May Fever, and some interesting plans in progress

This past weekend we hosted our annual party for the New England Primrose Society. The National Show was held in Alaska this year, so attendance was down a bit, but we still had just over 20 plant geeks walking through the garden and enjoying home-cooked food and wine. This event always seems to kick off our gardening season.

So here’s the thing about not working in an air-conditioned office with beige carpets and cubicles – on days like this – mid-May, bright cobalt blue skies, 75 degrees, chartreuse new leaves on the trees, scarlet tanagers and Baltimore Orioles singing and making new nests, well… you get it. But here’s the other thing about not working a 9-5 job – you never have an off button. At least I don’t.  So blogging has seemed to slipped by me since in April I wrote: “hey – I’m back”. No worries, (not that you are – I read somewhere this week that so many bloggers spend time apologizing for not posting for a few months when really their readers don’t care or even notice.). Let’s just say that it’s spring, and I do have some exciting announcements.

The garden out by the greenhouse still needs to be planted with tender plants and annuals but as you can see – a giant Echium that spent the winter in the greenhouse in a pot is towering over 12 feet tall delighting the hummingbirds!

First, I am working with Darrell Probst on his breeding program (part-time). If you don’t know Darrell – read any description about Epimedium in the Plant Delight’s catalog. Although, Darrell has moved on-to coreopsis big-time, and another new genus’ that I can’t discuss, what I can say is that a few days a week I am helping him sow seeds, take cuttings, do some marketing and other tasks as really – it’s all product design and in my wheel-house in many ways.

Some of Darrell Probst’s past introductions include this wonderful Epimedium ‘Pink Champagne’ You can find it here.

Darrell and I have known each other for about 30 years believe it or not, from my early involvement exhibiting with the horticultural society (Worcester County Horticultural Society), his past wife and still friend Karen Perkins who now runs the epimedium nursery he started (it was featured in last months issue of Better Homes & Gardens, if you saw it). So, it’s a small world. Partnering with Darrell is both fascinating and educational for me as well. I am learning so much about cleaning seed, propagation and the entire business of patented plant production. Touring fields with buyers, propagators, plug-growers and marketers from big retailers, as well as the Dutch growers is interesting, and I can see so many parallels to any product development that I had my hand in, in the past (the toy industry). Look for me at Cultivate 2018 this year, new ads and promotions for Darrell’s plants and in other surprising placed. I can’t wait.

The tree peonies survived our harse winter surprisingly well which has surprised me as I usually protect them from the cold with burlap and styrofoam rose pots. This year not a bit of winter-kill and 14 flowers on this one.

Speaking of Better Homes & Garden’s – you can look for me in the next issue as Tovah Martin wrote a great feature on my sweet peas last summer and I just saw the photos from the shoot and the layout – it really looks beautiful. Even Daphne (Doodles our Irish Terrier) got in a shot. It appears in the July 2018 issue which, believe it or not, will be out in a few weeks in early June – you know how magazines go!

In the greenhouse, the tender rhododendrons such as this vireya ‘Alpine Glow’ are blooming.

Now – speaking of June. I am heading out on a major trip this June – the day after Joe and I attend the New York Botanical Garden’s Conservatory Ball as guests of our friend Amy Goldman (I can’t wait – even though I am not a tuxedo-type of guy (OK, I am). I am full-on aware that these social events in NYC are really all about the dress. I mean – REALLY about the dress. So we dudes got out of it with little stress.

English Spencer Sweet Peas ready to plant out for a consulting job I am doing in Vermont.

This June I am off botanizing in Yunnan and Tibet! A trip of a lifetime for me.

The day after this event I leave for Yunnan, China for a month. I decided to tag along with some fellow plant people (about 10 of us including Panayoti Kelaidis) to botanize for three and a half weeks in western China, Yunnan province and in parts of Tibet. I hope to be able to access through a VPN the Internet so that I can post, but if not (and, probably not given out local, elevation and remoteness not to mention China’s limited access to Western Internet), I will surely fill you all in later. I’m spending a few days in Beijing on the way out, as well as Lijiang and other cities on my way to Shangrila, where our base will be.  I’ve got my shots, visa and camera equipment all squared away. This trip is one offered through the North American Rock Garden Society Tours which I helped start a few years ago and which has become a reality through the efforts of many now on the NARGS Tours team at NARGS. Worth joining if you love plants.

For this project I grew more than 300 plants all as individual deep-pots with a single sweet peas in each pot, but then I potted a few up at com-pots or 6 inch pots with 4 plants in each to see if the might grow just as nice.

My parsley plants may look small, but this is the perfect size for planting outdoors. The big problem with parsley is a rather new one (which you will read about in my book).

I little note here about parsley, which I was reminded of while visiting some nurseries this weekend. If your parsley is blooming earlier in July recently, this is what is happening:

I raise my parsley from seed not becasue it is hard to find as plants, but because most nurseries now sell parsley too early – along with pansies, thus exposing it to cold temperatures which changes the physiology of the plant. They believe that they survived a mini-winter, and they then bolt – or go to seed by July. I start my parsley in the greenhouse and keep them there until late May when the weather has fully warmed up.

