Week of August 7, 2022

TAProots Vineyard is a working farm without a doubt, but efforts have been made to beautify the barn and surroundings. A few things have done really well. The four Wisteria vines are now fully mature cover all but one small section of the trellis under the shed roof on the east side of the barn. On the west side, large, mature lilacs (purple and white) are now nine feet tall. Along the stone wall next to them are large, forsythia bushes cascading down the wall to the basement door. The first week of May bring banks of lavender, white, and yellow. A bigger challenge has been the flowerbed along the drive up to the basement door. This is subjected to howling winter winds, hot and dry summers, and mauling by deer and woodchucks. Wood chips and horse manure have improved the soil. The long range plan is to have it occupied by hardy day lilies, which now cover about a quarter of it. Several well established Russian Sage bushes occupy the northern end. An enormous white clematis occupies the northern end. In the middle are several Buddeleia bushes with purple or lavender blooms, with true performances as butterfly bushes. This year, a cluster of cleomes with several colors of blossoms have done well. Finally, we are trying to establish some yarrow plants in the sloping clay beds. It has been a slow process but the successful overwintering of these plants suggests we are getting somewhere.