Trees As Competitors

Thursday, June 18, 2009

A damp and drizzly evening here on the mountain. It's holding at 52 degrees as clouds thicken over Peacham Pond and the rain drips off the standing seam roof with a plunk, plunk, plunk as drops hit the big leaves of a burdock below. We needed some rain so I am not complaining but the reproductive strength of burdock is not impressive to me; I'd prefer more creative music than those leaves encourage.

I arrived at the nursery at a little after 4 PM today and Gail and Austin were well drenched despite changes of top clothes and boots and socks. It was one of those days that started slowly but as the rain advanced, it came on strong. Gail suggested that I go home, more a caring gesture than a "we don't need you here today" notice. I'm creating a new hosta garden and time is short and the hostas I am moving are growing quickly so the sooner I can move them, the more successful I will be and they will look. I have reached a point in my life where some things advance too quickly and I have to show caution to accomplish what I set out to do. This type caution exists with or without raindrops.

Hostas, like all plants, on occasion show a temporary rearrangement of their genetic structure and as a gardener you just stand there some day and ask "Where did that leaf come from?" A perfectly nice plant that you have savored for some time suddenly displays one or more leaves that just don't seem to belong. Such an occurrence is called "sporting" I hear and the dissimilar leaves are a "sport" which can be excised with care from the main plant and grown on to determine if the new look continues or if it reverts to mother's look in another year or two. Some hostas produce more sports than others and I am sure that is true of plants in general. Below is a sport of the famous hosta 'Striptease' which originally sported from 'Gold Standard' Last I counted there were 35 registered sports of 'Striptease' but by now there are probably more. I imagine mine is one of the named ones by now but I haven't done any comparisons.

If you scroll back to the photo at the top, you'll see another sport of a plant of 'Striptease' I have had at the house for some time. I am still kicking myself for not separating it years ago when the streaking was very balanced. Gardeners have hindsight like everyone else and I am no different.

This time of year when hostas are a popular plant to purchase, not a day goes by but what someone visits and says that they want to purchase hostas to plant "under a large white pine", "under a maple", "under a lilac", "in where's it's quite dark". These are not always good conversations because people often have their minds made up and it's almost useless to try to provide a little experiential insight that might even work. Just the same, we always try to sort out what people have in mind and what might work. Sometimes it can work nicely but often with a little more planning than the gardener arrived at our place with.

The planting situations I described are not at all satisfactory for hostas as trees and root systems in general make for fierce competition over time. If you think of a tree out on your lawn, the root system is at least as big as the tree that you see growing above the ground. That provides incredible competition for a hosta. I have found that planting a hosta in an oversized nursery or tree pot prevents root system encroachment and allows you to dedicate water and nutrients to the hosta via the confines the container provides. I have done this for five years and am just now moving some of these plants. Here is an example that was three years old. It's a three gallon nursery pot in which I grew two plants of Hosta 'Rascal'.

Notice the root system that forms and how it grows within the pot. The roots are thick and the plants are healthy. I suspect that if I had watered them at all last year, they would have grown even better. I started with a very good soil/compost mix and during the first couple years was conscientious about applying fish emulsion, magnesium sulphate and plenty of water.



If you have a place where trees as competitors are a consideration, try potting your hostas and sinking them into the ground. The container will provide protection against incoming roots, mice and voles and it's worth the time and the couple bucks for the protection. I have to say that digging the holes isn't that handy but looking at the reward in a couple years is.



Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where no barred owl will hoot tonight as rain is falling harder, and the silent woods are dripping. The mice population is safe until the rain stops.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm A web site that likes mail orders

New Nursery, New Hosta Garden

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June 9, 2008

After almost seven years of building a shade garden at our Peacham Pond Road location, it was time to move the nursery and leave all that work behind. It will be impossible to forget that garden and even if we wanted to, customers wouldn't allow it. Gail and I have already been reminded of that about every day, so Sunday I got serious and began to build the new hosta extravaganza. Only time will tell how successful I am.

For a couple days, Austin, a UVM summer helper, toiled away at digging holes for me. He commented that it wasn't a great job but the day went by quickly. It wouldn't have for me but his preparatory work was much appreciated. When the holes were ready, we began digging hostas from more mature gardens and then loaded up the tools and amendments we'd need. I was hoping for a little help but he had a house to paint and Gail had other chores so I was on my own.

When hostas are 5 or 6 years old, any listed as large or extra large are heavy. There's no other way to get them out but to dig all around the plant as deep as you can go and then begin to slid the shovel under the root ball. I use a 6 foot pry bar and with a little luck and someone tugging on a corner we can usually free up the monsters. It has been raining hard here for many days so the ground was loose and the task was less than it would normally be.

You have to understand that the height of this new land is solid clay, the kind potters dream of. It is so heavy that when you finally get a hole dug and fill it with water, it forms a frog pond that takes forever to drain. That's where calcium sulphate comes in. At $6.79 a 40 pound bag from Wal Mart or a buck and a half more wholesale from farm supply outlets, it's become gold to me for what it does to clay soils. As soon as Austin dug the holes I had him dose them liberally, bottom and sides, with this miracle composition. From there I mix bagged manure, 4 year old rotted tree chips, handfuls of lime, one handful per hole of 10-10-10, about 5 pounds of peat moss and a bucket of rotted maple leaves. I fill the hole with water and turn and turn until it is well mixed. Then the hosta goes in and the sides get firmed and then covered with more wood chips.


