Groff’s Plant FarmThe red foliage of sweetspire ‘Little Henry’ rivals burning bush. The aromatic sumac, ‘Gro Low’ makes a lovely woody groundcover ablaze with color in September

Are your flower beds looking a little anemic right now? Heavy with spring and summer bloomers?

Need some good fall blooming perennials and shrubs to spruce them up?

We have been really impressed with some of the new core-

opsis breeding. The Big Bang series new color, ‘Mercury Rising’,

boasts a vigorous habit with large deep red flowers. This beauty is

no wimp and has been blooming since late June. Its sister,

‘Galaxy’, has clear yellow flowers and was a visitor top pick at Mt

Cuba Center’s field trial last summer. The Cruzin’ series of thread-

leaf coreopsis has some exciting new colors as well. Bicolor

‘Route 66’ has been a favorite for years, but the red-orange flowers

of ‘Broad Street’ are sure to stop you in your tracks. ‘Ruby Frost’,

a red and white bicolor has also been a standout here in the green-

house.

The Joe pye weeds are especially spectacular this summer. They are moisture lovers and all the

rain has made them fat and happy. Joe pyes draw a wide variety of pollinators, but I usually see tiger swal-

lowtails and bees swarming them. If you don’t have room for a 6’ plant, try the shorter cultivars ‘Baby

Joe’ or ‘Little Joe’.

Asters are synonomous with fall. They range in size and color from the naturally compact New

England Aster ‘Purple Dome’ to the more bushy light blue flowers of the aromatic asters ‘Raydon’s Favor-

ite’ and ‘October Skies’. One of my favorites is the calico aster ‘Lady in Black’. I love the contrast of the

light pink flowers against dark foliage. It pairs well with the bold texture of ornamental cabbage and kale.

If you want yellow- try the willow leaf sunflower. The golden yellow daisy-shaped flowers bloom

late August through fall. Again, the straight species of Helianthus salicifolius reaches 4ft, but breeders

have shrunk them to fit smaller gardens with the selection ‘Low Down’ topping out at 18”.

Ceratostigma plumbaginoides- or plumbago is a star of the fall shade garden.

Clear blue flowers and pink fall color make this short groundcover a favorite,

not just because the latin is fun to say five times fast. (You’re going to try

that now, aren’t you?)

Don’t forget about ornamental grasses. Their gorgeous seed heads steal the

show in the fall. But if you are going to plant some, do it quick. They like

warm temperatures to get established. If planting is left too late most of them

will just sit there looking at you angrily.

For shrubs, fall is all about berries and leaf color. Everyone loves the red

berries of the hollies, both the evergreen types and deciduous winter berry

holly. But how about the purple beauty berry? Or the blue fruits of arrowwood viburnum?

The red foliage of sweetspire ‘Little Henry’ rivals burning bush. The aromatic sumac, ‘Gro Low’

makes a lovely woody groundcover ablaze with color in September and October.

If your fall flower beds are looking a little skimpy, we’d love to help.

Late Bloomers

Fall 2013

Groff’s Plant Farm Monday-Thursday 9-5 Friday 9-7

Saturday 9-5 CLOSED SUNDAY

Coreopsis ‘Mercury Rising’

Fall is For Planting Issue

Plumbago in flower

We will be holding a fall container workshop on Saturday

September 14th from 10am-noon. Susan Boldt, the artist who

designs our hanging baskets, will be on hand with selections

of perennials, pansies, ornamental cabbage, mums and bloom-

ing annuals to help you refill your pots or window boxes.

There no charge for this event, except your plant selections.

Soil and pots will be available if needed. Please help us pre-

pare by letting us know if you are coming: 717-529-3001

Fall Container Workshop

We had a lot of rain this summer. A

neighbor measured 24” from June 15th to Au-

gust 1st. It was great for many things– corn,

new plantings, moisture loving shrubs and per-

ennials like hydrangeas and astilbes and

WEEDS.

Being in the flower business, we don’t

seem to get to our beds until the spring rush is

past. This season, that was too late.

Weed seeds can lie in the ground for

many years waiting for the right opportunity.

Most weeds germinate on the surface or in the

top half inch of soil. Therein lays part of their

control. Every time we disturb the soil surface

we invite more weeds to grow. While I love

my chickens, their scratching brought a lot of

weed seeds to the surface.

Now I am not saying don't pull weeds.

By preventing them from growing and going

to seed you can slowly win the weed battle.

Weeds are either annual or perennial. Annual

weeds complete their lifecycle and go to seed

in one year. Controlling these is about pre-

venting the seeds from maturing and going

into the soil. Examples of these are red pig-

sweed, woodsorrel, lambsquarter and green

foxtail.

Perennial weeds return yearly, often

spreading by underground shallow roots or

stems and are more difficult to control. Think

Johnson grass, dandelions, bindweed, and

Canada thistle. The key here is management

now. The plants are actively sending nutri-

ents down into their roots preparing for winter

dormancy. Fastidiously pulling them to prevent food storage will work. What works even better is several ap-

plications of a favorite herbicide that works systemically in the plant. Space spray applications 3-4 weeks apart.

