Gardening Goes Wild - Gorilla Gardening

Gardening has become militant, undercover and may perhaps be coming to a weed-filled public dirt patch near you.

Gorilla Gardening is sweeping the nation, heck maybe even the whole world. A revolution that began in the UK is now hitting the US and growing faster than a plant with an overdose of Miracle Grow.

Gorilla Gardening is the illicit cultivation of blooming plants in an effort to beautify unsightly public places.

The idea is pretty simple:

1) find an ugly overgrown area
2) get cheap plants
3) recruit a group of plant-friendly friends
4) wait until nosey neighbors go to bed
5) hit the dirt with an arsenal of shovels
6) plant that plot before the police interrupt the garden party

The official tips are here.

The website includes ideas like how to make seed bombs, which are essentially grenades for gardeners. The beneft is that seed bombs can be thrown to areas that are too difficult to reach otherwise.

This gardening is not for the weak of heart. Gorilla Gardening is the equivalent to Fight Club for gardeners. There is even a Gorilla Gardening community, which helps eager illicit gardeners find each other to start new gorilla chapters.

Who knows maybe we will soon be planting iris by the light of moon in a desolate parking lot before you know it?

Small But Mighty

Topping out at 5'2" tall, for most of my life I've been what some people consider "height challenged." I got a reputation as a "goody-two-shoes" since the seating in school was often shortest to tallest and sitting directly in front of the teacher made it difficult to get away with much. But like the West Highland White Terriers we have owned, I often have not perceived myself as little and once thought my daughter-in-law, Melanie and I were nearly the same height (she is 5'7"!). Our Westie, Lady, once stood her ground on a lonely beach when she was charged by a Black Lab, causing the Lab to turn tail and run in the opposite direction. The heart throb of our current Westie, Sassy is Alex, a German Shepherd that towers over her. Like my dogs, I've never let my size stand in my way and I can hold my own in basketball with my 6'2" tall son, Jeremy. Which brings me to the subject at hand --- Dwarf Bearded Iris.

Baby Blessed Dwarf Iris

Many gardeners may be unfamiliar with dwarf iris since they are generally only available by mail order. These sturdy little plants are the first bearded to bloom in the spring which in our location in New Jersey coincides with the blooming time of tulips. They are available in a wide array of colors, similar to their tall bearded cousins. Their diminutive size make them excellent border or rock garden plants.

Prank Dwarf Iris

As with other bearded iris, shallow planting with good drainage and at least a half day sun are a must. Since they are shallow-rooted, winter heaving may be more of a problem than with their taller relatives, so it is helpful to apply a light mulch after the ground has frozen.

Pele Dwarf Iris

They should also be protected from encroachment from other vigorous perennials in the rock gardens. Although delicate in appearance, these hardy plants hold up well under light frost even in bloom. Varieties such as Pele, Sarah Taylor, and Gimmick may be small, but they can have a big impact in your garden.

Washington Tulip Festival

Tulip Festival Fun

Last week the brothers were able to get together. Jeremy and his lovely bride were able to take some time off and visit with Garrett and his brood in the Pacific Northwest. Among the many adventures they had was a trip about an hour north of Seattle to Skagit County for the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.

Tulips as far as the eye can see

There were fields of daffodils and tulips of many different colors. We went to one grower named Roozengaarde. According to their literature they have over 1200 acres of field blooms making them the largest tulip grower in the world. We don't think we have quite those aspirations for our farm, but you never can tell where this journey will take us. They had a three acre display garden to showcase the different variety of tulips they grow. Some picks of the display gardens. They charged an admission fee to see the gardens. We'll have to teach Mom Gulish to juggle or belly dance and then maybe we can charge for Pittsgrove Farms.

Roozengaarde Display Gardens

We also stopped by the other very large grower in the area, Tulip Town. They had a magnificent field of colorful tulips that accounted for all the colors of the rainbow (well not really blue, but that is more of a function of the iris than of an oversight by tulip town). Between sleepy kids and a function I had later, we did not explore Tulip Town other than from the periphery, but we did sing "Won't you take me to.....TULIP TOWN" in our best Lipps Inc. impersonations.

We have great memories and great pictures of our visit to Skagit County. We highly recommend it as a side trip if you are visiting the Seattle area during the spring.

Siberians (and we ain't talking about chilly Russians)

Today we added a few new Siberian iris to the Pittsgrove Farms website.

Siberian iris are great additions to any perennial garden. They are one of the easiest types of iris to grow as they are tolerant to disease and insects. During their first year of growth they require moist soil; however after the first year they become more drought hardy.