Everyone has their method and their secret mixes. Mine aren't a secret although I have to say I'll never use Agway's products again as this manure of theirs was as much clay as Austin dug out of the hole in the first place. Vermont Compost from Montpelier, Intervale Compost if you can get it, or good old farm manure are the way to go. I used the last of the big pile a couple weeks back and elected not to bring in a truckload of fine smelling green manure while I was trying to lure customers to a new location.

This planting took a couple days and contains June, Parhelion, Aristocrat, Wolverine, Abiqua Moonbeam, Bressingham Beauty, Frances Williams, Shade Fanfare and a few others. Before I am done, there will be a trail leading down the hill parallel to the Winooski River and then on into the grove of box elders. The 450 hostas we have will in some part make the move and with luck some of the sad comments will dissipate. In time we'll have that answer. In the interim it's me and Austin and the shovel and the truck. If you stop by to visit us on Route 2, walk on down through the astilbe shade house to the river bank. You'll see what we have done.



Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where it's 74 degrees out. A lone mosquito is attempting to peck at my shoulder and he's going to get a good one if he'll hold still. Not as big a project as at 3 this morning when a June bug practiced maneuvers in the bedroom until banging into a wall and falling victim to the phone book.

Good gardening wishes,

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener Another good blog
Vermont Flower Farm A place to buy great flowers online

Rain Drops and First Thaw

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Almost 7 PM here on the hill where we are anemometer-less but wish we had one. The local television news just announced the wind speeds at various Vermont towns and 55-60 mph was common. The wind continues with great ferocity here and a brief step outside with Karl the wonder dog scared both of us as a large maple tree bit the snow. That's apparently common tonight (the falling tree part) as Channel 3 reported the number of people without power. It includes 561 Green Mountain Power customers burning candles and kerosene lamps and looking for more flashlight batteries as are our friends at the Marshfield Inn. The outage extends to parts of East Montpelier and beyond. Green Mountain Power happens to be one of the better utilities when it comes to line maintenance and speedy repairs so hopefully everyone will be back to normal soon. January thaws are like this sometimes but this one is giving plenty to remember.

A week ago it was minus 15 degrees and blustery cold. Yesterday and today new records have been set and now rain and wind cut away at one of the nicest early snow packs we have seen in several years. Fifty degrees and pouring rain reminds me of mid June when our hostas are looking great. I have always enjoyed seeing the raindrops bead up on the big leaves of a Hosta 'Elegans' (above) but today the picture is only a memory.



As I sit here, letting my mind walk through the lower hosta gardens of summer, it's a calming journey. The garden I have created over the years within the walls of that old barn foundation is a peaceful place. It's easy there to pull up a rock and sit down for a few minutes to reflect on the world and enjoy the quiet.


As my mind skips through the greens and blues and whites and yellows, names come to mind. Jimmy Crack Corn, Feather Boa, Jewel of the Nile, Captain Kirk, Dick Ward, Robert Frost, Bobbie Sue, Blue Moon, Little Sunspot, Blue Jay, Olive Bailey Langdon, Yellow River, Popo, Venusta, Amber Tiara, Hacksaw, Risky Business, Royalty, Donahues Piecrust, Red October, Regal Rhubarb. There are hundreds of different hostas here and in the slide show that works through my mind.

These are some of my favorite plants and this garden is a favorite too. If winter cold begins to get to you and you aren't sold on hostas yet, take a look at the American Hosta Society site. If that shows promise try the Hosta Library Those two sites will take days to get through but if you still have some ambition, go to our Vermont Flower Farm site and try the links for
Building a Hosta Garden or Hostas A-K Those links should help you make a decision on how much you do or don't like hostas. For me there is no question......I can't buy enough!


Writing from the mountain where tomorrow's sunlight will make obvious all the rearranging tonight's winds have done.

Drive with care.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener

Preparing The Soil

Thursday, June 28, 2007

An even 70 degrees here today after two days in the low nineties. There were a few rain drops last night after a noisy thunderstorm that brought much fanfare but little rain. The air is heavy now and the feeling of rain is obvious.

Work at the Route 2 site is finally progressing. Michelle is able to be here and help Gail more and I am able to get away every night. The new tractor is excellent and I am so happy that I listened to my instinct, not my landscape friends, and bought the size I did. A 30 hp engine is fine for what I need and I am getting an hour and a half of work time per gallon of diesel. I don't know if this is good or not but running the PTO at high speeds has to affect the cost and I'm ok with it .
I have mowed the entire five acres twice and will go for number three this weekend. I have all the calcium sulphate spread and have tilled 12-50 foot sections three times each. I have 20 sections to go plus the 200 foot display garden section in the front. Progress is slow but obvious and just seeing where I have come makes me smile.

