Impatiens Update





Many varieties of begonias will be substituted for impatiens in gardens throughout our region

The New York Times joined The Baltimore Sun and other major newspapers by running a column
devoted to Impatiens Downey Mildew. In the article, our own Ruth Engel is quoted, talking about our best selling shade plant. The article goes on to offer alternatives for impatiens. Click on the link below to read the article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/garden/a-mold-devastates-impatiens.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

As we ready ourselves for our busiest month of plant sales, our staff is putting together displays, handouts and signs to help gardeners make good, sound choices for shady plants. And, I readily admit that is has been fun to look at all the different annuals, perennials, tropicals and houseplants that have stepped up to the limelight. We are going to see some awesome gardens and container plantings this spring!

Made for the Shade---Alternatives for Impatiens

Impatiens has been the go-to plant for many of our shade gardens for years.

 So, it is with regret that we announce that Valley View Farms will not grow or sell Impatiens walleriana in 2013. The impatiens in the United States have been affected with a disease called Downey Mildew. While impatiens has been our number one seller in our plant department for years, we are not comfortable selling a plant that had severe problems in our customers' gardens last year. We will be offering alternatives and plenty of advice on what to plant in shade. We urge you to trust us and take some time from planting what we call 'regular' impatiens, until we are once again sure that the plant is free of disease.
We are sure that there are questions. We will answer some that have been asked already this season.

My impatiens did have issues last year. How do I know that it was Downey Mildew?

Here are some before and after photos of impatiens in beds affected by the disease.

 

 

 

 It really took off when we had some cool, wet nights in late spring and early summer. Areas impacted the hardest were in deep shade, planted densely in low spots. We visited some of our customers' gardens in midsummer to view their gardens. One of them had been planted with 300 plants, only to have them die  in mid-summer.

Impatiens planted in containers seemed to hold out a little longer but most had succombed to the disease eventually.

Is there a way to prevent Downey Mildew from infectng plants? I hate to give up on impatiens.

Not really. There is a spray available to growers that will prevent the disease for a few weeks. The chemical is not available to consumers, so any additional prevention is tough.

I have noticed that many shopping centers, malls and other corporate accounts use impatiens. Will they have to switch to alternative plants as well?

Yes. We've spoken to some of the large landscape companies. They will be planting alternate crops like begonias, caladiums and New Guinea impatiens in 2013.

Okay, so what else will work in my garden?

There are scores of alternative plants. In a way, having this challenge will get many gardeners to experiment with some new things. As one of our friends with Ball Seed, the largest horticultural company in the world, said, "Let's add some drama to the shade garden." The sky's the limit on other plants to consider for shade.
Our greenhouse staff visits regional trial gardens to view and evaluate plants that would do well in gardens in our area. Pictured below are pots of New Guinea Impatiens growing in shade. They were beautiful!

And, here are some other plants that will do well in part-shade to shady areas.

Begonia Baby Wing
Begonia Dragon Wing

Wax leaf Begonias
Bonfire Begonias

Begonia heimalis ---VVF grows over 10 colors!

Browallia

Caladium---7 varieties grown by VVF, bulbs offered through our garden shop

Coleus Wizard Series

Coleus Sunloving (They like shade too!)

Dichondra Silver Falls

Hypoestes

Lobelia

Lysimachia

New Guinea Impatiens

Sunpatiens
Fanfare Impatiens
Perilla

Torenia

Lots of other annuals will do well with 4 or more hours of sun. Allow our staff to show you the many choices available for your gardens and potted plants.

And, our perennial sales area is also a great place to find plenty of foliage and color for shade. Take a look at hostas, ferns,

 heucheras, hellebores, dicentra, brunnera, mertensias, astilbes and an entire aisle dedicated to shade perennials.

Tropical plants can add real drama to the garden as well. Look for shade-grown hibiscus, mandevilla, peace lilies, palm trees, ferns, crotons, and a all sorts of other plants to add to containers and garden beds.

We know that impatiens have been our go-to shade plant for years. We also know that, as a company, you've come to trust us. We are united with you to find alternatives to impatiens for shady gardens. We hope to see impatiens back in a few years, but we think that taking some time off from our favorite annual might be the best way to fight Impatiens Downey Mildew.

Maybe, in a few years, our grower, John, will be growing impatiens again for Valley View Farms and our gardening customers.

March Gardening To Do List

The unpredictable weather in March reminds us that Spring is coming. Now is the time to get a head start on our spring garden preparations. Here are some projects to begin, in no particular order.

