Air, Land and Water Observations

Sunday, November 18, 2007

It was 15 degrees this morning and as I looked out the kitchen window I saw my friend the barred owl land in a tree above the trout pond. I took this picture of him several weeks ago and have been more than pleased with his local presence for more than three weeks. Barred owls don't seem to mind flying in daylight and this one moves back and forth between here and the top of the hill. When he is sitting in a locust tree as in this picture, it's easy to walk or drive right by and not even notice him. This morning he landed in a white birch and was no challenge to watch. A couple nights back I heard it call which is uncommon this time of year as locating a mate is not on an owl's "to do list" this time of year.

More than a month ago now on October 15th, I missed an item I wanted to write about. Some would question the topic's relationship to our new gardens but you can make up your mind and let me know. October 15th, 2007 was the first ever Blog Action Day. The day was intended to raise an awareness of environmental concerns and people were encouraged to write and share thoughts and resources. I did not. Back then I was still spending time planting daylilies and finishing up odd chores. Regardless of missing that day, I think about environmental issues almost every day.

Owning property bordered by the beautiful Winooski River has encouraged Gail and Alex and me to think more about the environment that surrounds us. We have walked the river and its banks and have visually searched the area for new plants and animals we need to learn. I'm familiar with the Friends of the Winooski River and volunteered this summer on some water flow studies. This is a dedicated group with a mission to protect and teach.

The Winooski that flows by us has a lot to tell. It is small in comparison to when it enters Lake Champlain in Colchester, Vermont but just being the state's largest watershed offers big expectations. Between the Friends website and the Nature Compass site
which includes the Winooski River Paddling Guide, you can quickly learn a great deal. Thinking about Blog Action Day and then the Winooski I am reminded how important it is to protect such a fine river and watershed.

Despite the cold this morning, I took Karl the wonder dog with me when I went to work on the last of the clean up work. I parked the truck and we just sat there at the top of the land admiring the new gates Gail and Alex helped hang Wednesday night. Karl sat tall in the truck as if guarding the river and I watched as a flock of geese flew overhead and four mergansers headed down the river at top speed. Come spring we will plant some new trees along the banks and we will get flowers planted in the gardens along the bank. During the winter as I rebuild our Vermont Flower Farm website, we'll add sections on the native flora and fauna. I'm even hoping that Alex will take over this project in between helping Gail and customers.

Although the barred owl is mostly silent this time of year, it reminds me that we shouldn't be when it comes to our environment. Maybe next year you can join in Blog Action Day as we will and try to help keep Vermont green! In the meantime, do all you can to keep things green.


Writing from the cold mountain above Peacham Pond where Mrs. Deer and this year's twins work their way up the bank outside my office window. It's just 8 PM and 17 degrees outside, and spirea stems and black raspberry leaves are apparently on the Sunday evening deer menu.


George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
http://thevermontgardener.blogspot.com
hppt://vermontflowerfarm.com

Picking Up The Pieces

Sunday, November 11, 2007

19 degrees this morning and a reminder to how long I have been away from on-line conversations. The 50 degree nights have passed and the snow flurries we have already seen will intensify soon. The weather folks have predicted below-normal cold for December and that might well translate to more snow than we saw last year in early winter.

There's something nice about not having to plow or shovel snow in January but one consequence to that is red voles, the creatures that do not hibernate. Last year they ran around eating special shrubs and plants and giving the gardeners at Vermont Flower Farm bad feelings.

Gail, Alex and I have been busy since the end of October picking up the nursery and continuing to work the new land. People tell us almost every day that they are amazed what we have accomplished with almost no outside help. It has meant sacrificing a few fun things but we're proud!

Building a new business requires a good plan and to be good it should have time lines that are realistic. There's a need to build in a little flexibility too, especially in the horticulture business where Mother Nature can affect a schedule with one storm. Part of our plan was to construct a 10 foot by 200 foot garden plot to border the parking area. Gail and I thought and thought, scribbled pictures, drove in rebar stakes, set up orange marking flags, rolled out fluorescent survey tape and then did it all over again several times. We wanted to try to understand traffic flow turning off Route 2 and into our proposed parking lot. At the same time Gail was (still is) obsessed with where the building will go come May 2008.

It's not the 12,000 vehicles that drive by every day that's a concern, as a business is lucky to snag 1% of what drives by. That's something I learned from the direct marketing business. What is critical is the vehicles that turn in and how safely they are parking, exiting for a look-see, filling their vehicles and leaving. Businesses have to contend with delivery trucks including tractor trailers, landscapers vehicles and giant RVs dragging additional vehicles in tow. My dad always said "Measure twice, cut once." and Gail and I did this exercise over and over. It looks workable as long as there isn't a combination of large vehicles coming and going at the same time. If you're thinking about a business location, give a bunch of thought to this traffic component and where cars will park.

Our plan was to have a garden ten feet deep with a split rail fence three feet in from the back. That would allow 7 feet in front of the fence to plant, would add some dimension to the front and would provide seasonal color that would slow down traffic from the highway and be striking to potential customers as they exited the highway for a visit.

I knew the top of the hill was the most incredible clay I had ever seen. A year ago when I hired Kevin Hudson to do the initial rototilling, it became clear where the clay started and where it stopped. I knew this new garden would be no different but until I cut into the sod and got down a foot or so, how extensive the clay was remained a question.

As it turned out, I had to excavate about 2.5 feet deep for over half the length to get down far enough to be assured that when I back filled with organic material I'd have a good garden composition for planting trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals and bulbs. If there is anything more difficult to work than clay, let me know. This wasn't just any clay, this was the special stuff, the stuff that makes potters cry with happiness when they find a source with a tall "Free--Take All" sign stuck in the middle. This isn't just potters clay, this is outdoor oven-building clay like the oven they made this summer at Wellspring Farm down the road a bit in Marshfield. It has all kinds of potential.

