In the Field. Fall Digging for Spring Shipping. Double Impact Viburnum. A Newsletter from Waverly Farm. Fall 2015

Transcription

1 In the Field A Newsletter from Waverly Farm Fall Digging for Spring Shipping Double Impact Viburnum Fall 2015

2 Contact Info: Waverly Farm 1931 Greenfield Road Adamstown, Maryland Office (301) Fax (301) Jessica Ahrweiler - Sales & Marketing Jessica@waverlyfarm.com Lisa DeRamus - Sales & Accounting Lisa@waverlyfarm.com Time does fly when one is having fun. In September, 1989 I made my annual journey to Oregon to visit with Paul Bizon and other friends for fishing and hunting. For years I had thought about getting back to my roots farming. While walking with Paul in his nursery I blurted out, I will start planting nursery stock next spring!. I didn t have land or liners. I found land, Paul and Phin Tuthill helped me secure liners. It was started. The first nursery site was not big enough and I bought what is now Waverly Farm in Working the soil, planting, building an irrigation system, buying equipment, new buildings, constantly experimenting with growing systems and equipment, propagation, finding great people, finding the very best customers; building a new career was exciting and very satisfying. After all these years I can honestly say I can t wait to arrive at the farm everyday, more than ready to have fun. Great staff, great customers, great vendors. Wonderful and sharing industry colleagues! Thanks to all for helping me to have way more fun than many will ever experience in their work. -Jerry Pruning tips: By Jerry Faulring We are often asked, when is the best time to prune? about any number of different plants. Hollies. Although it is safe to prune them in the fall after two hard frosts, we don t do so because we can t know how severe the winter will be, which could cause some damage to plants that respire all winter. We have two seasons for holly pruning: spring before the flush and summer after the flush hardens off, but not after August 1 in our climate. Late summer pruning will stimulate new growth that often is injured in the fall. Boxwood. The rules have changed with the arrival of boxwood blight. The real answer is when not to prune, which would coincide with hot, humid weather that for us can be anytime between early June through the end of September. Pruning is wounding, which allows disease organisms an entry point. Therefore, when we have the least amount of time we prune them in late March only. Flowering Shrubs. There doesn t seem to be a forbidden time except for those plants that bloom on new wood. The list is long, so one must be familiar with the plants. It is not that hard to figure out. If after the spring flush you see flower buds forming don t prune them off or you will loose next year s flowers. In most cases, prune these plants immediately after they bloom, allowing new buds to form on the new growth. Conifers. Spruce can be pruned anytime of the year. Pines must be pruned before new candles are fully developed or just as new needles are developing. We have a pine pruning day every spring when we just do them all at once. Indeterminate conifers such as Cryptomeria, Thuja, and Chamaecyparis should be treated like hollies. 2

3 Double-, Triple-, Quadruple- Impact With fragrant and abundant spring flowers, a summer-long display of berries, and a vast array of fall colors Viburnum have the best of all worlds- or shall we say, the best of all seasons. By Jessica Ahrweiler In spring I hear gardeners and landscape designers asking for flowers, and many of them. In fall the talk turns to colorful foliage. I considered gathering a list of material that provides a double-impact by delivering more than one primary season of interest. To divulge, I was going to share Cornus kousa var. chinensis for its three season of impact, displaying flowers, fruit, and fall foliage. Hydrangea quercifolia and Cornus florida Cherokee Chief were among others. However, there are over 150 species of Viburnum, as well as the multitude of cultivars selected from those species. Once I started writing about Viburnum, I realized it was nearly impossible to chose just one or two to share. Viburnum as a group take the cake for multi-season displays. I m even currently encouraging my father to plant more in his garden (he has an over-abundance of Azalea). As Dirr opened in the Viburnum section of his Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, A garden without a Viburnum is akin to life without music and art. Clearly, this has evolved into a glory-article for the Viburnum genus. Diversity in flower type, habit, fruit, foliage and fall color is what creates such draw to this group of flowering shrubs. Of the plethora of cultivars available, we have about 30 in production, with the effort to provide a diverse selection of the best Viburnum. Viburnum carlesii Compactum is a dwarf, compact cv. with prolific white flowers. Highly fragrant. Viburnum carlesii is perhaps, the bestknown Viburnum for scent. One shrub in bloom can fill a small garden with outstanding fragrance. Though fragrance is its main hurrah, V. carlesii occasionally has fantastic wine-red fall foliage. Others, such as Viburnum rhytidophylloides don t smell quite as sweet, but maintain summer and winter value by providing bright red berries and leathery evergreen foliage. Viburnum rhytidophyllum and Viburnum x rhytidophylloides, are commonly used as hedges. It is not so common, however, that evergreen hedges also provide flower-power come spring. V. x rhytidophylloides foliage compared to V. rhytidophyllum leaves are not as leathery and are more oval than long. The flowers of V. ryhtidophylloides are also held in a tighter cluster, reminiscent of cauliflower, whereas V. rhytidophyllum flowers are more loose. Although both them are Viburnum rhytidophyllum Cree considered unpleasant smelling, the mere abundance of flowers gives them aesthetic credit. Bright red oval berries in summer age to black. The evergreen foliage gives them a winter interest as well. V. Eskimo is a cross between V. Cayuga and V. utile that gets absolutely loaded with flowers. So much so that you can t see the branches past the complete white blanket of snowballs. V. plicatum cultivars are another favorite. V. plicatum var. plicatum (a.k.a. V. p. Sterile ) are sterile varieties of V.p. known as the Japanese Snowball Viburnum plicatum Popcorn sterile flowers are large and showy. 3

