November Hill farm journal, 96

The dogwoods are now leafing out on November Hill, along with all the big trees, so we’re close to being embraced in our spring/summer privacy screen of lush foliage. I love how the trees muffle the sounds, too, though once the cicadas start up later on, it’s like we’re in a white noise machine.

I’m keeping up with the basic chores these days, and getting a few extra things done a day. We’re on day 3 of 80+ degrees with a cooling period coming tomorrow, so I’ve put off major garden bed weeding for cooler temps.

In the potager, we got the cucumber teepee set up and planted. And the lettuces have been devoured by bunnies! I have some chicken wire, so I have to get out there with it and try to make a cover for that bed, but also wondering if I should just put it on the fence all the way around. Not sure how I would do the gate though. They aren’t messing with anything except the lettuce, and interestingly, not until the third night after planting, when ONE leaf was eaten. The next night though - wham - they ate every lettuce leaf down to the ground.

We love the brown bunnies and I in fact named this garden space Brown Bunny’s Potager. Either a mistake or accurate, depending how you look at it!

I know many readers here have gardens - any tips on bunny control?

Because we are signed up for a weekly large CSA share that starts next week and goes through mid-June, I’m not too worried about how much produce we get from this between now and then. My main goal was to get the beds in place with something in them to see how this space does for vegetables and get a test run going.

I’ll also be planting some herbs and native flowering plants in here (to start, coreopsis, coneflower, aster, and mountain mint), and have an idea to put in a muscadine vine on a proper trellis along the back fence of the space. I already have two hazelnut trees in the two back corners, and a space dedicated to a 2-bay compost bin. We’re also strongly considering putting bee hive #3 in the center of the potager, as Tom Seeley’s recommendations on keeping bees say to space them out rather than together in one spot.

What I really want is for this space to be a little oasis on this side of the farm, and to offer some buffer along the side of the property line shared with neighbors. I love the idea of working in this garden with horses on three sides. We’ll get there this year, I think, if I can figure out how to keep the plants mostly safe from being nibbled down.

As you can see, I already have a garden assistant ready and waiting! Thanks, Redford donkey!!

What’s Coming Up In The Garden, 20: fireworks goldenrod

I picked this plant up at the farmers’ market on pollinator plant day two years ago, and it is a delightful addition to the garden bed. In hindsight, I wish I’d only planted this and not the very tall upright goldenrod I have in the lower bed, as moving it is defying me right now. I remembered this morning that I can also cut it back and not let it get so tall, and that’s likely what I’ll have to do with at least some of the plants.

But back to the fireworks goldenrod - it has a beautiful shape that is so pleasing to the eye - reminds me of unpruned forsythia in the way it wisps and curls. It’s very controlled and pollinators love it.

Here it is now:

You can see from the overwintered stalks how it grows. I need to finish clearing them.

You can also see if you look back to the fence, to the right, where I’ve cleared weeds and started transplanting some of the tall goldenrod. They’ll do well against the fence if only I can get them moved. Too many things to do, too few hours in the day!

More info (from one of our local native plant nurseries you can go to HERE ):

Home › Fireworks Goldenrod

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Fireworks Goldenrod

Solidago rugosa 'Fireworks'

Regular price$11.00

Container size:
4.5 in. wide x 5 in. deep / 32 fl. oz.

                                                   Default Title - $11.00 USD                                             

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• Plant Info
 
• Shipping Costs and FAQ

Fireworks Goldenrod is a well-behaved goldenrod that’s sure to allure pollinators into your garden when its starry golden flowers explode into bloom in early fall.

• Top-rated pollinator plant
• Easy to grow
• Covers ground and suppresses weeds

Details

• 3 to 4 ft. tall in flower
• Spreads to 3 to 4 ft. wide in 3 to 4 years
• The dark green foliage remains evergreen over the winter months
• Hardy in USDA hardiness zones 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9

Flowering period

It starts blooming in September and continues for three to four weeks.

How to grow

Best grown in full sun, but will still flower and look good with morning shade and afternoon sun. It can grow in just about any well-drained soil.

Care and maintenance

Old flowering stems can be cut to the ground level anytime during the winter. Plants will spread outward over time and can easily be dug up to replant elsewhere or share with friends.

Where to plant

In the middle of flower beds, where it will look attractive throughout the growing season and peak when it flowers in late summer.

When to plant

Spring and the fall are the best times, but Fireworks Goldenrod can be planted in the summer if attention is paid to keeping plants watered until they get established.

Spacing

2 to 3 feet apart when planting in a group.

When will my plant flower?

Plants purchased and planted before June will bloom their first year if planted in a well-prepared site and kept watered.

Native habitat and range

Old fields, at the edge of woodlands. Native throughout most of the eastern United States.

Source and origin

The original plant was rescued near Wilson, North Carolina by staff from NC Botanical Garden in the 1970s. It is now grown and appreciated around the world.