Working this stuff with the tractor is not easy and I found myself saying some nasty things, especially after hours and hours of going back and forth. It is elastic and it sticks to the tractor bucket, refuses to drop off, fills the tire cleats so you spin a lot and cakes onto the front axle refusing to relax its firm grip. It's not that nice unless you are a potter or maybe a geologist--my opinion. The picture above is a chunk that I let dry out for a day. It weighs a good ten pounds. It's special clay and here's why.

I guess "special" is relative and maybe this clay is no more special than the next deposit but it is to me because I never knew what a concretion was. This clay is full of concretions. This summer Mark and I had just finished putting up fence and we were standing around the truck as he waited for Michelle to arrive. He picked up a concretion thinking it was a coin. As we looked around, we found more and more. I had no idea what they were and I kept asking people for a name. Then one day when I was working on the Winooski River project, I asked my friend Emma if she knew the name. She did but she didn't. Along came another George--this time a geologist, and he offered up "concretion" without a nano-thought. From the river bank above, a school teacher volunteer quickly shouted out her love for concretions and I climbed up and gave her one. That was the start of my love for concretions.


These are small compared to some and this area has a bunch of clay banks of with concretions of various sizes. None are as big as the one that is 1.5 meters on Wikipedia. Take a look yourself at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concretion and you'll see what I mean.

I have read that concretions are the "buttons" found at Button Bay State Park in Ferrisburg on Lake Champlain. They aren't as easy to find now but probably as the waves move in and out, some become visible...kind of like finding sand dollars at the ocean 30 years ago. Anyway, these little geological wonders spark the imagination.

Walking the gardens in fall highlights pieces, leftovers, discards, some out of place, some just cast off. It's part of operating a business. The pieces of metal on the granite block in the first picture are pieces pushed up by winter freeze-thaw cycles. I like to straighten things up in the fall as I pick up the pieces. You can too!

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where a barred owl has decided 256 Peacham Pond Road is a good place to hunt. He's in a white birch right now, looking at a merganser on the trout pond.

Fall gardening wishes and kind business thoughts for whatever you are contemplating.

George Africa

http://thevermontgardener.blogspot.com/

Walkin', Tossin', Gatherin'

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

As I drove down Route 2 towards home and Marshfield tonight, my eye caught Gail's car and then Gail out in the daylilies, spade fork in hand, weeding the second of the 22 plots I got planted with daylilies. I slowed down way in advance of the turn because folks returning home after work are not always as cautious as they should be. I pulled up alongside our car and noticed Alex stretched back in the passenger seat reading his H.P. Lovecraft stories and recovering from his very unfavorable experience of weeding with Gail. Karl the wonder dog was no where to be seen which probably meant he was sound asleep when Gail and Alex left the house and it wasn't worth the trouble waking him.

Already it's been almost two months since I began transplanting daylilies. They look good for the time they have been in the ground and have set in quite well for the winter. Planting in the fall is a good thing but as you work into mid October in Vermont, you need to use care and watch the soil temperature fall. Below 50 degrees and I don't think it's prudent to transplant daylilies because that is a signal that temperatures will fall quickly and soon. This morning was our second hard freeze, this time 22 degrees. I suppose if you wanted to plant and mulch or plant in known micro climates it would be fine but for us, planting for the first time in an open field, caution is the word.

In addition, to a major planting effort, we have made other accomplishments. I have patched up the fence where moose have walked right through. This didn't please me either time but there is no stopping a moose. This time of year there is mating season to contend with when moose are on the move, a controlled moose season is under way, archery season for deer just ended and rifle season is beginning. This puts thousands of hunters into the woods causing moose and deer to move where they may not have gone before. The fence has done well for deer control but stopping moose was already a known factor. In the next couple weeks we'll start work on the gates to Route 2 and the last piece of fence along the Winooski River. I intentionally left that open after watching animal movement there last year. Observations found deer, bear, moose and coyote all using the same corridor.

I made contact with Green Mountain Power and know that the power pole will cost $1200. That is a spring project that I will schedule in February so we are locked in before things get busy for the power company. We also have agreed to a building which we will use for a "pack and ship, sales area, office, take-a-break, get-out-of-the-weather, store equipment, warm up/cool off room".


When we were thinking about buying a prefab building from The Carriage Shed near the VA Hospital in White River, we had a contractor doing a bathroom over here at the house. He's a great person and a super contractor and he knows his stuff. He said he was familiar with the product and he couldn't build the same thing much cheaper if at all. That made us look more seriously at options. This picture isn't what we'll be getting for about $9000 delivered but it should help you visualize where we're at.

We will have a 12 X 28 foot building with the run-in part on the right as this picture shows. "Run-in" is the open area set up in a horse barn style building for animals to come in out of the weather, eat, drink, sleep etc. That's where we'll do pack and ship for Internet sales and all local sales. On the left interior wall of that room will be a full wall and a traditional door and storm door. I'm planning the door where customers and visitors won't be trying to get in, looking for whatever customers and visitors always look for. When I think about how important this is, I always remember the time three years ago when I walked into our house and a lady was wandering around. I asked if I could help and she said she thought our house was a gift shop. Gail will surely be happy not to give up her house anymore.

So you have a more complete concept, the two barn doors pictured to the left of the run-in will be replaced by windows and on the left end there will be another window. I really wanted the four foot overhang shown in this picture but that was going to add another$3400 to the price. The building is built on pressure treated 6 X 6's and is delivered on a tilt bed /flat bed trailer so it can be placed where you want it. It's also moveable if it needs to be relocated. These are all positives to me so if the business for some reason failed, was disbanded, was sold, there would be many options for using the land without having to deal with a building. When I plan a business, I always have contingencies and I recommend any business owner think into the future as much as possible.

Once in place we'll have to install underground electric from the pole. I'll put in 200 amp service with a breaker box in the interior room and circuits for the water pump, general lighting, the computer and technology equipment, and a circuit for any cooking/refrigerating equipment.

During the summer we have had many, many curious visitors and a number of those asked if we had considered solar power. Although we have not studied solar, it is on our list of things to explore this winter. If any readers are knowledgeable about an application such as this one, we'd be pleased to hear your advice.

