The Joy of Autumn!

Hi everyone! I feel so lucky to live here on the east coast of the US for several reasons, but my number one reason is the changing of the seasons that we enjoy here in Delaware. The burst of colors and growth in the spring, the bright, vibrant colors of the summer, and yes, even the snowy days of winter make living here so wonderful, but my favorite season of the year must be autumn when the landscape around us is getting ready for a long winter sleep so we can have that gorgeous green of spring each year. Why is autumn my favorite season, you ask? First and foremost is the knowledge that this is the time that plants begin to shut down and ready themselves for the long winter ahead. Perennial plants die back to their roots, annuals spread their seeds in anticipation of a new generation before dying, and trees and shrubs show off their wonderful colors that lurk under all that green produced by their chloroplasts. Yes, I know, this is a magical time of year but what is even more magical is what really happens when the reds, yellow, oranges and browns of autumn make our forests and fields so beautiful that people will actually take vacations to go 'leaf peeping'.
But what 'makes' the trees turn color? What happens to the leaves to make them 'turn colors'? How does this happen? All good questions and I hope I can answer a few of them today!
Why do trees and shrubs turn colors? Have you ever noticed that no matter what weather does in the fall, the leaves of trees and shrubs start to turn colors and fall off always around the same time each year? September and October temperatures can be in the 80s but the leaves always begin to change color or fall off the trees. Is it so the 'leaf peepers' can book their vacations for the same week year after year? Does the amount of rain in the spring and summer affect the timing of this change? Well, the actual ways and means of color change in trees and shrubs, and some perennial plants, are complicated and include many chemical and biological processes inside the plant. The actual processes and cycles are not important to those of us who love to watch the leave turn colors and simply put, most deciduous plants follow a biological timeline that is based on day length. Long days and short nights help plants to grow while short days and long nights cause plants to begin to shut down growth and ready themselves for a long winter sleep. The green that you see in plant leaves is a result of the huge amounts of chlorophyll being produced during the spring and summer by the chloroplasts that are present in all growing plant cells. There is so much chlorophyll being produced that it masks the other colors that are always present in all plant cells.
Carotenoids are present in the chloroplasts along with chlorophyll and produce the yellow, orange, brown colors in fruits and flowers like bananas, daffodils, corn, and carrots. These colors can be readily seen in fruits and flowers because they are part of the reproductive system and not the vegetative system, and don't produce chlorophyll in their cells.
Anthocyanins, flavonoids that give red apples, cranberries, blueberries and plums their blue/red colors are found in all plant cells but increase dramatically in leaves during the fall months in response to large amounts of stored sugar in the leaves and the bright light of fall.
So, as the days get shorter and the nights get longer, chlorophyll production is reduced and the sugar that accumulates in the leaves begin their trip down to the roots for winter storage. Leaf veins begin to close up and the overload of sugar eventually becomes 'stuck' in the leaves as the veins shut down. This over-abundance of sugars in the dying leaves causes the anthocyanins to go into overtime production and suddenly leaves begin to turn red, crimson, and purplish/red. As chlorophyll production decreases, the colors of carotenoids become apparent and suddenly trees and shrubs are covered in bright reds, yellows, oranges and every color in-between.
Other conditions must be present for good fall color, including good rainfall in the summer and early fall. This allows for excellent sugar production and increases the red and purple colors of fall foliage. Good sunlight and cool nights can help the increase of yellows and oranges, but daylight length is number one in the production of this wonderful show that Mother Nature puts on every fall.
So...the next time you look at those wonderful fall leaves or pick up a bright red maple leaf or wonder at the beauty of a yellow hickory leaf - remember how those wonderful colors were produced - and realize how magical a plant really is to the planet. Not because of the colors of the leaves or how it looks in our landscape, but how it keeps us alive by producing all of that sugar and oxygen that keeps us eating and breathing every day.
Magic is magic even when you know how it happens!
Until next time - get out there and enjoy the world around you!

