It's always exciting to find just the right specimen trees to plant in a certain location. I recently spotted eight espaliered linden trees, Tilia cordata EC square, at Select Horticulture Inc., in nearby Pound Ridge, New York and knew right away they'd look excellent in my living maze.
I designed my maze to have a variety of different trees and shrubs. I wanted every turn to be both beautiful and interesting. I decided these lindens should be planted close together in a center allée formation close to the north end of the three-acre space. My gardeners and outdoor grounds crew prepared the location, put up landscape twine so every tree would be perfectly straight, gathered their tools, and got to work.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
It’s always fun to see what new trees I’m adding to the farm – on this day, eight handsome espaliered littleleaf lindens.
My head gardener Ryan McCallister and Pete Sherpa from my outdoor grounds crew, unloaded all the trees where they would be planted – in a prominent center area of my maze.
Here they are next to some previously dug holes. I instructed the team to plant them close to each other, almost touching.
The holes needed to be moved slightly to accommodate the trees, so Phurba and Arnold started digging. Each hole is manually smoothed out and prepared to ensure it is deep enough for each specimen. The hole sides are slanted. Digging a wide planting hole helps to provide the best opportunity for roots to expand into its new growing environment.
Tilia cordata, commonly called littleleaf linden, is native to Europe. It has been widely planted in the United States as an ornamental tree because of its attractive foliage, dense form, and its tolerance to urban conditions. These are espaliered, meaning they are trained along a support to keep them in this flat shape, which is square.
The leaves of the littleleaf linden are ovate, shiny, and dark green up to about three inches long with tapered tips, serrated margins, and cordate or heart-shaped bases. Littleleaf linden trees are known for their fragrant, creamy-yellow flowers that appear in late spring to early summer, typically June to July.
The trees arrived in wooden boxes. I asked the crew to be careful, so the boxes were not damaged – I can always repurpose them later.
The root ball is slowly pulled from its box.
And then each root ball is scarified. Scarifying the root ball is a planting technique where one cuts or scores the outer edges of the root ball to redirect circling roots and encourage new roots to develop outward into the surrounding soil.
Arnold and Phurba slowly roll the root ball into position. When moving a heavy tree into its hole, only hold it by the root ball and the base of the trunk – never by its branches, which could easily break.
Once the tree is in its designated hole, it is adjusted to ensure everything is precisely straight and in line with the others. Landscape twine is secured to help.
The entire area – each hole and the surrounding soil – is sprinkled with fertilizer.
For these I use Miracle-Gro Shake ‘n Feed Flowering Trees and Shrubs plant food.
My foreman Chhiring has a good eye for planting, so he also takes a look – pointing out which trees need a bit more adjusting.
Phurba moves a tree ever so slightly. The crew also positions plantings with the best side facing the walking path or area where guests, or myself, will see them.
Once they are in place, the crew starts watering. I always instruct my team to fill the hole with water before it is filled.
Filling the hole with water helps settle any loose soil, eliminate air pockets, hydrate the soil around the root ball to encourage roots to spread, and minimizes stress to the tree when it is newly transplanted.
Then it’s time to backfill.
Afterward, Phurba rakes the area beneath the trees and removes and loose rocks or clumps of soil.
The trees are just in front of this eagle – one of the main focal points of my maze. The newly planted area will also be mulched and edged.
I think it looks so excellent here surrounded by other linden trees. These littleleaf linden trees usually produce a single leader trunk that supports the evenly spaced, horizontal branches.
This maze is almost done. I’m so proud of it. Follow along to see more of my “a-mazing” maze trees.
Here at my farm, all the roses are showing so beautifully!
Last month I created a new formal rose garden. The bed was previously planted with lilacs as well as roses, but it was in need of an overhaul. I planted more than 140 new rose bushes from Star Roses and Plants in Pennsylvania to add to the existing roses transplanted years ago from the gardens at Lily Pond, my former home in East Hampton, New York. I surrounded them all with a border of young boxwood. And just weeks later, many of the flowers are in bloom - so colorful and so fragrant.
Here is an update. Enjoy these photos.
You may have seen photos of this new garden a few weeks ago. It was once my allée of lilac, Syringa vulgaris. The garden was filled with sweet-smelling lilacs in white, lavender, and purple – with some shrubs reaching 15 to 20 feet tall. After 20 years, the garden needed to be refreshed, so I replanted it with young roses and a border of boxwood.
The roses were planted in two rows – each variety in groups of four from one end to the other.
Every row is perfectly lined up. The boxwood that surrounds the garden will grow into a nice formal hedge.
Among the varieties recently planted here – Parfuma® Earth Angel™ ‘KORgeowim,’ Bolero™ ‘Meidelweis,’ Raspberry Cupcake™ ‘KORcarmsis,’ Parfuma® Bliss ‘KORmarzau,’ Michelangelo™ ‘Meitelov,’ Sunbelt® Savannah,™ Romantica® Moonlight ‘Meikaquinz,’ Princesse Charlene de Monaco® ‘Meidysouk,’ Dee-Lish® ‘Meiclusif,’ and Top Cream™ ‘Meiroguste.’
