it is with gardeners. They come to a nursery year after year and then find a new pursuit or a new nursery. But sooner or later you often see them again.

Here are pictures of a few we used to grow just so you can see what might still be on the market if you want to give lilies a try. Of all flowers, lily hybridization is probably the closest to the floral industry. That's why available lilies change every year and why a few years down the road you might not be able to find a favorite again when voles think more of yours than you might. Florists have to be happy with new colors and sizes and that's the rationale. A tall yellow lancifolium is up top, Arena next down here.

Bellingham hybrid

Acapulco

Orienpet named Empress

Black Beauty

Gold Band

Golden Stargazer

Leslie Woodriff

Regale

Mona Lisa

Rosy Dawn

Smoky Mountain

Siberia

Uchida

There are lots of lilies out there and the North American Lily Society is a good place to begin to gather information before making a decision. Today is a good day to give lilies a look-see. Good luck!

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where 17 morning doves just showed up for breakfast. I have to get going here. I 'm taking a friend to a doctor at 9--orthopedic surgeon--get the picture?

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

Always here to help you grow your green thumb!

Groundhog Day 2013

noreply@blogger.com (George Africa) — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 11:01:00 +0000

Saturday, February 2, 2013

I have the fire in the wood stove crackling' as the rest of the house sleeps on. Even Karl the Wonder Dog is deep in dreams of chasing red squirrels and not bugging me about a first morning walk. That's a change. It's still dark outside but I know the sun is rising as the temperature drops, first to 3°, then zero, now -2.1°. At least for a change there is no wind outside and the quiet after three days of howling is probably why others sleep while I keyboard along. Quiet is nice.

Today is Groundhog Day and there's no hope that a woodchuck will even stir in Vermont. They may be dreaming about a vegetarian breakfast but clearly their hibernation of sorts will not be interrupted by temperatures this cold. Woodchucks are interesting animals that I have long had love-hate relationships with. As my gardening endeavors have grown, even the sight of a woodchuck causes bad feelings.There is nothing cute about a woodchuck in a garden.

As a young boy finally permitted to hunt by myself, I pleased the next door farmer by hunting his fields and eliminating hole diggers who created bad situations for the cows and horses. I learned later on that relatives in Connecticut enjoyed an annual barbeque and woodchuck hunt in which prizes were awarded for the most chucks shot and then the chucks were cleaned and barbequed for a very big feast. I ate woodchucks that I shot later on and I taught my son Adam not to shoot anything if he didn't intend to eat it. I think the first time he hunted alone he brought back a woodchuck and I taught him how to clean it. Life goes on.

But woodchucks are a nuisance and the aren't my friends. Last summer I spotted a female and I thought she had to go. Then I saw her with four kids and I thought they had to go. Then my entire field of perennial phlox--30 varieties strong-- was eaten to the ground and I knew they had to go. I was still in repair mode from prior year floods so the chucks took a lower priority and one day (odd that I saw this) the chucks took up moving across our fields and gardens, across Route 2 and up into my neighbor Gerry's fields. I had seen some coyote scat and didn't think anything of it but perhaps the coyotes hassled the chucks enough to get them moving. Kinda like the days when a friend would appear every Saturday morning with his Jack Russell who would hunt himself silly and keep the chucks moving to other places.

Woodchucks will eat your whole garden up and will dig holes under trees and sheds and rocks. They will surprise you with their whistles or with their offspring but they will distress you with missing plants. Relocation is important to maintain sanity and live trapping is a possibility. Tractor Supply, Agway, or any of the farm stores sell humane live traps and woodchucks are not difficult to catch. The Internet has plenty of how-to information on this and probably the only caution is that there is a good chance that your woodchuck might turn out to be black and white when you go to check your trap. That's just another woodchuck insult as skunks garden along side woodchucks, especially if your lawns or gardens have Japanese beetle infestations. But that's another animal story.

Good luck with your gardens and your animals. Today in Vermont, good gardening books, the Internet and winter farmers markets are the best we can do for entertainment as it will not warm much. At the very least we can be left by the fire contemplating "how much wood does a woodchuck chuck".