• Bring in your soil for a free pH test. Our garden shop will test your soil free of charge to help determine if the soil needs to be adjusted to allow more nutrients to be available to plants.
• Be careful of not to work in wet soil. Compacted soil does not allow air to reach the root zone of the plants.
• Early spring is a great time to reseed and over seed the lawn. Choose a good mixture including turf-type tall fescues for good results. We carry a full line of Jonathan Green grass seed and lawn fertilizers.
• Control winter weeds like chickweed, nettle and henbit with an herbicide labeled for use in the lawn and garden. Wait until temperatures warm a bit for the best control.
• As air temperatures start to warm up and perennials start to emerge from dormancy, pull back protective mulches, including leaves, to allow plants to grow.
• Plant onion sets, pea seeds, and asparagus and horseradish roots in March.
• March is a good time to plant fruit trees, berries and grapes as soon as the soil is workable.
• Get tools cleaned up and ready for work. Sharpen pruners, loppers and lawn mower blades.
• Invest in a good thermometer and rain gauge. Keep a journal of weather and gardening events.
• Start feeding houseplants lightly. Our greenhouse staff, a bunch of plant geeks, love Monty's Joy Juice.
• Cut back butterfly bushes and ornamental grasses now.
• Pickup one of our Vegetable Gardening Guides. This free handout provides planting dates, fertilization recommendations, and gardening tips for a slew of vegetable transplants.
• Choose flower and vegetable seeds early for the best selection. Take a look at our wide assortment of wildflower seeds as well. Now is also a good time to get transplants started indoors.
• Clean leaves out of the pond and restart the pump. 
•  Pull marginal plants in the pond back up to their spring shelves along the water gardens edge.
• Clean statuary and fountains.
• Attend some gardening seminars. See our upcoming events for a current list of lawn, vegetable and ornamental gardening classes.

Enjoy this time of year. Do some planning, some dreaming and get ready to get a good start in the garden with the help of the aforementioned tips. For more timely tips, visit The Maryland Home and Garden Information Center website.

Fruits and Berries are Here!

Last Thursday, we recieved our first tree delivery of the new year.

 Our nursery personnel unloaded all sorts of fruit trees and berry bushes. Blueberries, figs, grapes, blackberries, raspberries, Chinese chestnuts, peaches, pears, apricots, persimmons, paw paws, apples, plums, nectarines and some fruits that don't come to mind have been unloaded, signed and organized in our nursery. I spoke to two of the guys that work in that department, and they seemed pretty excited about the delivery.

Scott Carbone mentioned the new Saturn Donut Dwarf Peach. I've seen these at the fresh markets, but haven't tried any yet. According to information from Hollybrook Orchards, one of our growers, and Mother Earth News, they have a very sweet white flesh, aren't too fuzzy, and pit removal is easy. They are prolific bloomers and set about twice the fruit as an average peach tree. Sounds like a wonderful addition to the home orchard.

Jack Quinn mentioned the hardy figs. Most of us know the variety Brown Turkey, but we're becoming familiar with Celeste, Italian Everbearing and Peter's Honey Fig.  All of them may need some protection from winter wind and cold. The extra effort is worth the promise of a good harvest of delectable fruits.

Last year saw the introduction of a new blueberry called Pink Lemonade. The bush blooms pink in the spring, bears firm, pink berries in the summer and has attractive orange-red foliage in the fall. I hear this plant is as ornamental as the fruit is delicious.

Most of the trees we recieved this week are dwarf or semi-dwarf, making them ideal for the average yard. Many can also be cultivated in pots. All are tagged and signed to make selecting the perfect fruit tree or berry plant easy.

All in the Family

Valley View Farms is a locally owned family business. Father/son business partners Bill and Andy Foard own and operate our garden center, now in our 51st year. Family ties are strong here. Scores of couples have met and married after working together in the store. Brothers, sisters, moms, dads, aunts, uncles, cousins, neices, nephews and other family members have worked side by side for 2-3 generations. While looking through our personnel listing recently, I noticed several instances of moms or dads working with sons or daughters. Here are  some of them.

Bill and Andy Foard

Billy and Andy run the business together. Both are keen with numbers. Andy has a special knack for display and leads most of the construction projects at the store and our farm greenhouses.

Timothy and Dad, Tim McQuaid
 

Tim McQuaid is Valley View's store manager. He also runs our water garden department. Son Timothy is a customer helper, performing an assortment of duties to aid our guests at the store.

Tom Piampi works as a postman full-time and in our garden shop on evenings and weekends. Tom's wife, Sharon, is a receptionist in our office. Son Nick has worked in both our water garden and nursery departments.

