Here at my farm, the garden beds are changing every single day - more and more flowers are bursting with color and energy.
Many spring-blooming bulbs are characterized as "good for naturalizing," meaning they will self-seed, multiply, and come up year after year, spreading informally throughout the landscape. Among them - daffodils, croci, Galanthus, Puschkinia, Eranthis, Chionodoxa, Ornithogalum, and others. These naturalizing flowers require minimal care, attract pollinators, and enhance the overall ecosystem. I plant thousands of naturalizing bulbs every autumn and what comes up every spring is breathtaking.
Enjoy these photos.
Every spring, we all brim with excitement when the first flowers pop up through the ground. Croci is always one of the first.
But it’s even more exciting to see how they have multiplied and naturalized. These crocuses spread more and more every year in a back field of my farm.
These dark purple croci are near my Basket House beneath a grove of bald cypress trees. Everyone notices them in bloom.
They also spread informally over time – all by themselves.
The white croci in the tree pits of my allée of pin oaks have been growing and naturalizing here for more than 12 years.
These flowers are among the earliest of bloomers with their creamy white petals and bright orange stamens.
One of the first blooming groups of crocus is outside my gym building. And every spring it looks bigger and bigger. Naturalizing is a long-term plan, though some plants will spread faster than others.
Dwarf irises naturalize. They form clumps as they thrive and multiply. Irises spread through underground rhizomatous stems, filling the garden with color.
And among the most popular naturalizers are the daffodils. We’re still a few weeks from seeing my entire border in bloom, but here are some that are already up. Daffodils thrive in naturalized landscapes. And they spread without any maintenance.
My long daffodil border is broken up into various groupings – different varieties, different shapes and sizes, and different blooming times.
There are up to 40-species of daffodils, and more than 27-thousand registered daffodil hybrids.
The foliage of more daffodils is growing fast – it won’t be long before these are also in bloom.
Puschkinia is a genus of three known species of bulbous perennials in the family Asparagaceae. It is native to the Caucasus and the Middle East.
Puschkinia grows so beautifully in clumps and multiplies consistently every year – I have several areas filled with these delicate small flowers.
I have clumps of Puschkinia now planted outside my stable underneath my crabapple trees.
Eranthis, or winter aconite, is a genus of eight species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae – the Buttercup family.
While some flowers naturalize in clumps, these spread. Winter aconite produces cheerful yellow flowers that appear in late winter or earliest spring.
And Chionodoxa, commonly known as the Glory of the Snow, grows and multiplies in clusters.
Blue and white are the most common, but bulbs also come in shades of pink and white.
This is pink Chionodoxa.
And here is Chionodoxo growing under a bald cypress tree along the carriage road to my home. Naturalizing specific bulbs creates a natural, informal, and beautiful landscape. I hope this inspires you to plant some bulbs that are “good for naturalizing” – you’ll be glad you did.
Planting evergreens is a great way to add color and texture in the garden, attract wildlife, and help clean and purify the air.
Here at my farm, I have an area I call my pinetum. It's an arboretum of pine trees and other conifers I developed soon after I moved to the property. The trees and shrubs have grown extremely well here, and I continue to plant additional specimens every year. Last week, I purchased a beautiful selection of young evergreens from Summer Hill Nursery in Madison, Connecticut. I knew they would be perfect for the recently expanded area of the pinetum garden. Among them - a variety of interesting pines, junipers, and Oriental spruce. I also added some dawn redwood and bald cypress trees. Once they arrived, I positioned them where they would be planted and the crew got to work.
Enjoy these photos.
For me, it’s always so exciting to bring home a new selection of plants for the farm. These evergreens from Summer Hill Nursery are all so beautiful and healthy.
Once I got them home, the plants were unloaded right away.
I was happy to place them in their approximate planting positions. My gardeners will also check each individual plant’s space and light needs and adjust accordingly.
Twisted Needle White Pine is an evergreen with unique, green-blue ‘twisted’ needles. It is fast growing and reaches heights of more than 30-feet with just as wide a spread.
The twisted, spindly tufts of needles give the tree an almost fluffy appearance.
This is Pinus sylvestris ‘Gold Coin’ Scots Pine, a mid-sized pyramidal tree with gold needles year-round. Summer needles are a soft yellowish-green, while winter needles are more brilliant gold.
Pinus strobus ‘Golden Candles’ Eastern White Pine has electric yellow foliage in spring that softens to light green by end of summer.
The needles of the ‘Golden Candles’ White Pine are five-inches long and arranged in bundles of five.
‘Cynthia Waxman’ Japanese Umbrella Pine, Sciadopitys verticillata, is a dense, slow-growing, symmetrical, dwarf cone-shaped tree with dark green foliage.
The ‘Slim Jim’ Umbrella Pine is a compact, columnar variety known for its dense, dark green needles and slow growth.
The needles are long and soft to the touch. ‘Slim Jim’ is also non-cone bearing.
This is Juniperus chinensis ‘Obelisk’. It is a small, evergreen coniferous tree known for its dense, irregularly columnar shape and dark blue-green foliage. It’s a hardy drought and wind resistant specimen making it a great choice for many gardens.