Friends and Family

Hi everyone,
I am glad to be posting again after a long and sometimes scary summer, but first I must talk about a friend I just lost last night. I have been affiliated with the University of Delaware for many years, at first as an employee and then as a student in the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences. A few years ago a fellow came to work in the botanic gardens that surrounds the College of Ag. He was a retired landscaper and was one of the funniest and kindest people I have ever met. He loved being outside working in the gardens and always made you laugh, even when you didn't feel like laughing. He passed away last night while being treated for an illness and has left those of us who knew him in shock. I will miss you, Howard, with your funny jokes and happy smile. I was not as close to him as others at the greenhouse and I know they are mourning the loss of this kind and gentle man today. I truly feel he is in a better place, free from sickness. Howard, I wish you weed-free and beautiful gardens, my friend. God speed..

Whew! It has been a long year!

Hi everyone! Just a note to let you know that I AM BACK! I will be posting again in the next few days. It has been a long, stressful year but things are looking up again! I will post a longer blog tomorrow but I am back and will br posting again about native plants, antiques and talking about my updated website, so be sure to come on back on Monday, September 26th for all of the info on what has been going on around here!
Thanks for sticking with me!!
Susan

March! March! March! OR This Is What The Flower Show Does To You!

Hi everyone! Well, I haven't been hibernating or snuggling in bed! Oh No! I have been working on our Philadelphia Flower Show display! We are counting down the weeks until the Philadelphia Flower Show and there are only 5 weeks left before judging! Even though our display will be concentrating on the outside of our house, I have to make sure that there is furniture and interesting things inside the little house because you will be able to see inside the windows of the first floor. We will have a huge library room and a big kitchen with a walk-in fireplace that all need to be designed and then put together. For the last three days (OK-probably more than three days!), I have been working on the library wall, including the books for the library shelves, the fireplace surround and the pictures to go over the mantel. The kit that we bought as our starting point for the display included some of the interior details; one of which was the paneled library wall. I assembled the pieces and then started to re-work the design to fit our historic home. After assembling the wall and adding my own touches, the entire wall had to be stained - that was a BIG job! No really, it was! I had to pick a stain color that would not overpower the tiny wall but still be the correct color for an old wooden surround that had mellowed over the years.Then I had to 'build' the firewall for the fireplace and as you can see in the picture - I did! The wall was built with individual tiny bricks in a herringbone pattern and when completely finished, will have a dark black 'smokey' stain that goes up the back of the fireplace in a pattern that shows that this fireplace has been used for the past 200 years. You can also see the black andirons in the fireplace and I am working on the stack of logs that will go in the fireplace. They will go in at the last minute when we get everything up to Philly on March 6th. There will be some trinkets on the fireplace mantel, along with a clock and maybe some candlesticks. Still haven't picked them out but there is time for that decision.I also added two pictures to the area over the mantel and they are of real early American portraits from the 1800's. The library also has to have books! Lots of leather bound books of all description! Don't they look great? I will let you in on a little secret! They are pictures of books that I printed off and then put on wood backings!
I love doing this kind of stuff! And last but not least! I am adding a picture to show you the actual size of this 'library wall'! It really only stands 9" tall and 13" wide which would be 9 feet tall and 13 feet wide in a real house - remember - this is a 1'/1" ratio so we have to be careful of our sizes. Now it's back to the workbench and the next project - the kitchen!

The March Towards The Flower Show Continues!

So, our march towards the Flower Show continues! In this first picture, the siding is on and the 'first' front door is on. The next step is to paint the siding and the first of several coats is put on the house.As we continue to work on the house, a roof will be added and shingles will be individually placed on the roof. The shingles will then be stained and then made to look old with the addition of some small areas of mossy stains and some shingles that are darker than the others. Tomorrow, I will start on the shingles and then work on the interior of the house!
Stay tuned!

January Update at Winterberry Farm Primitives!

Our January Update is posted and we have found some great things this month! Boxes in grain paint and red wash and some Canterbury Community Shaker items too! Some 'new' Pennsylvania putz items too!
http://www.winterberryfarmprimitives.com/

It's Almost Here! The 2011 Philadelphia Flower Show!

