Grow Ground Cherries

What are ground cherries? Ground cherries are a delightful bite-size fruit that has a taste, which is somehow a combination of vanilla, pineapple, strawberries, grapes and tomatoes with very mild acidity. Totally weird? Yes. Delicious? Yes! The Aunt Molly variety is particularly delightful.

Ken Green from Hudson Valley Seed Company says, “Many people asked me why they are not more commonly known. Although they have great flavor and are easy to grow, they are not well suited to mechanical harvesting and grocery store shelf life. They are, however, perfect for the grazing gardener.” This is precisely why the Hudson Valley Seed Library is so important, and why partners Doug Muller and Ken Greene, the founders of the seed library, emphasize saving and maintaining heirloom seed varieties and the heritage of our agricultural past.

“Most of our varieties are rooted in the history and soils of New York or are chosen because they do well here.” Muller says, “Every year we plan on growing additional varieties on the Seed Library farm in Accord, NY and contracting with organic and certified naturally grown farmers in the Hudson Valley and upstate New York to grow even more varieties.” Aunt Molly Ground Cherries and other heirloom seeds are available from www.seedlibrary.org and at local independent garden centers, like Victoria Gardens in Rosendale, NY.

How to grow: Ground cherries (Physalis sp.) are a member of the nightshade family, related to tomatoes and tomatillos, and enjoy similar growing conditions. Start your seeds inside the last week in March and transplant at least two plants to ensure pollination in mid-spring into a full sun spot in your garden or containers. Growers recommend either staking the plant to keep the fruit laden plant off the ground or trimming the plants in half after flowering for better production. Ground Cherries thrive in the heat. Treat them as annuals, but like tomatoes, you may get some volunteer seedlings the following year.

How to harvest: The green husks hanging from your Aunt Molly ground cherries will turn tan, and then when the fruit is finally ripe they will…you got it…fall on the ground! We suggest laying two old sheets under the plants when the husks are changing colors, then every couple days, just grab the corners and collect the fruit by bucketful!

How to store: Ground cherries still wrapped in their natural brown husks can be stored in a bowl on the counter for several weeks. Once peeled, the golden yellow fruit will keep in the refrigerator for one or two weeks. You can also freeze the unwrapped fruit on trays overnight and then store them in Ziploc bags the freezer. You can also use a dehydrator and store the dried fruit in airtight containers.

How to eat: We like them sun-warmed right off the ground from the garden, but you can also use them in jam, chutneys, fruit crumbles or pies. You can also toss them whole into green salads with almonds and balsamic vinaigrette, or chop them into a spicy sweet salsa.

See recipe below:


Aunt Molly’s Sweet and Spicy Ground Cherry Salsa


1/2 pint of Aunt Molly ground cherries

2 tbsp chopped red onion

1 Jimmy Nardello red sweet pepper diced

1 tsp Matchbox spicy or or jalapeño pepper diced

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup chopped pineapples or peaches

Cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper to taste

Peel the tan husks off the ground cherries, and rinse the golden yellow fruit. Slice each ground cherry in half. Mix in a bowl with red onion, red pepper, Matchbox or jalapeño pepper, oil, and either ½ cup of chopped pineapples or peaches. Toss together. Tear or chop cilantro leaves and stir into the mixture. Finally salt and pepper to taste, and serve with tortilla chips or use as a topping for quesadillas, white fish, or chicken.

Seeds for growing Aunt Molly ground cherries, Jimmy Nardello red sweet pepper, Matchbox spicy pepper, Tam jalapeño pepper, and many more heirloom vegetables are available from the Hudson Valley Seed Library at www.seedlibrary.com or at independent garden centers, like Victoria Gardens in Rosendale, NY www.victoriagardens.biz.

Early Spring Bloomers: Hellebores

We have been big fans of Hellebores for many years, because they are hardy, deer resistant shade plants, and they are one of the first perennials to bloom late winter/early spring. Many varieties push their delicate blooms up through the snow, and the evergreen foliage is a welcome winter sight. Lucky for us, this year our growers are offering a myriad of new and exciting varieties.

Multiple varieties of hellebore should be in everyone’s garden, after all, who isn’t in desperate need of some landscape color at the end of a tough, brutal winter?

Although they have been very popular, but we still have some of the early spring ladies in stock, 'Rachel', Mary Lou', and 'Rosemary.' Plus we have 'Ivory Prince', 'Josef Lemper', and 'Royal Heritage.' We are getting a new delivery of Hellebores this week, so stop by to make sure you pick up yours.