The foliage of the Obelisk Juniper is dark blue-green. Its needles are pointed and can grow up to a half-inch long.
Burke’s Variegated Red Japanese Pine, Pinus densiflora, is a multi-stemmed evergreen with a distinctive and refined pyramidal form.
It features striking wide, horizontal, creamy yellow bands on each needle, which are visible year-round on rough branches.
The Blue Dwarf Japanese Stone Pine is another a multi-stemmed evergreen shrub that only grows to about nine-feet tall. Its ground hugging habit will add a nice balance to the other taller columnar specimens.
The Formosan juniper is a hardy, low maintenance evergreen. It typically grows to about 80-feet tall and has a branching irregular habit.
It has needle-like leaves on pendulous branches, giving it a fuzzy, droopy appearance.
And this is one of my favorites, Picea orientalis ‘Skylands,’ a Golden Oriental Spruce. Can you guess why? The variety ‘Skylands’ – has the same name as my beloved home in Maine. This is a stunning variety of golden spruce with a nice tight upright habit. It reached 12 to 15 feet tall in about 10 years. I have a few of these trees in my pinetum.
Its foliage is attractive yellow that changes to gold in spring. The needles then turn chartreuse in the fall, which persists throughout winter.
These evergreens are young and small now, but they will thrive here and fill out this pinetum garden so nicely.
Here at my farm, whenever a member of my team returns from vacation, I always encourage them to share their photos. It's always interesting to see various sites from someone else's view.
Not long ago, my outdoor grounds crew foreman, Chhiring Sherpa, his wife, and their son Mingmar, returned from a brief trip to Istanbul, the only city in the world that straddles both Europe and Asia. Istanbul is known for its rich history, its impressive mosques, and its busy bazaars. Chhiring and his family also visited Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. They enjoyed desert adventures, visited iconic landmarks, and experienced the vibrant nightlife. Chhiring says the nine day trip was an excursion that has been on his "bucket list" a long time.
Here are some of Chhiring's photos, enjoy.
Chhiring and his family made a short stop in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates and the UAE’s second-most populous city after Dubai. Abu Dhabi is located on an island in the Persian Gulf off the Central West Coast.
This is The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. It is the largest mosque in the UAE covering about 30-acres of land. The structure measures 950 feet by 1,380 feet and can hold up to 40,000 worshippers at one time.
The mosque includes 82 domes, more than 1,000 columns, gold gilded chandeliers and the world’s largest hand-knotted carpet.
In Dubai, Mingmar visited with this falcon. The falcon is UAE’s national bird representing strength, heritage, and agility.
The entire family went on a desert safari – a guided excursion into the sandy desert away from the city center. One activity is a camel ride. A camel is an even-toed ungulate in the genus Camelus. It can carry about 375 to 600 pounds and is known as a “ship of the desert”.
The Dubai Frame is an observatory, museum and monument in Dubai. The building, shaped like a giant picture frame, has a height of 493.4 feet and a width of 313.4 feet.
And anyone who visits Dubai must see the tallest building in the world – the Burj Khalifa designed by Adrian Smith, whose firm designed One World Trade Center. Here it is at night. The Burj Khalifa is 2,722 feet tall.
The Global Village is also in the city of Dubai. It has different pavilions to showcase the culture and traditions of each country around the world.
The pavilions are decorated in their native style and filled with lights at night.
Here is Chhiring and his family inside the Global Village.
Next stop, Turkey. This is the Galata Tower, a medieval stone tower in Istanbul. Originally built as a watchtower, it is now an exhibition space and museum offering breathtaking views of Istanbul. It is considered one of the city’s most iconic landmarks.
Not far is The Ayasofia Mosque, officially known as the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque. It was originally a church and later converted into a mosque following the conquest of Istanbul by Mehmed II in 1453. The structure is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture.
Tourists are not allowed on the ground floor, which is strictly for worshippers.
The yellow walls of the mosque are made from yellow marble sourced from North Africa.
Across the street is the Blue Mosque, officially the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, an Ottoman-era historical structure. It was constructed between 1609 and 1617 and remains a functioning mosque today.
The exterior walls are light grey. The name “Blue Mosque” comes from the blue tiles used inside, which are predominantly blue but also feature shades of red, green, and white. The mosque has a central dome surrounded by four semi-domes over the prayer hall. It also has a large courtyard flanked by six minarets.
Chhiring and his family visited the busy bazaars of the Istanbul Market. One can find almost anything here including lots of candies.
This booth specializes in dates and nuts etc.
Turkey’s water transportation is very popular, especially in cities like Istanbul, where ferries are a common mode of travel.
Locals also enjoy fishing off the Galata Bridge. The Galata Bridge is a 1607 foot long drawbridge located in the Golden Horn estuary, which unites the old Istanbul with the newer areas. Traveling is a great way to learn about a new city or country and its culture. As I always say, “learn something new every day.” Thanks for sharing your photos, Chhiring.
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