Brian McGowan - Bulbs in the Basement, Geraniums on the Windowsill: How to Grow & Overwinter 165 Tender Plants

Bulbs in the Basement
Geraniums on the Windowsill

How to Grow and Overwinter 165 TENDER PLANTS

Alice and Brian McGowan

The mission of Storey Publishing is to serve our customers by
publishing practical information that encourages
personal independence in harmony with the environment.

Edited by Carleen Madigan Perkins
Art direction and book design by Jessica Armstrong

Photography credits appear on
Illustrations by Beverly Duncan, except for by Elayne Sears

Indexed by Christine Lindemer, Boston Road Communications

2008 by Alice and Brian McGowan

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Printed in China by Dai Nippon Printing
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

McGowan, Alice.

Bulbs in the basement, geraniums on the windowsill /

Alice McGowan, Brian McGowan.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-60342-042-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1. PerennialsMassachusetts. 2. Plants, Ornamental

Massachusetts. 3. Greenhouse gardeningMassachusetts.

I. McGowan, Brian, 1952 II. Title.

SB434.M383 2008
635.9'32dc22

2008022440

We dedicate this book to our daughters,
Leah and Emma, in the hope that they will
continue to enjoy plants despite a surfeit of
early exposure to them.

LIKE SO MANY THINGS IN LIFE, the road that led to our discovery of tender perennial plants was not a particularly well-marked one. Its hard to pinpoint exactly when we began our journey upon it, but we would never have arrived at our eventual destination if we hadnt begun with the dream of operating a diversified fruit and vegetable farm. This was the road we thought we were headed down in the early 1980s, when we grew vegetables for the wholesale market lettuce, early tomatoes, and red peppers for specialty outlets.

We had always grown flowers too, and when, in 1981, we moved onto the long-abandoned Magdycz farm in Montague, Massachusetts, it included a neglected perennial bed. We enjoyed reviving it and discovering new plants hidden in the weeds. For years we had eyed the potential market for ornamental plants and concluded there was already an abundant supply of them. But in the spring of 1988, when our daughter Leah was three and Emma was six months old, we planted flowers among the six-packs of lettuce in the greenhouse.

That first spring, we set up a tent on the side of the road. If you never visited the nursery, you probably cant imagine what an out-of-the-way spot our location was. In those days, our neighbors were all residential or wholesale farming operations. No vehicle went by that we didnt know, and, in fact, very few went by at all.

Even that first quiet season, we noticed encouraging signs one of which was that people traveled out of their way for well-grown plants they couldnt find elsewhere. And that when they shopped for flowers, they were happy to pay more than they did for tomatoes and lettuce. Our plant selection that year was a simple one. We grew standard annuals in six-packs, and then a few that no else seemed to bother with, like cosmos and lobelia. We already had a thriving wholesale sideline in herbs grown in four-inch pots, so we sold those too. We listened to our customers requests for plants they couldnt find. Alice had a good memory then, so she didnt have to take notes.

The next year, Brian built a simple stand near the road, with a plywood counter, a lattice roof, and some wooden shelves for flats of plants. That summer we erected our first aluminum hoop house to overwinter perennials. That spring Emma compliantly rode on Alices back in a frame carrier most of the day. A sun hat kept her face in the shade, but she had very well-tanned limbs. Fortunately, she was not only a light baby, but also a cheerful one.

Early on, it became clear to us that if we were going to survive as a retail business in a remote location, we were going to have to offer something unusual. A small newspaper ad we ran during the late 1980s said simply: Were not on the way to anywhere, but youll be glad you came. We spent winters combing catalogs for plants wed never grown, many wed never heard of.

It wasnt long before we became intrigued by the many annual plants no one seemed to grow anymore. Our friendships with several veteran gardeners were instrumental in the development of this interest.

Esther Colburn grew up in the hills of Shelburne Falls, then married and settled with her husband in our valley for the remaining 70 years of her life. An accomplished painter and amateur naturalist our daughter Leah still remembers her demonstrations of how to stand very still with birdseed on your outstretched palms to attract chickadees Esther was also an accomplished gardener who was curious about the world around her to the very end of her life.

Despite the challenges of visiting with two children under three, visiting Esther brought alive a period in gardening history that Alice had previously known nothing about. Esther remembered decades before, when perennial plants had been popular, and pointed out her Macleaya cordata romping happily in the shade. That shade was simply the result of small trees she had once planted in her yard. While batches of hazelnut cookies baked in the oven, she introduced Alice to stacks of old catalogs from Logees Greenhouses dating back to the 1920s. Esther had always started her own moonflowers indoors, and recounted planting obscure plants for dried flowers in the forties.

Our friendship with Esther was a brief one she died soon after her 90th birthday but the influence of her friendship was enormous. We began to collect old seed catalogs, especially those from the Victorian era, when the populations of both England and the United States were smitten with botanical diversity and everyone wanted pieces of the newly discovered world in their own backyard.

At about the same time, we met Elsa Bakalar, a well-known gardener and the author of