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The Big Dipper Farm News-ette
October 2005

The Big Dipper Farm News-ette is an occasional gardening e-newsletter for discussing new plant introductions, gardening tips, quotes, poems, ‘things-to-do-in-the-garden-now’, seminar reminders and much more. It’s free, kept private, spam-less and fun! Share it with a friend. Happy Gardening!
-Deidre Finley, Big Dipper Farm

Autumn begins with a subtle change in the light, with skies
a deeper blue, and nights that become suddenly clear and chilled.
The season comes full with the first frost,
the disappearance of migrant birds,
and the harvesting of the season's last crops.
- Glenn Wolff and Jerry Dennis

It’s Peony Planting Time!

Hail to The ‘Queen of the Garden’

Many feel these are the most beautiful and elegant flowers in the world. For an easy to grow plant that will thrive in some of the coldest gardens in the world, (down to zone 3) it’s undoubtedly true. These breathtaking flowers can reach the size of a dinner plate. They come in an astonishing palette of colors, many are drop-dead fragrant and can live a hundred years! The flowers dry beautifully as well. Giving you even more months to enjoy them. Grow a selection of early and late varieties and you can have luscious blooms for two months. What more could you possibly want?

New - Species Peonies!
We are happy to announce the addition of some hard to find species varieties:

Paeonia mlokosewitschii - ‘Molly The Witch’

Bewitching! A real beauty and very hard to find. Single, cup-shaped, 4-inch lemon yellow blooms with a mild fragrance. These are followed in autumn by particularly striking seedpods. One of the earliest peonies to flower. Noteworthy, attractive blue-green foliage. Excellent cut flower. We are offering young 3-year old roots of this much sought after gem that should bloom in a couple of years. Extremely long-lived and completely cold tolerant.

Paeonia coriacea

A species Peony from Spain and very hard to find. Rose-pink flowers with golden anthers bloom in May-June. A scrubland plant that typically produces a 'jester's cap' seedhead. This plant prefers some shade. Gets up to 40 inches tall. For warmer climates, Zones 7-8.

Paeonia tenuifolia

The single fernleaf Peony. Beautiful airy, feathery foliage. The earliest blooming peony with intense red flowers and a wonderful fragrance. Really stops traffic when blooming. 3 yr old roots.

Fall Planting This is another plant that greatly benefits from Fall rather than Spring planting. Spring planting can delay the first bloom by an extra year and the roots establish themselves through the winter. Consider where you place them carefully as they are deep-rooted and don’t transplant well after being established. Peonies are long-lived, but slow growing at first.

Fall Foliage Peonies are grown for their large, showy and fragrant spring flowers but also have very attractive summer foliage and surprisingly beautiful fall color as well. These attributes in addition to their moderate size make them perfect additions to the perennial border. Peonies grow best in full sun, but will tolerate light shade especially in warmer climates. Deadhead after flowering to help the plant store next year’s energy.

Tree or Bush Peonies Paeonia are either herbaceous, (aka: ‘bush or garden’ peonies), or Tree peonies. Most herbaceous peonies grow to 3’ or 4’ tall with about the same spread and tree peonies (which are actually a shrub) grow to about 4’ to 5’ tall and wide. Tree peonies drop their leaves in the winter and keep their branches. Do not cut back tree peonies! The trees bloom with more flowers, a little earlier, live longer and are more costly than the herbaceous peonies. The bush peonies die back to the ground every year. Dispose of the spent foliage in fall to discourage disease.

Warmer Climates: Because winter chilling is required for flowering, peonies often do not perform well in the South. Early blooming and single or Japanese cultivars generally perform better in warmer climates like: Felix Crousse, Fextiva Maxima, Mons. Jules Elie, and Sarah Bernhardt. The species peony from Spain, Paeonia coriacea is also great for warmer climes. To encourage flowering, plant on a northern exposure and do not mulch in the winter. Position them where they’ll get midday shade.

Pictures and descriptions of all 38 varieties here: Peony Pictures

Fair flowers that are not gather'd in their prime, Rot and consume themselves in little time.
-William Shakespeare

Put a ‘Naked Lady’ in your garden! - Amaryllis belladonna
(Let’s hope this doesn’t trigger your spam filter)

Given its common name for the gorgeous 4-inch flowers that appear alone and bare in late summer long after the beautiful strappy foliage has disappeared. Also referred to as the Belladonna Lily or the Resurrection Lily. The lovely trumpet shaped blooms vary in colors from pink to rose with a white and yellow throat. Their mouth-watering fragrance is reminiscent of Bazooka bubblegum. They're very easy to grow and some successfully over-winter them in very cold zones with a deep layer of mulch.
Officially zones 7-10 and prefers full sun. See the ‘Naked Lady’

Dear folks, just a thank-you note to let you know how pleased I was with the
quality of the ground cover I just received from you; I'm working on a
oriental style garden and have picked up Scotch Moss at various local
nurseries, and none compare to your plant's.
Thanks again ! Jerry M. - St Anthony, Idaho

Acer circinatum ‘Little Gem’
Original scion wood taken from a ‘witches broom’ in Stanley Park, Vancouver, B.C.

