Presby Memorial Iris Gardens Plant Sale

Presby Memorial Iris Gardens When In Full Bloom

Our collaboration with the wonderful folks at the Presby Memorial Iris Gardens continues this year and we have been gratified to play a small role in the continuance of this national treasure.

Many of you are aware that the gardens were in dire financial straits a few years back and in jeopardy of having to close altogether. The hard work of many dedicated people kept that from happening and thankfully the gardens are now under the wing of the Essex County Park System, thus assuring Presby will continue to delight visitors for generations to come.

This weekend, May 7-9 the annual plant sale will be held to raise funds for the maintenance and expansion of the gardens. Besides multiple varieties of iris, peonies, daylilies, and very unusual deer resistant perennials will be available. Additional information regarding the gardens and this weekend's sale may be found on the Presby web site.
Just a sample of what is available this weekend
If you are in the area, stop in, make a purchase and know you are aiding this jewel that helps keep "garden" in our motto "The Garden State". We encourage any of you who have not had the opportunity to visit Presby to make the trip, especially in mid-May when the gardens are in all their glory. Everyone we have sent has been awestruck by the beauty of this natural rainbow of color. Go see for yourself!

Happy Gardening!
Cheryl

Iris Cristata-Dwarf Crested Iris

In the past, a number of people have asked us if iris grow in the shade and we have always answered that all of the iris we were growing required sun, that is until now. This year at Pittsgrove, we are trying our hand at Iris cristata also known as dwarf crested iris. These prefer shade to part shade, grow 6 to 8 inches high, and spread very nicely without becoming invasive.
The cristata are native to America and grow all over the mid-Atlantic states, but are not seen in New Jersey very often. The flowers are white, or come in shades of blue/lavender. These little plants need a well-drained location in rich, loose soil and will form dense clumps. Their roots are very shallow, therefore require just a pinch of mulch..
These iris are great for that shady spot, rock garden, along walks and or a path in the woods.

Gardening with Mickey and Minnie

When planning our family vacation to Disney World (something Pop Gulish had been urging since the Fairy Princess was born 5 1/2 years ago!) we did not realize it would also become somewhat a bus man's holiday as it happened to coincide with the 17th Annual Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival.

Throughout Epcot, whimsical topiaries and sculpted gardens developed by various landscaping and gardening groups provided eye candy for young and old alike. We particularly enjoyed seeing the myriad of Disney characters from swashbuckling Peter Pan, to waltzing Cinderella, to fanciful ostrich ballerinas. Naturally, John and I had to be photographed in front of farmers Mickey and Minnie. The favorite of our Fairy Princess

Vehicle Boy was delighted to watch the trains at Germany's garden railroad. (Watch for a future blog post regarding garden railways when I discuss a new venture of our friend, Jim Shepard of microscaping.com). Our boy was quite content to view the miniature village while the rest of the family wandered the shops.

The Living Wall was an example of gardening that is starting to pop up in hotels and malls across the nation and something you are likely to see more of in the future.All of us were fascinated by the fruits and veggies being grown experimentally in the greenhouses at "The Land", especially pumpkins growing in air rather than on the ground. Seeing all the wonderful produce made us look forward to harvesting our own in the hopefully not too distant future.
Splashes of color everywhere and the sweet fragrance of roses and violas make our family anxious to see spring arrive back home. We thankfully were not affected by the horrendous storm that hit this past weekend, March 13 & 14, which caused so much damage in flooding and downed trees throughout the Northeast. Jeremy and Christina had a tree come down, but luckily it only damaged some wires, not the house. The 15" of snow we left behind when we began our vacation has now been replaced by sunshine and clear skies, so it looks like we'll be out in the gardens for the next few days. Hope that's where you are too!
Think spring!
Cheryl

Tree Peonies-And So It Begins!

Kinkaku



John and I attended the New Jersey Floral & Garden Show followed by New York In Bloom Flower Show at the Albany State Museum while visiting with our grandchildren, Vehicle Boy and the Fairy Princess and both visits made us anxious for "digging in the dirt". That, my friend, is a little impossible for us here at Pittsgrove at the moment since our dirt is still under a blanket of snow that the Olympic folks would be happy to have on Cypress Mountain in Vancouver! The only digging has been by our native white tail deer who have foraged throughout our property for some tender shoots to nibble upon.

Just as John was starting to get twitchy from having to implement his snow shovel while the garden trowel collects dust in the barn, our friendly UPS man appeared with a shipment of tree peony grafts for us. John's face lit up the way Vehicle Boy's does upon the acquisition of a new Match Box car. Now he had something to do that didn't involve the movement of snow.


Tree peonies are so darn beautiful and pretty darn carefree once planted in the right location. Rather than deteriorating with age, these plants just get more spectacular with each passing year---I try to convince John and our sons that I'm doing the same as I age, but they're not buying that theory!

