At this point I'm guessing there aren't any block island gardeners. Or any that are willing to identify themselves.

Pixie lou I agree. I just thought that there might be some interesting gardening going on there, as it's a solid zone 7 location. Maybe I'll go there when the weather is warm and see for myself.

{{gwi:5901}}

And don't forget about all the bird species they have there, that would have been interesting too. Oh well, maybe we'll see someone from Block Island at some point.

When i was a kid,I was at Allen Haskell's in New Bedford one day. He had some passion flower vines for sale and I remember asking him if they are hardy in this area. He said: "maybe in a south facing, partially enclosed courtyard on Block Island or Nantucket". I took that as a no! I have been in this area for decades but have never been to Block Island. A day trip is in order.

Rockman, there are some passion flowers that are hardy here. P. incarnata, commonly called "Maypop" is hardy in zone 6 and even zone 5. Another hybrid called "Incense" is hardy to zone 6. I'm sure they wouldn't mind a protected spot, especially from wind, but if you like them, you should try one. I don't think they're all that expensive.

{{gwi:5901}}

Oh, wow….finally! lol So happy to see a block Island gardener here!

How is the weather there on Block Island? Did you get a lot of snow this winter?

Maybe you have some photos of your garden? We would all love to see them, being starved for the sight of something green.

Welcome to the forum! :-)

LOL, I know right I looked at the date and was like wow that is from a while ago.

The weather is snowy right now, we got about three inches last night. Very unusual snowy and cold winter hoping my zone 7 plants made it. I know some of the unwrapped rosemary did not. I ended up putting hay around the paper bush because I knew it was going to be a cold one. The jasmine is up against the backside of the greenhouse so it should be ok.

Front full sun perennial bed, followed by shade garden, and herb garden.

Notice the heavy fencing in place in most of the photos. We have a serious deer problem, this year they actually put a bounty on them for hunting season. They still managed to break into the garden and eat all my veggies in the back, despite the fence.

Emmereck, what a lovely garden! I love all your Bulbs and the Peony in your first photo. It looks very lush and established. Is that a gold dicentra in the second photo? And a Hellebore? Orange and purple together is always so striking, that's a nice stand of poppies.

I'm not a zone pusher and I actually will often try to purchase plants that are one zone colder than mine. Bill on the other hand, loves to push the zones and has a lot of borderline plants in his garden. My worry this year, is because of the extended very cold temperatures with wind chill that we had in December and January before we had any snow cover. It will be interesting to see what we all end up with.

Sorry to hear about the deer eating your vegetable garden. It's a lot of work to produce veggies and you wait all year for them, so it has to be very frustrating. I don't have a deer issue, so I don't have any suggestions for keeping them out.

Well welcome to the forum again and if you notice there is an ongoing 'Show us your garden' thread that everyone posts to on a regular basis and a 'Bird and Wildlife' thread that is also ongoing that is pretty active.

Thank you, these gardens for me are a labor of love. I moved into this tiny little house about 7 years ago with an overgrown hill in the backyard. It was covered in blackberries, viburnum, poison ivy, and rosa multiflora and abutted a construction yard. I started clearing the hill. I left a few strategic viburnums and found some winter berry and wild blueberries amidst the tangle. Through the years I put stone retaining walls in (easy to find rocks next to a construction yard), a greenhouse, and of course a super duty fence. Seems like all the hard work and having poison ivy for a year straight paid off.

That is a gold heart dicentra, it finally took off last spring after two years of limping along. The Hellebores has done so well I ordered a few more and the poppies are amazing. I had one that had 37 buds on a single plant last year. For some reason I lost all my pink ones but I did get a few that seeded into the bed. Should be interesting to see what color the babies bloom this spring.

I hope all your plants make it, that is usually the kind of winter we have, perhaps we traded? Normally, it is cold and blowing all the time with no snow, really does a number on the plants. Hope he wrapped them up in burlap or covered them with some hay. If I see extremely cold temps coming I run out and cover all my tender plants.

