Fri 5 Feb 93 6:07 By: ALLAN BALLIETT Re: Part 1 ALAN CHADWICK on ANEMONE redux Here is a repost of Alan Chadwick's lecture on anemone cultivation. It is a sure irritant for those with growing Spring Fever. This time of year, You may be find the part about the building of a hot bed to be particularly valuable. Let me know what you think -Allan : : : : Alan Chadwick Lecture September 12, 1979 ANEMONE This is a very simple practical little study of which we shall be having many. And we have discussed this morning- and you've had your basic herb study yesterday- we have just discussed herbs and we are going to introduce a herb (study) just before each of the subjectivities of the lectures and talks that we have- so you will be having a herb, literally a herb a day so to speak, during the (coming)weeks. And in this way you will cover something like 200 in the year - just to let you know that. The subject today is the Anemone, De Caen and the anemone St. Brigid- they're known as the coronarias- how to grow them to perfection. And it is one of the most exquisite and beautiful plants. An invaluable cut flower of enormous lasting value, of brilliant color, excellent form and really very simple if the technique is applied properly it is utterly, utterly superb in its performance. But if it is disobeyed, it's a complete failure and a dead loss. I'm going to begin and go through the performance of this plant so that you understand it in all its attitudes so that you know how to produce it, because it's becoming very difficult to get in the world. You cannot buy the seed of the De Caen. You can buy the seed of St. Bridgid, but it's almost impossible to buy the seed of the De Caen and if you do, it's not necessarily very g~od. I produced some 28,000 plants-corms-at Santa Cruz and each of those plants produced 26 blooms each a year-that all the students enjoyed.They last tor three weeks and more in water. I give you a little picture of what is possible with great ease, provided that you obey the technique. So we're going to begin- since you cannot get the seed easily- we are going to begin by saying we purchase corms. And those corms that we purchase will be, from an economical point of view, reasonable to buy. They're becoming very expensive, so we should buy 2000 corms at one year nurseryfication of De Caen. This is the best anemone of the two by far. It is plain edged; it's colors are far more intense and it is single and it comes utterly true to its type. The four colors being blood red, purplish blue, mauve, and a white, an ivory white. Therefore, we will purchase 2000 corms one year nurseryfied; they will have been produced from seed. And those corms will be a very small centimeter - I don't know quite what to say- about the size of a, not very much bigger than a rather round oat. And they will be purchased in the late fall. And they will be planted in a bed in the spring of this preparation: preferably in January or February - a deep well-drained, performed bed with an excellent hot bed placed within it. Now these corms are very small and are going to go into a very close area, certainly not more than four times the length of this table (20') and either 3 or 4' wide. So we would have a hot bed placed upon a good drainage. In other words, the stalks of any helio at the boKom. On the stalks of those helio will go a green matter of any sort anything like nasturtium or the sort of matter that is green and on top of that, preferably. a pretty fresh horse manure to produce the heat. On top of that an ordinary top soil as a coverage. And now you have a mixture of 1/3 sharp, 1/3 turf loam, and 1/3 well rotted rich manure, six months to a year stock piled. If possible well turned and eradicated from seed, weed seed issue, no weeds are going to be allowed in these beds at any time. No weeds. NOT, NOT, NOT PERMISSIBLE! Now on top of that soil that we have mentioned that's on top of the hot bed, we will now place a strata of well rotted leaf mold. So that will be leaf mold taken either from a leaf pit or deep in the woods somewhere, from a dell. And that we want to be about two inches. Between an inch and two inches. A really good swathing. Now we will place six inches of that soil that we have just mentioned- that preparation- 1/3 sharp, 1/3 turf loam and 1/3 manure. We will plant our corms gently into the surface of that after it has been pressed down, either with a roller or by the planting boards. Preferably with a roller. We will plant them just into the surface, about, literally about an inch. On to that we will place a strata of sharp, very thin, for disinfectant as much as anything. On to that we will place one inch of utterly well-rotted, seed free, rich manure. An entire strata. And on top of that we will place a thin strata of 1/2 top soil mixed with 1/2 leaf mold. So now you've got your corms down at about 2 1/4 - 2 1/2 inch and the whole preparation is