Lilac Pruning

Three things happened to me or more correctly I noticed over the Thanksgiving weekend.  I read a fairly new book by Sydney Eddison about downsizing large gardens as one gets older and I spent time showing my daughter all the trees and shrubs growing in North Stonington, CT which was to help her with her course in horticulture at Smith College (I was quite impressed as she seemed to recognize everything except Fraxinus and Sassafrass).

The third thing was I noticed how vigorous and healthy the lilacs at the Vermont Welcome Center on Rt. 91 in Guilford were. All the plants there get heavily pruned--way more than I would ever do it even if I had plenty of time to prune and/or money to hire people to help me do it.  The lilacs are doing very well and are particularly well budded for next May.  Suckers have either been removed or there just aren't very many- the plants look like a dark purple one -perhaps 'Monge' which doesn't sucker prolifically anyway.  The main "trunks" which are about one inch in diameter are cut off at about 4 to 6 feet--there about 6 per plant. There are many many very prime looking flowering shoots coming off each one of those trunks- I predict excellent blossoms nest spring.

putting things away for the Winter

We are covering all the potted plants at the nursery these days.  First we have to tip the pots on their sides so water doesn't accumulate in them which can rot them over winter.  Then we put insulating blankets over them and finally white plastic over top of that which we weigh down with gravel and tires so it won't blow off during the winter.  We still have some planting to do-- there is no problem installing trees and shrubs but plants in little pots tend to be frozen solid so it can be hard to get the pots off the plants.  We've been cutting plants down so we don't have to do that in the spring when the ground is very wet and squishy.  Sometimes we leave things for "winter interest" but as I get older I cut more things down in the fall when I'm not so busy.  We have also been mulching- it can be easier now when the ground is frozen.

Flower Arranging in November

The pickings are getting very slim these days although there have been Calendula and Johnny-jump-ups still blooming in my garden as of Monday.  Today they may be done- I didn't check this morning and it got quite cold last night.  My large church altar arrangement still looked OK with winter berry, beech foliage (now tan and dead but still pretty) and grasses- maybe I'll leave it and rejuvenate it slightly Sunday morning.  Instead of my large silver-plate rose bowl which I have been using for several years, I tried the large white ironstone tureen from my grandfather's farm which I don't have to worry about (it being stolen, that is).  I wish those robins had left my winterberry alone this year but they ate most of the berries.

trip to King of Prussia and Bryn Mawr

This past weekend my wife and I went down to the Philadelphia area to go to the Bryn Mawr College family weekend to support Libby (our daughter).  There is such a variety of oaks there- I noticed willow and laurel oaks and beautiful specimens of mossycup oak,  I noticed the new dwarf varieties of Cornus doing very well there- I think better than they do in this area probably because it is warmer there.  I also noticed lots of knockout roses growing very well and getting bigger than I have seen them around here.  They seemed to get about 5 or 6 feet high and wide there whereas around here,  they are often a 3 to 4 foot bush.

Now that I am back it seems colder and a lot like November which is my least favorite month.

On our way to Penna.,  we stopped in Northampton to see Kady (our other daughter) and briefly visited the Smith College conservatory.  I drew a Stanhopea oculata (orchid), saw a show of beautiful prints made from  actual leaves(I had met and talked to the artist a couple weeks ago),  and peaked at the preparations for the Chrysanthemum show (huge Chrysanthemums are not my favorite flower but they are amazing)

Scott Farm Heirloom Apples

Last Friday, when I went down to Dummerston to help go through more stuff of my father's, I visited the Scott farm in Dummerston Center.  I talked to Zeke (Ezekial) Goodband (sp?) about some of the old varieties of apples they specialize in and tried some of his favorites: 'D'Arcy Spice' and 'Orleans Reinette'--I bought a couple 'Esopus Spitzenberg' which is another of his favorites.  I already have a tree of 'Esopus' and I have tried and like that apple which I think may have been Thomas Jefferson's favorite.  These three apples were Zeke's favorite tart apples.  I also bought a few 'Winesap' which is my favorite apple of all, a couple 'Sheepnose' which I've heard of but not ever tried and some 'Calville Blanc d'Hiver' which I have a tree of but have never tasted.

Another apple I am on the look-out for is the 'Reinette Simirenko' which Michael Phillips told us about--it's similar to a 'Granny Smith' but does well in the north (it's a Russian apple, developed in the 19th cenury by Simirenko.

Daffodil bed finished

I just this morning planted the last ca.300 daffodils and last 100 tulips.  My daffodil bed is about 90 yds.x 2 yds.  As you look across our hayfield from Urquart Rd, the first swath of daffodils is 250 'April Queen'- if you draw a line from the near left hand corner to a point on the far side about 1/3 of the way down the bed, the 'April Queen' are behind that line.Then parallel to that swath, is a 250 bulb swath of 'King Alfred II' and nest a similar swath of 'Flower Record'.  The rest is solid "Yellow Daffodils for naturalizing"  from van Bourgundien with 2 islands. The first is about 3/5 of the way downhill from the left side --there's a group of 50 'Suada';  then at the right side, near edge, there is a planting of 25 or 50 'Tropic Sunrise' running for about 15 feet.