A beautiful deciduous dwarf maple that grows in a dense 3' x 3' ball. This cultivar of our beautiful native can take everything from full sun to full shade. Very versatile and extremely useful in the perennial border or small garden. Fall color of the tiny leaves is the same as the species, brilliant red and yellow. Fresh light green leaves are red tipped in summer. Wonderful subject for Bonsai work. See the Acers

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting
and autumn a mosaic of them all.
- Stanley Horowitz

Hemerocallis 'Apricot Sparkles' - Daylily

Brand New! Luminous, 4 inch, deep apricot-yellow blooms with a delightful sparkling diamond-dusted finish. Petals are edged with attractive ruffling and smooth sepals. Begins to bloom very early in the season and reblooms constantly until the first frost. 5 full months! A prolific bloomer on this dwarf plant. Excellent for containers. One of only a small handful of truly everblooming Daylilies available to gardeners in northern regions. Flowers are edible.
Space plants 18 inches apart in full sun and moist, well-drained soil. For zones 3-9.
See 'Apricot Sparkles'

Gardening is about enjoying the smell of things growing in the soil, getting dirty without feeling guilty,
and generally taking the time to soak up a little peace and serenity.
-Lindley Karstens

The new Cape Fuchsias – Phygelius ‘Croftway Series’

A new British breeding program has produced a significantly superior Phygelius. The principal improvements are to habit with a compact and bushy growth, a resistance to overhead watering damage and a far greater bloom density. They were also selected for a uniform display of the flowers around the stem as opposed to just one side. These new Cape Fuchsias have great shape and flower power! Like all Phygelius, they are beloved by hummingbirds.

Phygelius 'Croftway Snow Queen' - A breakthrough - the world's first pure white variety! Throat is a creamy pale yellow. A long bloom period from May to October.

Phygelius 'Croftway Yellow Sovereign' - Masses of soft creamy yellow flowers.

Phygelius 'Croftway Coral Princess' - A beautifully exotic salmon color with a touch of yellow

Phygelius 'Croftway Purple Prince' - Blooms are a vibrant and rich, deep violet.

See all the Cape Fuchsias

I came home from work today to find my plants had arrived. I guess I’m used to ordering from the mail order catalogs and getting tiny little plants. When I opened the box to find these gorgeous plants I was so very pleased! They were packed extremely well and arrived in beautiful shape. Thanks for a great shopping experience.
I will most definitely be a repeat customer and will refer your site to my friends.
Sincerely, Marilee R. - Bay Shore, New York

Silver Cloak Fern - Cheilanthes argentea

The small fronds are green on top and a shocking silvery white beneath. While most ferns will tolerate periodic dry spells, Cheilanthes are drought tolerant, xerophytic ferns that are native to extremely dry areas of the country and may be used in areas where water supply and rainfall is limited. Cheilanthes require good drainage in gritty soil and take care to avoid over watering. Deciduous, very short and has a creeping growth habit. Our manager Jim said I should be sure to write about this little known fern. It has completely charmed him.
See the Cloak Fern

As one grows older one should grow more expert at finding beauty in unexpected places,
in deserts and even in towns, in ordinary human faces and among wild weeds.
-C.C.Vyvyan

Naturally Native – Outstanding Americans of the Month
We’ve recently received a number of very cool, new natives. Here’s four;

'The Lantern in the Woods' - Lysichiton americanum - Skunk Cabbage
The large, bright yellow spathes that appear in March always tell us Spring is on it's way. The foliage comes later and is huge, reaching a length of more than 30 inches. Bear and elk use skunk cabbage as a good source of food, as did many tribes and explorers. They cooked and ate the fleshy root. A dramatic and fabulous Pacific NW Native American.

Partridgeberry - Mitchella repens
An endearing native evergreen groundcover. Vine-like growth trails outward, forming mats of dark green, tiny, pear-like foliage. Pairs of white, fragrant flowers sometimes tinged with purple, unite to form one single berry. The bright, orange red berries and dark green leaves are very attractive. Also called: Squaw vine, Checker-berry, One-berry, Twinberry

Biscuit Root - Lomatium dissectum
Statuesque and attractive. Finely dissected foliage makes a beautiful mound with many 4' stems of dark-purple to maroon, and occasionally yellow, flowers. The flowers give way to stunning chocolate brown seedheads that act like a second flowering. This robust plant will combine superbly into the perennial garden. Showy for a long period in early summer. This plant has traditionally been used to fight many infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis and is also known as Cough Root. Prefers a dryish, rocky condition.

Pink Fawn Lily - Erythronium revolutum
An exotic American native. Charming, pale pink to deep lilac-pink flowers with yellow anthers rise over attractive mottled foliage. Can be slow to establish, but will reseed freely once it is established. Fawn lilies naturalize beautifully in lawns, especially if planted in groups. Summer dormant. Spring bloomers should be planted in the Fall.

An hour in the garden puts life’s problems in perspective.

Some news on the Himalayan blackberry (With a wow factor of 9!)

For those of us that have struggled forever with the invasive Himalayan blackberry, the fight is nearing an end. A rust disease bred to kill them is here from Australia. Enjoy next few summer crops of wild berries, as they may be some of the last. We will be carrying blackberry plants next spring so you can begin to grow your own. Fungicides have effectively controlled the rust on desirable home garden varieties. Millions of acres of countryside in the Pacific NW that have been buried under 10 foot high masses of impassable brambles may soon become accessible. In Australia, it has taken about five years to reduce the biomass of blackberry plants by as much as 50 percent. Over several years, the rust will have a major impact on this terribly invasive pest. Great! Too bad it doesn’t work on English Ivy.

The hazy, cloudless skies of Indian Summer. Leaves scurrying down the street
before the wind. The cold shiver from an arctic blast. Indian Summer.
The last warmth of the sun. Chilly mornings and glorious warm afternoons.
The Harvest Moon. The Hunter's Moon. The Rainy Season.
Dry corn stalks clattering in the wind. The touch of frost on grass and window pane.
The smell of burning leaves.
- Keith C. Heidorn

Big Dipper Farm 
360-886-8133
www.BigDipperFarm.com