Blizzard At Logee's

Like everyone else in the Northeast, we had a genuine Blizzard. The old-fashioned Nor'easter that dumped a lot of snow on us at Logee's. This is the day after and except for a bit of snow on the roofs, we were amazingly fine! Take a look!

Our sign is just about covered from the 22 inches of snow.

A day later and we are open for business.

Our Lathe House under a blanket of snow. In the springtime, hanging baskets and flowers galore will be bursting forth with color.

Next to the Lathe House is a bush covered with the heavy snow. The two snow lumps in the lower left of this picture are the hardy bananas that we are wintering over. We'll see how they do in the springtime.

The lattice sides on the tool shed serve as a climbing structure for our goji berries and honeyberry plants in the springtime.

Inside one of our retail greenhouses, the snow has covered the panels and is preventing light from shining through.

This bougainvillea 'Barbara Karst' is usually in a bright spot, but until the snow melts it is getting a bit of shade today.

The snow you see is actually covering our under ground greenhouse called the Herb Pit. Once it warms up a bit, we will carefully shovel the snow off the glass.

This branch of our greenhouse is known as the Potting Shed and that layer of snow is bringing shade to our plants.

Inside the potting shed, it is rather dark for this "Golden Trumpet Vine" (Allamanda Cathartica 'Williamsii'

Our camellias in the big house still poking their heads out with lots of brilliant color.

Another Colorful surprise in the Big House called Tibouchina urvilleana "Edwardsii'

Empty snow-filled benches.

Pallets of soil will need digging out.

Another burst of color in the Greenhouses.

Clerodendrum Quadriloculare "Fireworks Plant"

An Angel Wing Begonia called 'My Special Angel' in the darkened Greenhouse.

The white plastic wrapped statue in the left is a fig wintering over.

Another fig wrapped in black plastic.

Horticulturist Byron Martin with a hot cup of green tea in one hand and his cell phone in the other.

The old range, emptied of plants but giving way to the blue sky through its metal ribs. In the spring this propagation house will be dismantled.

The outside of our new propagation greenhouse.

Lots of life inside our new building.

At the top of the photo you can see the shadow of snow, which will continue to melt in the gutters.

A christmas cactus Schlumbergera 'Cristen' at our grower's desk.

The seven circuit labyrinth resting 'til springtime.

Begonias in the Winter Window

Begonias in the Winter Window are a perfect topic this time of year. As I walked through our greenhouses today, what really caught my attention were the many varieties of begonias that were just popping with color and form. The Angel Wing

Begonias, named for their leaves that look like Angel’s wings were in the forefront of my vision. Their white dotted leaves looked like they were ready to take flight. The Rex Begonias, with their swirled patterned leaves and the Rhizomatous Begonias that have flowers growing above the foliage were every bit as impressive.

All three types of Begonias are present in the picture above. This begonia display, in one of our seven retail greenhouses, shows the large Angel Wing specimen called Begonia maculata var. ‘Wightii’. The white spots on the leaves are characteristic of ‘Whightii’ and would

challenge even the most detail-oriented artist. The begonia with the white flowers held above the foliage is Begonia ‘Palomar Prince’. This is a rhizomatous begonia. The silver and red swirled

begonias in the middle are rex begonias. The variety shown is B. ‘China Curl’ (pictured in pot).

Our greenhouse grower, Laurie Robillard has been at Logee’s for over 11 years

and is responsible for growing the 75 varieties of Begonias at Logee’s. She is holding Begonia ‘Phoe’s Cleo.’Begonias are a great plant for the novice gardener or the gardener who has low light and low humidity conditions in the home. Begonias were known as the plant of the Victorian era. If you think of Victorian Houses they were never built with light and humidity in mind, yet begonias thrived in these times because they can take less than ideal conditions. In fact, they like to be dried out between waterings. Begonias are fast growing as well. Our begonias start in 2 ½” pots. This is a good time to pinch back the growing tips to make a full, dense specimen. In a matter of 6-8 weeks our 2 ½” pots will easily grow into an 8-inch pot. Remember, Begonias can be kept for years in the same size pot. My begonia at home,

‘Raspberry Swirl’ has been in its 8-inch pot for over 5 years a

nd gets cut back every year. I usually prune at the end of the summer before I bring it back inside.

During the active growing season, which is more or less spring summer and fall, feed begonias with 1/4tsp of organic soluble fertilizer per one gallon of water once a week. Begonias in the winter time

won’t put on a lot of growth unless grown under high light and you want to reduce or stop feed during this time but never-the-less the colorful leaves,

unusual form and textured leaves are sure to delight and ward off the winter blues.

Pictured is "the Long House" which has over a sixty foot stretch dedicated to the many varieties of begonias for sale.