Groff`s Plant Farm

Groff’s Plant Farm
Monday–Friday 9-7
Saturday 9-5 CLOSED SUNDAY
Except for April 19, 26, May 3, 10, 17 and 24 open 12-5 Closed Memorial Day May 25
100 Years
Spring 2015
Several days ago we passed a historic milestone. My great grandfather
moved to this farm on April 1, 1915. His was the typical farm of his day with a little
of this and a little of that, a few cows and tobacco as a cash crop. My grandfather
told of using a team to deliver the few cans of milk to the train station at White Rock
near the present Groundhog Lodge before school each day.
Nearly 30 years later my grandfather bought the farm at market price which
had increased a mere $500 in that time. My grandfather started to plant fruit trees
in the spring of 1944 a few months after Dad was born. They moved here in the
spring of 1945.
While waiting for the orchard to develop, my grandfather raised chickens and
grew mostly corn. By the time Dad was school age he manned the store, selling
mostly peaches while my grandparents did the picking. The orchard grew slowly
until 1967 when Dad and Uncle Jim took the farm.
Great-grandmother Groff, who inspired a love of gardening in Dad.
They swung back into cattle and crops while increasing the orchard a bit
and adding a few strawberries and vegetables until they separated in 1976 the year I was born. Dad then aggressively developed an orchard and produce retail business on the farm. The first greenhouse for vegetable starts,
and bedding plants was erected that same year.
A few more greenhouses were quickly added where I spent much of my childhood playing, but remained a
minor component until changing habits, improved transportation and refrigeration changed the orchard business.
Some real estate was sold in 1991 and Dad went back to teaching high school math, and selling farm supplies for 352 days until he started reassembling several greenhouses. Our current business opened on April 1,
1993 and has grown to what you see. My husband and I returned in 2006, assumed management in 2010 and
purchased the farm in 2012.
Dad will quickly admit that his love of plants developed in his grandmother’s garden. He arranged for my
grandmother to visit the greenhouses in the spring of 2006 a few weeks before she died at age 100. She said, if
only great grandmother could see this. One hundred years is a long time, but we are linked by a thread that
reaches across the generations.
PHOTO CONTEST
Thanks to all who submitted photos for our contest last fall.
Congratulations to our winners who received Groff’s gift certificates. Pictures are hanging in the store for all who want a little
inspiration!
Hosta ‘Appletini’
Best Photo
1. Nancy Reynolds, Colora,MD
Best Garden
1. Jean Kaufman, Strasburg, PA
2. Yvonne Enck, Ephrata, PA
3. Bessie Friend, Jarretsville, MD
2. Lynne Shirley, New London, PA
3. Kristen Thomas, Lancaster, PA
We are excited to offer a wide
selection of new mini hostas.
Find us at:
Groff’s Plant Farm
6128 Street Rd, Kirkwood, PA 17536
717-529-3001 or groffsplantfarm.com
Recognizing Friends at All Stages
There is no better friend to a gardener than beneficial predator insects and pollinators. The key is identification of the life cycles of the beneficials that naturally occur in our gardens so they don’t get sprayed or squished by
mistake. Most insects go through three life stages; egg, larvae, then a pupation to adult. The length of a life cycle depends on species, temperature and time of year. Most insects go from egg to adult in less than a month. Insect
predators are active hunters in the juvenile stage, and many feed on a
variety of harmful insects.
Lady bird beetles, or lady bugs are the most well-known. There
are over 450 species native to the US.
beetle-are bug eating machines.
All but one, the Mexican bean
An adult lady bug eats around 50
aphids a day- but the larvae are even more voracious. They can eat over
400 aphids in the two-week period between when the egg hatches and
the larvae pupates. They also eat scale, whiteflies and a variety of mites.
The larvae look nothing like its mother, however. They cannot fly, and
resemble fuzzy red-and-black alligators. The eggs also have a distinctive
shape.
Life cycle of Lady bug. Photo credit UCDavis.
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/
leaves.
Yellow oblong torpedoes cling in a cluster to the underside of
Adults usually lay their eggs on aphid-infested leaves so when
their babies hatch, adequate food is nearby.