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where my coffee cup is empty and the Hearthstone needs another log. Stay warm! Picture above is a woodchuck hole along the Winooski River right next to my now missing in action phlox.

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

Always here to help you grow your green thumb!

Cold Vermont Gardens, Warm Winter Thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (George Africa) — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 21:32:00 +0000

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Hello gardening friends. I've been away from The Vermont Gardener since before Christmas and some have reminded me that they don't like my energy shift to Facebook. Some ask why I have a personal FB page under my name and then sporadic presentation on the FB Like page I named Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens. I call it "age" which has the inherent power to give and to take away time and thought. Age provides an opportunity for excuses. It can provide a reminder that it's expected that you'll forget certain things, some important, some not as important. Age also can make you more wise and in Spring 2012, I inherited some wisdom that had me sit down out in the beech woods one day and determine that I would begin doing some things for myself for a change. With that, I started spending a little more time away from the business and a little more time having a different kind of fun. I made three trips to Maine, two for hiking and looking at real estate and one for just sitting by the ocean and listening to tranquility play a beautiful song. Back home I worked up several cords of fire wood for next year and the year after and I finally began mapping and cutting a series of roads and hiking/snowshoeing/cross country ski trails on our +70 acres.

I spent some time trying to understand why my honey bees make a lot of honey but don't like me and I finally completed the purchase of a small bulldozer I had committed to a couple years ago. I never went trout fishing--not even once-- and I never finished the inside of the writer's cottage or the rest of the pine paneling on the office at the flower farm. I did climb up Owls Head four times, made it up Spruce Mountain once and loved it, got to a couple-three farmers markets, located a secretive triple waterfall that is ever so special and helped a friend rehab an old house when I had nothing else going on. But it was all great fun, a didn't get hurt doing anything and I met a lot of really nice people.

Many people begin writing blogs or series for newspapers, radio or TV and this takes a strong commitment larger than the average listener/viewer ever knows. Yesterday I was invited to help with a gardening media presentation which I would love to have helped with but I had to say no. From where I am at in my life right now, I want to be able to do a good job at whatever I choose to do as I clean up some chores that remain unfinished. Vermont Flower Farm is not close to the way I envision it and I still have two books that need to get further along than they are.

But......There is a thing about life called interruptions. Iceberg-like interruptions which take longer than we expect. Interruptions which others might never have experienced and don't understand. This time of year I experience two interruptions. They are seasonal. One is our website and one is income taxes. The website is an important part of Vermont Flower Farm and it needs to be completely updated before spring sales. It's started but there's a long way to go. As for the taxes, operating a small business requires more paperwork than most folks understand. After almost 30 years of being in business, Gail has committed to doing the taxes this year. I am grateful, but it's still a major interruption....even bigger than losing a U-joint on the truck today.

With all that's going on, there are still some things that I enjoy and like to share with others. Up top is a hosta named Robert Frost that I have grown for years. It was grown by Bill and Eleanor Lachman and is a cross between Frances Williams and Banana Sundae. Frost was friends with the Lachmans, hence the connection with my favorite poet. They registered the hosta in 1988. It's classified as a large hosta and it works well in anyone's garden.

I guess it was a little by luck yesterday that I opened a collection of Frost's poetry and came upon ten short poems Frost named Ten Mills (a mill was 1/10th of a cent). One poem that is appropriate to income tax time was Number VIII. The Hardship of Accounting. While you're trying to figure out if I'll ever get back to writing about gardens and flowers, remember that it's income tax time in America, and I really do have good intentions. Try to stick with me, despite the ...interruptions.

THE HARDSHIP OF ACCOUNTING

Never ask of money spent

Where the spender thinks it went.

Nobody was ever meant

To remember or invent

What he did with every cent.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where 9 mph winds adjust the current -4.4° temperature to -20°. Br-r-r-r

George Africa

The Vermont Gardener

Vermont Flower Farm

On Facebook as George Africa and also as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens

On Twitter as vtflowerfarm

And always here to help you grow your green thumb!