Yes, it's true! The 2011 Philadelphia Flower Show is just around the corner and we are making our annual trek for the gold in March! Follow our progress as we march towards the March 6th opening of the Flower Show! More info to be posted today on our progress so far and what we hope to achieve! The theme of this year's flower show is 'Springtime in Paris' and the theme of the division that we are competing in is 'Joie de vivre' - the Joy of Living. So, our 'marching orders' for this competition was to concentrate on the joy of living when deciding on our story that we will tell in our display. I don't want to give too much away, just suffice to say that our 'joy of living' will be living in our retirement home, selling antiques, gardening and enjoying life. We started out with an idea of an historic two story colonial in the rolling hills of New Hampshire as our place and an early spring morning as our time of day. We used a spring morning to connect our display to the overall theme of 'Springtime in Paris'. We started out with this dollhouse kit from a miniatures company and decided early on that we didn't want the house to overpower the display SO...we ended up cutting the dollhouse down to a one story house that we will now make into an historic one story cape based on one that actually exists in Connecticut. It is the Elias Sprague House, built in 1821 and located in Coventry, Connecticut. We just moved our 'house' to New Hampshire! Here is the actual historic home and below is the beginning of our 'renovation' of our house. We have cut down the house kit and below you can see pictures of our progress so far. In these last two pictures you can see that I am starting to add the windows and the siding on the little cape. This coming week....finish the siding and windows, then paint, paint, paint!
Oh, and the last picture shows the fireplace in the kitchen, complete with its black cauldron and stack of firewood.
That's all for now! More on our progress later this coming week!

Musings on the Much Maligned Poinsettia

Hi everyone! As I am continuing to remove and pack up all of our Christmas decorations on this cold and windy January day, I have to set the record straight! You can see the poinsettias that we had in our home this Christmas and how beautiful they looked sitting in an old dough box in the livingroom. There are many myths and misconceptions out there about these New World natives that I would like to dispel today. Euphorbia pulcherrima, better known as the poinsettia, is a native of Mexico and Central America. In 1825, the pointsettia was introduced, and named after, Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first US Minister to Mexico. Mr. Poinsett was not only a physician and politician, but an amateur botanist. He found Euphorbia pulcherrima growing in Taxco de Alarcón,a small town in southern Mexico and began to send samples of what the Aztecs used to call 'the most beautiful Euphorbia' back to America in 1825; and by 1836 the plant was known in the United States as the 'poinsettia'. The plant's association with Christmas began in 16th century Mexico, where legend tells of a young girl who was too poor to provide a gift for the celebration of Jesus' birthday. The tale goes that the child was inspired by an angel to gather weeds from the roadside and place them in front of the church altar. Crimson "blossoms" sprouted from the weeds and became beautiful poinsettias. From the 17th century, Franciscan friars in Mexico included the plants in their Christmas celebrations. The star-shaped leaf pattern is said to symbolize the Star of Bethlehem, and the red color represents the blood sacrifice through the crucifixion of Jesus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphorbia_pulcherrima).
Euphorbia pulcherrima, in its native habitat, is a small shrub that can reach a height of 16 feet! It has a height range of 2-16 feet depending on location. In the deciduous tropical forest of the Pacific coastline of Mexico it can grow as tall as 16 feet, while in the hot, seasonally dry forests of the Mexican interior, it will have a much smaller stature. The leaves can range in size from 3 to 6 inches and the colorful bracts have colors that span the red/pink spectrum. I hope you noticed that I used the word 'bract' to describe the colorful red 'petals' that we are all used to seeing on our Christmas poinsettias. Bracts are actually modified leaves that are associated with the reproductive structures of a plant. These bracts can be used by the plant to attract pollinators or as a dispersal agent for seeds. Bracts also grow around and protect the flower as in the picture seen here. The actual flowers of the poinsettia are the tiny little 'knobs' at the center of the bracts and are basically unnecessary for the modern poinsettia plant as all poinsettias in the market are produced through stem cuttings, a form of vegetative reproduction.The bracts of the poinsettia plant are one of the most beautiful and showy in the plant kingdom and here in the United States we have brought this showy leaf, used by the plant to attract pollinators, to a whole new level!
The Ecke family of California held a monopoly on the growth and hybridization of the poinsettia until 1990 because of a secret that led to the compact growth of their poinsettias versus the natural open growth pattern of this Central American shrub. They would graft two poinsettia plants together to make the tighter, more compact plant that we are familiar with today. In the 1990's a university researcher produced the same results using the same technique and then published his findings, thus the secret was out and competition flourished.
Now to the main point of this blog! The poinsettia plant has long been called dangerous, deadly, and poisonous. UNTRUE! That is nothing but a myth and has caused some people to miss the glory of these plants because they are worried about their children or pets eating the plant and dying. It will NOT happen! An article in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine calls the plant 'mildly' irritating to the skin or the stomach and may cause vomiting in severe cases, BUT it also says that a 50 lb child would have to eat 500 BRACTS for a toxic reaction! That would be several plants-worth of bracts! This myth started back in the early 1900s when an urban legend was circulated that a small child died from eating the leaves - UNTRUE! While many of the plants in the Euphorbia genus are toxic, the poinsettia IS NOT TOXIC! So next Christmas - do not fear the cultivated poinsettia but buy as many as you want to have in your home to help celebrate the holidays and remember - please don't malign the sensitive and beautiful poinsettia!

