A Grower Perspective

Several varieties of sweetly scented geraniums are available in our front greenhouse.  Come by and choose some for a porch or deck pot.  Bring them in during the winter and you’ll have them ready for next year when the time comes.  Along with their sculptured leaves and delicate flowers they are useful in cooking and in sachets or luxurious baths.

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Nursery discovery for today: a sweet little bird's nest, tucked in among the plants. Can you help us identify the birds it belongs to?

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Back in the day, as they say, when I was a kid, long ago but not that long ago, a typical homeowner was daring to even grow a tomato around here let alone get ripe fruit. A cherry tomato was a more reasonable way to go. My dad used to yank the whole plant out of the ground and hang it upside down in the garage so the cherry tomatoes would ripen after the first frost came. It feels like the weather of the late fifties and sixties again.It would be warm in late May and as soon as school let out it began to rain. So here we are again. For the first time in 28 years lilacs were blooming as late as May 21st. How do I know that? It is our wedding anniversary and I had a huge vase of them on our table this year. In 1983 there was not a blooming lilac to be found, they had all bloomed earlier.

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Sun rose, as its name implies, likes sunny warm sites with well drained soil. It grows six to eight inches high and about three feet wide. The flowers come in many vivid colors, and although the blooms only last one day, new buds continue to open from late spring to midsummer and will re-bloom if sheared back after the first flowering. Plant in containers to flow over the edge, among rocks to tumble over, and in the front of borders to add bright and friendly color. Our favorite combination is 'Henfield Brilliant' sunrose with 'Otto Quast' lavender, spring in full glory!

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Do you want a late spring flowering tree to grace your garden? The ‘Shirofugen’ cherry has a good tree form, flat-topped and a wide-spreading crown (25’x25’). The leaves are a coppery red when new, dark green in summer and an orange red color in the fall. And the flowers, did I mention the flowers? The flowers are multi-petaled (20-30 petals per bloom) pink in bud, white when open and fade in time to a lovely pink. The fragrant blooms are borne in loose, hanging clusters, often enjoyed by looking up from under the tree. This graceful tree is used as a specimen tree or in a group. It is particularly suited to small gardens and is recommended as a street tree. This tree with year round beauty commands admiration.

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