I did not see that going to have to go find it now. Can't wait to share spring with everyone in a couple of weeks. I feel very tempted to put up pics of the greenhouse babies, hoping for some snowdrops soon. Thanks for the warm welcome prairiemoon2.

emmerick, Welcome to the forum! I posted a message yesterday to welcome you and comment, and I also asked if you could post photos when you had a chance. For some reason, that post has vanished. In any case, I like your garden. I like the poppies, and I was jus t thinking last week about getting some for my garden, and some more irises. I had poppies for years, and for some reason they had died off slowly until I was without them. Then I did the beds over and I guess I just forgot about poppies. I may have a lot of room in the beds if all my camellias die! I have one large camellia that's about 15 years old, 7+ feet high and 6 feet wide. It's obviously survived a lot of winters, but this year has been brutal. My only hope is that 5+ foot snowdrifts may have protected the lower part of the plant, so it may come back from the thicker wood. Right now they all look green, but it's been my experience that once the weather warms up, is when the damage shows.

Once again, welcome, and please keep us informed about your garden. Have you ever tried a Windmill palm (trachycarpus fortuneii or wagnerianus?) I had one that grew very well for three years, but it didn't make it in 2012-2013 winter.

Hi Emmerick, I have never been to Block Island, but everything I’ve heard about it is appealing. I wonder if you do any bird watching? I heard you are on a migratory route for many birds.

You have done a LOT of work there! And I can’t imagine having poison ivy for a solid year. Wow. Did you get rid of the blackberries? I was warned about planting blackberries, because they are so difficult to get rid of. Of course, they are delicious for jam though. My favorite.

It’s a great satisfaction to see the results of all that hard work, I imagine. Have you had help?

I didn’t realize a poppy could have 37 buds. Hellebores are one of my favorites for spring and they have so many new doubles that are so pretty. I wonder, are you close enough to the ocean to have to consider the salt when choosing plants?

We laid down a good layer of chopped leaves in late fall, and I don’t have any plants that are really what I consider tender, so I should be in pretty good shape come spring. Roses are always on my mind with this kind of a winter, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Would love to see your photos of greenhouse babies and to hear what you’ve planted. I’m sure everyone is starved to see something green and growing. [g]

Bill - great looking Windmill Palm! Hope that makes it through the winter. And it would be very sad if you lost those gorgeous Camellias!

Bill - I confess you were giving me Camellia envy. I almost ordered one but went with a Gardenia instead for my new lower bed. I love things that they have fragrance, so tempting though the Camellia was the Gardenia won out.

I am not fond of palms/tropical looking plants unless dedicating a whole bed to them. Since my garden is mostly reminiscent of a cottage garden I don't think I could get away with it. Always a thought for future gardening experimentation. I do have quiet a few clients...

My newest addition for the spring.

http://avantgardensne.com/gardenia-jasminoides-summer-snow-pp

Prairiemoon2- I do occasionally dabble in bird watching. My sister who lives out here is a serious bird watcher/artist. So when she or I see something we have to call each other. Last year it was the Curlew, white, and glossy Ibis. The year before I was waiting to start a gardening job and had parked my truck when a flash of blue flitted across my vision. I immediately called her and after conferencing back and forth while the bird seemed to almost pose for me, it was confirmed as a blue grosbeak. Also spotted that week, although common elsewhere, was the indigo bunting.

The blackberries are gone, I think weeds live in fear of me. I dug some giant pits to get the roots out my current battle is the invasion of the green briar/knotweed. My husband just shakes his head when the "destroyer" comes out. Yes, I named my long socket husky shovel, every good tool needs a name.

I don't have help usually although I do sometimes trade off work with friends. Every fall I head out for the manure and seaweed runs. Since I am the only one in the friend group with a 4wd drive truck I get some IOUs. Comes in handy in the spring for mulching or rock wall building.

The only time that I, personally, have to worry about salt is when we get early northeasters in the fall or hurricanes. Some of my clients are right on the bluffs so it can be hard to find plants that stand up to coastal conditions and that deer don't eat.

Will try to get some pics going of the greenhouse on Sunday. So far I have cabbage, kale, sprouts, and onions up. I just put peppers on the heat mat and a few cells of celery going. A couple more weeks and the tomatoes and eggplants will get their turn.

What do you have going, any seedlings started, stratification projects, cuttings? Do tell, I am the only serious flower gardener in my group so it would be nice to hear.

Emmerick, I love Gardenias too and they were my Mother’s favorite flower. My husband is not enthralled with gardening, so I’ve tried to find some plant or aspect of gardening that might interest him, and I finally discovered that he really appreciates fragrant plants, so I’ve focused on adding as many as I can to the garden. I'd like to hear how you like that variety of Gardenia.