made. Now if the weather is very severe and there is a lot of frost and ice in the district, the preferability of the coverage of the whole of that bed would be with lightly blown up pteris, that is the bracken fern. Or second to that, if you could not get terrace (I imagine there must be plenty of pteris aquilinum up in the mountains and the woods here. Anyone notice?) Well, if not, fern leaves. Female fern - any of those - as a covering from the climate. So that that is removable if possible the moment that the shoots begin to come through. The foliage should be evident in 6 - 8 weeks from those corms. You get one leaf uncurled first and then quite a long time, some weeks, before the next. Now if the weather remains bad, it's perfectly feasible to leave that fern on and let the plant grow through it. There's no harm in that at all. And that that would be much more likely the case in this district. Even though the pteris, or any other fern, you see, were sitting that depth(4"), this plant will work through the fern perfectly simply and is aerated. Therefore it should not be disturbed, unless it is removed before the foliage becomes obvious. At that time of year those corms will come into bloom at 16 weeks. The first blooms will appear at 15 - 16 weeks. The normal period from planting a corm in really good weather in a really good climate is 12 weeks- into bloom. At 8 weeks the foliage has begun to perform pretty properly. And a month after that the blooms begin to appear. Those corms are now blooming for the first time and they will produce about 18 good blooms, not of first class-large for cutting- but the first 2 or 3 will be small and "mini" and probably should be cut off and discarded. And quite quickly will follow decent blooms that can be used for cutting. Now you must understand that what we are doing in this production, we are thinking that it is very difficult to obtain this plant, and we are growing this bed for productiveness - reproductiveness. Do you follow? Therefore, you will want a lot of little pegs- and in this case of the De Caen- you can't possibly do it with the St. Brigid (and we shall be operating from seed with St. Brigid anyway)- but with the De Caen, you see, you have four colors. You sometimes get a puce, one slips in, that's fifth color, we won't bother about that at the moment, but you can have the five pegs if you like. Now those pegs,therefore, will have a color nomination on them. It could be those very colors, which makes that simple. Therefore, as those plants grow and the blooms come, according to which appear to be your best plants during the growing period, so will nominate them with the pegs. Do you follow? That can be used as a cutting bed throughout the growing season which is probably four to five months. And that each of the plants which is assessed to be superior shall be marked in this manner with this peg very clearly so as to be unmistakable. So it must be well-placed because the bed is very full. When they have died down, but are still just visible in growth- is the time to lift the whole bed. But before lifting the whole bed, those which are labeled shall be lifted each with their labelings into what you would call a drying sieve so that all the reds go into one sieve, all the blues go into a sieve with their label and so on. Do you follow? Now these are the pick of the bunch which in the next year are going to be grown for seed production. And the rest will go in en masse as a cutting bed again. So that same performance will take place. The longer you will delay the lifting without losing sight of them the better. But you see to get up the labeled ones you must be able to still see where the plant meets the corm. Now you see the imperative importance of no weeds, for you cannot unearth or discover the matter at all. And what is more, they do not employ the liking of other plants around them. They like to be alone. Now you take a similar performance and you prepare a bed in the same way and you plant those particular selections in their color groups, and you now double space them. You give them plenty of room. That nomination is quite easily made when it comes to the technical performance of the planting, the exact distances. Now as this plant comes up- again you run into- you will plant them a little later this time to be on the safe side, end of February or March according to when the moon is playing. And again you will prepare the bed in the same way. But now the planting is further apart to give them ample room, and again you will roll it before you plant, and again you will cover it in the same way. And indeed you can leave the coverage on again if that is required. The first 2 or 3 blooms shall in any case be removed. Now the plant is going to send up 24, 25 or 26 blooms this time. And now they are going to be verging upon full size. Very big. It's a very big anemone. So any number on the