Using Signs

noreply@blogger.com (George Africa) — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 13:13:00 +0000

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Already after 2 PM and I still haven't warmed up from being outside working from 8 until 1. The weatherman suggested that we are entering four days of bad weather so I wanted to finish up some wood cutting before the snow started. I misread the forecast someplace as it is still 20° outside and the 3 mph wind and falling snow make it feel even colder. I had layers of clothes on but after that amount of time I got chilled.

Gail had a hot lunch ready for me so I retreated to my office to check mail and munch away. I work on pictures this time of year, getting some ready for our website, putting others in folders, deleting others. I came across this one from the Spring of 2003. Click on it to enlarge. This was a shade garden I built in the year 2000 inside an old barn foundation on our property. The top 2/3's of the garden was hostas and the bottom quarter was astilbes. The balance was ferns, hellebores, pulmonarias, and primroses.

You'll notice an abundance of white signs which look out of proportion to the spring garden where perennials had just started to emerge. I want to mention these signs as they are an inexpensive way to mark plants in a display garden in a manner that is easy for visitors to read during garden tours. My intent at the time was to put together a nice garden of mature hostas so people could identify plants they might like to purchase after viewing mature heights and coloration. Some visitors said the place looked like a cemetery but the majority repected it as being a display and many asked about the signs. Some said they thought the signs would be excellent to add during major events and then remove them for the balance of the season. Moving +500 signs is a bit bigger task than one might think but I hear their idea.

The signs shown here are Parker-Davis Step Signs. These are miniatures of the political signs you probably just got tired of seeing from Labor Day through Election Day. They are made of white or colored corrrugated plastic cardboard and the stakes are the same wire used to reinforce brick veneer on buildings.The sign material comes in a variety of sizes and colors and here in Vermont it holds up for about 5 years, sometimes a bit longer. I use Avery clear laser labels, not the more expensive weatherproof labels as the straight laser labels do the trick. I print black lettering on the transparent labels so the white sign shows through and reading them is easy even from a distance. The stakes are available in a variety of heights. I use the 36" stakes for medium and larger hostas and for all the daylilies we have growing in the fields.

Smaller metal stakes and markers are available from Eon Industries and from Paw-Paw Everlast Label Company. I use these too and still use the laser labels with them. In all cases you just have to be sure the sign material, corrugated or metal, is free of dirt before applying the label.

I guess signs are an eye-of-the-beholder thing but gardeners do like to know the names of new things they don't have and do want to add to their gardens. You can make your own decision. If you have other signs you prefer, please drop a note here so we can see what else is on the market.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the Redpolls and Chickadees are eating as if a big storm is on the way. Light snow continues.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
Watch us on Facebook at Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa
Check vtflowerfarm on Twitter
Always here to help you grow your green thumb!

Call Gail at 802-426-3505 for a holiday gift certificate. Nice!

Thoughts On Garden Planning

noreply@blogger.com (George Africa) — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 12:53:00 +0000

Friday, December 14, 2012

15.9° here on the mountain, windless, quiet. I have been out twice with Karl the Wonder Dog and he has now gone back to sleep in front of the wood stove. Snoring already. What a dog! The weatherman promises a sunny day which is great because as soon as I shake off this sore neck, I will continue to push hard on outside jobs before the weather turns sour later on Sunday. The sore neck is from too much skyward observation last night of the Geminid meteor shower. I was never into watching the skies much as a kid but now I can't seem to miss these events even though Gail and Alex show little interest in accompanying me outside. I guess things do change as you get older. Right now the sun is coming up, the stars have turned off and there's an obvious mackeral sky for as far as I can see.

As winter approaches it's time for me to do our website over so I begin scanning through pictures and making notes of things to change, improve, delete. This not-too-good picture up top caught my eye. With holiday gift giving approaching, gardeners often receive gifts of books and garden books lead to design thoughts which eventually lead to plant orders as spring approaches. But as I look at this picture of a little display Gail put together at the flower farm one day, I am reminded that not all pictures make good garden sense. Let's use this picture as an example of what not to do.