After John removed the one year peony grafts (tree peonies are grafted onto herbaceous stock) from their packing material, he soaked them in a bucket of water to rehydrate them since they have been dormant for a few months. After soaking for at least an hour, he potted each of them in a 2 gallon container making sure the graft and at least one bud were buried beneath the potting mix.

A third to a half of those plants John just potted will bloom this year. But with each year to come the size of the plant will increase and number of blossoms will multiply, maturing in 5-8 years. Tree peonies reach heights of 2 1/2'-5' tall and blossoms reaching 5-6" across.


Hoki






Although this batch was all yellow, we intend to have approximately125 plants in 8-9 varieties this year, ranging in age from 2-4 years old. Unlike their herbaceous cousins, tree peonies require partial shade and some protection from drying winds. With proper planting these lovely plants will reward you for many, many years to come.
Sahohimi

Just a reminder for those of you in our area, The Philadelphia International Flower Show starts this Sunday February 28 and runs through March 7. This is the premier event of its kind and if you have never attended, you will be blown away by the outstanding displays.

Think Spring!
Cheryl

Did Anyone Say Spring?

Alberta Spruce lined up in front of a new bed

As our perennials lie dormant, Alberta Spruce and garden gnomes stand as silent sentinels in the snow awaiting the arrival of spring. The pair of Adirondack chairs sit as witnesses to foraging deer near the pond while Japanese and pseudocorus iris nap nearby.

Mr. & Mrs. Gnome standing watch in the snow

As gardeners and lovers of the outdoors, we tend to get anxious about now. The days are getting longer and the sun is setting two to three minutes later each day. The seed catalogs begin to fill up the mailbox and we sit by the fire planning our grand gardens on paper and in our minds. Chairs sitting silently by the pond

Customers have begun emailing and phoning with questions about what we will have available this year, with folks always looking for something new. We enjoy hearing from old gardening friends and from folks we hope will become new friends.

On cold sunny days, we go out to the greenhouse we built to winter over some of the plants we potted up in the fall. We putter with the plants while Sassy, our Westie, sniffs around for mice. She can't catch them but has fun trying.

Sassy, our resident mouser
On warmer days when the ground isn't frozen, we push back down the metal and wooden plant markers that have heaved up due to freezing and thawing along with any rhizomes that may have done the same.

Recently we met with some of our buddies at Presby for a brainstorming session during which a great many ideas were shared to make our collaboration even better than last year. Watch both our sites for information as it becomes available.

We hope spring will be early this year---we have lots to do and would like to get started. There are new beds to fill, Louisiana iris to plant by the pond, and yeah, the two or three beds the wife didn't finish weeding. (Ouch---I forgot she's the one who types these blogs!)

So the spring list is started and we can hardly wait and we're sure, neither can you!

Happy planning! John and Cheryl

2009 At Pittsgrove Farms

New garden beds in 2009

As the new year begins, I'd like to look back on the year that has just passed, remember what changes we made, and what experiences we have to reflect upon.

Weather-wise we sometimes felt as though growing rice or cranberries would be a better occupation than growing iris, peonies and daylilies. Our rainfall totals here in central Jersey (no native ever says New Jersey) reached record amounts. We spent so much time slogging around in the mud, it felt as though we were working at our neighbors' pig farm instead of a perennial farm. The cooler temperatures that went along with much of the rain affected blooming times, with many plants coming into flower 2-3 weeks later than normal.

Things weren't too terrific in the vegetable garden either, and although the lettuce crop was good, production was down for our Jersey tomatoes and we certainly didn't put up as many jars of sauce this year.

Despite the weather, we accomplished a great deal in 2009 with the help of our family. We raised up and developed new iris beds, added a cold frame, put up a small greenhouse, and planted an additional display bed. We continued our work with the fantastic folks at Presby Memorial Iris Gardens and forged a new relationship with Friends of the Hunterdon County Library, another great organization. And just think, John and I did all this while we are supposedly retired. Can you imagine what we would be doing if we actually considered ourselves working folk?


Our thanks to all of you who have visited us online and here at the farm. We greatly appreciate having you in our lives and look forward to seeing and hearing from old and new garden lovers again in 2010.

Happy anticipation! Cheryl

Christmas Wreaths

When John and I had the garden center, we hand made and decorated dozens of mixed greens wreaths for the holidays. Now we just make some for ourselves and our family. I love keeping one up through the winter to perk things up when things start looking a little too dreary.

A few months ago, my Australian Uncle Graham, AKA "The Pagan Dancer", sent me a photo of a natural wreath that beats any John and I could ever make. A friend of my uncle had his camera ready at just the right moment to capture the lovely assembly below. "The Pagan Dancer" suggested the photo for one of my blogs and I told him I would save it for the appropriate time. Now the time is right to use it to wish all of you the happiest of holidays, be it Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or Rahmadan. Remember---the greatest beauty is often found in the simplicity of nature. May 2010 hold only the best for all of you.