Good News and New Aquisitions

Yesterday the Philadelphia CityPaper reported that the rumored garden center to open at 51st and Baltimore will be operated by Greensgrow Farm.  This is huge news for those of us who garden in West Philadelphia. They are so much more than a nursery: they are growers of food, flowers, and neighborhoods ( I know, because they say so- but if you've been to their farm in Kensington, then you've seen the changes they have grown on what was once an abandoned industrial dessert.

Greensgow nurtures gardeners too- they offer a wide array of educational programs and are a reliable source for all kinds of locally sourced food. They have a CSA program (community supported agriculture) and run a retail farm stand. They have a number of animals on the farm, so city slickers can see what ways ducks or pigs earn their keep on a farm besides becoming food on the table. They have a great guideline on their website on eating seasonally, as a way to reduce one's reliance on food that's more well-traveled than you are.

The other news I am excited to share is that yesterday I found a Hydrangea I have searched for for several years. A neighbor has one of these late-blooming shrubs with long tapered panicles (the multiple small flowers which make up the mass of many which people usually mean when they talk hydrangea flowers). The flower shape is similar to the Oak Leaf Hydrangeas ( H. quercifolia), but the leaves are not Oak shaped. The owner did not know the variety, which made it difficult to search on-line.

This spring, the owner gave me several pieces of the branches he had pruned from the shrub to open up the base. They had been cut for some time and lying in the sun before another neighbor told him I was interested in trying to propagate it. I cut back the ones which seemed to still have a chance, and hoped for the best as I covered the pot with a clear plastic container. For several days, I thought they were looking better, but alas, I was wrong. I thought I'd try again next year, and see if he'd let me take some cuttings myself and root them right away.

Yesterday at Produce Junction I found a nicely shaped, well-flowered specimen of this plant I had coveted, and, best of all, it was only $12.00. In the car with the windows up, I discovered it is very fragrant. I also found a few hard shelled snails hiding in it's leaves, so at the moment, it's in quarantine until I'm sure the snails are gone. Anyway, here's a photo of our newest Hydrangea: please meet Hydrangea paniculata 'Tardiva.'