The building will have to be insulated and next summer it will have a pretty rustic look inside as there's too little time to get everything done to finished quality. We'll get it stained on the outside and I want to get gutters on both sides to get the rain away form the building. During the second year the rain water and water from the plant wash sinks will be diverted to an adjacent rain garden--but that's a story for another time. In the middle of a five acre field a 12 X 28 foot building will look small but it will serve as an energy warehouse for some fine gardens and a business of growing. Let us know if you have questions about the plan. Suggestions are just that "suggestions", but we always like to hear them.

After trying to get Alex to give up Lovecraft and get back to work, I scooted home to change and get back to help Gail. We worked until the sun was fading, picked up all the hose and irrigation equipment we no longer needed and headed home. For two people, we have accomplished a lot this summer while operating our nursery and with me going to work at a regular job every day. Gail has been great to juggle so many things and still keep the nursery and Internet business in operation. Passers-by encourage us to keep it up and about every day, like yesterday at 5:30 AM at the gas station, I met another person who introduced themselves and offered thanks and encouragement....thanks for keeping a piece of Vermont in agriculture.

When I returned home there was just enough time for a quick walk in the gardens. Fall is a time when I try to keep getting one more picture of our gardens filed away in my memory bank for winter. I'm one of those gardeners who can't keep from picking seed heads, tossing seeds around and trying to locate those flowers which just keep blooming. Seeds that I think have promise for next year might even end up in a Mason jar for dry storage. Last week I found another bloom of the daylily 'Miss Amelia'. This walk found me with a hand full of heuchera leaves, batchelors buttons, rose companion, dried astilbe scapes and rudbeckia and echinachea seed heads. The trollius are sparse compared to their summer offering but the fact that they rebloom now is enough for me.


If you have a chance during the next few weeks, pick a warm day and walk your gardens too. Walkin', tossin', and gatherin' are part of gardening.

From the mountain above Peacham Pond where small blocks of ice lay coldly on the ground near empty buckets no longer filled with warm colored flowers. The season "Fall" holds tight.

Gardening wishes;

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

A Year Has Passed

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Great good mornings to you from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the loons call, in competition with the harsh voices of two crows sitting in an adjacent white pine. It's 31 degrees and the dark clouds don't seem to be moving much. Yesterday was a good day to get some planting done because today is supposed to be wet with snow showers in higher elevations. We are at 1500 feet so I don't think we'll see the white stuff quite yet.

It's been almost a year since I decided to start this blog as an offshoot to The Vermont Gardener

Now at 3770 hits I guess I may have roped the interest of a few, although I know some subscribers have opted out. One person wrote me personally and said they liked the blog but thought there would be a lot more information on starting a nursery business. That was my plan and still is, but lacking a dependable day stretcher, there are fundamentals to building a business which have to be done. In a geographic area like Vermont, an outside business is at the mercy of the weather and that reprioritizes things for gardeners despite what they had planned.

For those still impatient with me, I want to cite a good resource which might help while you wait for me to pull things together. I've mentioned it before because I was going to write the same sort of book myself except that the task never elevated itself to the top of my "to-do" list. The book is titled So You Want To Start A Nursery written by Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery, Inc. What the book points out is that you need a well thought out plan and you need to follow it. Gail and I have a very good plan for moving our nursery and we are following it almost to the letter. What we don't have is a lot of spare capital so the "doing things yourself" part takes more time. Here are some examples.


Yesterday we scheduled the day to plant the western border garden. It is 408 feet long and I have prepared a ten foot width with the tractor mounted rototiller. For reference, the fence posts in the pictures are 30 feet apart. Half this width maintains high moisture because water feeds down the mountain across Route 2. The soil is clay loam but stones are almost nonexistent and save for the need for more organic material, it will grow plants well. Our plan was to plant things that complimented each other and could also handle full sun and high moisture.

We loaded the Chevy until it wouldn't hold any more plants and away we went. With a few minor changes, Gail's design worked well. I wanted to leave 18" along the grass so I could run the small Troy Built rototiller and keep the grass from encroaching. This entire area (previous to our purchase) was originally planted with White Dutch Clover to feed the deer and break up the clay. As we know, clover has a way of spreading and my plan was to keep it out of the gardens in subsequent years.

The transplanting went well until we got to the Astilboides tabularis and the Darmera. These plants had been in 1 gallon pots for two years and had expanded their root systems to the point they wouldn't come free of the pots without splitting them down the sides. 150-180 pots later we were finished but the "big pot problem" added another hour and a quarter to the project. Today we'll get back there and plant the corner with a variety of bee balms and hopefully



get started on a full season "yellow garden" with helenium, various rudbeckias, heliopsis and daylilies.

Monday night when Alex and I were returning from Burlington, the traffic halted at about the entrance to our property. A quarter mile down the road, a car had sheared off a power pole. Speed has a way of messing up your day if you're not careful but the accident reminded me I needed to call Green Mountain Power and get a price on a power pole. I called on Tuesday and found that I could mount the meter on the pole and the installation would cost $1200. The stipulation was that the company truck could set the pole from the highway. Although that's not a concern, I asked for a physical site inspection since the bank is steep there and the pole has to be high enough to match the pole on the opposite side of the road. The line has to be high enough to avoid the highest trucks.


The delivery and placement of stones for the daylily display garden almost two weeks ago was another positive accomplishment but it modified how many daylilies I could get into the ground before this week's temperatures dropped too low. With the stones in place, I had to spray the entire garden area with Round Up. 9000 square feet isn't that large in the world of plants but when you're spraying with a backpack sprayer it gets big real fast. Looking back on all the issues related to ground prep, I should have budgeted for a trailer for the tractor and a 50 gallon electric sprayer with a boom sprayer. Small business plans should not contain too many "should haves" but a few are not uncommon.

With the stone in place, Gail can start the actual garden design. She has been carrying around thoughts for some time but without the large stones in place, she was reluctant to proceed. That's just how Gail works. This week the design will take shape and we'll visit some nurseries and look at trees and shrubs on our list of possibilities. We'd like to get the trees planted before the snow arrives and that looks possible.

