The Village Green: A Weaving Togethert 



By Bob Parker 



In the 1890's, the property was 

 part of a nine-hole golf course 

 across from the mills on the 

 opposite bank of the Am- 

 monoosuc. Then a Mr. McCloud 

 bought the property. In 1900, he 

 bought a bam in Ryegate, Vermont, had 

 it dismantled, and moved it to Littleton 



There are two partners now. Ever- 

 ett, originally from Whitefield, has been 

 here since 1978 and runs the florist 

 shop; Peter Corey, who returned home 

 to Littleton after leaving the army last 

 year, is in charge of the greenhouses. 

 The shop has always been Everett's 

 specialty and as its business has grown. 



to house his wife's horses. 



Today this weathered bam - bor- 

 dered with day lilies and veronica, 

 Jacob's ladder and cardinal flower - is 

 part of the complex of structures mak- 

 ing up The Village Green, a florist shop 

 and greenhouse operation in Littleton, 

 New Hampshire. 



The retail portion of the shop - the 

 shop is attached to the bam - is an old 

 chicken coop, "moved forward just a 

 little." At some point, a work area was 

 added in back and this year, the doors 

 between the two areas were widened 

 and framed with beams, making each 

 still separate, yet clearly part of a larger 

 unit. "That was this winter's project," 

 said Everett Aldrich as he snipped pieces 

 of Ming fern to the proper length for his 

 arrangement. "Next winter " 



he's had less and less time to devote to 

 plant growing - so Peter will concen- 

 trate on building up the greenhouse side 

 of things. 



They showed me the cooler. It's 

 the body of an old milk truck Everett 

 saw lying in a field. He bought it from 

 the farmer and set it up here. "It works 

 perfectly," he said, obviously pleased 

 with his ability to make useful objects 

 from what other people have thrown 

 away. The big rear doors open into the 

 shop; a side door makes it possible for 

 flowers to be delivered directly from 

 the truck to the cooler. It's integrated 

 into the building, hidden behind a board- 

 and-batten wall, but the partners want 

 to build a roof (carport style) over the 

 driveway "to make deliveries easier in 

 winter," Peter said. This is typical. The 



16 



Village Green is a curious mix of past 

 and present - of recycled parts and ideas 

 for the future. 



The five greenhouses arc of various 

 sizes and uses. The greenhouse you enter 

 from the retail area of the shop is a 28 x 

 96 Oehmsen Superlite Supreme with 

 fans and polytubing. It's used for retail 

 sales and is the only 

 one open year round, 

 but changes planned 

 include building raised 

 ground beds with pres- 

 sure-treated 2 x 8's for 

 cut flowers (probably 

 spray mums and snap- 

 dragons) to be used in 

 the shop. In early 

 spring, when the house 

 is full of annuals, port- 

 able benches for these 

 will be placed over any 

 unused beds, but in 

 mid-July there was no 

 need for that. Only a 

 few stock plants and 

 some left-over hang- 

 ers (hanging tomatoes 

 didn't catch on in Lit- 

 tleton) remained. The 

 beginnings of a tillandsia collection (Pe- 

 ter likes bromeliads) was fastened to a 

 piece of snow fencing. 



Connected to the end of the house is 

 a small (12x40) plastic house (the An- 

 nex) that was used as storage. By winter, 

 it will have two fresh layers of plastic - 

 a layer of clear and a layer of opaque - 

 and will be filled with pots of bulbs and 

 over-wintering perennials. 



A second house (no one knows 

 much about it - it was bought second 

 hand) parallel to the house used for 

 retail sales is used only during spring. 

 Then it's full of bedding plants, gerani- 

 ums, pansies, petunias. 2100 4 1/2" 

 geraniums (eight different varieties) 

 were grown - 600 pots more than last 

 year - and less than 100 are left. Again, 

 as Peter says, "It's a start." 