I am impressed that you were able to rid your yard of blackberries! Sounds like a lot of determination and a healthy back. :-)

In my neighborhood, I see the usual common birds. I'm happy if I see a large woodpecker or an oriole. Nothing exotic like a Curlew or a Blue Grosbeak. We don't even get bluebirds or hummingbirds. So you are lucky!

I winter sowed a minimal amount of containers in the last couple of weeks. I just couldn’t do a light set up in the house this year. I’ve sown brassicas and onions and tomatoes and peppers, caraway, and other herbs and hope they will sprout soon enough to make it worthwhile. Otherwise, I might supplement with nursery grown. I plan on starting pea seeds in flats in a couple of weeks, instead of waiting for bare ground.

This year, I’m trying some new varieties of Snapdragon that are tall and fragrant, along with violas, nicotiana, gazania and a few others. I’m focused on adding more for pollinators and plan on using Zinnia, Sunflower, Calendula etc., direct sown. Not very exotic. [g]

I have some Cimicifuga seed I collected last fall, that I haven’t sown yet, and trying to figure a way around having to follow the lengthy and iffy directions on germinating those. I’m probably just going to winter sow them and wait them out.

I’m planning on moving just about every plant in one of my beds this spring because we expanded one side of it with a lasagna bed in the Fall and I want to rearrange everything. Aside from that, I see a lot of pruning needed after all the snow coming off the roof on my foundation shrubs.

That’s about all I’m doing. I try to take the winter off from gardening at least until it’s time to get ready for spring. I used to do lots of houseplants, and I tried taking cuttings from summer container plants and that was fun, but, I realized how much I benefit from a few months with minimal gardening.

I can’t wait for spring weather!

The peppers are up, such excitement and it is a whole 38 degrees. I have made plans to prune my Greenling apple for Sunday and get the Brassicas and onions moved out to the greenhouse. I think spring is here better get my game face on.

I ended up getting the sauce apple tree in the yard pruned and the grapes done as well last Sunday. My husband shoveled out the fire pit and got a fire going. I have Russian olives in the main shade garden and they had lost quite a few branches in the last storm. We got them all cut down to size and burned them as well as the pruned material. While he was finishing up I went over to the construction yard and picked out a few rocks. I managed to get two over to my yard before I felt like I had been run over by a truck. Still getting over a cold and that day set me back about 2 more.

I was so tired I kind of ended up crashing on the couch, hence no pictures. Will try to remember this Sunday when I clean out the greenhouse and get the babies in.

I just checked on my tree peony seeds that I have stratifying in the back boiler room at the gas station. The outer seed coat is breaking down, hoping to see some roots soon.

I have some re-arranging to do as well. I need to move a butterfly bush, a grass, put in some rhododendrons, move iris around... the general hoopla. I also ordered a black lace Sambucus that I had totally forgotten about. Where to stick it?

Somehow I don't think this year I am getting my potatoes and peas in on St. Patties. 18inches of frost in the ground does not an early spring make.

Hi Emmerick - Sorry you’ve had a cold. Hard to escape getting something this winter. My husband has been home sick and just went back to work today. Takes awhile to get all your stamina back.

It’s warm here today too, although gray. We’ve been lucky to only get a couple of inches in the last snowfall and it was warm enough for it to quickly melt.

Can you believe that Daylight Savings Time is this coming Saturday? You are right, garden season is just about here.

You have a fire pit, do you enjoy it? Do you have to have a permit for a fire?

I have been considering grapes. I had started some from seed, just as a fun project but after it grew large enough for grapes they were diseased. I grow organically, so I won’t grow anything that requires spraying of any kind so I ripped them out. I’ve been told that happens a lot with seed grown, so I’d want to get a cutting of something disease resistant.

I had Sambucus ‘Sutherland Gold’ but it didn’t work out well for me. ‘Black Lace’ is very pretty.

Do you start seeds just for yourself or do you start some for your clients? Like the tree peony seeds?

What kind of peas and potatoes do you grow?

Looking forward to photos of your seedlings. :-)

It has been so warm out these past couple of days that I have really gotten into the gardening spirit.

To answer your question, no we don't have a permit nor are we required to have one. You do have to have permits for beach fires otherwise, if conditions are dangerous, the fire chief will put out a fire ban for the whole island .