Growing a gardening business is an exciting job. A good plan and a pocket full of money help. Gail and I are the tortoises of the garden movement but in the end Vermont Flower Farm will have a nice new home and more than ever before, you'll want to visit.

Best wishes,

George
The Vermont Gardener
http://vermontflowerfarm.com
http://thevermontgardener.blogspot.com

Moose versus The Fence

Friday, October 5, 2007

Another beautiful day in Vermont. The sun is rising through the maples, the blue jays are annoyed by the empty feeder and I can hear loons flying overhead en route to the pond. The weather will change beginning Sunday but until then, things are fine.

I just want to give an update on the deer fence I installed. This was 7.5 foot extruded plastic fence from Italy named Tenex. I mounted it on 4 X 4 X10 foot pressure treated posts after running a piece of 17 gauge electric fence wire through the top row. As a means of preventing deer from entering the gardens, it is great. I still have a few places that I have to secure the bottom better where the fields roll up and down but pretty much the only way deer are entering the gardens is through the main entrance. As soon as I finish this week with the daylilies, the 2 14 foot gates will go up and the place will be closed in.

The moose situation is different and this past week a large moose came across Route 2 and took out a 30 foot section of fence, ran across the field and went right through another section and on into the Winooski River. This is the type thing you know will happen but hope it doesn't. People with horses in their pastures can often relate stories of seeing a moosing dragging half a mile of electric fence across a montain top. There's not much that will stop a moose and this time of year it's mating season and they are on the move. Later on in the fall the moose head to mountain tops to spend the winter while deer head to lower areas. Any time now I could see more moose damage but since they are travelers, they don't return every day. They also don't eat anything I have planted.

The moose in the picture was on the Lanesboro Road the other night. The following morning I saw a yearling bull walking down the road to Owls Head. These will be the first of many sightings over the next few weeks. Moose and deer are part of gardening in Vermont.


From the mountain above Peacham Pond where red, yellow and orange maple leaves float gently to earth.

Garden greetings!

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

Planting Rocks, Making Gardens

Thursday, October 4, 2007

New England continues to have fine autumn weather and Vermont is no exception. This has allowed us to make good progress on our new property and reach the goals we had set for this year. We intended to get all the daylilies moved and as of last night I had planted through the"P's" so we are on target for what has been a tremendous job. One of the difficulties is estimating the time to complete something you have never done before. We've only missed our timeline on the daylilies by about a week and a half and the weather has made up for our miscalculation. What I really missed on was how long it would take to install the perimeter fence around 5 acres but that came at a time when we had more time to play with.

As soon as we finish with the daylilies, there are a number of plants going along the western fence in large groupings. These are plants such as ligularia, cimicifuga, astilboides tabularis, different monardas, rudbeckias, darmeras, rodgersias and aruncus. They are less picky about establishing good root systems before the soil temperature falls below 50 degrees and they will transplant well.

The front display garden will follow that planting. It's started but a long way from completion. It will be ten feet wide by 200 feet long and will serve as a buffer to the parking lot. My intent is to get the ground prepared and the split rail fence installed before the snow flies. That's a bigger task than it seems because the first 50 feet is solid clay and has to be excavated a foot down, spread with gypsum and then back filled with a mix of aged manure, peat moss and top soil. I'll be bouncing around on the tractor with the rototiller, clawing an inch at a time deeper into the clay but in time that will come together.

Gail and I had discussed a display garden to parallel Route 2 so passers-by could see a fine display. We had discussed a garden 120 feet long by about 75 wide which would start at the end of the parking lot and work it's way to the western fence. The vision included a walk way linking to the western fence-side garden and then continuing around the entire perimeter. Good gardeners need visions and we have a lot of them.

One of the great things about a small Vermont town is you get to know a lot of folks and you find out that you sometimes have similar interests. Years back we met Jean and Brien Ducharme. Jean was the town clerk for years and Brien owned a logging business that had historical roots in his family. Jean and Brien both liked plants and one year they appeared to help us with spring planting and they have been coming back ever since.

I had heard that Brien had just completed a big rip-rapping job on a piece of the Winooski River west of our land. The rocks were from a local contractor who wanted to open up an area. I asked Brien if he had some time to move some rocks to our property for a display garden and his recent retirement made the response easier. What I didn't know was that Brien had his truck up for sale and it could be sold at any time.


Monday afternoon when Gail and I had just started setting up the water pump, Brien appeared. He was ready to move the rocks because the truck sold and would be moving to a new owner in the next couple days. We had already lined out the garden with rebar stakes and string and marked each rock placement with colored marking flags. I had also used Round Up where every stone would sit. We walked the proposed garden so Brien knew what we were doing and away he went for the first load.

I love to see craftsmen work and when I heard the roar of "Rollin Thunda", the logging truck, coming down Route 2, I knew the next few minutes would be a treat. Brien pulled into the drive and we had a quick discussion about unloading. I would have driven the truck right into the field but Brien cautioned that the field was soft in places and backing in means being able to drive out. Another lesson learned. He backed to the end of the field and then climbed the ladder to begin off loading.


It's fun for me to watch a person work the controls of a big rig and so flawlessly place giant pieces of material which weigh thousands of pounds on a dime in one smooth motion. Brien is no different. One after another the giant boulders, a couple like small Volkswagens, came off and went into place.


For some stones, Brien would use the pinchers to dig a quick hole in the sod and then he'd plant the stone, firmly placing it in upright fashion so it wouldn't move with winter's freeze-thaw cycles.






The first load come off quickly and our "Chief Financial Officer", Gail, made a spontaneous decision that another load was needed. An hour and a half later we were admiring the finished project and Brien was pulling up onto Route 2, just a little late for Jean's dinner party for 16. I have to say that I appreciated the efficiency of the project but mostly I liked the fact that Brien committed to helping and he didn't forget. Vermonter's are like that and a commitment means a commitment completed.

