Hello! And welcome to my blog on growing perennials for shade.
Overwintered Seed Flats
I have been in the nursery industry for many years and have always dreamed of owning my own nursery. Now here I am starting up a very — and I mean VERY– small enterprise at my home in Vermont. I won’t be opening a retail operation and I will be growing in small batches, mostly from seed. My focus is on native wildflowers for the woodland garden, which is mainly where I garden on a small lake with a stream running through our small property.
My plants will be for sale at various horticulture events around New England. Check back often for news of more opportunities to purchase my special plants.
Primula kisoana at APS Show '10
I am also focusing on growing Primula of all sorts that are hardy to zone 4. I’m a board member of the American Primrose Society where I am also the seed exchange manager. The New England chapter of the APS is a large and active group of which I am also the membership chair. If you have any questions on Primroses just drop me a line in the comments and I’ll be happy to talk Primroses!
I work for a small specialty nursery Rocky Dale Gardens in Bristol, so between my job, this new nursery at my home and the Primrose Society I am quite busy, but I still get out hiking whenever I can with my husband, camera in hand just in case we come across another incredible wildflower or seed collecting opportunity!
Thanks for stopping in and please share your experiences or just say hi!
Primrose Hill Woodlanders 
hey, momcat, good opening, says alot, and shows you are who you say you are. I always tell my friends, my mom doesn’t have a green thumb, so much as a glowing green arm!
I can’t wait to go hiking, and visit. you gotta know I’m really proud of your adventures into sales. I really hope that in time, you will be working for yourself, making your own rules, and your own hours, and making more money than you need. make money to grow, to flourish, to take care of yourself
*raises a glass of mango peach fruity juice in a mason glass* here’s to your future, today. give ’em hell, and hella good plants!
*hugs*
Awwww thanks Matt! It has been fun selling my plants and hearing the good comments folks have given them. I’ve been wanting to do this for such a long time..as you proably know.
Steve & I want the same thing as far as ‘growing’ my own business. I want to keep it small enough to take care of it all myself but large enough so that I don’t have to work full time for others. We’ll see how it goes and I’ll be having lots of fun, learning and keeping my hands dirty in the process!
Love you!!
I own a nursery specializing in perennials for shade so feel free to ask me questions as you are starting up. I also love primroses and sell a lot of them. I especially like P. sieboldii. Have you registered your blog on Blotanical.com, the garden blogging registry. It’s a great way to increase readership.
Thanks Carolyn! I appreciate the offer of mentoring. I work in a specialty nursery here in Vermont and have worked in the plant biz for over 30 years and am only now getting up the gumption to try out growing plants for sale. One question I have is how do you control the squirrels & chipmuncks? They are continually digging up seed pots and newly potted plants and driving me nuts!
Ingredients:
3 cups unbleached bread flour 1 cup rolled oats
2 tablespoons butter or margarine 1 ½ teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons brown sugar or honey 2 teaspoons instant yeast or 1 packet active dry yeast*
1 ½ cups lukewarm milk (110oF to 115oF) ¾ cup raisins or currents
If you use active dry yeast, dissolve it in the warm milk with 1 tablespoon of the sugar or honey until it foams before combining with remaining ingredients.
In a large mixing bowl, or bowl of an electric mixer, combine all of the ingredients, mixing to form a shaggy dough. Knead dough, by hand (10 minutes) or machine (5 minutes) until it’s smooth. Place dough in a lightly oiled/greased bowl, cover, place in a draft free place and allow to rest for 1 hour; it’ll become quite puffy, though it may not double in bulk.
Transfer the dough to lightly floured surface and incorporate flour to make the dough smooth. Shape it into a log and place the log in a lightly greased (non-stick cooking spray can be used) 9 x 5-inch loaf pan, cover the pan lightly, and allow the dough to rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour, till it’s crested 1 to 2 inches over the rim of the pan.
Bake the bread in a preheated 350oF oven for 35 to 45 minutes, until an instant read thermometer inserted into the center registers 190oF. If the bread appears to be browning too quickly, tent it with aluminum foil for the final baking time.
