shantasia…

Happy Holidays!

Come on in and see us in our December home in Bristol village next to Almost Home Market on North Street.

Every Saturday in December we host an Open House with Almost Home, with a special Wine Tasting on Saturday, December 12th from 2-5pm to sample bubbly and sparkling Holiday Wines!

Our Christmas Shanty is filled with a wide selection of beautiful hand-made ornaments from Europe and a selection of hand-blown glass ornaments from John Chiles Glass in Cornwall, VT.

We have fresh wreaths and garlands of balsam, pine and a mix of cedar-pine-fraser in several sizes.  We also have numerous loose greens for arrangements including black spruce tips, berried juniper, incense cedar, and silver fir.  Also available- boxwood tree arrangements and boxwood kissing balls, amaryllis and paperwhites.

We can help you with any custom work and we’re happy to ship these Vermont wreaths for you.

We hope you have the time to stop in and enjoy this brief festive time, gather ’round the fire and share in some Holiday Cheer.

We hope you enjoyed the sounds of A French Christmas- Andre Claveau singing “Noel Sans Vous”

it’s beginning to look a lot like…

Rocky Dale has set up its Christmas Shanty next to Almost Home Market in Bristol Village.  This is a tradition in the making- marking our 5th season with the Christmas Shanty this year.  We decided to spruce it up with a new paint job.

Kathy touches up our paint job- her theme for the Shanty this year- “Shantasia”.

We have great Amaryllis that we’ve started forcing in eco-friendly rice pots.  They’ll be available for purchase inside Almost Home Market.

We create a number of floral pieces from small boxwood trees, to an assortment of greens and berries arrangements.  We use a number of greens from our own garden.

Each wreath is unique.  We start with a fresh wreath assembled from balsam, pine, fraser fir, and/or cedar from the Northeast Kingdom.  We then add Rocky Dale greens and an assortment of other decorations.

Inside the Shanty, we have beautiful and unique European hand-made glass ornaments, as well as items from our store including Felco Pruners, hand tools, and garden ornaments.

Even it you can’t make it to the Shanty- we’re happy to help you share in the festivities.  Let us know if you’d like us to ship something to you.

If you need something special made up- let us know in advance.

Every night we have a fire going and all the ingredients for s’mores.  It’s a festive time and even though it’s cold outside- we’re warm on the inside!  Hope to see you in town!

november…

Many people think that November is the dreariest month.  The sun has been out a lot so far this November, and the temperatures have been very pleasant!  That aside, I usually enjoy November, what is commonly called “stick season” in Vermont- the period after the leaves have fallen, before the snow comes.

The shadows become long, you can see into the woods, and the light has a quality that is hard to capture in a photograph.  For us it’s a time to put things away- clean out the barn, shut off the water, drain the lines, cut back the gardens, and on and on…it’s a busy time!

It’s also a pensive time- and it’s possible this is my favorite time in the garden.  The leaves cling to the beeches and oaks, the conifers stand out brilliantly, and berries emerge as the flowers of winter.  Because the nursery closes the end of October- it’s also a quiet time and I get to enjoy this beautiful place where I live.

A big “Thank You” to all of you for stopping in this year, we really enjoy working with you and are always happy to share our passion for plants and gardening.

Hats off to you!!

autumn’s colors

We’ve had our first hard frost here in Bristol- this past Monday night.  On Tuesday morning, the lawn was white, and the large leaves of the Paulownia were drooping.  Whatever sensitive plants we didn’t get under cover are history now.  Just up the hill, there was snow.  Still, the colors of fall are stunning, and many flowers continue to bloom including Aconitum, Anemone, Aster, Rosa, Phlox, Solidago and Gentian, (to name a few).  The Heptacodium’s white flowers have faded and now we’re enjoying the pink capsules and sepals- it’s beautiful!  Michael Dirr referred to this plant as the “Northern Crape Myrtle”- I like that!

I made a decision to remove all but one of the Hazelnuts from the garden.  Right now they’re cut back and the effect is both shocking and gratifying.  It’s nice to take in a larger wide angle view of the garden.  When I bought Rocky Dale in 2004, we had 8 large clumps of Hazelnuts that had been growing on this property for over 30 years.  I removed two clusters right away to minimize the “green wall” that was eliminating views into the garden.  Each group easily occupied a minimum of 225 square feet and in most cases considerably more. They have a beautiful vase shape and grow 12-15 feet high.  Their fall color is a tapestry of red, orange and yellow.  They produce heavy clusters of Hazelnuts that Blue Jays seem especially attracted to.  One down side is that they produce a lot of dead wood and they need to maintained in a formal setting.  Their flowers are insignificant.