plant- now this bed has got to be looked after by a staff with apprentices, and it's got to be looked after absolutely regularly and attended to, as it is utterly important, for one little mishap and you are in serious trouble that you won't get over- but when you come to number four blossom up to about number ten, according to the performance of the flower up from the bud and its appearance, you either leave it or remove it. And you will allow four or five per plant, total, so that after approximately number eight or number nine all blooms are now removed, as small buds; you can't even make use of them. So that the whole issue (energy) goes into those four or five who are to produce the seed. Now the seed are very tricky. It develops a cone, a long pointed cone, and it withstands any weather, any wind. And suddenly out of that cone issues a little volcano. Suddenly, all unexpectedly the cone undoes, all the way from the tip downwards, and unfolds like a "smoke" of cotton wool. Sometimes spreading as much as that, an incredible thing hanging almost like a swarm of bees. And attached in that cotton wool are all the seeds. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds per blossom per cone. And every one of them is liable, almost certain, to be fertile and first class. Therefore, you must not lose this. But you must not collect it until it is about to fly. And there is no manner of telling that other than the technical on the spot obviousness. There is no other way. But to pull it off by force as you might pull a peach before it's ripe or fig when it is straight, the seed will not be in its ripe composition which is required. In other words it must be about to take off. Now sometimes that cotton wool will hang for 2 or 3 or 4 days in a swarm and increase. And not usually does the cotton wool from right down the cone all together. So you usually have to make two collections. Do you follow? And they, of course, can go into the same bag. There is nothing much better than a large brown paper bag with a big opening, one of the very big ones. "SAFEWAY",you see, becomes useful for the first time. And you see even though there is a wind or a breeze take it on the lower side and pop it in quickly. And you just, as it were, wipe it. Therefore, the unripe remains hanging on to the swarm and leads the rest of the cone into ripeness,so you do not pick off the cone because the cone would go sloppy and would rot. So you've only got the cotton wool in the bag. And you leave that absolutely loose, tie it up around the collar and hang it up to dry. So you make two collections and there is your seed and you will sow it either in the fall or in the spring. Both of them work perfectly. Now this plant does not force. Therefore, you must not produce that seed under a forced heat such as you would raise the tomato. It must be a cooler raising such as you would use for cineraria and freesia and you will get a 99 - 100% germination. And when you come to sow that seed you will find that you've got one huge mass of swarm of cotton wool with little seeds you can't even see. Therefore, you've got nothing but cotton wool. Do not worry. But don't try to sow in any form of draft for it will be away! - which is exactly what it's meant to do to migrate. It can go from here down to South America! You will prepare your seed box- for this must be grown in this manner- you will prepare your seed box and on the day according to the moon, in a beautifully sheltered position, you will slightly press that soil, having filled the box with a special preparation. That preparation will be a thick rotted leaf mold at the base, a coverage of well-rotted- if possible seed proof- manure, and a 1/3 a 1/3 a 1/3. 1/3 sharp; 1/2 well-rotted turf loam, "seed proofed", turned in other words, and 1/3 well-rotted leaf mold. All mixed in well together. Very, very fine and nice and full and pressed. Now you take your cotton wool with your fingers and you simply spread it, undo it, as much as is possible, and don't get in a flummox over it because it doesn't separate. So in other words you end up with a box of one sheet of cotton wool out of the bag. And of course, you must begin with a lump or several lumps in the middle of the box because otherwise- the least little... I mean if you go "Ha! Ha!" Poof! The whole lot of seed is gone! Do you follow? So it's no good mucking about or what have you, or somebody comes in and says, "Wait!" And it's all gone! Now, it is very important for the coverage of this that you have the lightest of light,fine soil. Again the finest sifted, well-rotted leaf with the sifted sharp with the sifted turf loam; 1/3, 1/3, 1/3. And nothing but the finest sitting so that you can still just see the cotton wool. In other words, golden rule "under cover, do not over cover." You could always add a little more soil at germination. Golden rule: "Under cover, do not over cover." Keep