When Gail and I are asked to help design a garden, we usually try to get the gardener to do almost all of the work because the end product is so much better for them. What we do emphasize, however, is attention to the plant/tree/shrub height, mature width, and leaf size, color and texture of the plants they are considering. Yes, flower color and bloom time are important too but the plant before and after it flowers is what the gardener and garden visitors get to see most of the season so those attributes are important.

The little display Gail put together included the use of two smaller hostas, Diamond Tiara and Golden Tiara. She used a couple different ferns in the front left of her display and a row of Gold Heart Dicentra (bleeding heart with typical flower shape and color but yellow foliage all season) in the middle. The design was an eye catcher and sold a number of plants but as part of your garden, it wouldn't have been the greatest plan. Here's why.

Now days it seems that most people have a lot to keep themselves busy and as such they like gardens that require minimal care. That translates to plants that don't need pruning or dividing as time goes on. Gail's design looks fine but has some issues. Gold Heart bleeding heart has been popular since it hit the market but the color contrast is what sold it to people. Nice pink heart pendants dangling from gold foliage....BUT...as this plant matures to +30" tall in a few years, its location, surrounded by shorter plants that it would block out---well---- that just won't work. On top of that, dicentras like this go into dormancy by late July which means that for the balance of the season you have a garden with a hole in the middle of it. That's not to say that Gold Heart doesn't have a place in your garden, just in the display we put together it wouldn't work well. The shorter, fringed woodland dicentras that bloom most of all summer and are available in white, pink or various shades of red would be better.

The two Tiara hostas are very nice and always a good investment because they are vigorous growers and they can be dug and divided to spread their wealth among your gardens or friends. BUT...planting a vigorous grower near slower growers such as the ferns means that the size of the maturing hostas will overpower the ferns in time and you'll lose the benefit of the ferns color and texture.To keep them in better control, plant them in sunken pots one size larger than they were growing in at the nursery. That will maintain their size and allow direct watering and fertilizing right to the plant. These ideas will let the slower growing ferns progress as they prefer and the whole display will come together nicely in a year or two.

As you read through garden magazines and books this winter, give this little lesson a thought. Some of it might well apply to gardens you already have in place that seem to exhibit some of these same characteristics. And above all, think of the notion that we look at the plants-trees-shrubs all year, and that's what we should consider as we plan. Happy planning!

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the birds are begging for more sunflower seed while the crows are perfectly happy with scraps I just dumped on the compost pile. Gotta get going here--boy--already almost 8!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
Find us on Facebook at Vermont Flower Farm & Gardens and also at George Africa
On Twitter at vtflowerfarm
Always ready to help you grow your green thumb!
Offering gift certificates year round. Just call Gail at 802-426-3505

Cutting Trails

noreply@blogger.com (George Africa) — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 12:29:00 +0000

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

A quarter til 6 and darker than a pocket outside this morning. So far the only things that are bright today are the strings of Christmas lights that line the walkway. Someone forgot to turn them off last night but admittedly they did help me with two early morning dog walks with Karl the Wonder Dog. It will lighten up out in half an hour and then I can get going on my projects.

For several weeks now I have been working in the woods cutting new trails, culling trees for firewood and trimming along woods roads that have grown out of control in recent years. 4-5 years ago some shear winds went through this area and in places there are living trees still growing well but growing at 25° angles. Those are all coming down no matter what species they are.