The Hazelnuts Before

The Hazelnuts After

The Hazelnuts After

So- you can see why it was hard to make the decision.  However, we are running out of room to showcase new varieties of plants as the garden has matured and trees have taken up significantly more space.  I thought one group of Hazelnuts was a good representation for a plant very few people have shown interest in.  I now look forward to having space to plant new varieties and bring back some old favorites including:  A variegated River Birch, a variegated Cornus mas, Nyssa ‘Autumn Cascade’, Acer rubrum ‘Candy Ice’, Stewartia ‘Gold Spring’ and Scarlet Sentinel’, Cercis ‘Covey’, Cledastris,  Sorbus magnifica, and a few more.  the list is long and there isn’t enough room for all of them!  We’ll start getting them in the ground next spring.

Here are some photos of the garden taken yesterday.  Enjoy the season- fall is a great time to work in the garden!

Michael Dirr

To those of you who made it to Michael Dirr- you have to agree that his talk was inspiring!  We may be crazy for loving unusual trees- but we’re in good company!  To those who didn’t make the talk- be reassured- there are still a lot of people who are passionate about trees.  What a great day!  Today I’m motivated!

Michael Dirr

Michael Dirr at Middlebury College tomorrow!

I thought I’d pass along this announcement from Greenworks, (Vermont Nursery and Landscape Association).  If you’ve got the time- it would be a rare opportunity to hear Dirr speak- he’s the preeminent expert on trees today.

• Tomorrow: October 1, 2009 Green Works-VNLA; VT Urban & Community Forestry Program & NE Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture present:
• TREE TIME WITH MICHAEL DIRR at Middlebury College – Dana Auditorium from 9-11am.
• SPACE STILL AVAILABLE FOR THE MORNING and we will be taking walk-in registration! Take the day off and come hear the fabulous and famous Michael Dirr speak about his passion.
• Directions and Parking: From Rte 7 (north or south) follow the signs for Route 30. The Center for the Arts is about 4/10 mile down Rte 30 to the left. To park – turn at sign: Parking-Center for the Arts. Then walk northwest, up towards Route 30 and pass a giant Burr Oak. Cross Rte 30, pass a Serbian Spruce, turn right and walk down Old Chapel Road, heading north. Pass the state’s largest Littleleaf Linden at the end of this road. Dana Auditorium is the building on the right across Route 125.

final fall sale…mmmm

Is time running out for planting?  Well soon.  We recommend planting through mid-October.  Of course there is plenty of planting done past that date, but one must really be keen with watering, spraying evergreens with an anti-desiccant, wrapping burlap around sensitive evergreens, and mulching over perennials.  We recommend “mudding in”  new plantings.  After you dig the hole, place the plant in the hole, and water thoroughly- two or three times, before gradually filling in the hole with a soil/compost blend- water, fill, water, fill- until it’s just soggy.  This will get out any air pockets and fully saturate the root mass- aiding in overwintering.

So- here’s a final offer for the season- come on in and buy us out!

• Perennials-30% Off
• Conifers- 40% Off
• Trees and Shrubs- 50% Off
• Cast Stone Fountains, Pots, and Statuary- 25% Off
• Glazed and Terra Cotta Pots- 25% Off
• DeWitt Tools (we never do this)- 10% Off

Have fun and enjoy the beautiful fall weather!

fall color

Here are some images taken from the garden and the nursery.  We have many things continuing to bloom:  Phlox, Aster, Gentian, Heptacodium, Hydrangea, Rudbeckia, Hibiscus x ‘Kopper King’, various Echinacea, Platycoden, Tricyrtis, Chrysanthemum, Cimicifuga, Chelone, Ligularia ‘Desdemona’, Persicaria ‘Fire Tails’, Boltonia, Sedum, and Ornamental Grasses.

In addition to blooming, fall color is setting up.  I love the garden this time of year.  Many perennials have beautiful fall color, and berries start appearing on the deciduous hollies- Ilex verticillata.

In the blog entry right below this one- we’ve listed some of the garden chores you can do this fall.  If you have time on your hands this fall, it will save you time next spring!

Tips and Chores for Gardening this Fall

We find fall a great time to catch up with work in the garden that we haven’t gotten to all summer long.  The weather is cool and the gardens start looking so worn that it’s almost a relief to cut things back.  Unfortunately, the weeds we didn’t get through the summer will have deposited their seed into the great ’seed bank’ that lies in the soil- an endless supply of everything you don’t want to crop up in your garden!