thoroughly moist, well-watered. No need for glass. Temperature of 50 degrees at night, 65 degrees by day and you will get an excellent germination. It's slow. There is in the seed the double procedure generally of the hard and the soft shell and, therefore, you are quite liable to get a repercussion, after of a month, of regermination - it nearly always happens. In this way you will produce plants which are superior to those that you grew from those corms. And that you have started an uplift of fertility in your corms. If you proceed on that line from those and take again the second year from those seedlings, not the first, the second and third year (the life of that corm will be approximately five years), and it will start with 18 blooms the second year, will go to 24 - 25 the next, 28 the next at full size, and then will begin to get smaller and remain numerous and then go back to 18 rather small, and after five years as a cut flower you've finished with it. Now the St. Brigid you will deal with in the same way. With the second issue that I've just described with sowing the seed. You will buy the seed and sow it in that manner. It's easy to get and it's cheap, to buy the seed. If you buy the corms it's expensive. So I'm talking about economical. This corm does not force. Convolaria, freesia, daffodils, hyacinths, tulips, you can force them all. With a lot of heat you can have them on by Christmas, January. You cannot force the anemone, it does not. But it is a winter plant. In Cornwall it is in bloom in January and goes to London and the Scilly Isles even in December. It has the capacity, that even though the stalk is quite short with the cold weather, with the frost, and the little bud is only just showing color during the period of one month having picked it, it will come into full bloom in the London market and in the home where it is purchased. It's lasting power is enormous. It is a colossal drinker. It drinks water at a tremendous pace. The vase which you put it in will be drunk in three days. And you must always resuscitate it. It does not need to have the stalk cut to keep the flower going. That color in the winter is one of the most beautiful cut flowers that you can have. Therefore, if you are in a wicked climate the ideal way to grow this is in frames. Therefore, from seed into bloom- now if you had left those corms in the ground that you had purchased, they would come into bloom at the end of that year, providing the climate was satisfactory. If not, they would wait until the next spring. So when you have got a thoroughly satisfactory climate, after you have sown the seed, you can produce bloom from that corm, from that seed that year, in seven months. Do you follow? Now you will perceive that by sowing seed either in the fall or the early spring, you can reproduce blossoming throughout the fall, and the winter and the spring. And, therefore, if you manipulate this growing in frames in the same manner as the beds made in the frames exactly- exactly the same manner- you can have a whole frame full of anemones if you will plant those corms, and you see, for frame ones you want your 3rd and 4th year. Your very best. And the others you will be growing in a bed and using. And that you may play this by planting in August, you see, the corm. You begin at 14 - 15 weeks into bloom and as the winter comes on and the weather gets very cold you will go into 16 and 17 weeks into bloom. So, you simply nominate your dates of sowing and you can have relays of frames coming into bloom, in full bloom, next lot coming on, going out of bloom, taking out, putting in the French beans or the lettuce in place! Do you follow? And, therefore, you have an enormous thing. On Long Island I had these frames made the moment that I was building these gardens and, of course, I had anemones from Christmas onwards which astonished everybody. And you see with all the snows on the frame lights, on the mats, still these anemones and the lettuce all performing, there is no difficulty. You must, of course, take those provisions to prevent the severe freezings of below zero going right into the bed for that would destroy it. So again you would use pteris. You remember that I had remarked about the great miracle of pteris. Pteris actually prevents freezing from entering the soil. It is like the most eiderdown, eiderdown, eiderdown in its performance. And the lighter you use it, the most eiderdown it is. It equally prevents scorch and "dryth" from entering the ground. It's a most bewildering and astonishing protective and, of course, does in time make the most exquisite disinfectant soil and is beautiful for growing all bulbs and corms in. In time you can imagine it is this like, beautiful like spongy loam soil. Therefore, do not attempt to grow the anemone De Caen or St. Brigid in the glass house in heat. It won't work. So you start off all through the winter with your frames