visiting Thimble Farms
- Subject: visiting Thimble Farms
- From: D* W*
- Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2002 21:37:21 -0800
I just came back from visiting Thimble Farms on Saltspring Island.
(between Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia)
http://www.thimblefarms.com/ It is a great place for a shade
gardener.
Most of the plants are set on the ground under tall trees - a couple
of acres of many different erythroniums, trilliums, ferns, hardy
orchids and on and on. I bought some Japanese hepaticas and two
different colour forms of Corydalis solida Penza strain, one salmon
and one peach.
Richard Fraser grows his plants from seed and picks out the special
ones to propagate. I peek into the buds of ones just about to open,
hoping I can snag something special before he notices it. It sure is
a lot more fun going to a nursery to choose something that I find
particularly appealing, rather than sitting at home and ordering mail
order. This is only important when buying seedlings, of course. If
you order named clones, it doesn't much matter.
Diane Whitehead Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
zone 8, cool mediterranean climate (rainy winter, dry summer)
