Nasturtium cocktail: Put four nasturtium flowers in a cocktail shaker with ice and the spirt of your choice. (Non-alcoholic: use lime juice and simple syrup, with 1⁄4 cup water). Shake vigorously and strain into a glass. Garnish with a nasturtium flower.- Poison Ivy Acres is in Sandwich, MA on Lawrence Pond. We’re entering our 14th summer.
- Cutting Garden Plants: Peonies, lady’s mantle, Verbena bonariensis, Gomphocarpus physocarpus, zinnias, dahlias, Penstemon, Digitalis purpurea, and Nepeta ‘Grandview.’ (this Nepeta a Bee fave.)
- Fence made by weaving sticks between 7 upright rebar poles hides the compost and garden carts.
- We grow Brown Turkey and Black Mission figs in pots – they overwinter in the garage.
- Seed starting shed faces south, wall of pots on the north side are a heat-sink. Solar heated.
- ‘Collette’ climbing rose, ‘Belgica’ honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum ‘Belgica’) both repeat flowering and fragrant on front porch.
- We grow 8 varieties of blueberries that bear from July 1 into September. Netting from Wilson’s Orchard Supply. https://www.wilsonirr.com/ecommerce/
- Deer Control: www.WirelessDeerFence.com
- Favorite vegetable varieties: Zephyr summer squash, Tuscan kale, Maxibel green beans, Costata Romanesco squash, Honeynut winter squash, rainbow chard, County Fair cucumbers.
- I roast garlic, eggplant, squash, tomatoes, zucchini and green beans – no oil – and freeze them.
- Favorites for Annual Alley: zinnias, Fireworks Gomphrena, Blue Horizon Ageratum, Bright Lights Cosmos, and self-seeding Nicotiana langsdorffii and ‘Lime’, sunflowers and vining nasturtiums.
- Self seeding party crashers: Rudbeckia triloba, Papaver rhoeas, Papaver somniferum, Verbascum chaixii, Nicotiana, Zizzia aurea, Anthriscus sylvestrus ‘Raven’s Wing,’ Gomphocarpus physocarpus, Verbena bonariensis, Amaranthus.
- Fragrance garden: Clethra ‘Hummingbird’ and ‘September Beauty’, Salvia elegans ‘Golden Delicious,’ Magnolia virginiana, Korean Spice Viburnum, assorted roses and lavender.
- Garlands of Elevate Marigolds – seeds from Burpee seeds.
- Smart Pots: https://smartpots.com/ and Thornless Blackberry https://www.noursefarms.com/
- Some unusual shade favorites from https://www.plantdelights.com/ Erigeron pulchellus, Carex ‘Silk Tassel’ and Clethra barbinervis ‘Takeda Nishiki’
C.L. Fornari
podcasting at www.Plantrama.com