Tools We Love: Part 2

In March only all tools are 15% off at Victoria Gardens in Rosendale, NY.
Here are some of our favorites to help with container planting:


Japanese Planting Knife – The Garden Warrior:



After you start to use this tool, you will find many more uses for it than you could have imagined. It is an essential, all-purpose tool for transplanting, weeding, cutting, and so much more. “I like it for planting in the garden,” Victoria says, “And also for the potting shed.” The knife can cut open a bag of potting soil, loosen soil in an old container, cut through pot bound roots, and then be used like a trowel. It doesn’t bend or break, even in rockiest, root-choked conditions. It’s a true garden warrior.


You will find 101 uses for these – TubTrugs:



Tubtrugs are lightweight and almost indestructible containers with heavy duty, comfort grip handles, and best of all you can use them for everything! Tote soil or mulch to another part of the garden or transport weeds to the compost pile. Use them to harvest veggies from your garden or apples from the orchard. The food-grade material can be used inside or out as ice buckets for tailgating or camping, or even as a large flexible dustpan. Victoria loves these Tubtrugs and even uses them instead of watering cans. “I also love the shallow ones for repotting house plants and for letting potted plants soak in a shallow bath of water and fertilizer.” The Tubtrugs are available in recycled plastic and six different sizes.

Tools We Love: Part 1

In March only all tools are 15% off at Victoria Gardens in Rosendale, NY.
Here are some of our favorites. These four in particular help with spring clean up:

The Amazingly Astounding, Magical Expanding Rake – It Changes Right Before Your Eyes:

You can adjust the width of this rake to easily fit in between shrubs and plantings. It’s lightweight and easily adjusts from 7” to 24” with the pull of a lever. Solid steel tines, coated in rustproof zinc. Try not to step into your garden when the ground is still super muddy and soft. You can compress roots and damage plants, so use this rake, and stand at the edge of your garden, unless you have a path or stepping stones placed where you know you won't be stepping on the crowns of as yet unseen perennials.



Once you've raked out your garden, pick up the pile with these:
Hand Rake “Grabbers” – Pick Up More:

Not only do these durable “grabbers” aid in picking up large amounts of leaves and debris, they protect your hands form sticks, thorns, needles, and slimy slugs! Spring, summer, and fall, you will find these “extra hands” indispensable -
especially for leaves, compost, mulch, and muck.



Weeders – You won’t believe how “hooked” you’ll be!

If you’ve never used a weeder before, you are in for a treat. “Both are great. I haven’t decided which one I like best.” Victoria says. The hand-forged Dutch weeder was recommended by another professional landscaper, who swears this tool becomes “an extention” of her own body. These metal weeders have a nice weight and reach to them, and are available in a “left-handed” or “right handed” configuration.



The other weeder is called the Cobra, because of the sharp, heart-shaped end of the curved tool. The point easily penetrates deep into the soil and with a twist of the wrist tap roots, crab grass, and all other manner of dastardly garden thugs are snatched out of the soil.



These weeder tools also make handy helpers when sowing seeds directly into the garden. The nifty point easily makes furrows as deep or as shallow as you like.

Large scale evergreen shrubs: Pieris 'Scarlet O'Hara', Pieris x 'Karanoma', and Pieris 'Summer Hill'

Large scale, spring blooming, deer resistant, shade-loving evergreen Pieris shrubs offer privacy and screening in shady spaces, where other shrubs would struggle.







Pieris 'Scarlet O'Hara': 8 –10’ tall and 4 –5’ wide. Prominent flower buds all winter. White flowers in April. Reddish bronze new growth.




The hardiest of all Pieris, Karanoma grows quickly to 10' x 6'. Offers upright panicles of white flowers and handsome evergreen foliage year-round.




Pieris 'Summer Hill': 9-12’ tall by 6-9’ wide. Thick, lustrous leaves emerge brick red - excellent branching, fast grower. White flowers.

Medium-large scale evergreen shrubs: Pieris japonica 'Mountain Fire' and Pieris japonica ‘Valley Valentine‘

These two shrubs are two of Victoria's favorite Pieris varieties. The young foliage emerges bright red and then turns green as it matures, displaying shades of pink peach, yellow and every shade in between.



Pieris 'Mountain Fire': 6’ tall by 4’ wide. Brilliant red new foliage turns dark green with maturity. Drooping clusters of showy white.




