With Hopeful Intention

Helleborus thibetanus

We are here tucked in and staying isolated, no great feat for two very happy homebodies. Truth be told, we have not left the nursery or had anyone on the property for a full three weeks! Of course, much of this has to do with the dreaded virus and wanting to stay healthy and keep others healthy. If the nursery itself is isolated from visitors for an extended period of time, then we can be certain that we are a comfortable and reassuring place to visit come May. We are anticipating a May opening ( and will announce our ‘opening day’ here on the blog and our phone message (207) 589-4726, as we always do… and Instagram!), and if following guidelines, we are considered an essential business. We will do all that we can to bring comfort to visitors coming to Fernwood Nursery to buy plants. By the first week of May, with the effort of all people doing their best to stay distanced and healthy, we will open our gate and sell plants. Perhaps we will limit the number of people walking the aisle at one time. We will write up some careful and helpful guidelines that may also bring comfort and reassurance while shopping…gloves, keeping distance, not handling pots and placing them back into rows, bringing your own boxes for carrying plants out. These are a few thoughts and we welcome any of yours. Suggestions? Let’s hear them! If you are uncomfortable shopping while others are here, you can call ahead with a list of plants you would like to purchase and we will have them ready for you. Feel free to email us with questions and availability. The list is long and we will do our best to spend time on the phone or through email giving you our best suggestions and descriptions. Also, you can call and make an appointment for a private visit here at the nursery. Again, we will do all that we can to keep our gardening friends happy and safe. As we move closer to the month of May, we will certainly know better the circumstances around ‘getting out and about’ to shop for plants! Let’s stay posted, shall we?
The staying home here at the nursery has a silver lining. We are getting so much done! Plants are being potted up and sales ready. New exciting introductions are being nurtured and set out. The greenhouse and hoop house is filling with the tender shoots of green promise. The display gardens are surprising us with spring treasures on a daily basis… delight, delight! The mud is annoying ( did I say that?). I am creating a new display garden just for Epimediums and alpine plants. We are finishing up a new summer kitchen for classes ( so excited about this !). The wood fired bread and pizza oven is ready and has a newly built wooden structure over it. We are puttering along on the new food wagon we bought. What? New food wagon? Yes, the details are saved for another post but somehow I could not resist this little cute wagon we are calling ‘Local-Motion’. Well, we are humming along here at Fernwood Nursery and keeping our sights on promise and better days. We do hope all of you are staying safe and healthy and finding ways to keep your souls and hearts occupied with all good and helpful tasks. We look forward to seeing everyone when we are in the clear and can tend that great urge to get out and dig in our gardens. Be well and blessings to all of you!
P.S. If you need it, here is our email: fernwoodnursery@fairpoint.net

Due to feeling a little like Piglet in the episode of Winnie The Pooh where his house floats away because of the continuous rain, we will be opening for the season on Wednesday, May 8th. Our hours will still be Wednesday through Sunday, closed Mondays and Tuesdays. We are seeing lots of green shoots and swelling buds and even blooms from the ephemerals, but the ground is so squishy, saturated from the rain! I dare not complain, however, who knows what the upcoming season may bring in the way of drought. Here in the northeast, as many of you know, July and August have been terribly dry over the last three years. I am thankful that the groundwater is being amply replenished at the moment!
So, outdoors I go to fill the sales area with horticultural goodies and to continue potting up plants from the stock area. Even though our wardrobe staple consists of rain pants and rubber boots, we are so excited for the new growing season! Spring! We’ll welcome her every way we can!
Here are a few plants waiting for their spot in the nursery and a few that are already blooming in the gardens…

Trillium grandiflorum flora plena

Salix boydii

Saxifraga cotyledon

Cardamine glandulosa

Eranthis hyemalis

Helleborous thibetanus

Please Excuse The Rush

Do you ever look at your blog posts or lack of and panic? I do. I calculate the time between posts and think “oh my, I’m letting you all down”. I’ve lost touch. Nothing to say. No time to write. Here I go, rushing out the door again! Then, all of a sudden, I come to my senses and realize who I’m dealing with. Friendly people. Gardeners. Farmers. Storytellers. Crafters. Writers. What am I worried about? Silly me. It does make sense that during this last push to have the nursery ready for opening day ( May 3rd!!), I’d more likely be out in the greenhouse potting plants or tidying the nursery rows after a fierce winter than be sitting at the computer crafting words. You understand, don’t you?
Well, how about a sincere howdy to you all and a quick photo of a plant we propagate at the nursery and one that shares a fickle nature with our Maine springtime. It’s in bloom now, a slow-growing fella, and one that is persnickety in the way of propagation. Helleborus thibetanus hails from China and is unlike most other Hellebores because it holds its flowers above the foliage and face outward, once they are fully developed. It’s the earliest to bloom here at Fernwood (Helleborus niger being the next one to bloom). The flowers are generally bell-shaped with pointed petals, white at first then transitioning to a rosy pink to green as the flowers age. We’ve propagated this plant with relative success, though the numbers we have for sale are limited. A lovely rarity that we continue to work with.

Well, excuse me as I rush out the door once again. The sheep are awaiting breakfast, the greenhouse benches need clearing to accommodate more plants, and there are still a few rows to uncover in the nursery ( the snow just now melting!). May 3rd, our opening day, is really just around the corner, isn’t it? Oh, my! See you soon!

Early Risers

Hepatica transylvanica

The last couple of days have felt very much like spring is just around the corner. Warmer, longer days with stronger sunlight, and even a little mud are reminders of what is to come. Maybe I’m just daydreaming too much. The reality is that we could be thrown into some very cold weather at any time. This weather does get my gardening blood going, though, with visions of those plants that will be the earliest to show, emerging from the previously frozen ground. Soon we’ll be checking daily to see which one it will be. Depending on the location in the gardens and the amount of snow cover, we have had springs/winters where the first plants are up the beginning of March. Though welcome, it is not always a good situation for the plants if a real cold snap follows and hopefully, that won’t happen this year. Unfortunately, many of our customers do not come to the nursery early enough to see the real early risers and spring ephemerals.
In developing a list of talks and presentations in our new studio, we thought it would be informative and fun to have one on the earliest of plants that grow and bloom in our gardens. It is a great time of the year for plants other than the traditional spring bulbs. So watch for this and other talks we are planning to have this year. The winter will eventually end and another gardening season begins.

Helleborus thibetanus

FERNWOOD NURSERY’S OPENING DAY : MAY 9TH!

Hepatica transsilvanica

We will be opening for the season here at Fernwood Nursery on Saturday, May 9th. Come see us! After a long winter, we are happy to see some of our favorite woodland plants blooming in the gardens. Just what we’ve been waiting for!

Hepatica nobilis

Helleborus thibetanus