Page 1, Travel
Sunday, June 2, 1985
Reaping a Harvest of Wildflowers
This story, on the front page of the Sunday New York Times Travel Section, really put our wildlfower business "on the map." A team of travel writer and photographer visited us, walked through our meadows with us, and then created a really fine story which featured our unique business as both a travel destination and gardening resource. We received over 6,000 customer requests during the following week.
By Debra Weiner
Amaryllis, fine roses, hydrangea and other rarified flowers may reign as royalty in most cultivated gardens, but it is the sturdy, dogged wildflower, the peasant of the floral world, that enjoys an honorable home in Charlotte, Vt.
Nearly 1,000 flowering species thrive on the six-acre Vermont Wildflower Farm, which is about 12 miles south of Burlington. Its wildflower seed shop ranks among the most comprehensive of its kind in the world, and the wooden split-level boutique extols, through wildflower-related crafts and gifts, the very plants that many people eradicate as weeds.
Unlike most botanical preserves, which lean toward the technical, the four-year old Wildflower Farm aims to entertain. A quarter-mile, flowered trail loops through meadowland and woods, around ponds and brooks. Brass markers proffer floral legend and lore. (The trail includes ramps that make it accessible to wheelchairs.) There is a 13-minute slide show, “Wildflowers Through the Seasons” and a reference section of wildflower books as well as a display of books for sale.
The farm is the work of a former advertising executive, Ray Allen, a native of Florida, who decided to create the center after years of trekking across muddy fields and swamps and continually wishing native blooms were more accessible.
If Vermont is a wildflower haven, with, as Mr. Allen says in his slide presentation, five times the variety of flora found in other New England states, then Charlotte (population: about 2,500) is an ideal site. The farm's position in the heart of the Champlain Valley, a few miles east of Lake Champlain, provides an ideal environment for both alpine and low-lying flowers.
The farm opens in May when the delicate hepatica and the showy white trillium carpet the forest floor. Shiny yellow marsh marigolds, poppy-like bloodroot and other spring woodland flowers soon sprout, and by June the roadside field is alight with red poppies and daisies. The main flower field reaches its peak in midsummer when black-eyed Susans appear, and in August the rare woodland cardinal flower blooms. Wild sunflowers, goldenrod and purple New England asters continue through October, consorting with Vermont's fall foliage.
The admission charge of $2 (children under 12 are free) includes the garden tour and slide presentation, but everyone is free to browse in the gift gallery and the seed shop, which sells about 40 kinds of wildflower seed. Packaged in one-ounce envelopes, all species grow in even the poorest soil.
The farm also prepares wildflower blends that yield a sequence of bloom throughout the summer. The Proven Wildflower Mix for Sun, containing seven self-sowing annuals and seven perennials, comes in seven varieties, each one designed for a different region of the United States. For woodland areas, the Proven Wildflower Mix for Shade is recommended. One ounce of either mix plants 250 square feet ($5.50). A quarter-pound bag ($14.95), holding more than 120,000 seeds, is enough for 1,000 square feet, while the seven pound bag ($295), containing at least 3 million seeds, covers an acre.
Planting instructions accompany each bag, but little upkeep is required. Wildflowers, in fact, prefer to grow on their own, with annuals blossoming six to eight weeks after sprouting and the perennials coming up in the second year. A small handling charge is added to mail orders, but the Wildflower Seed and Gift Catalogue is free. (Write to The Wildflower Farm, U.S. 7, Charlotte, Vt. 05445, or call 802-425-3500.)
For the visitor who is more in the market for mementos, the gift shop sells notecards with a drawing of a flower on one side and a packet of seeds on the other. The antique ivory seed cards cost $1.50; the hand-tinted, $1.95. Other items range from fresh potpourri ($1.95 for a cup-size sachet) and a selection of ceramic tableware decorated with early 19th-century botanical illustrations to a seven-inch-high crystal vase with violet or daisy etchings (about $12).
Wildflower designs have also workd their way onto jewelry. Scrimshaw necklaces embellished with carvings of St. Mary's Thistle go for about $18. Real black-eyed Susans, buttercups, autumn leaves and violets that have been dipped in an acrulic solution and then fashioned into earrings cost $3 a pair.
Dried wildflowers are pressed into bookmarks ($1.25) and into white candles ($4) and handmade notecards from Mauritius ($1.95). Framed arrangements of pressed flowers set against a velvet backdrop run from $5 to $30.
A local family makes translucent ornaments by spreading dried wildflowers on top of trefoil-shaped furnace filters and sealing them over with gummed acetate. They are called Vermont Wall Hangups and cost $2.95. Bouquets of dried flowers grown in Fairfax, Vt., go for about $3 a bunch, while floral wreaths sell for $16.
Customers may also consider the farm's array of utilitarian items, which include meadow flower dinner mats ($28 for a cork-backed set of four); field flower coasters ($9 for six); flowery linen kitchen towels ($3.75); black-eyed Susan potholders ($2.50), and a handmade patchwork lap quilt with a mini-floral print ($95). The plant leaf duster - a puff of lamb's wool attached to a wooden spindle - pulls dust from the leaves of houseplants ($2.95).
The store also offers British Museum and New York Botanical Garden posters and fine art flower prints as well as what is believed to be the widest selection of wildflower books in the state. The reading matter ranges from the definitive six-volume "Wildflowers of the United States" ($600 the set) to the concise brochure, "How to Grow Wildflowers From Seed" ($1), written by the owner of the farm, Ray Allen. The farm's reference books may be consulted in the lobby of the building.
The gardens, gift shop and seed store are open every day from 10 A.M. to 5 P.M. until mid-October.
The Vermont Wildflower Farm is close to the Charlotte Ferry, which crosses Lake Champlain every half-hour, docking at the village of Essex, N.Y. The ride takes about 20 minutes. The fares are, for car and driver, $6.25, one way, and $10 round trip; passengers pay $1.50, one way, and $2.25, round trip. To reach the ferry from the farm, head north for about 300 yards on U.S. 7, turning left onto the Ferry Road, which leads directly to the pier. (The ferry's telephone number is 802 864-9804.)
Visitors to Charlotte who are interested in American history may want to continue north on U.S. 7 for about five miles to the 45-acre Shelburne Museum and Heritage Park (802-985-3344) off to the left. Its 35 historic buildings, filled with antiques, Americana, carriages, wagons, sleighs and an entire saw-mill, are open daily from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. until mid-October. Admission is $9; children 6 to 17, $3.50; under 6, free.
DEBRA WEINER is a writer who lives in New Jersey.