A reasonable coat of mulch will also bury many weed seeds too deeply to permit germination. To me

two inches or so is reasonable. More than that you are creating an environment for fungal diseases to thrive.

If you use any kind of germination inhibiting chemical it is important to not break the soil surface after

application. Any time you move soil after treatment you are bringing untreated soil and more weed seeds to the

surface. Germination inhibitors are best used in the spring.

So where did some of our worst weeds come from? Dandelions and many other problem weeds came to

this country with the settlers to be used as salad greens. Weeds seem to thrive with cultivation and other agricul-

tural practices. A lot of our grass-like weeds only flourished after the land was subjected to over-grazing.

Another practice in colonial times that brought us lots of European weed seeds was the shipping trade.

The boats headed to Europe loaded with American raw materials and often returned carrying soil back as ballast.

These weeds met no natural enemies and spread across the country with each swing of the farmer's hoe.

Even more fascinating is the fact that there are always plant collectors looking for plants with ornamen-

tal value. The early European collectors who

came to this country were quick to take many of

our native species back to European gardens.

Once there, they were refined by breeding and

selection. The net result is that a lot of cultivars

of our native plants were developed in Europe

and then reintroduced into this country.

We often joke that every flower is a weed some-

place and every weed is a flower somewhere. I

sure hope that no one loves some of the rascals

that plagued my garden this summer.

Winning the Battle With Weeds (or trying to…)

Dad proudly displaying a red root and a pigsweed– both taller than him

Fall Hours

Sept 1-Oct 31

Monday-Thursday 9-5

Friday 9-7

Saturday 9-5

Closed Sunday

Directions

F R O M T H E N O RT H :

Take 222 south through Quarryville. Turn left

on Blackburn Rd 1/4 mile past Solanco High School.

Continue 3 miles to the stop sign. Turn left. Continue

300 yds across the bridge. Turn right onto Street Rd.

Look for the sign and the lane on the right in less than

1/2 mile.

F R O M R T 1 :

Exit north onto 472 (away from Oxford).

Continue EXACTLY 5 miles, crossing the reservoir.

Turn left onto Street Rd. across from the Union Pres-

byterian Church. Continue 1.7 miles to the stop sign.

Continue straight and watch for the sign and lane on

left 1/2 mile

Better yet: Use the Google Map directions

link on our website: Groffsplantfarm.com

Worms in the Kitchen!

I have worms in my kitchen. I have to admit

when my husband wanted to start vermicomposting, I I

thought he was crazy. Five months into the experiment, I

kind of like it.

We have a little “Worm Factory” tower on the

floor beside the sink. Most kitchen scraps go into it-

spoiled lettuce leaves, peach skins, apple cores, carrots

peelings, eggshells, coffee grounds, pea pods etc. They

don’t seem to like citrus peels, and meat and dairy are

completely off limits. Junk mail gets shredded and added

to the mix for bedding. The worms also eat stale bread,

rice, leftover pancakes- basically anything not too salty or

spicy. Large pieces need a little extra chopping. On top of

the kitchen scraps and shredded paper mix we lay wet

newspaper- and cover the whole thing with a lid.

Surprisingly, it doesn’t smell. The only problem

we have had so far was fruit flies. We stopped adding ba-

nana peels, and that solved that problem. We started with

1000 red wigglers (Eisenia fetida) and they have been

reproducing well. Now our tower is 3 levels high. Each

level has holes in the bottom and the worms just crawl up

through when they have depleted the food supply. The

bottom is almost all casings, and a few worms- excellent

decomposed material almost ready to add to the garden.

The second layer is partially decomposed bedding and

scraps. This is where most of the worms hang out. The

top level is where we add the fresh material and bedding.

A tower isn’t necessary. I know a couple that

kept a Rubbermaid bin under their bed. Adding new

scraps to only one side allowed them to keep the compost

progressing. Here is a good blog (with pictures) of another

way to set up bins: http://modernfarmer.com/2013/05/how

-to-build-a-worm-farm/ Here is another good resource:

http://deq.louisiana.gov/portal/default.aspx?tabid=2101

My kids love the worms- they have a little sand-

box rake they use to stir up and aerate the mix. They also

help add more bedding and kitchen peelings. Liam loves

to tell guests about our 2000 “pets”. And hey, we always

have bait for fishing.

G r o f f ’ s P l a n t F a r m

6 1 2 8 S t r e e t R d , K i r k w o o d , P A

1 7 5 3 6

7 1 7 - 5 2 9 - 3 0 0 1

E - m a i l : g r o f f s p l a n t f a r m @ e p i x . n e t

O n t h e W e b : g r o f f s p l a n t f a r m . c o m

The fresh crop of 4” perennials is here! We

have over 350 varieties ready for planting if

you want a jump on spring. $2.49 each

or $40/flat of 18

Mums $3.99 or 3/$10

Ornamental cabbage and kale

Large $2.99 or 5/$12

Small $1.29 or 18/$20

Fall Pansies also available

F r i l l y f l o w e r s o f t h e ‘ F i z z y ’ p a n s i e s