2011 marks the 12th year of the Farmhouse Flowers spring plant sale.  I really cannot believe I’ve been playing in this garden for that long!  Its no secret that the annual sale, and year-round gardening efforts to support it, have been a labor of love, but times have been changing.

I just do not spend as much time working in the garden as I used to and my mind has actually been focusing on ways to downsize and reduce maintenance tasks instead of creating places to add new perennials.  Propagating, potting and seed starting activities have started feeling more like chores than a fun hobby.  Sigh.

The decision has been made to downsize & simplify life by hanging up my gloves and letting go of the nursery after this season…plans are underway to go out with a bang (or at least lots of really great deals on plants)!    Make sure to check the nursery website for sale dates or follow us on Facebook for even more specials!  www.farmhouseflowers.net.

I’m sure others have created extensive gardens as a hobby and are now wanting to reduce the time spent on maintenance and upkeep.  How does one even go about downsizing a garden let-alone a seasonal nursery business?  My guess is this will be an on-going process that may take me a few years to navigate through.

I do wish to thank those fearless gardeners who made our sale a spring tradition…even in the snow, wind and hail when I thought no one would show up!  You played a big part in making these years so fun.

HAPPY GARDENING!

Andy was busy pruning the burning bush hedge – a chore I can no longer participate in because of my self-confessed  ‘pruning issues’.  The thought of growing a hedge for screening purposes and then pruning it down each year to keep it small doesn’t make sense in my head; although I can say when the hedge grows back in and looks nice in the summer I’m happy with his pruning.

I kept myself busy in other areas:  starting some perennial seeds, deadheading cat mint, sedum, lavender and raking soggy leaves out of the gardens.   While working in the south-side garden I stumbled upon snowdrops that were pushing through.  I had suspected they may be coming but they were hidden by the leaves.  If you purchased snowdrops at our plant sale last year make sure to go out and look for them now!

Finding snowdrops made me take a closer look at the hellebore – YES their winter-blooming buds are coming too!  Time for a bit of maintenance.  Gardeners choose to do different things with last year’s hellebore foliage (the evergreen leaves become dull and often show signs of wind and weather damage).  Left alone, the leaves will eventually die back and disappear; I choose to cut off all old leaves (taking the stems down to about 2″) so the emerging flowers and new, shiny-green leaves can be appreciated.  In our garden this task happens as soon as new growth is seen, usually in January, but some others cut them back in October/November too.

Looks like we’re in for a cold, and possibly snowy, week so I’m glad we had the opportunity to garden a bit yesterday.  With a sore back and cramped pruning hand I’ll need the week to recover! 

Beloved Willow Tree Succumbs to Winter Storm

November storms took a fatal toll on my beloved willow tree – something that has been a valuable part of our historic home’s landscape for more than 80 years.   Half of the tree fell, and it looks like the remaining half will need to be removed sometime during 2011. 

Even in despair what is left of this awesome tree still managed to be beautiful during the first sunset of the new year.

First Sunset of 2011

Next up was the south side shrub border.  So cool to be working in that garden and hear the quaking aspen leaves rustling above me!  Anyone else have trouble with their tall sedum this year?  Mine completely flopped over and are laying on the ground…disappointing.  I’m taking that as a sign that they need to be divided so I lifted/divided the white ones, cut a huge bouquet of the pink ones to enjoy inside; they will be cut back and divided in the coming weeks.  Thinned and potted pulmonaria (boy/girl plant) and hellebore seedlings too.  This is a great time to divide and re-distribute lewesia.  It’s fairly easy to lift a clump, tease apart the rosettes and spread them out a bit.

West Point tulip bulb order came in last week so I sprinkled a few more of those spring stunners around the yard.  Included in that order were the Oriental lilies we’ll be selling in the spring…there will be a lovely selection of FRAGRANT pink and white lilies available like the ones shown above.