Standing around giving direction and confirmation was the easy part of this project. The difficult part will be the planting. Gail will be responsible for designing the placement of trees and shrubs, walkways and garden benches. She'll also figure out the planting scheme. In part this will become a certified American Hemerocallis Display Garden so it will contain clumps of everything we sell and and some we collect but don't sell. In a couple years it will be a beautiful garden that will stop traffic on Route 2. Right now it also stops traffic, like the cement contractor foreman who stopped yesterday to say "I drive this road every day to Springfield or Ludlow. What exactly are you doing and what are all those stones?"


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where a beautiful day is in the making as two young blue jays talk to me through the office window.

Garden wishes,

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

Curiosity Continues

Monday, September 24, 2007

Another beautiful day in Vermont with a high of 79 in Burlington and very close to that even here in Marshfield. I was in St Johnsbury for a forum on autism and the ride across Route 2 showed variation in color. My guess is that within a week this area will reach peak color but right now it's fun to round a bend and see wide contrast to what you just saw. Here are two shots from yesterday morning. The first (above) is a trout breaking on nearby Osmore Pond. The second is a broad view across the swamp in the vicinity of Ethan Allen corners and Lanesboro Road.



Work continues at the new property with me as chief planter and Gail back on the hill checking and rechecking inventory lists and preparing crates of daylilies. Tonight I reached Little Dandy and Little Grapette, two older daylilies, both shades of purple and smaller sized blooms compared to many of the more modern introductions. Gail tells me there are about 14 more in the "L's" and then I am quickly on to the "M's" and the second half of the alphabet. I figure I only have about two weeks before it will become too risky to continue to transplant here. The weather has been a surprise but it's important to get the transplants well settled and rooted before the ground temperature drops. Since it appears that I will run out of prepared space before reaching X-Y-Z, I guess there's no need to fret about completing the task this fall.

Visitors continue to stop by and it often gives me a chance to stand and stretch. Arthritis is not pleasant and this carpal tunnel thing in both hands is never a problem until about 2 AM. Age comes with reminders of what you have done in life. You don't need to have been bad to have aches and pain.

This is leaf peeper season in Vermont when tens of thousands of tourists pass through the state viewing our beautiful foliage. Some have stopped to talk with me and we have always had good conversations. Yesterday it was yet another person thinking we were starting an elk farm; the next visitor reaffirmed a vineyard. The elk and deer farm guessers have been stronger than those thinking we were going to raise grapes but I have to say that vineyards and wineries have become very popular in Vermont. Our friend in gardening, Paul Tukey, editor of People, Places & Plants: The Magazine for Northeast Gardeners agreed that wine has become big business in New England because in the Autumn 2007 issue of his magazine he features ample notice to how important this has become. Vermont has 10 vineyards, Maine 10, New Hampshire 6, Massachusetts 24, Rhode Island 6 and Connecticut 17. I'm trusting the magazine and my counting ability but the numbers shows how important an industry has caught on.

We aren't planning to grow grapes but a few years back Alex got interested in grapes and asked Rich Ducharme of Hillcrest Nursery in Cabot for recommendations on two varieties. From the time they were planted they were never cared for but annually this time of year the deer and birds frequent the long vines and make a regular feast of what has grown. If you get a chance, pick up a copy of this magazine and find out how to grow your own grapes or build an arbor. At very least, the various articles will push you in one direction or another. These are some of our grapes, variety unknown.

Today was busy and things are winding down for the night. I just heard the squeak of one of the outside faucets which means Gail has given up on watering for the night. It's been dark for a good 20 minutes but she will never quit until a row is finished. I do not share that trait and for me, it's a pleasant "Good Gardening, Good Evening." to each of you.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the second hatch of mourning doves are almost under foot in the garden; they look for food but show no interest in testing their little wings.

George Africa
A Vermont gardener

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

Actea, Butterflies, Cimicifugas: My ABC's

Monday, September 17, 2007

Just after 8 PM and now 44.6 degrees here on the mountain above Peacham Pond. It was a glorious day and although I was in central Vermont most of the day, the bright sun made my meeting times speed by, nudged along by the thought of getting home and into the garden. Gail and Liz were in the garden when I arrived and they had 8 crates of daylilies prepared for planting. The process has been working well and although I am the lonely planter at the new site, there is a tranquility to the job that is satisfying. People honk as they go by or stop to chat for a while as Arthur did today on his way home from an environmental consulting job in Maine. I kinda like it!

I loaded up the truck and was about to shove off when the large Cimicifuga atropurpurea caught my eye. This is the plant we love so much even though it has been reclassified as Actea. Plants should have the correct classification and it seems the quite often now, plants, like people, are renamed. I am growing more tolerant of the new plant names but the same people with new "people" names still kind of gets to me a bit. Today a Karen who was then a Karin is now a "Car-in" kind of Karen. You've got me............ I'm still just plain George.

This particular Cimicifuga was originally in a gallon pot for sale until Gail decided it would accompany some daylilies and other plants in a 30" clay pot. This whole affair started 3 years ago now. At the end of the first year the plants had to come out of the clay pot so it wouldn't freeze and break. It was the end of the season when even good gardeners grow tired of digging holes and Gail planted the Cimicifuga right next to where it rolled (not easily!!) out of the pot. At the end of the following year Gail tried to coax me to dig up the giant and move it but I said I'd only be involved if she bought me a tractor with a backhoe. She bought me the tractor this year but without the backhoe and the Cimicifuga, now well over 9 feet tall, is a giant and still planted in the same place.

Today the plant was an obvious magnet for butterflies and bees of all sorts. I don't recall seeing the monarchs fly to it as they did today but they were not alone. The plant is so tall and the scapes so long that it waves in even the most gentle of winds so getting a good picture for a non-photographer like me is a challenge. As you click on these pictures to enlarge them, you'll have a good opportunity to see the beauty of the flower scapes. The flowers are often described as bottlebrush and it is an appropriate characterization.

>The monarchs are feeding heavily as they are about to shove off for points south. There is an especially good hatch of late and earlier this week just before I mowed along Route 2, there were a dozen or so "newborns" fanning their wings to straighten and dry them. This is really interesting if you've never seen it before. At one point I couldn't stand it any more and I got off the tractor and let one climb on my finger so I could watch it closer. I read in the Sunday paper of a group that was netting and tagging monarchs. If I owned a day stretcher I'd probably have time to give this a try too.