and then you go into your spring beds. And you are making the utmost of your anemones. You have got bloom going on there seven months. Now should you go to such an area as the Mediterranean or California, you will find that if you left... now you could leave your corms in the beds here if you covered them, through the winter and that they would come on of themselves and that this very useful when you do the nurseryfication of the 1st year seedlings for they're very very finicky and tiny. And, therefore, to leave them in the bed and cover it well with terrace and with lights of some sort, or with a cloche or bell, they would come up the next year and you would pursue the same thing and that bed would be perfectly ordinate because of its preparation to perform again the second year. So it is very advisable. Now this is a matter to beware that in a good climate that is a ten-month performing climate, that anemone would try to bloom in September and would also want to bloom again, having died down after the November and Christmas issue of 18 blooms, it would again want to come up and bloom in May and June. And that the corm would not be able to supply the issue of. Now it is very interesting that that little corm has only the tiniest of roots. Many bulbs, like gladioli have very little root, dahlias, out of their tubers have very little root at all. In other words, they're growing out of the Revolutionibus much more than out of the Ahrimanic. And therefore, you would have to lift (the corm) to prevent this or your corm would be finished after the one year performance of two blooms. That is just a note that you must remember. Of course, where you are growing the whole of this bed or these beds as a cut flower crop- and it is particularly a good cut flower- it is not a vastly desirable flower for instance, in the herbaceous borders -- either the annual or perennial- not really. In rock garden, some of them like the apenina and the multipulata are very charming. But I am talking about this today and the study is all towards a cut flower. And when I was in New York and stayed with some very important people, I had to give them a little gift and I knew that she loved anemones and I went to one of the florist's. I was there at Christmas and I said, AH! the very thing because I know that she loves a bunch of anemones. There they were, these wonderful Adonis, the blood of- as you know Apollo killed Adonis by mistake- and this wonderful red at Christmas and I said I was thinking of six bunches. I said how much. He said $10.00 a bunch, a dozen. Ten dollars! I supplied Buckingham Palace. I supplied the queen; she wouldn't get them from anywhere else. And I used to sell them at ten pence a dozen. And I made the most fantastic profit. So that I paid for my whole farm in one year; the laying out of it, the buying of it and everything, almost off this alone! For I used to collect thousands and thousands and thousands every other day. Now out of this method of growing in this way- you see frequently you will find in the market that you will get a little stalk so high and that's very finicky in a little vase- but with this method, even with the coldest weather with these coverages, with this intense manuring, you get the utmost fertility and you will get a stalk of that length. And that's a very different matter in cut flowers. And that's what you want to go for, and you won't lose the quality if you blossom by the length of the stalk, because of this beautiful fertility of the soil. But you must remember those stratifications I have given you. They are absolutely adamant and predominant. Absolute. Now, there is a matter that has to be looked at. The De Caen is what you might call a classic. You know that the ranunculus that you purchase, the Turban (Persian) Ranunculus, they're all double, and they look rather like a Venician carnival and fireworks. When you come to look at those in bloom -- and you know they are very Lipstick Pink, Wicked Yellow, Love Citron Lemon Acid (laughter) all the tricks of colors at their most festivalia wickedness- and suddenly you look at this great classical anemone and you see that this intense color is incredibly classic, deep and very subtle, while this ranunculus looks like a HA HA HAAA! business. And this is very interesting. Now, do you see, with the St. Brigid that they are none of them a complete color! They're various colors. Rainbow mixed up in them. And that 8 I still had excellent blooms in June. Some of you, some one or two of you might remember. No, probably not. (Student - I do Alan) (Alan - you do.) And so you can see the number of tens of thousands of blooms you can cut from one bed. And that cutting can take place two and three times per week in those beds. It's an exorbitant gift. Incredible excitement of happiness. Student - Thank you, Alan, that answered my question beautifully. Alan - Yes, good. Student - Alan, if