Pieris ‘Valley Valentine‘: 6- 7’ tall by 4- 5’ wide. This shrub has brilliant, saturated pink blooms and the sweetest springtime fragrance.

Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Arnold Promise’ and 'Diane' (Witch Hazel)

Pictured above: Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Arnold Promise’

Hamamelis x intermedia hybrids are a cross between Hamamelis japonica (Japanese witch hazel) and Hamamelis mollis (Chinese witch hazel). They are one of the first shrubs to bloom in the garden and the flowers have a fresh spring fragrance that will permeate your entire yard.

HAMAMELIS X INTERMEDIA 'ARNOLD'S PROMISE'

FULL SUN TO PART-SHADE PLANT - LOW MAINTENANCE
zone 3
10' - 20" tall and 15' wide
blooms: golden yellow, early spring


Pictured below: Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Diane’





HAMAMELIS X INTERMEDIA 'DIANE'

FULL SUN TO PART-SHADE PLANT - LOW MAINTENANCE
zone 3
10' - 20" tall and 15' wide
blooms: red, early spring

Medium scale evergreen shrubs: Pieris japonica ‘White Cascade‘, Pieris japonica 'Dorothy Wyckoff', and Pieris japonica 'Variegata'

Pieris ‘White Cascade‘: 4- 5’ tall by 4-5’ wide. Unlike most other Pieris, it will quickly drop any browned flowers. Super easy!






Pieris 'Dorothy Wyckoff': 5’ tall by 5’ wide. Produces reddish-purple buds, which open as soft-pink blooms, and then mature to white.





Pieris 'Variegata': 5’ tall by 5’ wide. Best known for the attractive leaves that are green with white margins. Flower clusters are white.

Small scale evergreen shrubs: Pieris japonica 'Pygmaea', Pieris japonica 'Spring Snow', and Pieris 'Purity'

Pieris japonica 'Pygmaea': 3- 4’ tall by 3- 4’ wide. This is a very cool Pieris with very fine, feathery leaves. Pinkish buds open pure white in spring. Slow growing.








Pieris japonica 'Spring Snow': 4’ tall by 3’ wide. Pink buds open to bright white flowers.








Pieris 'Purity': 4’ tall by 4’ wide. Light green foliage with white flowers.

Spring Blooming Pieris Varieties From Small to the Large

Deer Resistant Shade, Evergreen, Flowering Shrub: Spring Blooming Pieris Varieties From the Small to the Large

In gardening, size matters. It is especially important when planting trees and shrubs, because they are not as easy to dig up and move around once they’ve grown to their mature size. It may be cute in its pot now, but how big will it be in ten years? At Victoria Gardens we love the early spring bloom Pieris shrubs because they have it all. Flowers? Check. Evergreen? Check. Deer resistant? Check! And shade loving? Yes, that too.

Pieris (common name: Japanese Andromedea) has lustrous, delicate evergreen foliage, but when in full bloom you can barely see the foliage beneath the trusses of downward-facing bell-shaped blooms. Pieris is one of the easiest evergreen shrubs to grow as long as it isn’t too wet or too dry. It is highly disease resistant, and besides a treatment of Holly-tone fertilizer in May, the plant is very low maintenance.

Pieris 'Pygmaea': 3- 4’ tall by 3- 4’ wide. This is a very cool Pieris with very fine, feathery leaves. Pinkish buds open pure white in spring.

Pieris 'Spring snow': 4’ tall by 3’ wide. Pink buds open to bright white flowers.

Pieris japonica 'Purity': 4’ tall by 4’ wide. Light green foliage with white flowers.

Pieris japonica ‘White Cascade‘: 4- 5’ tall by 4-5’ wide. Unlike most other Pieris, it will quickly drop any browned damaged flowers allowing fresh new blooms to steal the show. It is a slow grower, generally only putting on about 4 inches of growth a year.

Pieris 'Dorothy Wyckoff': 5’ tall by 5’ wide. Produces reddish-purple buds, which open as soft-pink blooms, and then mature to white bell-shaped flowers.

Pieris japonica 'Variegata': 5’ tall by 5’ wide. This one is best known for the attractive leaves that are green with white margins. Cascading chains of flower clusters are white.

Pieris japonica 'Mountain Fire': 6’ tall by 4’ wide. Brilliant red new foliage turns dark green with maturity, displaying colors ranging from pink, peach, and a spectrum in between. Drooping clusters of showy white spring flowers.

