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White Flower Farm Growing Instructions
We send a detailed Cultural Instructions booklet with every plant and bulb
order. You may read our general online Planting
& Care instructions to get your garden off to the right start. Our
online Cultural Guides
offer information about specific plants and bulbs, or technique, such as our
guide to composting
or seed-starting.
New! Preplanned gardens.
We've commissioned a series of garden plans that we will be posting here during
the month of January.
The first are PDFs, printable drawings with plant lists. Download to view online,
print, or save to your own computer.
1. A Sunny Border in Cool Colors
is a perennial border in shades of blue, purple, lavender, cream, white, gray,
and silver. Suggested dimensions, 11' by 24'. For full sun.
2. A Mixed Border of perennials and
shrubs peaks in late summer, with Hydrangea, Buddleias, and a Rose complementing
Echinacea (Coneflower), Liatris (Blazing Star), and other perennials. Shades
of purple, blue, and rose; suggested dimensions, 10' by 24'. For full sun.
3. A Medley of Groundcovers
for partial shade. Turn a shady corner of your garden into an oasis of lush
foliage and calming colors. Suggested dimensions, 10' by 20', for partial or
dappled shade.
Winter protection: what is it,
when to apply it. Details below.
Download an article explaining how to plant Daffodils to create
a meadow effect! Written by Wayne Winterrowd, a Vermont-based gardener and
writer. Reprinted with permission from The Gardener magazine.
We also offer some of our booklets and information in an alternate format.
You may download PDFs of some of our booklets (see index below). Holiday,
Spring, Fall, and Seed-starting
instructions. PDFs may be read online, but are set up in a printer-friendly
format so it's easy to make your own paper copies for reference. (See Tips
on using PDFs, below). Please note: some of the files are large and
may take a few moments to download.
Fall 2003
Cultural Instructions in PDF Format
- Fall 2003
Cultural Instruction Booklet
(very large file, for high-speed web connections only)
For visitors with dial-up internet connections, we've broken the big
fall instruction booklet into more manageable chunks below:
Spring 2003
Cultural Instructions in PDF Format
- Spring 2003 booklet,
pp1-7 (Index, general planting and care advice)
- Spring 2003 booklet,
pp8-16 (Specific plant list, annuals, perennials, flower bulbs, shrubs,
vines, Roses)
- Spring 2003 booklet,
pp17-21 (Kitchen Garden herbs and fruits)
- Spring 2003 booklet,
pp22-24 (Frequently asked questions)
- Spring
2003 booklet, pp1-24. LARGE FILE, best downloaded on high-speed internet
connection.
- Lavender Goodwin
Creek
- Olive
Tree
- Orchids
-
Holiday 2002
Seed-Starting,
How-To -- PDF of a 12-page booklet
Winter Protection
As this is written in early November, it's still too early to apply winter
protection to newly-planted perennials, but it's not too early to plan for it,
if you garden in a cold-winter area (USDA Zone 6 [-10°F] or colder).
Although you might think a winter mulch keeps plants warm, it's intended to
do the opposite—to keep the ground frozen, instead of repeatedly thawing
and refreezing. That freeze-thaw seesaw can heave lightly-rooted plants right
out of the ground, leaving their roots vulnerable to freezing or drying out
fatally. Perennials planted or transplanted in the fall are especially susceptible
during their first winter.
To protect plants from heaving during their first winter, put a 4-6in layer
of loose organic material such as straw, Oak leaves, pine needles, or evergreen
boughs (cut into 1-2ft lengths) over the crowns after the ground freezes
(generally in December here in Litchfield, Connecticut). Fortunately, after
Dec. 25, there is a ready supply of Christmas trees to cut up for this purpose.
Do not use bark mulch or other types of leaves, because these materials
mat down and hold too much moisture over the crowns.
Take care to avoid covering the evergreen foliage of plants such as Digitalis
(Foxgloves) and Dianthus. Remove this winter cover gradually in spring when
frosts become infrequent, usually at about the time Daffodils and Forsythias
are in bloom.
For these colder zones, we also recommend that you protect bulbs planted less
than six inches deep. Again, after the ground freezes, apply a 4-6in covering
of the same loose organic material over the bulbs. Because many of these smaller
bulbs tend to bloom in very early spring, begin to remove the cover gradually
in late winter or early spring—a bit earlier than you might for perennials.
November 4, 2003
Using Adobe® Acrobat® Reader®
The tools in Acrobat® Reader® allow you to read a document online,
print it, or search for specific content. If the type is too small to read comfortably,
click on one of the zoom tools in the Reader® tool bar (shown as
a + sign). To search for a specific word or phrase, click on the binocular
icon on the tool bar and type in the word you're looking for. To print,
use the printer icon on the Reader® toolbar. If you don't already
have Reader® on your computer, please visit the Adobe
site to download a free copy.
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