Dotty Zajac specializes in vegetable gardening in the spring, moving to the Christmas shop in the fall to keep things organized there. Daughter Suzanne Barton works with plants most of the year. Both help our garden shop with pricing and set-up in the winter.

Bonnie and Ryan Smith

Bonnie Smith works in our office, keeping tabs on purchase orders in our system. She helps out in other areas when business warrants it. Son Ryan aids in pond installation and cleaning for our water garden department.

Michael Glants in our long time mechanic. If it breaks, he fixes it. Daughter Michele is a cashier, working in other areeas as needed.

John James works part-time in our garden shop, helping customers with any questions they may have about their gardens. Son Ethan works in our water garden department, assisting folks with ponds and fountains.

Mary Beth works in several departments, including the Christmas and garden shops. Daughter Laura works with customers as a cashier and a customer helper.

Joy, Valerie, Colleen and Grace Harlan

Valerie Harlan met and married her husband, Jim while working at Valley View Farms. Jim has moved on; all 5 of the Harlan kids have worked here. Currently, Valerie works in the Christmas Shop with her daughter, Colleen. Both do an outstanding job decorating Christmas trees. Daughters Joy and Grace work as cashiers and receptionists.

Penguin to Visit Valley View Farms---COOL!

On December 8th, we will be visited by some folks from The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore and this blogger's favorite wild animal ---an African Penguin!

Wanting to learn more about this Animal Ambassador from The Zoo, I looked him up on the zoo website. Here are a couple of pages from their website.

African Penguin

Spheniscus demersus

RANGE:islands and coast of southwest Africa
STATUS:Endangered
HABITAT:marine
DIET: CARNIVOREfish, cephalopods, crustaceans
ACTIVE:diurnal
LIFESPAN:Up to 30 years in captivity
OFFSPRING:2 eggs per clutch
WEIGHT:6-9 pounds (3-4 kilograms)

The African penguin, or black-footed penguin, is also nicknamed the “jackass penguin” because its mating call sounds like a braying donkey.

“Where I live”

This species of penguin lives along the rocky coastline of southwest Africa, in the countries of South Africa and Namibia. It is found nowhere else in the world. Its range is restricted to a relatively small area where water temperature doesn’t fluctuate much.

Like all penguin species, the African penguin lives in the Southern Hemisphere. It also lives in a temperate climate, as do most species of penguin. Only a few species live as far south as Antarctica in an extremely cold climate.
At The Maryland Zoo, African penguins can be seen at Rock Island in the African Journey exhibit. This species is also featured in the Zoo’s Animal Embassy collection as an Animal Ambassador.

“How I live there”

African penguins live in large colonies. They spend their days at sea feeding and their nights gathered together on shore. Like all penguins, African penguins are much more agile in water than on land. They are excellent swimmers with perfectly streamlined bodies. They can swim up to 12 mph.

They feed on small fish such as sardines and anchovies, as well as small crustaceans and squid. Each penguin eats about one pound of fish per day. They absorb water as well as nutrients from their diet, but also are adapted to drink salt water. All penguins have highly developed glands over their eyes that filter salts out of sea water.

“Making my mark”

Because penguins gather in such great numbers, the presence of any penguin colony is hard to miss. One colony of African penguins in particular, established at Boulders Beach near Cape Town, South Africa, has become something of a tourist attraction. People go there for the beach, the swimming, and to see the penguins.

“What eats me”

Sharks, Cape fur seals, and occasionally killer whales prey on African penguins. Mainland colonies also have to watch out for leopards, mongoose, genet, and domestic cats and dogs. Kelp gulls steal penguin eggs and newborn chicks. Despite protections in place for this species, people continue to collect African penguin eggs, although not to the extent that they once did. Penguin eggs have traditionally been considered a delicacy to eat, and for a very long time people also collected eggs for public and private egg collections. In the past, the birds were also food for sailors.

Raising Young

African penguins form monogamous pairs that stay together for about a decade, or for life, whichever comes first. Females construct nests out of guano (yes, bird poop!) because their rocky habitat offers little else in the way of nesting material. Each female lays two eggs per clutch, on average. Both male and female take turns incubating the eggs. Incubation lasts 38 to 42 days. Both parents also participate in caring for the chicks once they hatch.
Chicks are able to regulate their own body temperatures at 14 to 21 days. They then begin to form groups of chicks, or crèches, that are guarded by adults. Cooperative care allows individual sets of parents to go out to sea to feed. Both parents also feed the chicks at this time. Chicks fledge anywhere from 60 to 130 days.
Adult birds employ a few different strategies for keeping cool while stuck on shore molting, incubating eggs, or guarding newborn chicks. They stay in the shade as much as possible or stand with their white stomachs toward the sun in order to minimize heat absorption through their feathers and skin. They also cool off by opening their mouths and spreading their flippers (vestigial wings). Also, the hotter an African penguin gets, the more blood circulates to the pink glands above its eyes where air cools it.

