Shoveling Snow

There are certain outdoor tasks that some of us find certain comfort in doing----alone! My dear friend Liz, of This Full House, loses herself in the drone of her lawn mower. A customer from Brick who visited this past spring almost hugged me when I let it be known how much I enjoy pulling weeds. She seemed relieved to know she wasn't alone in finding solace in an activity most find so abhorrent. With no weeds to pull, no iris or peony plants to divide, or mulch to spread, I need an outlet for that pent up energy (house work doesn't do it for me!). Mother Nature has provided that niche for me. Snow has fallen at Pittsgrove Farms on a regular basis this winter, giving me numerous opportunities to get outside and keep those muscles from getting lazy.



Shoveling snow is an activity I have enjoyed since I was a kid. My dad, one of the sweetest men who ever lived, worked shift work and when winter dumped a layer of snow in our driveway, I would shovel either so he could get up and go off on his midnight to 8 AM shift, or find a clean drive when he arrived home from a 4-11:00. I especially enjoy shoveling at night when my only companions are the stars in the moonlit sky, or first thing in the morning when early sunlight sparkles like diamonds on the new fallen snow. Even the sound of the shovel rhythmically scraping back and forth, back and forth brings a peace, and the air that I breathe has such purity.

Well, the snow is shoveled until the next storm and it's time to refill the bird feeders, but before I go I just want to let all of you New York Metro folks know about Plant-O-Rama at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden that will take place next Tuesday, January 27. Check it out to get your gardening fix until things begin to thaw.

Curl Up With a Good Book

Happy New Year and belated holiday greetings to all. As you can tell, all my blogging efforts went on the back burner for a long time and I hope your holiday celebrations were as enjoyable as ours.

We were delighted to have my cousin and her daughter from Australia, daughter and granddaughter of the "Pagan Dancers"(see September 15, 2008 blog) spend Christmas with us and it was interesting to see their reaction to places and things that we so take for granted. For example, upon seeing the rink at Rockefeller Center, Denise's reaction was "Is that it??? It looks ten times larger in the movies and on TV!!!" But she was thoroughly impressed by the tree. And she was equally amazed that in the States the mailman not only delivers your mail, but will pick up any to be sent. Guess we shouldn't complain as much about the postage!

Denise and Rhiannon must be happy to be back in warmer climes now that winter has taken a nasty turn here. We awoke to 4 degrees this AM and may see temperatures go below 0 tomorrow morning, which gives us a good reason to light the wood stove and curl up with a good book. There are a few that we have read and keep on hand as reference books that we would like to recommend until we get a bit of a thaw and all you avid gardeners are able to get your hands dirty again.

The World of Irises by Warburton and Hamblen and published by The American Iris Society provides a wealth of information and encompasses the worlds of bearded, beardless, and lesser known varieties. It is a must have reference for the serious iris enthusiast's book shelf. The beautifully illustrated The Gardener's Iris Book by William Shear is full of excellent advise on the selection, care and propagation of irises.


For you peony lovers, Peonies by Allan Rogers and The Gardener's Peony-Herbaceous and Tree Peonies by Martin Page are books that John and I have used extensively. Both contain beautiful color plates and information about the wide variety of peonies available as well as their culture.

Head to your library or local book store, pick up one of the above volumes, or peruse the shelves for any other gardening book of your choosing, then over the winter you can dream of the fantastic additions you can make to your gardens come spring.

Trick or Treat?!?

Well, it was a treat for those like me who enjoy seeing the landscape covered with newly fallen snow, but it was the trick part with which I take exception! The goblins played a Pre-Halloween trick on us here at Pittsgrove Farms and throughout many parts of the New Jersey with high winds and early snow. We received about 2" of heavy, slushy stuff, but it was reported that as much as a foot of snow fell in Lebanon, NJ where we once had a garden center. I think that is carrying "frost on the pumpkin" to the extreme! The heaviness of the snow combined with strong, gusting winds caused havoc by bringing down branches and trees and knocking out power lines with resulting power outages. We must have a guardian angel since we only lost power for an hour and large branches missed our parked car by inches, saving us from huge repair bills.


We intend to cover our potted peonies with insulating blanket, but Mother Nature tried to cover them with branches. I appreciate the thought, but branches don't really serve the same purpose and only add to all the other other branches that John and I have had to cut up throughout the property.
As long as our iris, peony, and daylily beds weren't damaged we can't complain. The hard work and fresh air will keep us in good physical shape and when we're through we'll have no need to buy firewood this winter!

Iris Curtain Call

Immortality

As summer finally made its exit and autumn has established itself with some glorious color here in western central Jersey, I have delighted in the return of some of our reblooming irises.

Pink Attraction

Immortality, that most reliable and prolific of our reblooming bearded iris, proved itself to be the head honcho, perking up our landscape wherever it was planted, whether in our stock beds or in the display gardens. In a previous post I had mentioned our new iris, Pagan Dance, (my Australian uncle got such a kick out of that one that he now signs his letters Uncle Graham, The Pagan Dancer!) also continued blooming on the tiny stems of these newly planted gems. It was joined by Pink Attraction which looks like it will also prove to be a strong iris with wonderful attributes.