The genus Apiaceae is packed with biennials who behave this way. If you see celery, fennel or parsley- even cilantro at garden centers and  they are not in the warm greenhouse, I would skip buying them. CIlantro, of course, while not a warm weather plant as most dont know, is a fast crop and should be direct sown anyway as  the life cycle of the plant is about a month and a half. But seeds, and sow bi weekly rather than buying a pot that will die in a few weeks.

Does this bring back childhood memories?

Some raritities to share…A few treasures are blooming in the greenhouse like this Tropaeolum leptophyllum from South America.

Random, I know, but more pics. This Rhodohypoxis always signifies spring around here – at least in the greenhouse. A tiny, yet clumping South African geophyte it survives well under glass. I lost most of mine a few years ago to mice, but I am beginning to assemble a collection again. Having to buy them from a west coast nursery who acquired a few of mine from a few friends in the plant world (everyone knows each other) who shared them was a good lesson in sharing – I thought I had lost them all and didn’t want to ask collectors in the UK to try sharing again. I’m usually too shy to do so. The few of us who learned and tried about the 30+ selections first introduced by either Dan Hinkley or Crug Farm back in the 90’s now have seen them move around. It’s one of the good things about sharing plants – there is always a chance that ones original collection could become lost – there are always those out there who will gladly re-share back after distribution so that one could possibly re-build. Not unlike a seed bank.

Gotta love tropical looking wild plants from Aisa. Some red-leaved Rodgeria (left), podophyllum and giant-leaved  Astilboides along the long-walk. These have seemed to triple in size now that a Japanese maple that fell down during a storm this winter has brought them more light. I am loving the look.

Speaking of camera equipment. My other little venture is that I have decided to try video. And I mean video in a big way. I know, I know, I hate my voice and seeing myself on screen but apparently, most everyone does. I decided to invest in good cameras, lenses and all the accessories so that I can, or might, start a Youtube channel or begin to move towards video as I think that is the future. I mean – we all are getting 4K video screens and with smart TV’s we all are seeing Youtube apps on the big screen. Bear with me as this may take some time – there is a huge learning curve with editing, software, and skill, but I will admit that my first ‘experiment’ turned out rather nice – even though I was talking gibberish, just walking around the garden!

Individual sweet peas grown in deep-root cells show how the long roots like to grow downwards. Some are so strong that it’s hard to pull them out of the pots. I cant imagine growing Spencer sweet peas in 3-inch pots of a normal depth. I’ve tried it and the suffer.

The garden is coming along after our very delayed spring weather which I assume many of you have experienced. What am I growing? Well, since I never announced my special projects, I am trying a load of new tomatoes from Amy Goldman’s book The Heirloom Tomato where I bought from Seed Savers Exchange and other sources all of the tomato varieties that she rated highest. I am growing some sweet peas, but only a row for myself. I did plant a few hundred at a home in Vermont as I have been hired by them to help add some horticultural value to their properties as well as consulting on starting a flower farm business.

Another reason I grew sweet peas in these larger pots (these are 4.5 inch pots that are 6 inches deep) is that I wanted to experiment or trial selling some via mail order next year as so many of you find English Spencer sweet peas from imported seed overseas challenging to plan and grow. What do you think?

Our Davidia involucrata or Fabled Dove Tree is blooming again. I know I will see these in Yunnan but there is something special about this rare tree when it does bloom. The white bracts are difficult to see in the full sun but on overcast days they do look like white pieces of cloth (hence – the other common name “handkerchief tree” which is surely out of fashion now. I may suggest “Dryer Sheet Tree” for those wishing to propagate and market it – a more relevant name for today.

The greenhouse and garden has survived the harsh winter here better than expected. I don’t know about you but while I did lose some plants, others seemed to do better (it hit 12 below zero here which broke a record, and there was little snow cover at the time). Things shouldn’t have survived that, but our Davidia tree is in full bloom for the third time in 30 years. Something happened with that ‘Snow Bomb’ or whatever they called it back in January.

My book which has been my total focus for nearly a year now is almost done. Already on Amazon though for pre-order! Not sure why Amazon is cross-promoting ‘Amazing Kittens” along with it, but whatever.

Lastly, my book. Well, as books go it is a time-suck. I just proofed the final copy and had to suggest photos again for each chapter. I have to admit that after reading it again after proofing and editing I sound smart (I know, right?). But really. This book reads like I wanted it to. I felt that a book on vegetable gardening needed to be useful and informative. I don’t want to criticize other books out there as many are good, but I felt that if I wrote one the bar had to be raised, and it seems, to me, at least, that this one exceeded that. I’ll wait for you folks to decide naturally, but it is already on Amazon for pre-order even though it isn’t published and released until December. For now? I have a few hundred captions to write!

In the greenhouse, primrose seedlings are taking off. These are an easy-to-grow species Primula elatior.

Primula elatior will look like this which is blooming now. These are not as common as they once were earlier in the 20th century in gardens but are worth seeking out. Few garden centers offer them (may I will?) as they must be started from seed and few consumers would ever buy them out of bloom making them difficult to sell at retail.