Praying mantises are great fun to find in the garden. Much larger than lady bird beetles, they have triangular
heads, and elongated bodies with arms bent in a “prayer” position. They should be called “preying” mantises because
these insects hungrily feed on harmful moths, grasshoppers and crickets. When fully-grown they can even manage
mice. Adult mantises lay their eggs in the fall in groups of 100-400 on a shrub branch or perennial stem. The eggs
form a round light brown casing called an ootheca. My 9-year-old, Liam, is especially good at finding these. This
case protects them from the elements over the winter.
When temperatures warm in the spring, the egg case cracks
open and the nymphs emerge in search of something to eat.
Unlike lady bug larvae, praying mantis nymphs looks similar to their adult form, just smaller. They molt six
times, shedding their exoskeletons, and progressively growing larger until they reach adult size. At this point they
mate, the female famously bites the male’s head off, and the whole thing begins again.
Green lacewings are identifiable by their long, thin green bodies, golden eyes, and large lacy wings.
The
adults are short lived and feed on nectar. The larvae are generalist predators, feeding on mealy bugs, aphids, thrips,
mites and whiteflies. Often called “aphidlions” they resemble lady bug larvae, like tiny brown and yellow alligators
with prominent pincher-like mandibles. The larvae feed for 2-3 weeks, then spin a cocoon on the bottom of a leaf.
Four days later adults emerge.
Adult female green lacewings lay up to 400 eggs in their lifetime. The small light green-yellow eggs are suspended at the ends of slender stalks attached singly or small clusters on undersides of leaves. Green lacewings are
sold commercially as eggs, but shouldn’t be released until larvae have hatched. But I bet if you look on the undersides of leaves in your garden this spring, you will see their unmistakable eggs.
Eastern Black Swallowtail butterflies may not garner as much attention as the plight of the monarchs, but I
love swallowtails. They don’t migrate- so generally they are one of the first butterflies we see in the late spring.
They have 2-3 broods in a season, usually the third brood overwinters in its chrysalis to emerge in the spring. The
adults drink nectar from a variety of flowers, but the larva or caterpillars, like to eat members of the carrot family.
Adults lay eggs singly on leaves of Queen Anne’s Lace, parsley, dill or fennel. The caterpillars are white and black
striped with yellow spots. I’ll never forget the customer who lamented she couldn’t grow parsley because the caterpillars ate it all, so she squished them as fast as she could. Please don’t do that. If you want parsley and butterfliesplant extra.
I am out of room, but there are descriptions of several other helpful garden insects and spiders on the website
groffsplantfarm.com in the articles section.
Impatiens– Yes or No?
How about maybe? Reports about the impatiens
downy mildew fungus from last summer suggest the disease is still here, and spreading further west and north.
However, gardeners with impatiens in pots or hanging
baskets (ie not in the ground) fared better then those in
garden soil.
Breeders have been busy trying to breed for resistance, and Ball introduced the Bounce series at last summer’s trials across the country. This spring they are for
sale. They resemble New Guineas and undoubtedly have
some Impatiens x hawkerii genetics in them.
Guinea
impatiens
are
New
com-
New Impatiens ‘Bounce Pink Flame’ Photo credit AAS.
pletely resistant to the disease.
We are growing some of the Fiesta double impatiens, and the Fusion interspecific
series again this year with a strong caution to grow them in pots as anything with I.
walleriana genes will be susceptible to the fungus.
Browallia ‘Endless Ilumination’
great blue flower for shady beds Many gardeners incorporated coleus, begonias, torenia,
or pots. Photo credit Griffin
browallia and plectranthus in their gardens when the
Greenhouse Supply
impatiens disappeared. We will continue to have good
selections of all of those.
Recipe Corner-
Directions
My family loves this recipe for
Crispy Cajun Chicken with
Bell Pepper Slaw adapted from
America’s Test Kitchen’s Best
Simple Recipes
Ingredients
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 TBSP cider vinegar
1TBSP honey
1 16 oz bag coleslaw mix or 3 cups shredded cabbage and carrot
2 red bell peppers, chopped and seeded
1 TBSP Cajun seasoning
2 cups Panko bread crumbs
FROM THE NORTH:
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.
FROM EAST OR
RT 1:
Exit north onto 472 (away from Oxford). Continue EXACTLY 5 miles, crossing
the reservoir. Turn left onto Street Rd.
1/2 cup vegetable oil
across from the Union Presbyterian Church.