4 Viburnum and cannot reproduce. Popcorn is one of these varieties, and has has pure white softball-sized snowballs lining its branches. The result reminds me of a sea of fluffy white clouds. Viburnum plicatum var. tomentosum is varied in size. We grow Mariesii, Shasta, and Shoshone. The outer flowers are sterile and showy, with the inner flowers being fertile and not showy. Bright red fruit follow in July, lasting through August, followed by orange and red fall foliage. Viburnum plicatum var. tomentosum has vibrant red and orange fall color. Many cultivars have showy fruit in summer, but Viburnum dilatatum Cardinal Candy can t be surpassed in sheer numbers of berries. Larges heads of glossy red berries appear in July and can last through the winter. Heavy fruit set will occur even without a pollinator. A Way of Life By Tiffany Senseman In applying at a wholesale growing operation, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I thought I would get a new 9-5, take part in the administrative aspects, and get back in touch with my green roots. I figured it would be simple working with plants as I ve gardened all my life. This couldn t be that different right? I was very wrong. Working at a place where people are so passionate about growing, transcends into every aspect of one s life. I ve become more passionate about the environment, more knowledgeable about soil and compost, more in tune with effects of our environment on the growth, and more involved in the agricultural community. Viburnum nudum Winterthur white flowers The foliage and berries of Winterthur in fall transition. My very first task at Waverly was to cut out the common name plant references, and start learning Latin. Along with those names came the properties and characteristics of each plant. From tips on pruning, when to propagate, and which ones were susceptible to which diseases, I had a lot to learn. It s been a lot to take in, but I find that I am enjoying every second of it. And the more I learn, the more there is to learn. In fall, perhaps one of my favorites is Viburnum nudum Winterthur. Though quite tasty to the deer, this Viburnum is one of the most showy. It has lacy white flowers in spring, followed by pink berries. By fall the pink transitions to blue (often with both colors on the bush at one time), ending with these bright blue berries against the autumnal backdrop of brick red foliage. In all, the diversity of Viburnum leaves us with many choices. Whichever way you go, feel confident these shrubs will be providing double-, triple, or even quadru- I am very fortunate in that everyone has been so willing to help. Each and every person I ve encountered has been so happy to offer tips, to help others grow, to mentor and to teach. The people involved seem so passionate, involved and willing to go the extra mile. The growing business is not its own entity, but again a way of life. One that I am very happy to be a part of. Tiffany joined Waverly Farm on August 1st,

5 Fall Digging for Spring Shipping A Customer Service By Jerry Faulring It has long been a tradition of field production growers to dig material ordered for spring in the fall. The root balls are healed in with an appropriate material and held until it s time to ship them the next spring. This strategy has been implemented for a variety of reasons. Probably most importantly, it facilitates harvest during ideal conditions in the fall, avoiding harsh conditions we increasingly experience in the spring. Soils are generally moist and fields are firm. Fall is also a period of limited need for field maintenance and therefore keeps staff very productive while continuing to dig for current orders. Shutting down operations too early can reduce costs but works against ideal customer relations for their fall needs. There are negative aspects for fall digging in advance. There are additional labor costs that might better be deferred to the next year. Additional costs include baskets, burlap, sisal, fuel and material for healing in the root balls. During profitable years, these costs will help defer taxes into the future. The list of plants we feel can be safely dug in the fall has limitations for our plant list. Although I do not have any idea when a fall digging hazard plant is no longer a fall hazard, we do not dig anything considered a fall hazard. From experience we know certain plants that are not fall hazards will not be happy if dug; for example, Hibiscus will not flush in a timely fashion the following year; don t know why. We do not dig any conifers or evergreen plants such as Ilex and Buxus. Some growers stopped fall harvest during the nearly decade long economic disaster to reduce costs, justifiably. Coupled with reduced demand for spring Preparing the yard for winter. sales this was likely an excellent cost reduction plan. However, the last three spring seasons of 2013 through 2015 proved to be very difficult spring harvest periods due to unusual weather conditions. In 2013 some growers could not access their fields because of extremely wet conditions and in 2015 harvest was delayed due to frozen soils. I am told that some growers could not finish their deciduous orders in 2013 before it was too late to dig. The shipping yard, ready to be healed in. 5

6 We have traditionally been aggressive with fall digging as a hedge against trying to make the organized chaos of spring a bit less chaotic. This past spring we had 20% of the total shipped material through May 30 dug before we started operations. I, along with our customers, see this as a value added service. Our largest customer segment is wholesale distribution facilities. Their primary concern in spring is to receive high volumes of material before their spring selling period gets under way. They have to spread out incoming material in an orderly way to accommodate staff availability that is both receiving and shipping. We heal in root balls with what is commonly referred to as whole tree chips. The chip size ranges from fine to about silver dollar size. Each year we mix new chips with old at a ratio of 1:1. After a year in our yard, the old chips compost too far and will not be suitable due to excessive water retention and burlap staining. The primary function of healing in is to prevent freeze thaw cycles for the root balls and to maintain high moisture levels; we never irrigate the plants after they are put to bed. It is rare when we see any frost in the root balls; light frost has occurred after the last two severe winters. I am not aware of any loss of vigor for these plants. The holding yard Having plants above ground ready to ship avoids less than ideal harvest conditions such as this in March, We set our start date for returning H2A VISA workers at about February 15. Although our fields drain well and rarely stop us due to saturated soils, in 2015 we could not dig until about March 1 due to frozen ground. With an abundance of fall dug material above ground our customers were very pleased to start receiving loads in late February and early March. A miserable March, 2015 did you forget? Scan for current Availability Plants lined up ball-to-ball, ready to be healed in. 6