Someone stopped by the other day and asked about how I map out possible trails before I start cutting. Do I use a GPS? Use any mapping software? I said I don't use those tools until I am finished and they seemed disappointed. The analogy is the way I plant gardens such as the hosta display garden at the nursery. I have a sense of what I want to see as an end product and I just go for it. In the woods, I stop every once in a while and take a break and walk around to see what trees need to be taken out anyway and where I am heading. It always works for me.I know where I started and I know where I want to end when it's finished, I'm pretty much on schedule. Sometimes I'll find more or less wood when the trees are down and blocked up but that part doesn't matter. I sort the brush by hardwood and softwood and sometimes I leave it in piles for the critters of the woods. Other times I bring in the chipper and clean it up. There are theories to woodland management but in the case of our property, nothing has been done since Gail's father hired a questionable logger in 1992 to take out 25 acres of softwood. I am still cleaning up the messes that guy made. It takes time to work up wood and get the leftovers cut down to the point where it lays flat in the woods and will decompose quickly. Sometimes I'll work an area and then go back a season later to finish the work.

Our land, like all land in the Groton State Forest area, is covered with glacial erratics of various sizes. These are boulder leftovers from glaciers that went through 15,000 years ago. Now the land here is highly acidic so all the rocks are well covered with various mosses and often with rock ferns too. The boulders range in size and many are Volkswagon sized while others are like small buildings, 10, 12, 14 feet tall and equally as wide. This trail I am working on right now may be named "split rock trail"after the prominent rock that was split in two a long, long time ago. The trail winds along the bottom of a flat that rises above the back fields and holds a plantation of red pines that were so commonly planted back in the 40's and early 50's. Here's a picture from this past spring/early summer. The white, curvy arrow in the next picture up is the proposed trail course on my current project.

If you have land of your own, making trails is a good way to look differently at your land, Cleaning up dead trees will bring in more sunlight, and wildflowers will probably sprout in a year or two and bring colorful surprises. Once the trails are finished it's a lot easier to get around so there are no excuses left. Your health and the forest's health can improve at the same time. Give it a try!

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where I'll start the day finishing up last night's tractor fuel filter change. I'm still thinking about the rest of the morning but there's no shortage of projects to complete before real snow arrives.

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
And always here ot help you grow your green thumb!
Give Gail a call at 802-425-3505 if you need a gift certificate as a holiday gift!

Fir Balsam Trouble

noreply@blogger.com (George Africa) — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 01:33:00 +0000

Monday, December 10, 2012

38.4° here on the mountain tonight. It's been pouring rain heavily since before 4:30 this afternoon and there's little hope that it will let up until after midnight. The wind has stopped but it's likely to start up again as the next front approaches in a few hours. Today's rain started in early morning and never really stopped all day. I have been working in the woods for a few weeks now, cutting hiking trails and woods roads but today's weather slowed me down. I dressed appropriately for the rain and cold but I didn't feel all that safe working with the tractor in such wet ground conditions so I gave up early. One thing I did notice today was the insect influence on mature fir balsams. Here's something to think about.

Balsams are a popular tree, native to the northeast and better known for use as Christmas trees and for making garland and wreaths. It's also a fast growing tree that has been used as pulpwood for the paper industry. It has a fairly short lifespan of under 60-70 years and much of the surrounding Groton State Forest contains trees this age. This is why the current condition of the trees is even more significant.

The tree at the top of this page is an example of what I am seeing not only in our woods but in all adjacent forests. The mature trees are dying or already dead and many are topless and/or barkless as this picture shows. Closer inspection shows the insect damage that lead to a tree's death by girdling. I am not familiar with what insects are involved but there aren't very many older trees that are not affected .

Annually I cut and split a tree or two for kindling as at this point the balsams are already fully dried on the stump and they make good kindling. This is the second year that I have noticed a couple different kinds of worm inside the logs but I don't know what these become and what stage they are currently in. I brought in three pieces that had been cut last year and left in the woods. I spilt them to see if they contained the same insects and worms and they do so I assume the life cycle is greater than a year. Hopefully there's a forester or an entomologist out there who can help me on this.

I am mentioning the decline in the fir balsam because it is also a common tree to find in parks, town forests, even as part of the landscape in housing developments or back yards.In recent years it has been attacked by the balsam woolly adelgid and I fear we might face the same tree death that is occurring with a favorite tree of mine, the hemlock. If you have any balsams on your property or properties you care for, do a through inspection and ask for professional guidance on maintaining healthy trees.If you have any pictures to share, please do.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the rain is pounding on the standing seam roof. If today's rain had been snow, every snow groomer in the state would be working right now. Sadly for our snow industries (snowmobiling opens 12/15), almost no snow is in the next 5 day forecast.