I never knew that about grapes, my Concords were supposed to be seedless. Imagine my surprise when I went to eat them and nearly broke my teeth on the seeds. That is what I get for buying Job lot grapes.

I start seeds for my clients and for myself. Same with babies I find when I am out weeding. I have certainly found plenty of things growing on their own and potted them up into my nursery. Spirea are notorious for rooting anytime they touch the ground and I happily separate them and move the extras around. If I have a certain place in my garden that I want to put them I keep them and the rest goes to whomever. Going to divide up my purple iris this summer thinking of giving quite a few of those away.

This years potato selection is as follows, Purple Peruvian, Blossom, French Fingerling, and Merlot. The peas are the ever favorite Sugar Snap and Golden Sweet.

The first photo is my office at the gas station, so far we have Ruby King, Chocolate, and Cayenne peppers, Ping Tung long, Oriental Express, and Gretel eggplants, and Tall Utah celery on the heat mat.

And these are Yellow onion of Parma.

Hi Emmerick - Such a neat little light setup you have there in your office. And I like the orchid in front of the window. What is to the left of the orchid?

Interesting varieties. I looked up Ruby King Red pepper and Seed Savers has it. I like that company. Have you grown it long? I’m always looking for a new pepper variety. I’m growing Jimmy Nardello, Carmen, Odessa Market, and Gilboa. They’re all new to me this year.

Nice to have a greenhouse. Yellow onion of Parma - another Seed Savers. I had forgotten about that company, actually, since discovering FEDCO, but I’ll have to check them out again. Your onion seedlings look great!

Red Mammoth is a nice cabbage. I tried a miniature last year, called ‘Gonzales’. There’s only two of us at home and I am the one that enjoys cabbage. I loved it! They only took up about 10 inches of space, and were the size of softballs. One cabbage made one large bowl of cole slaw with no leftovers. I’m growing it again this year. I wish I could find a miniature red cabbage.

I love Concord grapes. It reminds me of my childhood, we had a neighbor who grew them. They make great jelly.

Potting up babies, is something I never do, but since you have gardening clients, I can see the advantage of that. I love the idea of dividing and increasing what I have, and it always goes on my to do list for spring, but I have too many jobs on the list and dividing seems to always be a lower priority and I don’t always get to it.

I have a small collection of epimedium that I hope to divide this spring. I would love to double the number of plants I have. It will be a higher priority this year.

I haven’t tried potatoes yet. One of these years I will. I’ve heard the fingerlings and the purples are great. Love the names of your varieties.

You are already in gardening mode, indoors? Do you still have snow?

Hah, my gardening friend asked me the same thing. What is that next to your orchid, another orchid! It is a Dendrobium orchid that someone knew nothing about and so gave it to me. I got it in rather rough shape, hope I can save it.

I grow all seeds in the packet until they are out and then decide if I want a new variety. I am finishing up the Ruby King and Chocolate seeds this year, they performed well. They had so many peppers on them the poor plants were falling over. Well before the deer got them ;)

I have never ordered from FEDCO might have to give it a try. I used up most of my seeds, from previous years, so it is time to order up some new things. If you have any recommendations for almost any veggie would love to know.

I am definitely gardening indoors right now, but the snow is almost gone. Monday will be the kickoff to the gardening season. I will be heading out with my crew to cut down grasses, Buddleia, Perovskia, spirea, and prune blueberry bushes. I think the Sunday before I will spend doing tool maintenance. I already started sharpening all my pruning tools but the shovel handles and such could use a bit of sandpaper and linseed oil.

I had to go back and look at your photo again - I think I can imagine an orchid there. :-)

I hope you are able to restore it. Next time I get an orchid, I’ll have to ask you for advice.

Peppers - I’m not a good example of great varieties of peppers, because I grow in about 6 hours of sun, so if a pepper doesn’t do well for me, I can always blame it on that. One that does come to mind is 'Gypsy' which produced better than most for me, even in less than full sun.

‘Sungold’ of course, is everyone’s favorite cherry tomato.

My best find recently was also from FEDCO - last year I tried their ‘Ministro’ Cucumber and we were sick of cucumbers by the end of the season. [g] I hadn’t grown cucumbers for a few years, because of the squash bug and because I didn’t have room, but now I have large trellises and they did great and were very healthy,

Ministro Cucumber

Yesterday, for the first time, I could see the corner of one of the vegetable beds, sticking out from the snow. Still have a ton of it.