I’m notorious for leaving large debris piles around the garden as I deadhead, weed, prune; really hoping that someone in my family will swoop through and deliver them to the compost pile.   Wondering how others with larger gardens handle their debris.  We use a combination of:  2 large compost bins, a rolling cart that gets hauled away by Nooksack Valley Disposal (for weedy/seedy/poky things), several loads of branches hauled to Everson’s free chipping service and a few trailer loads of ‘other stuff’ that gets taken to Green Earth Technology for composting.  It’s a lot to get rid of!

There is so much more to do that it can all become overwhelming – I just keep telling myself “one bed at a time”.

Ready for a bit of education and inspiration?  Check out these two upcoming lectures!

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Whatcom Horticulture Society is sponsoring two lectures by regional gardening experts as part of their Fall Lecture Series. Polly Hankin, horticulture department head and instructor at Edmonds Community College and Roger Gossler, owner of Gossler Farm Nursery in Springfield, Oregon will share information about hardscapes in the garden and plants for winter interest.

“We are delighted to present these two exceptional speakers as part of our Fall Lecture Series and invite gardeners of all skill levels to come for an evening of education and inspiration,” says Pam Terhorst, president of WHS.

On October 20^th, landscape architect Polly Hankin will present “Designing the ‘Hard’ Landscape Elements of the Garden – Know Your Options”.  She will share information on using hardscapes in the garden, discuss how to balance plants and structures as well as recommend products and materials best suited for different landscape situations.  “The role of hardscapes is critical in good garden design. It is often the reason why some gardens work well and others seem to be lacking,” states Hankin.

Roger Gossler’s lecture titled “Winter Glories” takes place on November 3rd when he will help gardeners zero in on the best shrubs for winter hardiness, longevity and beauty.  As buyer and grower for Glosser Farms Nursery he is an experienced plant collector and has become a national leader in promoting the use of woody trees and shrubs.

The Gossler family knowledge and expertise has been complied in a new book, The Gossler Guide to the Best Hardy Shrubs: More than 350 Expert Choices for your Garden, available for sale at the lecture.

Both events take place at Whatcom Museum with doors opening at 7 PM and lectures beginning at 7:30.  WHS members receive a discounted admission rate of $7; general public admission is $12.

Whatcom Horticulture Society encourages new or experienced gardeners to expand their interest in horticulture by attending garden-related programs throughout the year.  They sponsor a variety of opportunities locally, providing exposure to regional and worldwide gardening as a way to beautify public and private gardens in the Pacific Northwest. Visit www.whatcomhortsociety.org or phone 738-6833 to learn more about future events and membership.

Brick path - plants trimmed, divided and potted

October is a great month to divide perennials and today was a great day to be outside!  Dividing plants in October works well because there has been enough rain to loosen up the soil and there are still enough leaves on plants to identify them.

Last weekend I walked through the yard, pen and paper in hand and planned fall and winter gardening projects.  Most of the items on my list related to the need for pruning and dividing.  I try to then tackle one flower bed at a time.  Today it was the rhododendron garden’s turn, mostly because I can see these plants from my kitchen window and every time I look out I say things like “that hosta really needs to be moved” or “that rhody would look much better if it didn’t have astilbe crowding through its branches”.

I started the day off with a fresh trailer load of specially blended compost/potting soil from Green Earth Technologies in Lynden.  Love this potting mix and really like the nice folks at Great Earth.

First on my list was to top off a raised planter with more soil – then fresh cuttings from our newly pruned variegated dogwood shrub went in.  Andy is BRUTAL with pruners but that’s an entirely different story!  Anyway, with a bit of luck these new cuttings will be ready for our plant sale in about 2 years.

Hosta relocated, Maidenhair fern has now been moved behind birdbath

Next up was the blush-colored astilbe which slowly and steadily has been encroaching the understory of our rhododendrons for more than 15 years.  We lifted and potted about 20 pots of this shade loving perennial; and there is still a generous crop in the ground.

My favorite hosta, smaller leaf with a bluish-gray coloring was no longer a feature in the garden…it had been overgrown by a neighboring Maidenhair fern.  It was lifted, divided and placed in a more open location.  Looking forward to seeing it stand out next spring.

The day continued with divisions of bergenia, peony and tradescanthia as well.  Visually the garden looks cleaner and the edits so far have allowed shrubs to be featured more.  Just a few more hours in this garden and it will be checked off the fall ‘to do’ list!