Enjoy,
Ed
Thanks ED! I think I’ll try this today…sounds really good! I’ll let you know how it turns out and post a photo to FB.
Have a grand day!
Hi Amy,
Thanks for stopping by at my blog. You have no idea what kind of ‘soul mates’ we are – been in the nursery industry forever, work for a small specialty nursery in Ontario, hiking and taking pictures is our favorite pastime and… I even grow plants from seed at my place (under lights), which is really tiny so I cannot do anything else at the moment 😦
Good luck in your new enterprise and if you have your eyes on some seeds from around here, let me know. I always collect for exchanges through a few Plant Societies (sometimes I have interesting plant seeds from our travels too).
Hey thanks so much for stopping by my pretty much abandoned blog! I do need to get back to this at some point.
Yes, amazing how much we have in common! I’ll be at Rocky Dale Gardens now for about 5 years come this summer. It’s an awesome place and I’m so lucky to get to work there!
I also belong to a couple plant societies and I’m so addicted to collecting, sharing and starting seeds. Here’s another thing we have in common…I live in a tiny cabin and I start my seeds under a 3 tier 2 foot wide plant light stand!! Crazy, right? I do have a couple of cold frames and I over winter tons of tray of plants under tarps & heavy fleece fabric. They come through the winter great that way if the chipmunks and squirrels don’t attack them too badly.
I’ll be visiting your blog pretty regularly…it’s really great! Keep up the good work!
I’m excited to find your blog, via a comment you wrote on Kathy Purdy’s Cold Climate Gardening blog recently. I know your name because I’ve been a lucky recipient of APS primula seeds over the past 4 or 5 years. How amazing that you also work at Rocky Dale. My gardening buddy and I tried to come visit in early April after being at the Equinox gardening symposium, but Ed Burke explained it would be under snow so no point in coming. We’re in the Oneonta NY area; hopefully I’ll get back to northern VT sometime this year.
I noticed on Cold Climate Gardening that you said you only have one daphne mezereum. I have a LOT of seedlings from my plants. Would you like me to mail you some? It would be my pleasure.
Hi Deborah! Thanks for stopping by. How are your Primula growing from all the APS seed? The nursery at Rocky Dale is filling up fast and it will be a great time to stop by soon. I would love some Daphne seedlings! You can send them to me at Rocky Dale…..806 Rocky Dale Rd., Bristol, VT 05443 and thanks so much!
I’ll do that. My primulas are doing great. I don’t have a very good seed starting setup in the house, so I usually put my seed trays outside, where sometimes disasters befall them such as the year the drainage holes on one tray got plugged up and half the tray drowned. And varieties that might take months to sprout don’t usually make it here. So I’ve tried to limit myself to easier varieties. I started (prior to APS) with primula japonica and primula veris, and now thanks to APS, I also have P. sieboldii, P. bulleyana, P. florindae, P. capitata, and a lot of the Barnhaven polyanthus varieties. It’s a lot of fun.
Love the blog Amy!!! of course I knew I would…
Welcome to my blog Kris! Thanks for stopping in!
Hi, Amy. I haven’t forgotten about the Daphne mezereum plants. My friend Marian and I are traveling to Rocky Dale, Cady Falls, etc this weekend (June 6-7). I guess you’ll be at Tower Hill and I’ll miss meeting you, but I’ll bring the daphnes and leave them for you.
Hello Annie, It turns out I won’t be at Tower Hill tomorrow and so will be at Rocky Dale on saturday. so perhaps I’ll see you? It will be fun to meet you. I envy you that you’re going to Cady’s Falls…I love it there!
Great! See you sometime in the afternoon.
Hi Amy, I was just reading an article about Primrose in the Spring 2014 copy of Country Gardens and I am looking for some primula japonica seeds. I find web sites from Europe, but wondering if someone in the USA sells these. Any advice would be appreciated! Love your site.
Hi Chris and thanks for visiting my blog! Since I’m the manager of the American Primrose Society seed exchange I would recommend joining the society and taking advantage of the wonderful selection of seed many of which are japonicas. But if you only need one packet or two try hardyplants.com they have a good selection and their prices are great! Good luck in the search and happy planting!