I’d love to know how you sharpen your tools? What do you use to accomplish that? I can already see I am going to have a ton of pruning to do, when I can actually walk around the garden.

Do you ever grow Sunflowers? I'm trying to find a variety that I like. I want something that is between 6-8ft tall, that branches, with an attractive habit of growth. I am trying 'Strawberry Blonde', 'Moulin Rouge' and 'Buttercream' this year.

I love giving gardening advice, I am an MG here in RI, so part of the requirement. :)

The orchid is about to bloom will see if I can get a pic of it.

I really do not like cherry tomatoes and consider them the bane of the vegetable garden. My friends all think I am crazy for this but I never manage to clean up all the dropped tomatoes and it drives me nuts. I grown a lot of heirloom beef stake and paste varieties. I tried out quite a lot before settling on German Pink as one of my top favorites.

I have a large metal file that I use to sharpen all my pruners as well as the edges on all the shovels. You can get them at almost any home improvement/gardening store. You want to run the file along the edge of the blade at the SAME angle as the edge in long strokes. The edge will turn bright/shiny, make sure to run the file against the flat side as well. Hold the file flat with the back flat edge to trim off burrs after you are finished with the angled cutting side. For wooden handle maintenance, run a piece of sandpaper over the handle and wipe down with linseed oil. Store tools over winter with the blades in a bucket filled with sand and oil.

I tend to grow Lemon Queen sunflowers as they have a lot of pollen and I participate in bee counting studies. They are about 6-8 ft with a good branching habit and pale yellow flowers. My mom always grows Velvet Queen which has a similar growth pattern.

But the most exciting news ever, I stuck a shovel in the ground last night, all the way. Going to go home this afternoon and start putting in a rock retaining wall and digging post holes. Almost can't stand to be working at the station this morning, should have called in sick.

Emmerick, I read where you mention that you're not fond of palms or tropical looking plants unless you have a whole bed for them, and how you prefer the cottage garden look. I also see where you are a MG, so I'm wondering if you've ever been to England. I have been a few times, and although England is pretty much the birthplace of the cottage garden look, certain plants of a tropical look, including palms (primarily Trachycarpus or "Windmill Palms") are very common there. I also saw many large-leaf types of plants such as Gunnera and others. I saw them at Kew Gardens, RHS Gardens at Wisley and several private homes and even some of the many small parks in the Kensington area. Somehow they look right at home among the other plants. Perhaps it's the contrast that makes it work there.

Bill - You’re a lucky duck to have been to England. That is the number one place I would like to go outside of this country. Although I imagine I have built it up in my mind, I would love to see the gardens there.

Emmerick - I grow vegetables in 6 hrs of sun in my back beds, and cherries do better for me than large tomatoes and we all love the taste for such a small tomato. And actually, on the Cornell website, the most reviewed and recommended tomato is Sungold Cherry. I am trying a couple of large tomato plants in my front perennial garden this year and I hope that works out. I'll have to add German Pink to the list.

Thanks for sharing your method of sharpening. I have a little mini diamond hone that I use, I’ll have to look into getting a large file. Good tips.

I’ve been focused on adding plants that attract pollinators this year, so I’m glad to know Lemon Queen has pollen. I guess I’ve chosen all pollen-less varieties so far. I’ll have to do better next year and look for LQ and VQ.

That’s amazing that your ground is workable already. I tried to stick a soil thermometer in my vegetable bed yesterday and it’s still frozen. Have fun working outside!

Bill- I have been to England, unfortunately I was a child and so did not get to choose what I got to see. I remember the cathedrals and castles in London very well, now I would go see the gardens. It is on my bucket list and the MGs always have a trip to the Chelsea flower show. I drool over going, hem and haw, but can't come up with the money. Maybe some day when I retire and can travel. You are blessed to have been able to go.

I do like Gunnera and have been thinking of putting it down by the marsh and letting it run wild. It is the leaf shape/texture for me. The thick leathery shiny leaves just turn me off to most "tropical" plants. That is not to say I dislike all of them there are some magnificent plants.

Prairie moon- I know most people love their cherries just can't seem to feel the love.

Time to get out the meat thermometer and check the soil temp. I have some plants coming in the mail today. Might have to put them in the greenhouse for now but 50s tomorrow.

Happy gardening to you to.