What’s Coming Up In The Garden, 19: bloom update

I wanted to show the blooms on a few of the plants I’ve featured so far. They’re really lovely!

 Yellow pitcher plant is stunning!

 A close up of the May apple blossom.

The columbine is like shooting stars.

May apple larger view.

The golden Alexanders are easily doubled in size from their feature post and blooming like mad.

My mulch should be delivered soon and I can clean up the beds, but things are going wild right now. Debbie Roos, our native pollinator garden guru at the county extension office, advised in the classes I’ve taken to try and plant things that will bloom in all three of our main growing seasons here in central NC.

I tried hard to make sure I did this when selecting the plants for these two beds, and while my judgment about size/height of plant and spacing wasn’t always on the mark (hence my need to move many tall goldenrod), I did nail the constant bloom thing.

Once the early spring bloom begins in these beds it is nonstop until at least November, and even on into winter there are many seed pods for birds to forage.

Debbie taught a garden design class last year that I took well after I’d planted these first two beds, and I learned a lot about how to go about designing the aspects of the garden I’d not quite nailed the first time around.

She gave us large sheets of white paper and had about a hundred different colors of post-it notes, and after viewing slides of many, many native NC pollinator plants, we did a quick garden design on our paper. I have mine saved to do the next big native plant bed, which will be across the walkway from the front bed you can see above. It’s a huge space, and Debbie suggested starting in one section and planting out from there. I’ll probably start it this fall, since my experience has been that everything I plant in the fall season does super well with much less attention.

A project to look forward to!

No Use Crying Over Spilt Milk(paint)

Yesterday I walked down to Arcadia with a large yogurt container of just-mixed fuchsia milk paint, excited to be painting Artemis hive, which is of course empty and awaiting its nuc which is coming mid-late May.

I’d tung-oiled it two days before, and while that was satisfying, not nearly as much fun as putting color on, so I was excited to get started.

Echo hive is doing very well, and the girls were busy foraging when I got to the apiary. I set up my painting stuff and got to work. I realized I’d made the paint a bit too watery, but milk paint is so forgiving it’s not a big deal. If I’d been closer to the house, where the powder was, I might have added some more to thicken the paint a bit, but since I had plenty of paint and could do several coats, I opted to forge on.

I got one side painted when somehow the yogurt container slid from my hand and bright pink milk paint flew everywhere. ACKKKKK!

After a few moments of total frustration, I realized that because we’d put cardboard down to smother some weeds around the hive, the paint was pooling and not totally lost. Instead of cursing, I just continued to paint, dipping the brush in the pink pool and applying it as I would if it were still in my container.

I really didn’t think I’d be able to complete the entire exterior of the hive boxes (you don’t paint the insides) but guess what - somehow there was enough to do it, and even enough to add a second coat to most of the areas that needed one.

After not crying over spilt milk paint, this is what I have:

You can see the paint splattered on the bottom box legs, which initially I fretted over, but decided to let go. I also made a mistake and painted the handles which I’d meant to leave natural, but oh well. Thankfully milk paint is nontoxic and water based and the rain will wash away the paint on the ground with no ill effect and a bit of time. I’ll do a second coat today and build the color up, but even as is, I love it. Note the chicken feeders we use for providing water to the bees. We filled the bottom with stones so they can perch and drink without drowning. We have two of these and refill them as needed with no trouble at all. I noticed birds using them yesterday too!

Here’s a shot looking back toward Echo hive. I chose these colors because I love them separately but even more together. I also have a sapphire blue that will go on the third hive. 

After using up all the paint I could sop up from the ground, I took my cherry soda and went to my chair in Poplar Folly. The view:

Paint on boots.  And sky.

What’s Coming Up In The Garden, 18: Virginia sweetspire

I needed something for the corner of Poplar Folly that could grow tall enough to be a screen, has pretty flowers, is native and a pollinator, and if possible offered some color. Virginia sweetspire hit the spot. The long willowy flowers are pretty and loved by bees, it can grow to 8 feet, and in the fall its leaves turn a deep burgundy red. Perfect!

Ours are young still, but have at least doubled in size since planted, and we’ve enjoyed the flowers and the fall color already. They’re doing well in the spot we put them.

There are two in this corner and my hope is that as they grow they’ll fill it in. 

More info:

Wasowski, Sally and Andy 

Itea virginica

Itea virginica L.

Virginia Sweetspire, Tassel-white, Virginia Willow

Saxifragaceae (Saxifrage Family)

Synonym(s): 

USDA Symbol: ITVI

USDA Native Status: L48 (N)

Virginia sweetspire is a mound-shaped, slender-branched, deciduous shrub to 8 ft. Small, white flowers bloom in 4 in. spires that droop with the arching branches. Flowers open from base to tip so that the plant appears to bloom for a long time. Leaves turn red to purple in fall and persist well into the winter. This plant is semi-evergreen in the southern part of its range. 

The long tassels of white flowers and red fall foliage make this an attractive ornamental. Most effective in massed plantings, as single plants tend to be scraggly.