Date: Fri 05-Mar-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: JAN

Quick Words:

Burr-Farm-Garry-Ober

Full Text:

A Gardener's Thoughts Drift Toward Spring

(with cuts)

BY JAN HOWARD

A visit in early March to the Burr Farm garden center in Brookfield offers a

welcome glimpse of the spring to come. Gone for the moment are concerns about

snow, ice, cold winds, and the vision of debris-strewn yards and gardens.

Green foliage can be seen everywhere in the garden center's warm, steamy

greenhouses, in pots, flats, planters and hanging baskets. Though few of the

plantings have reached their full potential or have blooms as yet, Easter

lilies and hydrangea plants are beginning to bud and will be ready to brighten

the Easter season.

Garry Ober of Newtown, co-partner of the garden center with his mother,

Marilyn (Burr) Ober, and Burr Farm employees have been hard at work preparing

the annual and perennial plants and shrubs that will bring beauty and color to

local gardens throughout the spring, summer and fall.

Mr Ober will present his suggestions for shade-loving perennials that do well

in local gardens in an informational talk and slide show on Wednesday, March

10, at 10 am, in the Booth Library's new meeting room. The program is free.

A walk through the greenhouses offers a pre-spring peek at a few geraniums

with colorful petals, but Mr Ober explained that they will be cut back to

allow for more foliage growth before flowering.

Everything will be ready in time for the May planting season.

The Burr Farm garden center has been in business since 1979 when Marilyn Ober

and her husband, the late Murrell Ober, purchased part of her family's dairy

farm on Obtuse Road South and started putting up greenhouses.

Mr Ober, who studied botany and chemistry at Duke University, worked as a

chemical engineer for Exxon in New Orleans prior to joining his parents in the

family business in 1982.

"I realized the corporate world wasn't my calling," Mr Ober said. "I came back

here to use my botany degree."

His continuing education has been series of short courses and seminars, which

Burr Farm employees are also encouraged to attend.

"Most of the design part I learned from my father and through trial and

error," Mr Ober said.

Feedback from his customers helps him in decisions about what grows best in

local gardens. "My customers are my best educators," he said.

What Can Be Done Now

While March may be too early to do any serious planting, Mr Ober said many

people use this month to order seeds or start seeds inside. It is also the

time of year when customers contact him regarding designs for a perennial

garden or landscaping.

Mr Ober also suggests early March is a good time to get started on garden

clean-up, such as removing perennial debris before the plants start to grow

again. By the end of the month, it is usually safe to uncover flower beds, he

noted.

A good target date to begin planting is Mother's Day, but pansies and cool

season annuals can be put out earlier. Perennials can also be planted by the

end of March when the ground is no longer frozen. He suggested transplanting

and dividing perennials at that time before they are ready to leave the

dormant stage and begin to grow.

Preparations

For a new garden, if the ground has been worked before, Mr Ober said the most

important thing to do is to cultivate it. A soil test should be done to see

what nutrients may be needed for the plants that will be grown there.

"UConn does an excellent job in telling you what is needed," he said, noting

the Extension Service on Route 6 in Bethel can either provide soil test kits

or advise where they can be obtained.

"A healthy dose of compost, cow manure or peat moss will go a long way to

making the soil suitable for easy root growth," Mr Ober said.

For an existing garden, as plants start to grow, old leaves and stalks should

be removed and an organic fertilizer worked in around the plants. Organic

fertilizer should also be put in with any new plants.

A new layer of mulch will most likely be needed if there is not much bark

left. "It keeps down weeds and retains moisture," he said.

The soil in an existing garden should also be tested to see if any additional

nutrients are required, Mr Ober added.

A Three-Season Garden

To plan a new garden that will have flowering plants from spring to fall, Mr

Ober suggested first laying out a plan on graph paper with dimensions accurate

to scale.

"Go into perennial books, talk to people at nurseries," he said. "You don't

want short-blooming perennials."

Some plantings he suggests include Autumn Joy sedum and Goldsturm, a

black-eyed Susan that blooms from mid-summer to fall. Stella D'oro day lilies,

which have been a favorite for ten years, "are a very good seller and bloom

for a long time. You can get 2« months of clumps of blooms," he said.

He also suggests allowing spots to plant annuals. "They will take up the slack

between when perennials are in bloom."

He suggested using a garden hose to outline the proposed shape of a free form

or island garden since it can be moved around to allow for different shapes.

The final plan, however, needs to be transferred on paper at scale, Mr Ober

said.

In most cases, taller materials should be planted at the rear of a garden.

However, it depends on how the garden will be viewed, and whether it is

against a stone wall or in the middle of the lawn. Space should also be

allotted for the ultimate size of the plant. "You don't want to plant

something too close," he said.

Perennials For Shade

Before planting, the type of shade, such as deep forest, partial or dappled,

must be determined, Mr Ober said. Also, you need to know whether the soil is

dry or wet.

"Dry shade is the most challenging," he said.

Ferns tolerate various degrees of shade. Hostas, which he defined as a "good

blue-collar plant," also do well in many places.

Several ground covers also do well in shade, such as myrtle, ivy and lily of

the valley.

He suggested that gardeners look for unique foliage types, such as lamium.

"The newer hostas also have unique leaf colors," he said.

Mr Ober said there is no reason why a shade garden can't be as rewarding as

one in the sun. He pointed out that garden ornaments, such as bird baths and

statuary, often look better with some shade on them.

Partial Sun

The time of day the sun hits the garden is important in deciding which plants

will do well there, Mr Ober said. From 11 am to 2 pm is the hottest sun of the

day, he noted. "Perennials suitable for partial sun may not enjoy that

location," he said.

Peonies can take partial shade, Mr Ober noted, as well as astilbe.

"The plant will let you know," he said. "You can lift them and move them to

where they will be happier."

Foundation Plantings

Perennials planted around a house should look good even when they are not in

flower, Mr Ober said. They are a beneficial addition to foundation plantings,

he added.

Astilbe, mountain pinks, ornamental grasses, and ever-blooming bleeding hearts

all will look well during the growing season.

"I am a big believer in working perennials into foundations," he said, "but

they need to look nice when not in flower."

Deck Plantings

People are often concerned that plantings around a deck or pool will attract

bees, Mr Ober said. In these cases, foliage plants, such as grasses can be

planted, but usually do not provide enough color in those areas.

Gardeners often want plants that attract butterflies and humming birds, but

these plants also attract bees.

Perennials and annuals planted around a deck should be fragrant, such as

flowering tobacco, which is particularly nice at night, he said.

Rock Gardens

The key to a rock garden is to have it look as natural as it can. "If you have

a visible ledge or boulders, they are ideal for rock gardens," Mr Ober said.

To create a rock garden is difficult. "You need to have a nice rock formation.

You can't do it with six-inch rocks," he said.

Rock gardens also do not have much soil, he said. Some plants that prefer low

or poor soils are hens and chicks and mountain pinks.

Mr Ober said every garden should have daffodils and snowdrops, which are the

first bulbs to bloom.

Deer and Rodents

Mr Ober said he has given up making predictions about which plants will deter

deer.

"If a plant is smelly or thorny, generally deer will leave it alone," he said.

Deer also seem to avoid hostas, peonies, astilbe and day lilies. The chief

enemy of hostas is slugs, he noted.

Certain bulbs are more subject to damage from rodents, he said. Some people

who have buried wire mesh under the ground to deter rodents have had mixed

results.