Re: [gardeners] Lurkers Come Out/Autumn Rain
Margaret Lauterbach (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Thu, 09 Oct 1997 06:40:00 -0700
At 10:36 PM 10/8/97 -0400, you wrote:
>It will come as no surprise to those who know me that today's yarn was
>autumn reds, gold and wine. I wanted to be outside but this is our season,
>so I dye autumn colors based on what I see outside my window instead of
>gardening. We sell our yarns wholesale nationally and are really fortunate
>to be able to work out of our home, enabling us to frequently garden during
>the day and work at night. It's often hard to determine whether the garden
>has been influencing my work or vice versa, but it is a very colorful and
>satisfying life.
>
>We have ten acres in a very rural part of west central New York State,
>between the two longest Finger Lakes, 17 miles from Ithaca and Cornell
>University. Much of what I have growing in the 175 ft ellipse and smaller
>sun and shade beds came from cuttings and seeds expropriated from Cornell's
>many gardens, and from members of the Gardens List - some of whom are here,
>too. Believe me, the garden would be nowhere near as extensive as it is if
>I had to purchase everything. I never leave home without my seed envelopes
>and pocket knife.
>
>Last year we joined the American Iris Society and have managed to get
>really involved, attending many meetings, sales and shows, since we are
>located between several widespread(72-150 miles away) local groups. Our
>iris collection now numbers over 200 named varieties and more than 600
>clumps, including 47 reblooming irises, which we hope to offer for sale one
>day. A few of our 21 raised vegetable beds have been given over to irises
>already - tall bearded, siberians, dwarfs and the rebloomers - and we hope
>to add more unusual ones every year. We even have 5 Louisianas thanks to
>list members. Our Amish neighbors have offerred us a 3/10 of a mile strip
>along the road across from our house where we can really go nuts planting
>irises.
>
>We, too, are having an incredible Autumn. A little rain followed by
>temperatures in the high 70's, low 80's, gorgeous blues skies and
>magnificent foliage. Can't beat it. (Sorry we can't share the autumn leaves
>with you deprived southern folk, George, but since you can boast red
>peppers growing on trees, you hardly need the leaves to change.) :-)
>
>BTW, has anyone grown buddleia from seed successfully? If so, I'd
>appreciate details. TIA.
>
>
>Cheryl Schaefer, Schaefer Yarns
>Beautiful hand painted fibers
>schaefer@epix.net
>Zone 5 in the fabulous Finger Lakes of NY
>
I can come close, but not exactly buddleia, Cheryl. I have a 4 foot tall
vitex shrub, which attracts butterflies, and was started from seeds
purchased from Richter's. I just looked in their catalog and was surprised
to see they say it's a tender perennial, good to zone 6. I think it's
hardier than that, since at best I'm in zone 5, and on average of every ten
years it drops to zone 4. The shrub has died back at times, back to the
ground in my friend's garden, but it came back from the roots. Nice little
shrub, but the leaves look like...Cannabis . Best, Margaret