Fw: Greeting From Vermont!
- To: s*@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
- Subject: Fw: Greeting From Vermont!
- From: G* A* <b*@TOGETHER.NET>
- Date: Sat, 13 Feb 1999 16:48:13 -0500
-----Original Message-----
From: George Africa <bizplanr@together.net>
To: EDU> <shadegardens@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS>
Date: Saturday, February 13, 1999 4:34 PM
Subject: Greeting From Vermont!
Hi, my name is George Africa, and I live and garden in zone 3/4 Marshfield, VT. My wife and I started Vermont Flower Farm a few years ago as a means of paying taxes and avoiding day care for our favorite gardener who is now six. We used to grow about 50 different herbs and a similar number of perennials but when we moved here we decided to have some nice looking display gardens but specialize in a few things. Gardening is important to me because my real job is working with blind and visually impaired and enabled Vermonters.
We probably have one of the biggest offerings of Asiatic, Oriental, Trumpet, Martagon and LA Hybrid lilies around along with about 40 different astilbes, and about 90 different daylilies. We've always have had a couple dozen different hostas and this year I think we'll be up to around 50.
Shade gardening is easy in Vermont because it's actually one of the shadiest states. This makes it difficult to explain to people who read about planting in "full sun", shade, half day of this or that..........
Last fall we started cleaning out an old barn foundation. We've checked with all the local historians and the +90 year olds don't ever remember a barn being there so that kind of dates it as do a couple maples and a giant yellow birch growing out of the walls. The foundation was made of fieldstone and soft granite which was quarried on the property back in the days when the granite was drilled by hand and then wooden pegs soaked in water were driven into the holes to wait for winter freezes to split the slabs.
The foundation will be the start of a garden room shade garden where we'll exhibit a clump of every astilbe and hosta we grow integrated with Vermont wildflowers. The main area is actually dry but there's a tiled spring within 60 feet so we will be able to incorporate native flowers with various needs. So far the area is cleaned up and I have constructed about 20 feet of wall that needs to be backfilled and planted. I've also picked out a few granite slabs 1'X2'X8' to use as benches....should be nice. I have planted a few native ferns and some white trillium so far. I'd appreciate any suggestions anyone has, combinations, etc.
We're looking forward to communicating about shade gardens. If any of you live close by or vacation in New England during warmer times, stop by and say hello. Our young gardener is always happy to talk and he loves to show off "Spike", a giant bullfrog that seems to like it here.