Next year when you visit Vermont Flower farm at its new location, looked down at the west fence. You'll see a couple clumps of Actea that by September 2008 should be 10 feet tall. Since that fence is bounded by a field of wildflowers, my guess is that it would be worth a walk down to count the insect varieties including butterflies. If you're a photographer too, take a camera and see if you can help me with a good shot of what you see. In the meantime, stop by Peacham Pond Road. You can't miss this year's Actea in bloom!



Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond and waiting for Gail to return from an autism forum in Montpelier. The night is still, except for the call of the invisible but very nearby barred owl.

Great gardening!

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

Tall Fall Bloom

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Returned from a brief trip to Maine late Monday afternoon and we're slowly catching up on things around here. Yesterday I got a couple more loads of daylilies down to the new property and I planted about 250 more. This morning I will finish plot number 8 and start number 9. There are 24 of these 50 foot by 10 foot plots which in the end should be filled with daylilies. In theory they were to be planted in alphabetical order but the Excel spreadsheet I made for Gail missed a few here and there so plants like the famous old daylily, Corky, with tall thin scapes and small yellow flowers can be found right after Cream Drop. So much for alpha order!

While in Maine I visited the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens which I have written about on The Vermont Gardener. This is a special place deserving of a visit if you get to Boothbay, Maine any time. The gardens are open year round with minor exceptions and I want to try to get back at first snow to take some more pictures. Certain trees, shrubs and perennials are strong garden components year round but they don't always get pictured in anything but spring and summer light.

One of the obvious things from the minute you arrive at the gardens is that the plantings have been masterfully accomplished using large numbers of like plants in blocks, swirls or swaths. For me it is easy to visualize the beauty even in late summer-early fall when color begins to taper. For example when I exited the car I noticed a sugar maple in early fall color underplanted with a 20 foot by 20 foot planting of Hemerocallis 'Patio Parade'. Gail offered this here at Vermont Flower Farm this year so we're very familiar with the tall yellow beauties which bloom from August into September. Next year the planting at Boothbay will be a show stopper all by itself. Any homeowner can create this same picture as long as they're willing to plan and purchase en mass. There is no regret to such a spectacular planting from year 2 onward.

One plant which appeared in several settings at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens was cimicifuga. Although this plant was recently renamed actea, it's going to be cimicifuga to me. Adjacent to the gazebo by the Rose and Perennial garden was a nice planting of Cimicifuga atropurpurea. Pink Spike and Brunette appear in other locations. Atropurpurea is not the darkest stemmed of the available varieties but it sure is the biggest I am familiar with. They were six feet tall in Maine and exceed 9 feet this year in our garden here (top, intro picture)

Gail and I enjoy any plant whose foliage can be left on into winter to provide some architecture to the garden as it turns white and blankets with feet of snow. We leave the various rodgersias, aruncus, and the tall astilbes to turn rust colored and stand tall. Cimicifuga is great too, especially atropurpurea because its seed heads wave strongly in the wind and yet hold together in high winds and survive until spring when it can be cut down. At the botanical garden the cimicifuga near the gazebo is planted in close proximity to some Eupatorium maculatum and a golden grass and together they work very well because of their size and movement.

The west side fence of our new property will be a ten foot wide display garden its entire width. Cimicifugas will be used in large groupings as year-round attention getters. Gail wants to mix in a number of tall plants with color so I envision various sunflower family members, phlox and helenium joining the tall astilbes and rodgersias. These are all good growers so a year from now, catch a glance of that area as you drive by. It will be special.



Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the temperature has climbed to a roaring 53.9 degrees. The wind and rain no doubt will remind my arthritis I shouldn't be on the ground planting. Regardless, I have to get going here. Hope your day is a good one!

Best gardening wishes,

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

The Chief

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

In between trips to our new location with crates of daylilies ready for planting, I took Karl the wonder dog for a ride out back. I have a stockpile of plastic packing crates under an old fir balsam out there and Karl accepts any excuse as reason enough to ride shotgun in the truck. He's a funny dog but a good companion.

We parked at the edge of the field as I wanted to walk down to see how some food plots were coming along that I had planted for the deer. It was wishful thinking at best that I'd see any change as it hasn't rained a drop since I planted the seed weeks ago.

We hardly had left the truck and my right arm was jolted almost out of the socket as Karl went into attack mode when three deer jumped in front of us. They had been so intent on eating apple drops that they didn't even notice us. The white hair on their rumps was enough for half blind Karl to pick up and his voice echoed relentlessly long after they were on the next ridge. His tail continued to wag and his sniffer worked overtime trying to figure out what he had just encountered.

As we returned to the house with the crates, our Chief of Hydrological Services was busy at work. Winnie is a local lady with vast experience in all sorts of horticultural endeavors dating from the time she worked at Hutchinson Gardens (now the new Plainfield Hardware). She loves to care for plants and watering is her specialty. She has been known to talk with plants and sometimes to herself but she waters for hours and enjoys every bit of it. Gail and I are lucky to have such a dedicated person who so willingly accepts a task which others turn their noses on.

In addition to watering our pots, Winnie is a driver for seniors heading to doctor and dentist appointments, she runs the local food shelf, coordinates Vermont Food Bank deliveries, and she looks out for people in need when others don't. If she learns of a hungry family, she does what she has to do to get them squared away. She's truly a special person!


Our transition to Route 2 is going very well. Tonight I completed planting Christmas Is and a pink that remains only a"pink" in my tired mind. I have planted almost 6 of the 24 50 foot by 10 foot plots so that's quite an accomplishment. Gail and Alex and I are going to take a break for 4 days and then we'll jump back at it until it's done. We have received lots and lots of fine comments about how things look and not a day goes by but what someone we don't even know stops to offer encouragement. Gardeners are friendly people and they make long days feel worth working.