Happy Gardening!

For more than 5 years we have grown triple-sweet Honey Select corn in a 4×12 raised box garden.  Its placed in a lovely south-facing location with plenty of sunshine and easy access to water.  Our corn crops are typically plentiful and we’ve have more than enough to feed our family and share with friends too (who by the way say that variety of corn is the absolute best they have ever eaten!).

This year I decided to also try growing onions in that garden, giving up about 1/3 of the corn’s territory.  My thought was ‘its OK, we’ll still have more than enough corn to enjoy in August’.  Little did I know we would be lucky to get 5 ears of corn off the entire crop.

2010 will go down as the year the raccoons discovered they too LOVED that Honey Select corn.  We began noticing a few stalks had been tipped over and cobs had been systematically and carefully husked – every kernel was eaten.  Something was also having a good time in the pond – pulling out the floating water hyacinths, tipping over the dwarf cattail and disrupting the fountain.

The decision was made to set the live trap and relocate whatever we caught…frankly this made us nervous because you can never guarantee what will wander into a trap in the middle of the night (ever caught a skunk before?  We have!).

The first attempts led to catching a stray neighborhood cat who ended up being COMPLETELY freaked out when released in the morning.  I was guessing that’s because the raccoon was probably circling the cage all night trying to figure out how to get inside.

Next time, success!  An adorable raccoon was trapped in the morning…it was actually so cute that I nearly forgave it for eating 1/2 of my corn crop by this point.  A sigh of relief went out as it was driven to the foothills and released…I was feeling like we were back in business.  There were still about  12 stalks of corn left – a few dinners for sure.

After a visit to the garden this morning I see this is not going to be our year for corn because apparently that raccoon has friends who also like the corn…6 more stalks were tipped over and cleaned off!

Trap is going back out tonight…keeping our fingers crossed for success.  Guess I’ll be buying sweet corn from farm stands instead of enjoying the fruits of our labor this year.

With that goal in mind work continues this summer on our south-side gardens where shrubs planted 5-10 years ago have matured.  One shrub in particular, the blue arctic willow, is a favorite that if given enough room, should not need maintenance again for a long time.  We have been pruning it back significantly every 2 years to maintain a certain size (10×10) but are now working to edit the surrounding gardens to give it the room needed for continued growth. This meant removing two encroaching lilac shrubs (don’t worry – we still have lots more lilacs) and a few phlox. The next step in the process, when the weather cools a bit, will be relocating hellebore and other perennials now hidden under the willow.  I’m anticipating the end result will be a cleaner-looking garden with larger shrubs as the focus instead of a mixed shrub/perennial bed.

Here’s what the garden looks like today…the willow is the large fluffy shrub just right of the gravel path.  I’ll post another picture later in the season as we continue the editing process.

I would imagine that many of my fellow gardening friends have their own editing issues…how do you handle things when trees and shrubs outgrow their current locations?

The photo below shows red lychness blooming and bee balm (monarda) on the left.  Also vigorous this spring are the dark purple Siberian iris shown on the right side of the photo.  Purple clematis is a great companion to the red lychness…and as you’ll read below, one of my favorite color combinations.

What’s blooming in the garden now?  Below is a photo of the red/purple combination I favor….loving the airiness of these two plants tumbling together…both around 3′ tall and 2-3′ wide…purple nepeta (cat mint) next to red geum (Mrs. Bradshaw).  These two plants are perfect at the edge of our lawn on the privacy berm.

One final plant to check out….just for fun:  artemisia “Silver Mound” in an antique concrete urn.  I love how the plant has created what looks like a fluffy afro on this pot.  The foliage is SO soft and has a wonderful silver color.

I am looking forward to spending time at Kale House Bed & Breakfast’s Garden Party this weekend. Saturday and Sunday (June 26 & 27) from 10am – 4pm there will be plant and garden-related art vendors on-site as well as an interesting temporary labyrinth to walk.  Stop by for guided garden tours at 11am and 2pm daily as well as light refreshments….you will not be disappointed!

That’s it for now…happy gardening!