The National Christmas Center in Paradise, PA

Hi everyone! As it gets closer and closer to Christmas Day, we decided to take a break from the craziness of shopping, baking and decorating the house. Within an hour from my house is the one and only National Christmas Center in Paradise. PA. I just love the name 'Paradise'! In many ways, Lancaster County, PA is a little bit of paradise with its large expanses of the farmland and its wonderful dark, black earth. Drive through this area in the early spring when the Amish farmers are turning the soil for planting and you will see a wondrous sight! But I digress! The National Christmas Center is housed in an old restaurant and banquet hall along Rt. 30 in Paradise and is the creation of Jim Morrison, a wonderful man who is looks like the 'Man' himself! I sometimes wonder if Mr. Morrison is around Christmas Eve or does he have another job to go to.....I can remember the old banqueting hall from many years ago and was pleasantly surprised to see the Christmas Center take over this old building that looks like an old Swiss chalet. As you probably know, I am always on the lookout for putz animals, especially sheep, for my Winterberry Farm Primitives customers and decided we had to go to the National Christmas Center because I was told that they have fantastic putz displays. So, off we went and all I can say is Wow! Wonderful, gorgeous, fantastic displays and a live Santa (besides Mr. Morrison) too! They have a recreation of a Woolworth's store and Santa's workshop.
They also have Tudor Towne for all of you who have ever been to the Christiana Mall in Newark, DE. A great place to take the kids if you live close enough and a great place to put on your wish list. The Center is open year round and is just as wonderful in July as it is in December. Now, to the putz displays; Lancaster and Montgomery Counties are two counties in Pennsylvania that were settled, in part, by the Moravians form Germany and Bohemia(Czech Republic)and they brought with them the tradition of putz displays. The word “putz” is from the German word “putzen” which means “to decorate, to adorn a church.” Originally, the putz consisted of wooden, clay, or tin figures arranged to depict the Nativity, the Holy Family, the shepherds, and the three kings. Lititz in Lancaster County and Bethlehem in Montgomery County are two towns where the tradition of the 'putz' continues today. If you go to my shop, http://www.winterberryfarmprimitives.com, this month you will see a complete 19th century putz display set that would have been sold in stores in these two towns for use in either in large public putz displays or in smaller putz displays in private homes. It is a complete set and was probably never or rarely used as it is in remarkable condition.
I had many sleepless nights trying to decide how to sell it - break it up - as many dealers may - or try and keep it together to sell to a single collector? I finally decided, with the help from a friend, to keep it together and see what happened. I was lucky enough to sell it to a collector who promises to keep it together. She collects putz animals and was thrilled to find a set in great condition with its original box! So, I went to the National Christmas Center with great expectations of what I would find and I wasn't disappointed! Below you will see some pictures of a large public display that would have been seen in a church or other public venue. This display is huge and takes up an area that is at least 40-45 feet long by 15-20 feet wide! The 'mountains' in the back of the display are made of gessoed and painted fabric draped to look like mountains and the foreground - where the houses are located are also made from the same type of draped fabric. These displays would take days or weeks to build and would be magnificent in situ! The last picture is of a personal putz display in the front parlor of a home in Pennsylvania. I took these pictures myself, so I apologize in advance but it was a HUGE putz display! Until next time - enjoy and I hope you can make it to the National Christmas Center one day!!