Pieris ‘Valley Valentine‘: 6- 7’ tall by 4- 5’ wide. This shrub is slightly upright and rounded, has brilliant, saturated pink bundles of downward facing blooms, and has the sweetest springtime fragrance.

Tall and thin proportions, just like Vivian Leigh, Pieris 'Scarlet O'Hara': 8 –10’ tall and 4 –5’ wide. Pendulous clusters of white flowers in April. Prominent flower buds all winter. Reddish bronze new growth turns green at maturity.


The hardiest of all Pieris, Karenoma grows quickly to 10' x 6'. Offers upright panicles of white flowers and handsome evergreen foliage year-round.

Pieris 'Summer Hill': 9-12’ tall by 6-9’ wide. Thick, lustrous leaves emerge brick red - excellent branching, fast grower. Features dainty chains of white bell-shaped flowers hanging below the branches in early spring.

Victoria on the Garden Show with Sally Spillane

Listen to the Garden Show podcast on WKZE!

Victoria and Sally talk tools and spring, finally!

http://www.wkze.com/node/3538

We Open Tomorrow !

March 12th: We're open!

March hours will be Mon. - Sat. 9am to 5pm

Sundays 10am to 4pm


Sunday is daylight savings, so the clocks will "spring forward" and with every passing day, we see more and more daylight! To celebrate, we're opening earlier than usual. With the extra daylight, we know you gardeners will be itching to see, smell, and talk plants. Come in this weekend and see the many new varieties of hellebores, pieris, spring blooming bulbs, Magnolias, variegated boxwood, quince, blueberries, and more!



(Pictured above Pieris 'Variegata')

Also, to kick off the season, and to show off our new "Tool Nook" we are having a special sale, for March only, 15% off all tools. We will be showcasing our favorite Japanese tools and Dutch hand-forged tools for planting and weeding. Plus our favorite gloves, pruners, and more!

In March only tools 15% off!

Also don't miss Coffee in The Garden this Sunday. We'll see you there!

March 12th we will be open!

March 12th we will be open!

March hours will be Mon. - Sat. 9am to 5pm Sundays 10am to 4pm


Sunday is daylight savings, so the clocks will "spring forward" and with every passing day, we see more and more daylight! To celebrate, we're opening earlier than usual. With the extra daylight, we know you gardeners will be itching to see, smell, and talk plants. Come in this weekend and see the many new varieties of hellebores, pieris, spring blooming bulbs, Magnolias, variegated boxwood, quince, blueberries, and more!

Also, to kick off the season, and to show off our new "Tool Nook" we are having a special sale, for March only, 15% off all tools. We will be showcasing our favorite Japanese tools and Dutch hand-forged tools for planting and weeding. Plus our favorite gloves, pruners, and more!

In March only tools 15% off! Including our favorites, like this Japanese planting knife.



We are so excited about this season. We have expanded our Deer resistant shade and Deer resistant sun sections to offer you more amazing plants that you don't have to grow behind a fence!

We have also rearranged the interior of the garden shop to make it easier for you to find what you need. We've introduced a "Tool Nook" where we are showcasing our favorite tools.

We've missed you all winter! Stop by and say hello to us... and spring!

Victoria Gardens
1 Cottekill Road (the corner of Rt. 213 between Rosendale and High Falls)
Rosendale, NY

victoriagardens.ny@gmail.com

Plant Profile: Pieris japonica 'Valley Vallentine'

Pieris (common name Japanese Andromedea) are a species of shrubs that have everything. They are evergreen, low-maintenance, flowering, deer resistant, and shade loving. Pieris thrive where Rhododendrons mights get ravaged by the deer or where sun-loving evergreens might suffer from lack of light. Varieties range in size from 3 to 4 feet tall and wide to 9 to 12 feet tall and 6 to 7 feet wide, so be sure to check the mature size of what ever variety you bring home!

'Valley Valentine' is a medium-large scale Pieris, growing 6 to 7 feet tall and 4 to 5 feet wide. This shrub has brilliant, saturated pink blooms and the sweetest springtime fragrance.


PIERIS JAPONICA 'VALLEY VALENTINE'

DEER RESISTANT SHADE PLANT - LOW MAINTENANCE
zone 5
6' - 7" tall and 4' - 5' wide
blooms: early spring





The downward-facing cascades of flowers attract bees and other pollinators. Some of the first flowers in the landscape, Pieris shrubs are often "a-buzz" with busy bees, starved from the long winter.