WORK
VERMONTERS ON THE JOB
matthew thorsen
Garden Guru b y me g a n james
M
sticky. The ants are actually helping to remove this sticky stuff, and it helps the flower to open. You have ants in your peonies, you’re doing fine. SD: Do you have a favorite plant? MDW: I’m very fond of Astilbe. I used to have a camp up at Lake Willoughby, and I had a whole patch, all the different colors. A customer interrupts our interview. She hasn’t seen a bloom on her daffodils since she planted them a couple of years ago. MDW: The reason might be you’re not getting quite enough sun. Is it deep, dark shade? Have you been fertilizing? Nine out of 10 people don’t realize, when you buy your bulb, the flower is already in there. Now that the plant is using its strength to push that bulb up, that’s when [its nutrients] should be replaced.
SD: What kind of fertilizer should she use? MDW: Go higher potassium, lower nitrogen. Nitrogen produces vegetative growth; phosphate is the root builder. And the phosphate and potassium combined give you your root and your flower. SD: Any other words of wisdom for gardeners? MDW: Use common sense. And don’t be afraid to ask questions. So many people come in and say, “I’ve got a stupid question.” There are no stupid questions. You are stupid if you don’t ask. You show intelligence by wanting to learn. And don’t be embarrassed. Hey, I’m still learning. There’s constantly something new to be learned. m “Work” is a monthly interview feature showcasing a Vermonter with an interesting occupation. Suggest a job you would like to know more about: news@sevendaysvt.com.
SEVENDAYSvt.com 05.09.12-05.16.12 SEVEN DAYS WORK 29
atthew de Wolf isn’t your SD: Let’s go with partial sun on typical sales associate; he’s the clay. a perennials expert with MDW: Well, you could probably use a fan base. During the 15 Alchemilla, lady’s mantle. A lot of people or so years he’s worked at Williston’s like them because this [he points to a leaf Gardener’s Supply (previously 4 Seasons cradling a droplet of water] looks like a Garden Center), his know-how and pearl, especially when the sun hits it. If the clay is heavy, I usually recfriendliness have earned him a devoted ommend that you use gypsum, which following. Over the past several decades, loosens the soil. In clay, you never plant de Wolf, a spirited 82 years old, has a taproot. You never put in a peony or seen the landscape business from just a lupine. You can eventually make a about every angle. He was a grower decent soil out of the clay soil by adding in Massachusetts and owned his compost, year after year. own nursery in Manchester, Vt. He’s SD: What’s the most common worked in retail, wholesale and even mistake people make when growing as a traveling salesman. While studying perennials? at the University of Guelph in Ontario, MDW: They don’t take a pH test. I he was head gardener at the governor always ask people, “What is the pH of general’s house. your soil?” And they say, “Huh?” You De Wolf, who has piercing blue eyes, can do it yourself; it’s only $5 for the is the kind of charmer who likes to make kit. Most of your shady plants like it a people guess. When asked about his little more on the acidic side; the sunny accent, he counters, “How ones, they like it a little more good is your European geName neutral. Name ography? North of Belgium, xx SD: You’ve been doing Matthew south of Denmark, west of this for a long time. Have Germany, east of England.” deTown Wolf you noticed any changes The answer? Holland. xx in the climate, or any After five unbearable years of Town new pests? German occupation, a teenJob MDW: Only about five years age de Wolf fled for Canada. Williston ago, it came up from down xx The Germans had obliterated South: the Asiatic lily beetle. Job his hometown, Rotterdam, at the beginning of World War Perennial sales This is what you have to watch out for. It’s not even II. “I can remember it like associate at necessarily climate change, it was yesterday,” he says. but a lot of stuff comes in Gardener’s “That’s something you don’t from overseas. The plants forget.” Supply themselves are all being inIn Williston, de Wolf spected, but they come in on works 20 hours a week in a wooden pallet. Who knows that there’s the perennial department — where he’s not a couple of eggs in there? Then they alphabetized the aisles by botanical hatch, and, bingo, all of a sudden you names — advising gardeners and sharing have an outbreak. stories. People are finally beginning to catch “I get satisfaction when people have on to organic gardening, though. When gotten what they wanted,” he says. “This we were 4 Seasons, we [didn’t use is why I keep doing it.” organic methods]. But at Gardener’s Seven Days caught up with de Wolf to Supply, everything is organic, so I had to talk gardening among the flowers. relearn everything over again. SEVEN DAYS: What does your typical SD: Show me a perennial that’s day look like? MATTHEW DE WOLF: Ninety percent particularly difficult to grow. MDW: A lot of people come in and say, of the time, I’m answering questions. “I’ve had peonies for five years, and it’s SD: Say I’m a novice gardener. What a beautiful bush, but no flowers. They are some foolproof perennials to get planted it too deep. It’s a taproot. The me started? top eye isn’t supposed to be below two MDW: Is it sunny or shade? I always ask inches. questions first. What is your soil like? Is Ants [on peonies] are actually good, it a clay soil, or is it sandy? because — feel this [bud], it’s kinda