Continue 1.7 miles to the stop sign. Con1. Whisk 1/4 cup mayo, vinegar and honey in a large bowl. Add coleslaw mix
tinue straight and watch for the sign and
and peppers to coat. Season with salt and pepper.
lane on left 1/2 mile
2. Combine Cajun seasoning with remaining mayo in a shallow dish. Place
Better yet: Use the Google Map directions
panko in separate dish. Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Coat chicken with link on our website:
mayo mixture, then dredge in bread crumbs. Pat to adhere.
Groffsplantfarm.com
6 thin boneless skinless chicken breasts (1 1/2 lbs)
3. Heat 1/4 cup oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium. Fry half of cutlets
until golden brown and crisp. 2-3 min per side. Discard oil, add other 1/4 cup
and fry remaining chicken. Serve with slaw.
We are unable to reuse pots any longer.
Please recycle them at home. Thanks!
CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE
Cool Season Annuals
I’ve been thinking a lot about annuals recently, specifically
how to combine them with perennials and using them to extend
early and late season color. There are great, underutilized annuals
that do well in containers and beds this time of year, that will shrug
off a light frost and give some early color before many perennials
have woken up.
Old fashioned favorites like stock (Matthiola incana) and
sweet allysum (Lobularia maritime) are very fragrant and their
color range of pinks, purples and whites pair well with cheery yellows and spring greens of newly-emerging perennial foliage. Plant
these along walkways or in pots where their fragrance can easily be
enjoyed. They may flounder a bit during summer’s heat, so a place
with afternoon shade is best. The recent introduction of a vegetaAntirrhinum ‘Twinny Peach’
tive lobularia ‘Snow Princess’ or ‘Silver Stream’ have made me love
allysum even more.
This sweet-alyssum-on –steroids is extremely
vigorous, and will fill out a hanging basket and even hold it’s own with sweet potato vine or petunias. It is
also more heat tolerant than the seed varieties without losing early season cold hardiness.
Snapdragons come in a variety of heights from the low bedding-type ‘Floral Showers’ series to the 2-3ft
tall ‘Liberty’ to the ‘Rocket’ series that reaches 3-4ft and is best for back of the border or cutting gardens.
Along with the traditional “snap” flower that my kids love to stick their fingers in, the “butterfly” open flower
form of the ‘Twinny’ series is a refreshing change to an old favorite. Plant breeders have been busy and several variegated snapdragons are available from cuttings. The ‘Snapdaddy” series comes in pink and yellow.
Osteospermums, or Cape Daisy as they are sometimes called, hail from Australia. They have only been
on the market for about 15 years and in that time breeders have expanded the color palette and lengthened
the bloom window so they will easily take April’s chilly nights as well as sweltering July days without missing a
beat. The daisy flowers close during cloudy weather or evenings, and breeders
addressed this problem by making double flowered varieties like the ‘3D’ series, that don't close.
If you think stock or sweet allysum are old-fashioned– calendula are
really a throw-back. Pot marigolds, as they are sometimes called, were used
by the ancient Romans as a medicinal plant for skin ailments.
Calendula oil
and teas are available in health food stores. I haven’t tried eating them, but
their cheery yellow or orange
flowers certainly brighten up a dreary spring
day. Calendulas are best for bedding in a sunny area.
Another fantastic fragrant early annual is nemesia. One of the best is
Proven Winners ‘Opal Innocence’. A pale silvery pink flower cluster over clean
green foliage makes a strong companion to purple violas or pansies. Put this
one in pots close to the door where its fragrance will reach you.
A word about violas and pansies.
Nemesia ‘Opal Innocence’
Member of the same genus, violas
have smaller flowers, tend to bloom earlier and are also more heat tolerant. What they lack in flower size
they make up for in vigor and quantity of flowers. Pansies have much larger faces, and come in a wider range
of colors, but tend to be less tolerant of summer’s heat. Both can be planted in spring or fall. We have often
planted violas at the farm in a small bed with tulip bulbs and ornamental cabbage in the fall. Once the cabbage is over about January– we pull that out, and in the spring the violas fill in nicely around the emerging
tulips.
Whatever your fancy– to brighten pots or walkways, try some cool season annuals for a spot of color
this spring.
Comments or Questions? E-mail us at groffsplantfarm@epix.net or call 717-529-3001