Now, many of the bushes are flowering.
A rose is a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus Rosa, in the family Rosaceae. There are more than a hundred species and thousands of named cultivars.
The flowers of most rose species have at least five petals. Each petal is divided into two distinct lobes.
I always knew I wanted many different roses in all sorts of petal formations. Double blooms consist of 16 to 25 overlapping petals in three or more rows.
Some blooms are very full – this one in bold orange.
The flat bloom is just as it sounds, with petals generally flaring out.
Roses vary widely in size, from tiny miniature blooms of one inch to giant exhibition flowers more than inches across.
Roses come in many different colors, such as pink, peach, white, red, magenta, yellow, copper, vermilion, purple, and apricot.
Rose leaves are borne alternately on the stem. In most species, they are about two to five inches long, pinnate, with at least three leaflets and basal stipules. The leaflets also usually have a serrated margin.
And remember, rose stems are often armed with sharp prickles, not thorns. A prickle can be easily broken off the plant because it is really a feature of the outer layers rather than part of the wood, like a thorn.
Rose plants range in size from compact, miniature roses to climbers that can reach several feet in height.
Small, white and pink clusters grow on this Multiflora rose.
Many roses are loved by bees, depending on the variety, bloom structure, and how much nectar and pollen they produce. Open, single or semi-double blooms that expose the pollen-rich stamens are some of their favorites.
Roses need six to eight hours of sunlight daily. In hot climates, roses do best when they are protected from the hot afternoon sun. In cold climates, planting a rose bush next to a south or west-facing fence or wall can help minimize winter freeze damage.
Among the older roses that I’ve nurtured for many years include Rosa ‘Mme Zoetmans,’ ‘Variegata di Bologna,’ ‘Charles de Mills,’ ‘Ispahan,’ Rosa ‘Therese Bugnet,’ ‘Constance Spry,’ ‘Juno,’ and others.
When watering, give roses the equivalent of one-inch of rainfall per week during the growing season. Water at the soil level to avoid getting the foliage wet. Wet leaves encourage diseases such as black spot and powdery mildew.
To produce an impressive show of flowers, always use nutrient-rich compost, composted manure, and other organic and natural fertilizers, such as fish emulsion. Organic amendments also help to encourage beneficial soil microbes and a well-balanced soil pH. We amend the soil here at my farm every season.
If properly cared for, a rose bush should live for about 30-years or more.
The Martha Stewart hybrid tea rose is absolutely stunning and growing so beautifully at my farm - I hope you saw the recent photos on my Instagram page @marthastewart48.
My rose has large pink blooms, dark green foliage, and a most wonderful and sweet fragrance. It was bred by Meilland, a six-generation family-owned rose-growing business, and was launched in North America through Star Roses and Plants. I planted a collection of them in a flower cutting garden and another in the more formal beds outside my main greenhouse. All of them are blooming excellently. I hope you decide to plant some in your garden - you'll love them too!
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Look at this gorgeous rose. When in peak bloom, it shows off more than 100 lush pink to apricot petals and a citrus-honeysuckle scent.
Each one is so beautiful and well shaped.
And its leaves are glossy and dark green. The leaves of a rose are described as “pinnate” – meaning there is a central rib and then leaflets off to each side, with one terminal leaflet. Rose leaves can have anywhere from two to 13 leaflets.
Last year, I decided to plant some Martha Stewart hybrid tea roses along both sides of a footpath in a flower cutting garden.
Hybrid tea roses should be planted two to three feet apart, as the growth habit is upright and vase-shaped.
This year, they all bloomed so excellently.
My rose is long lasting and heat tolerant. Each bush is sturdy, reliable, and thrives where others seem to fade.
Walking into my cutting garden, one can smell the sweet scent of these gorgeous blooms right away.
Last year, I also decided to plant Martha Stewart hybrid tea roses in the beds outside my greenhouse. I wanted them to be planted in a grid pattern alternating each rose with boxwood.
These plants are also spaced appropriately, so there is ample room for them to grow.
Some of them were already blooming – many flowers on each plant. The Martha Stewart rose matures to three feet tall and about three feet wide making it ideal for borders, small gardens, and containers.
I knew the roses and boxwood shrubs would grow beautifully together.
Here is a wider view of one of the beds after planting was complete.
And one year later, they’re flourishing. In fact, it’s a wonderful year for all the roses growing in my gardens.
Every bud is healthy and large.
The bloom size is typically four to five inches across. It’s definitely a showy flower in the garden and in the vase.
And because it is so deeply petaled, my rose stands out with a full and layered appearance.
The Martha Stewart rose is a repeat bloomer, meaning can produce flowers from spring through autumn under ideal growing conditions.
Remember, this rose like others, needs full sun for best performance. And in spring, always take time to prune – remove dead or weak stems and shape the plant to help maintain and encourages repeat blooms.
Now, one can find my rose at select garden retailers and visit it in the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden. The Martha Stewart hybrid tea rose… such a beautiful and very good thing.
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