Another reason we try to perform some of these chores in the fall, is because there is always too much to do in the spring- if we can cut that workload, even a little bit- the better off we’ll be.  How great is it if you don’t have to trample your spring bulbs when raking out your garden in April?  Still, the best laid plans don’t always come to fruition and there is always spring-clean up.

Fall Chores

Edging- If your garden beds have a cut edge, you may want to re-edge them now.  The edge should last well through next spring.  We like to have a cut edge so that we can enlarge the bed as needed.

Cutting Back- You want to wait until the perennials look a bit dry.  Many perennials have beautiful fall color and it’s a shame to miss it.  Once we think that color has faded and we’ve had our fill of the ‘fall garden’, we will go ahead and cut things back.  For us in Vermont, winter interest from perennials- even ornamental grasses, is a short-lived aesthetic- heavy snow usually blankets the ground.  We do like to keep the grasses standing for a long period of time, but they look silly as lone sentinels in a garden that’s been cut back- they’re better off as a group or part of a vignette that can last through fall together- that’s why we like to use them in combination with conifers.

Top-dressing- If there’s time- this is a great chore to get done in the fall.  Top-dressing with composted manure after you cut back your perennial garden will give you the best head start in the spring.  The compost will be there as soon as the ground thaws and aiding soil nutrition right away.  Emerging perennials and bulbs won’t have their crowns covered with “hot” compost in the spring and your initial weed barrier will be in place!

Milky spore application for Japanese Beetle- We try and remember to apply Milky Spore for the control of Japanese Beetle, at least 4 times a year.  Fall is the last period before spring.  Milky Spore builds up a bacteria in the soil that discriminately works to attack the grubs of Japanese Beetle.  (Milky Spore is not harmful to beneficial insects, birds, bees, pets or man. The product is approved and registered with EPA, Milky Spore will not affect wells, ponds or streams).

Lawn aeration- Aeration is a great thing you can do to your lawn, (especially well trafficked lawns), to revitalize and green it up.  We rent an aerator and make a couple of passes.  We then put down Pro-Gro 5-3-4 general Organic Fertilizer as a late fall feed.  Fall is a great time to throw down some grass seed too.  If it doesn’t germinate now- it’ll be there in the spring and germinate as soon as temperatures are right.

Application of ‘Wilt-Pruf’- Wilt-Pruf is an anti-desiccant, (anti-transpirant) that is a natural pine oil emulsion.  It works well to protect conifers, and broad-leaf evergreens such as Rhododendrons, Holly, and Boxwood by creating a clear and flexible coating to protect plants against drying cold winds.  We find it worthwhile to spray plants that are in exposed sites that receive winter sun and winds and also newly planted conifers and broadleaf evergreens.

A-frames and burlap covers- We don’t need to do this, but you might have to.  If you have shrubs that are planted at the base of your house where snow falls off the roof- you must protect your plants with an “A-frame” to prevent the plant from being crushed.  We recommend planting herbaceous or  non-woody plants at those locations.  A good plant for a site like this is Annabelle Hydrangea.  It grows quickly from the ground each year and has the look of a woody shrub.  However, it can be cut to the ground each spring, so winter snow load isn’t a problem.

If you have sensitive conifers, like Dwarf Alberta Spruce, that are in direct sun from the south and /or west, you’ll want to protect them by wrapping them in burlap.  An anti-desiccant spray like Wilt-pruf, won’t be enough to keep them from getting winter burn.

Watering- Many gardeners put there hoses away too early.  Sometimes fall can be dry- if it’s been dry, we need to water-especially evergreens.  New plantings need water until the ground freezes, somewhere around Thanksgiving.  Fall is considered a good time for planting because it’s cooler, the plants aren’t stressed by heat and it usually is wet and because it’s cooler, the soil doesn’t dry out as quickly.  While the air is cooling off, the soil cools off at a slower rate- thus root growth continues long after the leaves have fallen.

Pruning:

Pruning is best left until late fall-mid October or later.  Pruning can be done right through winter up through March when dormancy is broken.  If you don’t want to miss any flowering on your shrubs next spring, it’s important to know which plants produced flower buds this summer for next year’s bloom, and which plants will produce flowers on next year’s new growth. Lilac, Rhododendron, Withhazel,  Philadelphus, Viburnum, and Forsythia are a few well-known plants that form their flower buds the previous season.  These plants are generally pruned after they bloom, however- if it looks ratty and needs an overhaul- we’ll forego the flowers and prune it when we have time.  Spiraea, Potentilla, Hydrangea, Weigela, and Rosa are some examples of plant the bloom on new wood.  In most cases, these plants can be cut back quite hard in the late winter or early spring and still grow vigorously and produce flowers in the same season.  There are many books on pruning, and the internet is loaded with information on when to prune, how to prune and which plants bloom on “new wood” or “old wood”.