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
Always here to help you grow your green thumb!
Gift certificates year 'round. Call Gail at 802-426-3505.

Any Size, Anywhere Edible Gardening

noreply@blogger.com (George Africa) — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 14:27:00 +0000

Thursday, December 6, 2012

20.5° here on the mountain this morning. The wind is a constant 6 mph and my two morning walks with Karl the Wonder Dog were expectedly shorter this morning as he doesn’t care for fresh snow and cold winds. Karl seemed to spend too long by the platform bird feeder trying to figure out why it was surrounded by deer tracks and not birds, but as a dog, the absence of bird seed would not register with him anyway. I figure I should set up a game camera and catch an image of the deer which must stand on their hind feet to lick off all the seed.

As we returned to the house I put a couple more logs on the fire and settled down to finish a great new gardening book by William Moss. I like Moss a lot and I like anything Cool Spring Press releases too! I only have “Best Management Practices” left to read and can say how much I have enjoyed the read. Any Size, Anywhere Edible Gardening offers solid information on how to garden successfully just about any place. It is a confidence builder for those who need help growing a green thumb. It offers a format for success and William’s “how-to” information is so clear it will leave a picture in your memory to make garden building easy.

There was a time when gardening was taken for granted as almost everyone had experience as a gardener and people could identify fruits and vegetables without having to think. Back then was not like today at the supermarket when the clerk puts a turnip on the scale and asks “Beet?” or a zucchini and asks “Cucumber?” Some of that innate knowledge and experience from the old days is absent and books like Edible Gardening are needed to help us make a comeback.

Owning a nursery gives me ample opportunity to see the need for good gardening information and the need to help would-be gardeners build their confidence to take the first step. The current price and quality of store bought fruits and vegetables are also encouraging us to rethink “growing our own”. Media releases about contaminated food tell us that our home grown food is not contaminated and that encourages us to try gardening.

Edible Garden represents itself as “The No Yard, No Time, No Problem Way To Grow Your Own Food.” and Moss is very successful in his presentation. Our latest sociological research reminds us how many people are returning to suburbia and we know that those moves mean that gardening must be adapted to the geography that smaller space provides. This book discusses containers, both purchased and homemade, and how to fill them with the best growing mix for the best results. It offers descriptions and pictures of food crops that will produce well in containers and discusses the part of gardening no one likes—dealing with undesirable insects and surprise plant diseases.

If you have never gardened before, or know someone who has not gardened but might like to, consider Edible Gardening as a holiday gift. Maybe consider putting a copy of the book in a suitable growing container with packages of seed (William recommends many) or even a bag of good potting mix. It’s the kind of holiday gift that you can continue to complement during subsequent holidays and you’re guaranteed to receive ongoing feedback on how the new hobby is progressing. I’ll bet you might even get a chance to sample the produce!

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the thermometer refuses to budge and the sun is having trouble breaking through the clouds. Might be a good day to go online and look at seed companies and think through what you might like to try in containers. Most companies now identify seeds that will produce plants that will succeed in containers. You could also check out Cool Springs Press, a printer I like because it bills itself as Growing Successful Gardens

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

First Real Snow, First Real Cold

noreply@blogger.com (George Africa) — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 11:26:00 +0000

Friday, November 30, 2012

A cold morning here on the mountain, 2°, windless, bright with a nice moon reflecting off last night's 5" of fresh snow. This is the first real snow of the season and the coldest night so far. Karl the Wonder Dog took an abbreviated walk this morning and gave me a strange look as we reentered the house. He doesn't like cold and already I am less impressed too.

The snow started yesterday about 2:30 as I was in the woods trying to finish the brush chipping and get the chipper put away for the season. At times the snow blew at weird angles but it wasn't until after six o'clock that it really began to fall. The mountains are now covered and there's no doubt that the ski industry is already happier than last year when snow flakes were hard to find and the snowmobiling industry really never even started.