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the ground is dry and dusty, but the ripening blackberries are juicy and tasty. If you have some time, get out into Groton State Forest and find a berry patch. There are even some red raspberries left here and there.

George Africa
The Tired Gardener

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

Great Busy-ness Returns

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Not quite 8 PM and it is very dark out. It tried to rain all afternoon and got hotter and hotter but only a brief offering of small drops fell....kind of like my dad used to say, "Not enough to wet the dust." He said this a lot when we lived on Church Hill Road in Woodstock because in those days nothing was used for dust control and the house sat about 20 feet from a dirt road, originally no wider than an International Harvester tractor or a single Ford truck.

We have begun to increase the tempo here at Vermont Flower Farm. It is time to begin the move to the new property. Last weekend Gail and Michelle and I got about 20 crates of daylilies dug and cleaned up for replanting. As of tonight I have two left in the B's and then will start with the C's. This is a difficult task as I really don't know when to get started. I made Gail a nice Excel sheet of all our stock but my work was based upon my knowledge of what plants Gail has and where they are. As example, I thought the C's would start with Catherine Neal but tonight Gail reminds me that there is Carefree Peach and 2 rows of Cedar Waxwing waiting outside my office. They are all nice daylilies but the point is I only want to plant them once---and in the correct order.

I had made 24- 50 foot by 10 to 12 foot plots. Our original thought was to plant one huge clump and then a number of rows in front so customers could see what the plant looked like as a mature specimen and then we'd dig out a smaller plant to sell them. When you're crawling around on your hands and knees you can't get much closer to the reality of your thoughts. After I planted about 10 plants worth the way Gail and I had planned it, I could see this was a foolish idea. If the intent of new gardens was to cut down on labor, then why was I planting huge clumps in the direct path of the rototiller? At some point soon I'll go back and fix those rows but right now I'm on a roll and all the new rows are dress-right-dress and they look quite good.

I had put on over 200 yards of manure in these plots and did a super job rototilling with the new tractor. Except the edges of the higher-on-the-hill plots, the tilling is superb and the plants should be monsters. The edge is a different story as the perimeter is where the clay starts and stops and that will affect how well the plants close to the borders grow.

For each row I dig a trench a foot deep. I put in 10-10-10, a couple inches of maple leaf mold from last year, a couple inches of manure, and some lime. I mix this thoroughly and then begin lining out the daylilies, one name per row.

Last night I hitched up the new gas operated water pump. My idea of what was supposed to happen and Gail's were quite different. I figured I would plumb it up the way I understood, put oil and gas in the 5 hp Honda engine, fill the pump with water and pull the cord. I figured I'd see water come out the hose end and I'd be on my way to the next project.

Gail came down to visit abut 5:30-6 and seemed like the rest of the kids on their first day of school. She was so happy there was water that she couldn't believe it. I got what I expected and that was the end of the story. Gail grabbed the hose and watered previous plantings and worked her way down to where I was planting. She was just overwhelmed by the fact that water could come out of a river, up a steep bank and across an entire elevated field to new rows of plants. It was apparent that she didn't think I could figure this out but since this worked so well she was free with kind comments and thank yous.

Next year when we have electricity, I'll go to a bigger pump and a different location but right now this is just fine. If any of you have questions about how I picked the pump, ask away. For what I wanted and what I was prepared to pay. I'm quite happy. Right now, some sleep without interruption would be nice. Think I'll give it a try.

From the mountain above Peacham Pond where it's a quiet and calm 65 degrees out and a "not too nice" 78 and humid inside.


Kind gardening thoughts,

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

Planting Daylilies

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Another Sunday and another week of summer has slipped away. Vermont summers are too short anyway but this one seems to be escaping because we have so many projects going on. A week from today Alex will be 15 years old. It seems like just yesterday that he and Gail came home from the hospital. It seems like centuries ago that we learned he was on the autism spectrum. Our gardening experiences and life experiences have changed a great deal in recent years and moving the gardens to Route 2 is another important part.

As I work on the new property, I continue to meet more and more people who just can't avoid the curiosity anymore. They have to stop and ask what's going on. These are people from all walks of life and not just local people but even folks on vacation in the area visiting their friends or staying at inns or bed and breakfasts. It always seems a little time consuming when I'm in the middle of a project but I've never had less than an enjoyable conversation and a nice smile at departure.

Yesterday I was standing on the ladder pulling the fence tight on the village side of the land. I almost fell off the ladder in surprise when a woman said "Nice fence, tell me about it." Route 2 was busy but she had one of those hybrid cars I think--the kind that are soundless in electric mode. When it was all over I recalled reading an article about how blind and visually impaired residents of New York City were complaining because they were crossing right in front of these cars because they couldn't hear them. I know exactly what they are saying as a neighbor has one and more than once I have almost turned around at the mailbox with a handful of mail to be run over by my own neighbor sliding in to retrieve his mail. Anyway, the woman had been watching my work since spring and was at odds with deer eating her garden. She wanted to know about the fence as it appeared to match her need to enjoy her gardens, not feed the deer.

Work is going well on Route 2 if a one man show is what you want to see. I still have about 20 yards of manure to spread, more gardens to rototill and some more fence to tighten but all in all we are very pleased with our progress. I have learned more than I thought about estimating job completion time and Thursday was a good example. I had purchased two 14 foot farm gates to install at the entry way from Route 2. We have to be able to close off the business when we aren't there and also prevent people from using the front of the entrance as a turn around which wouldn't be safe or legal. I also bought a couple 6 X6 X 8 foot timbers and screwed on a pressure treated plank on the interior sides for more support.

I figured I could have the job finished by about 1 PM. That meant measuring out the distances, centering the proposed gates, digging the holes, leveling the timbers and then pouring 4 bags of cement in each hole. For a variety of reasons I never thought of, the job finished up about the time the last local folks drove by after leaving work in Barre Montpelier. It was a long day. Projects are often like that but if they are done correctly, the dividend is there for time to come.