Fall Planting and Dividing

The general rule of thumb is that plants with fine fibrous root systems are better divided in the spring and that plants with thicker, fleshy root systems, (ie. Paeonia, Iris, Hemerocallis, Echinops, Echinacea, and Geranium) are best divided in the fall.  Of course anything with a bulb or corm, (tulips, daffodils, etc.) are also best divided in the fall.  And there are perennials like Monarda and Hosta that will thrive no matter when you divide them.  We’ve left clumps of Hosta sitting above ground with no soil around their roots, and they have lived to tell the tale, (over and over again).  We don’t recommend it, but sometimes you just don’t have enough energy to plant one more Hosta!  Dividing plants can create vigorous new growth and better bloom.  Many plants will tell you when they need dividing- their growth forms a circle around a dead and hollow center- the donut effect- very common in plants like sibirian iris.

Fall is a great time for planting, (see above “Watering”).  Plant fall bulbs for spring color- be the envy, not envious!  Plant conifers and perennials.

Wintering Over Annuals:

One has to wonder how many of your outdoor plants can come indoors for the winter…and is this a feeble attempt to prolong the summer and deny where we live?  We’re all guilty and usually by the time February gets here- the white flies, fruit flies, and aphids have you sacrificing your plants to 20 degrees below zero…with glee!

If you put your regular houseplants outside for the summer and are bringing them in this fall- here’s a tip- spray them with superior type dormant horticultural oil and allow them to dry before you bring them into your home or greenhouse.  Not every plants likes to be sprayed, so read the label first.  When we’ve done this task- it has greatly reduced the occurrence of white flies, aphids and scale to a point where it wasn’t a problem- highly recommended!  Also be sure you weed your potted plants before bringing them in and check for any ant infestations in your pots- (really not fun until you kill the ants with the plant when you throw it outside in the middle of winter- but by then you’ve got a science project in your home!).  Repot your plants if necessary but don’t put them in much larger pots.  They are entering a period of slow growth and possibly dormancy- they won’t be needing as much water and you don’t want to encourage root rot by having too much soggy soil around the roots.  Once we get into February, if plants are in a sunny position, (and you are too), you can repot them and start feeding them a mild dose of fertilizer.  Prune off dead branches and cut back for tighter growth.

spring bulbs are here this week

Some of our bulbs arrived today and the bulk of them will be here by the end of the week. Most of the bulbs we’re carrying have been grown in our garden; since we liked them so much, we’re offering them for sale.  And then a few are new for us-  we were intrigued, and hope you are too!

Here’s a list of what we’re carrying this year with some of our own photos and  some taken from that great library called “the internet”.  If you scroll over the image and leave your curser there for a second, it will reveal the name of the bulb depicted in the photo.  Enjoy the show and see you soon!

Allium ‘Christophii’

Allium ‘Gladiator’

Allium ‘Purple Sensation’

Chionodoxa Lucilliae

Crocus Chrysanthus ‘Cream Beauty’

Crocus tommasinianus ‘Ruby Giant’

Crocus sieberi ‘Tricolor’

Eremurus himalaicus

Eremurus ruiter ‘Cleopatra’

Fritillaria persica

Iris danfordiae

Iris Katharine Hodges

Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’

Muscari ‘Valleri Finnis’

Muscari ‘Dark Eyes’

Narcissus ‘Fortissimo’

Narcissus ‘Hillstar’

Narcissus ‘Katie Heath’

Narcissus ‘Professor Einstein’

Narcissus ‘Palmares’

Narcissus ‘Altruist’

Narcissus ‘Tete a Tete’

Narcissus ‘Thalia’

Narcissus ‘Accent’

Narcissus ‘Sailboat’

Narcissus ‘Pistachio’

Scilla siberica

Tulip ‘American Dream’

Tulip ‘Daydream’

Tulip ‘Ivory Floradale’

Tulip ‘Kingsblood’

Tulip ‘KungFu’

Tulip ‘New Design’

Tulip ‘Passionale’

Tulip ‘Princess Irene’

Tulip pulchella violacea

Tulip saxitallis

Tulip ‘World Expression’

Tulip ‘Antoinette’

Tulip ‘Ballerina’

Tulip clusiana ‘Cynthia’

Tulip ‘Early Harvest’

Tulip ‘Apricot Impression’