Halston

Intermediate Davy Jones teamed up with Halston adding to the rich, deep color that so many iris lovers look forward to in their gardens. But the blossoms that warmed my heart the most appeared on tiny Baby Blessed the dwarf that nestled in a bed of autumn leaves next to our driveway. I've always had a fondness for yellow and being of short stature, relate to anything little with spunk, so have great respect for this little plant that stood up to the frosty temperatures of late while everything else was succumbing to the cold that had set into our area.Baby Blessed

These lovely blooms will soon fade as we prepare for the onset of winter, but they have served to whet my anticipation of things to come once spring awakens the earth once more.

Oh No--Powdery Mildew!!!

Some of you, like us, may be alarmed at the sight of our beautiful peony plants suddenly looking like someone went berserk in the garden with a jumbo size container of baby powder. The culprit here is Powdery Mildew, a white, dusty talcum-like substance on the leaves. Powdery Mildew is a fungus that sends tubes from spores on the leaves into the plant which then take nutrients out of the plant, often causing the leaves to yellow, die and fall off. It is a condition that is less prevalent in semi-arid regions and makes its appearance more likely in mid to late summer when warm, humid days are followed by cool evenings.

Peonies should be provided with good air circulation with proper spacing, planting in full sun, and avoidance of overhead watering especially late in the day. Remove and destroy infected leaves and flowers--do not compost! Sanitation in the garden should be practiced, such as always raking up and disposing of fallen leaves and garden debris every autumn, and being careful to wash your hands after handling infected plants before touching those that have not been affected. However, despite all these preventative measures being taken, some peony varieties are simply less resistant. Here at Pittsgrove Farms, we have peonies that are planted with all the above recommendations taken into consideration. They are strong, healthy plants that have bloomed marvelously for years, but that darn Powdery Mildew rears its ugly head without fail.

We approach the problem by cutting the plants back and disposing of all stems and leaves.
John and I rarely use chemicals, but certain fungicides, chemical or organic, can be used to manage Powdery Mildew when first detected. We recommend checking with your local Extension Service for their recommendations and then closely following directions on the label.

Take a deep breath since the end of the world isn't here. Your peonies should be back in the spring greeting you with their breathtaking beauty. You just have a little extra work to keep you busy in the garden. So what else is new?!?

Time for Fall Planting

Daylily beds with some divisions

What glorious weather we have been having and it is a good thing, as the now "unretired" Gulish couple are busy from dawn 'til dusk (I do have a tendency to exaggerate!) working on the perennials.

Earlier in the week we were weeding the beds and dividing daylilies and have been dividing many varieties of iris on and off the last few weeks. Then on Tuesday our friendly UPS man arrived with boxes of bare root peonies promising to return the next day with an equivalent load. After my initial excitement of getting the shipment with the anticipation of blooms next spring, I realized I was missing an important step--planting the peonies.

Peonies potted for Spring of 2009

Now is a perfect time to plant peonies for next spring along with the other perennials that you and we may be dividing and planting for next year's garden treasures.



We are now offering bare root peony roots for sale at Pittsgrove Farms at prices reduced from what they will be potted in the spring. Pittsgrove Farms will be open the next two weekends, Friday-Sunday, 9:00-5:00, September 19-21 and 26-28, or by appointment on weekdays. And naturally our iris and daylily varieties will also be available. For directions and contact information please click here to go to our website.

As the days grow shorter and we have less time to work in the garden, now is ideal to cram in that last minute gardening for the big payoff in the spring of beautiful blooms. You can sleep in the winter, at least that is our plan.

In Honor of "The Land Down Under"

My apologies for my long absence. You must remember we are "retired"! At least we were for a few weeks with a much too short visit with our dear west coast family and then some fun in the sun down the Jersey shore (no one in Jersey goes to the beach--it's always "the shore").

Now it is back to business, and with the weeds that awaited us as always, computer work piling up, and an email saying our first batch of peony roots have been shipped, we are certainly out of retirement mode.

John sometimes teases me that I like to order plants the same way his beloved mom used to pick race horses on the rare occasions she went to Monmouth Park-by their nifty names. Just like Grandma Gulish, my picks often turn out to be winners.

Two of those, one a daylily, the other a tall bearded iris fall into that category. Each was chosen because of my very special Australian aunt and uncle who are also avid gardeners.
The award winning daylily, Anzac, struck a very special chord with me as the acronym, ANZAC stands for the Australian New Zealand Army Corps of which my Uncle Graham was a proud member dating back to WWII when he served alongside my American GI Dad in New Guinea. Of course that daylily had to be grown in his honor and turned out to be a tall, stately addition to our stock beds.It is fortunate for me that my Uncle Graham and Auntie Rae have keen senses of humor as evidenced by the nicknames I gave them, Duke and Ramona. Although now in their 80's, they display the pluck and "can do" spirit of people decades younger, which is why they will laugh when I say I chose Pagan Dance as a tribute to them! I by no means consider them pagans, but after reading the description of this iris, I knew we had to grow it.

What caught my attention first naturally, was that it was from Australia, but the fact it was a rebloomer and so rich in color added to its desirability. We planted the rhizomes a month ago and much to my surprise, like my aunt and uncle, this plant shows great spunk! Who would expect it to bloom so soon after planting and just not a single bloom, but a cluster. Pagan Dance has brightened our otherwise colorless field, just as my aunt and uncle have brightened my life with their lighthearted ways.