Gail and I have had long discussions about how and what to plant. Daylilies has been a big topic. We have well over 400 varieties but last night we narrowed the list down to a little over 300 varieties that we will move. We have ruled out those that don't sell knowing that how we will display and sell them at the new property may sell more or less of certain varieties. Our plan is to display a large, mature clump and then line out the plants that are for sale behind the display plant. Here on the hill we have always sold daylilies in gallon pots but we're going to grow them in the field under 24 hour drip irrigation. That means the whole concept changes. The purpose is to grow a larger plant while saving the cost of pots, soilless mix and labor. Olallies in South Newfane Vermont and many other big daylily nurseries do it this way and we'll try too. At the same time, all the daylilies will be in bloom longer and the display plants in close proximity to those for sale will show what the person is likely to have in their garden in a couple-three years.

I have started to prepare a 10 foot wide garden around the entire perimeter of the land. This will be a big garden and is a lot of work. In the roadside, western corner of the land, a three foot culvert crosses Route 2 and drops lots of water on the adjacent property at different times of the year. Some of the water leaches underground to ours and that corner is often damp. It will be an excellent place for all the bee balms, Siberian and Japanese irises and the water loving plants such as the ligularias and rodgersias.

The monardas are not Gail's favorites and she'll tell you that. She has been persistent that if we don't sell it, it shouldn't be on display at our new location. In contrast, I like plants which people don't have an opportunity to see around here. I think plants that are grown well, look a lot better than a catalog picture so why not do a little to show folks what else is out there. After many discussions, Gail has agreed to large (and I mean large) swathes of monardas in the lower corner to bring attention to the project. I'm happy she changed her thinking because many gardeners are looking for a plant to cover an unsightly area and bring color, bees and butterflies at the same time. I think you'll enjoy it too so keep an eye on that corner.


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where last night's low was 41 degrees and today's high will only be in the mid sixties. Just the same the colors prevail and warm summer days will return soon. Daylily Days continue at VFF so stop by and see some great color and save $2 on any daylily and $1 on any hosta. Gail has specials squirreled away here and there and if you don't stop by you'll never know what bargains she has.

With August garden greetings, enjoy today!

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

Business Progress on Route 2

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Yesterday afternoon I was here at Vermont Flower Farm giving Gail a break from customer duties and shipping packages. She headed down to Marshfield Inn and Motel to see Tracy and Diana and see how last fall's planting of daylilies was maturing. She hadn't been gone long and a car drove in I wasn't familiar with. Two ladies got out and one looked at me and said "You must be George." It was more definitive than questioning and I almost wondered if I had gotten myself in trouble along the line and didn't remember.

"I'm glad to see that you are looking well.", one lady said. "I was worried about you." Now I have to say that it's nice to know that people care about you but for the life of me I couldn't figure out who this woman was. Then she explained. "We've never been here before, but we both read your two blogs and Vermont Gardens has been motionless for almost a month. The Vermont Gardener has been slow too and we wondered if you were ill or something happened."

I was immediately relieved to know that a blogless month had caused the concern and that I really hadn't done anything wrong save for forget to keep my readership posted on garden life in Marshfield. I apologized for the hiatus and emphasized there would be no promises for improvement as we were really entering a very busy time for us, not a gradual end to the summer business like most nurseries. The ladies laughed and said they figured as much but they do so enjoy reading what I write and miss it when I get out of sequence. We talked flowers for some time and then I gave them an orientation to the gardens. They finished their tour and shopping just before Gail returned, promising to return soon and volunteering that they would help with the move to Route 2 if it was not such a long way to the ground anymore. With that we all laughed and departed company, knowing for certain that we would meet again.


During the past month I have worked diligently here and at the new property. Michelle's friend Mark has been helping with the fence and as of yesterday all the 4X4X10 foot pressure treated posts were cemented in the ground, Alex's mandatory "Please give me a door to the river" gate has been framed and cemented in, and 1320 feet of fence has been hung, with 990 feet of it secured to the posts.


Hanging 7.5 foot fence the entire perimeter of a +4 acre parcel of land is no easy task, especially for one set of hands. I was really happy to have Mark say he could help and happier still that he didn't complain about lugging and mixing the two 80 pound bags of cement that went into every post hole. The posts are placed every 30 feet so this was no easy task and amounted to moving tons of material.

The Route 2 part of the job on the village side was the most difficult task because the holes had to be hand dug through stone laden road fill, thick grass and tree roots. To top it off this was on a hillside that at times would have made a billy goat replant its feet. Then there was the poison ivy along the Winooski River and the variety of weeds along the way which invited sneezes and itchy eyes. In one more day, this job will be finished, and I'm really thankful for that!!

The entry gate from Route 2 is left to install and I am still pondering the best approach. I have been watching travelers as they turn into the drive to reverse direction. There haven't been any accidents yet but just watching the antics makes me remind would-be business people to consider road access long before you decide to buy a piece of property for your new endeavor. In our case the Agency of Transportation was involved in picking the access road. This is mandatory in Vermont but would have been my choice anyway. The engineers choice and mine were the same. A speed limit sign that reads 50 mph doesn't necessarily mean people will slow down or use caution when they see vehicles turning. The ease with which cars can turn into your business and exit it has a lot to do with how successful you will be. I may ask the Transportation folks for a safety sign for traffic coming from the east so people understand traffic will be slowing at the crest of the hill for left hand turns.

Besides the fence I have been using the New Holland tractor to move large quantities of manure from a pile to the new flower beds. This is a giant pile of manure brought by large trucks from a popular and well known East Montpelier dairy farm. Since last fall the price went up 20% and I am really irritated by the gouging. Fuel certainly rose since last fall but 20% is a bit much by my book. They have the market cornered and they obviously know it too. I'll find a new supplier as soon as I can and I'll post the availability. Fall is a good time to obtain a pile of manure for next spring's planting.

Tomorrow I'll rototill everything a couple times, and then begin trucking compost I have at the flower farm. Within a couple weeks things should be ready to plant. We have some good planters lined up but how many thousand plants we can deal with before the soil temperature cools too much is yet another question. We'll keep you posted.


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where August sunshine encourages kind thoughts and happy smiles.


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