Today I am here on the hill. Michelle and Winnie will be helping me as Gail is in Burlington all day at an autism conference. Alex will have a friend over for the day so I have a number of directions to go in. We received a very nice daylily order yesterday from Northern Grown Perennials in Wisconsin and Michelle will get going on those shortly. They'll be potted for now and then transplanted to the new site in a month.

The shipment of deer fence arrives tomorrow and 2200 feet of fence will take a while to get up. I have yet to decide on the posts but think I'll go with a mix of 4X4X10's and some 10 foot T-bar heavy duty posts. That decision has to be made today.

The last thing to move this fall will be the peonies. We have a nice collection in excess of 135-50 types and have over 200 plants which will be moved. My intent is to have display gardens around the entire 5 acre perimeter with a walking trail parallel to the fence. This is an ambitious undertaking and will take years to bring along but it will be worth every minute of prep time.

If you enjoy peonies, get here to Vermont Flower Farm this weekend as the heavy rains and hot days are cutting the bloom time. We have peonies scattered about but if you do come, don't forget to walk through the lower hosta garden and into the field to see the peony display down there. P. 'White Wings', one of my favorites, are in bloom now. The yellow peony pictured directly above is a tree peony and that's a story for another day. If you can't get out to see us at Vermont Flower Farm, go to our website and stroll through the garden pictures we offer on the various Virtual Garden Tours. Chances are you will find something that you will want to add to your own garden.

From the mountain above Peacham Pond where the low pressures of the morning have slowed man, bird and beast to a significant quietness. This weekend is Hosta Days so stop by for some of Gail's world famous blueberry coffee cake and tour with us. Come early as when the cake is, gone, it's gone for the day.

Great gardening wishes,

George Africa
http://vermontflowerfarm.com
http://thevermontgardener.blogspot.com

Mindful Hosta Plans

Thursday, March 1, 2005

5:45 PM and I just got off the phone with a person I cannot understand who told me that the problems I have been having with a Yahoo listserv are widespread and don't worry about it. It has occurred to me that I can't recall when in my life I first heard "They're working on it." but that is a phrase often exploited now. Hughes, our satellite broadband supplier, was chosen from a choice of one and I'd say they are about as good as any. Tonight I was transferred to their level three tech support where I was provided with a description of how my problems are being handled. If you know me personally, you alreay know how I got to level three and what my attitude is after hearing this absurd description of the problem. I guess if it involves a satellite 26,000 miles from here, there's not much I can do.

Gail and I have been mapping garden strategies for our new gardens on Route 2 and it's been a lot of fun. Everyone has their special way of doing this but Gail likes big sheets of paper devoid of restriction and lacking any formal scale. Sketch after sketch flows off her pencil and when she finishes I always make one of those "How'd you do that?" faces. This girl is good and she doesn't have any landscape academy initials after her name. If she did, she wouldn't use them anyway as they are pretentious to her---downright meaningless.

Last fall we rototilled some gardens in the main field and we have outlined what needs to be done this summer. We'll figure out a weed and grass erdication plan and then rototill the entire perimeter of the land. On the external face of that perimeter I'll install an extruded plastic fence for deer control. I haven't figured out how to deal with the Route 2 perimeter yet as I want it to look open and inviting to people but not deer.

I have already begun trimming dead trees along the Winooski River and under every bit of shade that remains, we'll plant hostas and their complimentary companions. Customers have grown to enjoy the lower shade garden here on Peacham Pond Road and it's compactness will be difficult to replicate in the first year or so by the river. A couple years back I saw a real nice presentation at Fieldstone Perennials in Maine and I'd like to use the same model. They prepared deep gardens parallel to stone walls and then planted hostas which as full grown specimens made any gardener stop in awe. With time, we can have that same large plant, widely spaced show. We'll move some of our larger hosta clumps and will plant 3-4-5 of other varieties to get some good clumps started. It still takes a good 3-4 years for this method to pan out but from that point on, growth is eyecatching.

Now that tax time is over for us, we'll take the sketches Gail prepares, check our inventories and then make metal markers for all the plants we intend to get in the ground next year. We use the markers available from EON or Paw Paw and then make weatherproof labels using clear Avery Labels printed on our old HP Laser printer. These stand up well for years. It eliminates any confusion later on if you have the plant stake ready at planting time. .....ask us if we learned this the hard way.

New gardens are just that and they'll require lots of compost and other amendments. We still don't know where all the physical energy wil come from to operate two locations at the same time. Gail has a crew that seems willing to keep coming back and that's a real nice feeling. If I stop for just a minute I can hear the laughter that comes from these gardeners who just keep plugging away in about any kind of weather because they enjoy each others company and they enjoy working with plants.

Right now I can smell a nice haddock dinner calling and that's something that shouldn't be delayed.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the temperature is holding a steady 26.1 for the third hour now. This is putting us on notice that the storm is approaching. The plow is on the truck and there's a shovel by each door.

Garden planning wishes,

George Africa
http://vermontflowerfarm.com
http://thevermontgardener.blogspot.com