Ladyslippers!

We have some ladies visitng the garden at the moment and they’re all wearing the most lovely slippers! Still several left for purchase!

Blooming!

Peony Japonica hybrid

Bicolored Iris

We are having friends over for dinner tonight. Good friends. Lovely friends. They are neighbors of ours, and live just down on the lake. They are the kind of friends that know we are straight out with all the hustle and bustle of the nursery and growing plants. They are the kind of friends that show up here after closing with homemade John’s ice cream and a few beers. I think sometimes they save us from ourselves, we would keep working on through the evening even if it means wearing a headlamp. Don’t laugh, we do this! They come and make us stop, and we love them for this. So, in honor of summer ( and food) and these very good friends, dinner plans have been made. Our first thought was to actually leave the farm to enjoy dinner over at their place on the lake. Swell idea, really. But then we got to thinking……so many plants are in bloom. So many amazing spring woodlanders that Kari will want to see. So, dinner here at Fernwood, along with a guided tour around the gardens. We promise not to do any weeding as we walk around!

Phlox stolonifera ‘Home Fires’ along with Double trillium

Lathyrus albo rosea

Podophyllum hexandrum

Arisaema ‘ Starburst’

Azalea Seedling by Roger Luce

Still Time!

There’s still time to sign up for this weekends hypertufa building class! We have two spots open. The class is on Saturday, May 23rd, from 1:00 -3:00 pm. It’s a great time to visit the nursery, to learn how to make hypertufa pots, and enjoy an afternoon of tea and scones!
Happy gardening to everyone!

Amazed

Yesterday I was planting another succession of lettuce and greens in the vegetable garden. We do this throughout the season to ensure an ongoing crop. There I was squatting down in the dirt, after having made another long furrow, and ready to carefully set each tiny seed in its place. Have you ever considered how tiny one lettuce seed is? How about carrot seeds? They’re so tiny they can be annoying. We all know that thinning carrots is a result of how tiny those seeds are, and how difficult it can be to space them far enough apart. Yes, I know you can buy the pelleted form, but I never do. Back to my lettuce planting. I looked carefully at one of the small oblong ‘Bronze Arrowhead Oakleaf’ seeds I was about to put into the ground. Wow! This one tiny seed is going to grow into one harvestable, edible , lettuce plant. This will feed us. This one plant will make a salad for someone. This one tiny seed will be covered with a bit of nutrient rich soil, patted down, watered, and will eventually crack open, sprout, and begin growing into food!!!!! I just want you all to know, I have been growing vegetables for over thirty years now (not counting my childhood farm and gardening years), and I am still in awe of a seed’s amazing and miraculous ability to germinate and grow into a plant. I love this feeling ( even after all these years) of being stunned, of being in awe, of being surprised, and also humbled, by this natural world. I love that after all of these years, as an adult woman with many, many, seasons of lettuce planting under her belt, that I can still be brought to my knees by the potential of a single seed. The power of seeds, truly amazing! Farming, being a grower of plants, may not bring you monetary richness, but it sure does offer up gratitude on a daily basis!

The Man Born to Farming

The Grower of Trees, the gardener, the man born to farming,
whose hands reach into the ground and sprout
to him the soil is a divine drug. He enters into death
yearly, and comes back rejoicing. He has seen the light lie down
in the dung heap, and rise again in the corn.
His thought passes along the row ends like a mole.
What miraculous seed has he swallowed
That the unending sentence of his love flows out of his mouth
Like a vine clinging in the sunlight, and like water
Descending in the dark?
-Wendell Berry

These Days In May

If we were to count the trips made from the nursery area to the greenhouse, from the vegetable gardens to the display beds, I think the distance we cover would be measured in miles…..many. No gym work outs for us, just the regular lifting, hauling, bending, walking, and constant moving that goes along with what we do everyday. No complaints, it all feels great. And, here are a few things in the gardens that make all this worthwhile.

Peony veitchii

Magnolia seedling

Darmera peltata

One giant task every season is labeling the plants in the nursery. This is pretty much always Rick’s job, his plant nomenclature far exceeds mine, as customers well know! Everyday new plants are potted, then labeled, and put out into the sales area.

Our friend Lucky likes to keep the plants company

And…..two more plants that we feel are worth mentioning……

Glaucidium palmatum

Podphyllum peltatum

Anemonella ‘Schoaf’s Double’

Love this time of year! Everyday a new surprise in the gardens. The spring plants that are already blooming…delightful. And do we ever tire of seeing them, have less anticipation, when a new season arrives? Never.

Anemonella thalictroides
( Fernwood seedling)

Omphaloides verna

The hellebore, the hepaticas, the anemonellas and uvularia, are all in bloom. Trilliums are everywhere. This season we are actually offering a few double trilliums for sale. Come soon if you have your heart set on one, I think we have only five left. Some of the woodland peonies are ready to burst open. Always spectacular when they do. This past weekend with the nursery opening we were able to chat with customers, both new and old, discussing gardens and plants, and yes, the long winter was also a topic of conversation. I think gardeners have been just itching to tend their beds, look for new choice plants to add to the landscape, and to just dig in the dirt!

Rhododendron ‘Candy Pink’

Paeonia veitchii

Tomatoes to be planted in the hoop house

This will be another busy week here at the nursery. The vegetable gardens are getting planted, and soon we will be harvesting the very first greens and spinach ( kale also, of course). The tomatoes will be planted in the hoop house. Up in the sales area we continue to divide and pot plants. The display beds need attention on a regular basis now, so this chore gets put into the daily mix. The sheep will move to their summer pasture by mid week. Wait til they see the lush grass that awaits them, I’m sure it’s been on their minds. The three sheep I board for Sally will go home, along with her eclectic flock of (mostly) roosters. Can you believe that no one called me about adopting Rooster Rod? Yes, that’s right, Mr. Fancy Pants is still here strutting his stuff amongst the hens. He’s a bit ridiculous. I really expect to go out there one day to find him wearing bell bottoms. Tomorrow, I will go to the bus station to collect up our WWOOFER for the season ( to find out about the wwoof program , check out this site). Cristina is coming from Italy to spend a little over two weeks with us helping out here on the farm. Italy! Imagine that! Once she arrives and settles in, we’ll introduce her to the blog. We are really looking forward to her coming.
Well, that’s where we’re at here at Fernwood these days. We hope everyone is enjoying the warm weather, the bird song, the gardens, and everything else that spring brings to us.

trillium erectum

trillium grandiflorum ‘George Young’

Hobblebush

New!

What’s happening here these days? A schedule of ‘sunup to sundown’, I would say. We are busy potting up plants, cleaning garden beds, turning soil over, and getting the first seeds into the vegetable garden. The exciting thing……we have a new sign ( custom made by our very good friend, Pia !), we are also busy building the new studio ( with the help of a few extra hands) and ( most exciting!) stocking the nursery with some great new plants. Come check it out!

Things Are Coming Along!

Corydalis solida

Here are a few things that are coming along in the gardens these days. We so enjoy working around the nursery and cleaning up the display beds, each day we are able to bear witness of any new growth or blooms. So exciting.

Rheum ‘ Red Herald’

one of the ornamental larches we have growing in the garden

Remember, the nursery opens on the 9th of May. We’ll be looking forward to visitors and talking plants! Also, there are still a few spots open for the hypertufa class at the end of this month ( May 23rd). Enjoy the warmth and sunshine everyone!