Conservation

The African penguin is an endangered species whose population has declined by 90% since the turn of the 20th century. The current wild population is estimated at about 52,000 birds. Human interference of one sort or another has always posed the greatest threat to African penguins. Collecting eggs for sale and collecting guano for fertilizer (thus destroying nesting sites) nearly drove this species to extinction in the 20th century. Today, although better protected as a species, African penguins still must compete with commercial fishermen for access to fish.
They also remain vulnerable to pollution of their ocean habitat, particularly oil spills from big tankers. An enormous oil spill off the coast of South Africa in June 2000 impacted 19,000 adult African penguins at the height of their breeding season. Volunteers from The Maryland Zoo traveled to South Africa to help with the rescue and rehabilitation effort initiated by the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds. To date, this remains the largest animal rescue and recovery operation in history, with 91% of the affected birds rehabilitated and released successfully.
The Maryland Zoo maintains the largest colony of African penguins in North America and breeds the species at the recommendation of the AZA Species Survival Plan for African penguins. Since 1967, more than 1,000 African penguins have hatched at the Zoo.

Resources

Spring 2006 Zoogram, “News from the Zoo” spread, p. 4.
“Penguins: Caught on tape,” special to The Baltimore Examiner, 2/26/2007, p. 30.
Spring 2007 Zoogram, “News from the Zoo” spread, p. 4.
“Chick Season!” Zoogram, winter 2008, p. 5.

We'll have our cameras and promise to share some photos on our facebook page. But, wouldn't it be cool to meet one of these cuties up close and personal? See you on December 8th.

Saving Seed

Fall has finally arrived, bringing with it shorter days and cooler temperatures. Parts of the garden have gotten a light frost, but the plants are hanging on as long as possible.

Various native seeds

 Now is a great time to get into the garden and collect seeds for next year. Heirloom and open-pollinated vegetable seeds can be harvested. In my own garden, the Black Cherry, Mortgage Lifter, and Yellow Pear tomatoes are all good candidates for seed saving. The Jupiter peppers and some of the peas are good to harvest now as well.

In the perennial garden, many of the daisy-shaped flowers, like cone-flowers and black-eyed Susans have gone to seed. I’ll harvest some, but leave plenty of seed heads for the birds. They will do some direct-sowing for me.  In the annual garden, zinnias, marigolds, cosmos and calendula are easy flowers to grow from seed.

To collect the seed, look for mature plants. Clip the seed heads and pods and place into paper bags. Open up any pods and remove any chaff, stems and leaves from around the seed.  If you’ve kept the plant labels, staple them onto individual envelopes or include them in airtight jars. Several seed-savers exchanges can be found nationwide. I was luck enough to visit the Native Seeds Search in Tucson, Arizona, earlier this month.

Native Seeds Search is located in Tucson, Arizona

 

They are a great resource for vegetable seed used by Native Americans in that region. Corn, squash and pumpkin seeds are very prevalent. Store seeds in a cool, dry area or a refrigerator.

 

One of the many native corn varieties collected through Native Seed Search

 We save our Trinidad hot pepper seed year to year. Imagine our grower, John, in a face mask, goggles over his eyes, a long sleeved shirt and gloves. He waits until the fruits are fully ripe, and harvests the seeds from the center of the pepper. He removes the seeds, allows them to dry for several days and then puts them in jars or envelopes. They will be sown in February, and be sent from our farm greenhouses to our store in mid-April.



Trinidad pepper seed

In early November, seeds are collected from the giant pumpkins that have been on display at Valley View Farms for over a month. Each seed is cleaned and spread out into a single layer on a cookie sheet or window screen. EVERY seed is then packaged and sent back to the pumpkin grower so that he or she has a great chance of successfully growing another scale-busting pumpkin next year.

Seed saving is a wonderful way to keep the diversity of plants available for generations to come. For more information, visit the National Gardening Association site  online. Click on the Mid-Atlantic Regional report by Charlotte Kidd. Also, visit Seedsavers Exchange to find out more about seed exchanges in the gardening community.