Siberian iris are native to central Europe and Asia but can now be found in many backyard gardens in zones 3-9. This beardless type tends to bloom in the mid-season after tall bearded iris. They love the sun but will tolerate light shade.

We carry roughly 40 varieties of Siberian irises at the farm. We will be continually adding more to the website but for now, here are a few standouts.

Butter and Sugar

This Siberian that sounds like it is straight from a baker's kitchen is an award winner worth checking out. It is a sweet addition to the garden with sugar white standards and buttery yellow falls - both etched with greenish yellow veins. White styles with yellow midribs make it one not to be missed.

Color: White & Yellow---Style: Amoena---Year: 1986
Height: 27"---Bloom Season: Mid
Awards: Morgan Medal '81, Morgan-Wood Medal '86

Baby Sister

Baby is right - this one is tiny at a maximum height of about a foot. Baby Sister is a dwarf known for being one of the shortest Siberian iris varieties. It has a violet blue self with darker veins on the falls.

Color: Violet Blue---Style: Diploid---Year: 1986
Height: 12"---Bloom Season: Early-Mid
Awards: HM '91

Bridal Jig

Bridal Jig is as white and elegant as a wedding dress, beautifully accented with yellow. The small crescent-shaped deep yellow signal compliments the brilliance of white.

Color: White---Style: Self---Year: 1993
Height: 35"---Bloom Season: Mid
Fragrance

PittsgroveFarms.com Goes Live

Hello Garden Heads!

We have officially done it. We have launched a website www.pittsgrovefarms.com! We are really excited to plant another seed (or should we say rhizome) in the online world.

We have done our best to put forth an informational site that we will continue to grow hopefully as quickly as we grow the farm. We have included a small selection of the Louisiana, Japanese, Siberian, tall, intermediate, and dwarf bearded iris as well as some peonies and daylilies. We have more than a hundred varieties of iris alone and are continually adding new ones so it might take some time before we have all the varieties online.

Eventually, we plan on providing e-commerce capabilities but for now, our goal is to create a great resource for plant information, growing tips, useful tools, etc. Please let us know what you would like to see and we will work to bring it online.

John's Revenge

Spring has finally sprung and the glorious weather has kept us in full swing with cleaning up the iris and peony beds, potting, and planting, which brings me to my latest and newest gardening experience.

At this time of year, John and I get starter plants arriving on a regular basis, so I was eager to see what the FedEx guy had for us when he pulled up. That's when John informed me that while I was in Washington he had ordered some water lilies(are you starting to envision what's in store for me?). He had purchased Albida,Texas Dawn, and several other varieties from Maryland Aquatic Nurseries and said that Kelly whom he had spoken with was very nice and extremely knowledgeable. He also let me know that while I was gone, he took a vote, I won, and therefore had the "honor" of planting the water lilies in the big pond. He, on the other hand, would be left to plant the others in the small pond that we built last fall.

I don't know how much of an "honor" this was---I think it was his way of getting back at me for the broken coffee maker!!!

Daffodils & Gremlins

Sorry for the big gap in my writing, I've recently returned from visiting with our West Coast family leaving poor John to fend for himself. It was the longest we have been apart in 37 years of marriage and ladies, there is still hope for your significant others! While I was away, John learned how to operate the washer and dryer,dish washer, and coffee maker! However, the house gremlins conspired against him after a few days and the coffee maker refused to drip into the pot and a bathroom shelf that has been hanging for over 20 years fell to the floor when he wasn't home. (When I returned the coffee maker worked for me good as new and the shelf appears to be set for another 20 years!)

While in Washington, I took part in the Junior Daffodil Parade in Tacoma with our grandchildren, but missed last weekend's Daffodil Parade which spans 4 different cities in Pierce County, Washington and has been a huge event and celebrated its 75th anniversary this year. The Puyallup valley in Pierce County produces over 200 varieties of daffodils . It was fun handing out daffodils along the parade route and seeing people get so excited over flowers.

I guess John missed me a little since freshly picked daffodils greeted my return. That was probably to offset the mile long "To Do" list he also had waiting for me.

I was delighted to see that the insulation blanket worked wonderfully for the potted peonies which are all in various stages of growth depending on variety.


Our bearded iris survived well despite some heaving that we had to deal with over the winter. So now that spring has officially kicked off for us, we'll have plenty to keep us busy and John has informed me that I get no more time off. I'll keep you posted on what my task master has
in store for me.