you are lifting your corms, those that you are not to use for seed the next year, is it best to let the plant die down completely? Alan - No. Yes, it is, but it's all advisable because of finding them. Now if your bed is thoroughly well prepared and the soil is perfect, that's all right. Put them very carefully in a very technical manner through a particular sieve. A sieve that will allow the soil, all of the soil, to go through quickly. But you must remember that the little roots hang on to quite a lot of leaf mold. I am glad you mentioned this. Therefore, do you see, the sift method you can indeed let them die down. But I am warning you because in many instances I have had inexperienced people and they have allowed weeds. The moment you've allowed weeds, there's nothing you can do. Do you follow? You've mixed your soil and your weeds and the weeds take the corms with them - always. And you've lost the lot. Now, there's one matter that's very important, and it concerns the storage of all such matters. Dahlia tubers. The storage of potatoes. The storage of vegetables. We're going to deal with all of that. Now gladioli is a corm, but it's a very strong corm and it can dry. But the anemone is a very small corm and during the period of summer in a hot climate or moist climate, or a bade climate will either dehydrate or it will even to a degree rot or contaminate. Do you understand? Therefore, you must use certain dried herbs, you already being to perceive some of them, and you must have ready an excellent peat moss. A really first class peat moss that will not moisten. That will remain dry. And, therefore, you bury all of those corms, and you realize you've got twenty thousand in that size, and they are best in a basket. A very close wicker/bamboo basket with this peat moss in. And all your corms are buried in that peat moss. Now, they are not moist at all but there is a prevention of dehydration of air or interference of damp days entering in. And that method of storage is ideal. Question: What would the best temperature be for storage? Alan: Cool, dry. Plenty of air as in fruit stores. America does not understand, forgive my being so vulgar as to put it that way, ventilation. You need ventilators, you see this in the first place is impossible - concrete floor, to perspire, does everything it shouldn't. But you want ventilators below and you want ventilators either in roof such as you've got here such as you have in a root store or ventilators as all houses in Europe have to have ventilation up near the ceiling. Every room has to have a number of ventilators according to its size and you can have those open and shut. Do you follow? So that is the proper manner. Remember that all such matters should also be on slats, rather than placed on a floor. Oh! It is a technical, practical matter and you will not in the least worry about it. But, I would imagine that nine people out of ten would not know which way up the corm was when it's dry. It is the most funny looking little thing. It has more flanges and is very weird. The first year it's pretty obvious that there is a crown presentment on one end and the other is a point which is the root. That is very obvious at the end of the first year only. The second year that vanishes and these flanges come and it's quite difficult. The moment that you have been shown, a dozen, which way up they are, and if you plant them the wrong way up they will not come up. So, that's just to remind. Not to worry about because the whole point is the technique will be shown. Anything else? Very good. Warren: May I announce that on Monday, the fruit? Response: Yes. Alan: Very well. We've discussed regarding the program. We're going to work very hard producing an adequate and suitable program for you. That you shall be able to study to the utmost. And you shall have the utmost information and leadership that's possible here. You realize how tremendously we lack staff. We're going to try to till these gaps. On Monday, we will take our first orchard fruit study. This will not be the history of fruit, which is extremely fascinating, or the history of the American fruit orchards. This will be the basic of fruit growing. The formation of the trees, which includes, of course, the pruning. Shape of the trees and why. The different shapes and why their valuations. And the stock and scion, the principle base of the formation of the growing of fruit trees. That will be the study on Monday. Now shall this be at 10 or 11? Response: 11 is best for everybody. Alan: Eleven. Very good. I have to go to the doctor, but that is all right; it is in the afternoon. So it is 11:00 as usual. That is the subject for Monday. We will bat it up later with all the histories. Very good? Thank you Alan. : : : : Please let me know if you are interested in seeing more of Alan Chadwick's lectures up here. Thanks! -Allan * Origin: The Twilight Clone (1:109/70.914)