An eruption of evening grosbeaks finally appeared yesterday, over a month late from their typical appearances, The Dolgo crab apples that they usually eat are long since gone, as they were food for the robins while they made up their mind where to spend the winter. Robins used to leave by Thanksgiving but last year they were here most of the winter. All the bird visitors seem to be off schedule a little but I expect the snow and cold we feel today will bring them out for us to see.

I now have about 15 piles of wood chips throughout the back woods and along the woods roads and new trails I have been making. These will dehydrate a bit and be ready for spring when I'll use them to mulch the daylilies in the growing fields. At the same time, they will serve as hiding places for woods mice and the nasty voles that never hibernate and always seek out the roots of my favorite shrubs and perennials.

As winter becomes obvious at your house, consider feeding the birds if you have not given that hobby a try yet. We enjoy seeing different birds throughout the winter and don't think winter would be winter without keeping the bird feeders full and trying to capture pictures of birds we have not seen before. Bird food is expensive now with black oil sunflower going for $23 a 40 pound bag and still $19 when on sale. I always use cracked corn on platform feeders and on the ground for the ground feeding birds and I have old onion bags filled with suet for woodpeckers, chickadees and nuthatches. I never clean up the echinaceas in the fall as the small birds like goldfinches love their seeds. Black thistle seed is expensive now so echinacea is a good substitute. If you need some help learning more about birds native to your local area, try the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology.

Karl is already asking to go out again and the fire needs another log. Have a great day, watch the slippery roads this morning, and take a good look at your gardens this morning. Another outdoor gardening season has come to an end.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the town snow truck has been by and two log trucks just headed down to pick up a load of saw logs.

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
At VFF we're always here to help you grow your green thumb!

Fall Hydrangeas

noreply@blogger.com (George Africa) — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 12:48:00 +0000

Thursday, November 8, 2012

24.3° here on the mountain with a slight wind that whispers from 3 to 5 mph and back again. It's not as cold as the 15° we felt last night nor the 18° that was predicted for this morning but failed to occur. Karl the Wonder Dog and I hiked up to the old wolf tree this morning looking for wild critters but our time out was critterless. Just the same it was a nice walk and I spotted a maple that was lined with oyster mushrooms that I need to go back and pick soon.

I have been meaning to comment on hydrangeas in Vermont and similar zone 3 and 4 climates. This is a shrub that is growing in popularity and one which has been a good seller at the flower farm. It has also created somewhat of a hassle because many people see the pink and the blue hydrangeas advertised and that's what they are possessed to grow. Most folks don't care what the name of a plant is, they just see the color and visualize it growing in their gardens. Trouble with the pinks and blues in this climate, they are not dependable and I refuse to carry them.

We grow many of the paniculata types and I think Tardiva is actually my favorite because of the shrub and bloom shape. I especially favor one named 'White Moth'. Regardless of the variety, by this time of year the blooms are long past spent and have turned rusty brown and beg to be removed. That's where I need to insert a thought. Many hydrangeas bloom on new wood so cutting back hydrangeas this late in the season can have a negative impact on next summer's blooms. The problem is that cutting spent blooms in late fall leaves the stem cuts to feel the drying winds of late fall and early winter. That affords the potential that the bud material for next year will dehydrate. That translates to fewer blooms on a shrub that you are expecting to display a bounty of blooms from summer through fall. It's better to either wait until spring or do the trimming while it is still warm as soon as the flowers have faded and begun to rust. I had a lady tell me that she never trimmed anything and implied that I didn't know what I was talking about so make your own decision on pruning and my information. I always try to share experiences. What is your experience with your hydrangeas? If you comment, please include your zone.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where rifle deer season starts this Saturday and hunters have begun to scout the area. We have been wearing orange in the woods for a month now to insure that others see us. Not a bad idea!

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
Always here to help you grow your green thumb!