A Garden Tour for the Pacific Horticulture Society
There's always something new to see during tours of my Bedford, New York farm.
Yesterday, I opened my gardens to the Pacific Horticulture Society, a non-profit resource for west coast gardeners, designers, horticulturists, and other plant enthusiasts. PHS works to inform and inspire members through its quarterly publication "Pacific Horticulture", its web site, and its local and international study programs. One of the events was a five-day tour of several botanical institutions and private gardens in New York City and the Hudson River Valley, including a visit to Cantitoe Corners, my farm in Bedford. The group of 25 was led by Bob Hyland, accomplished plantsman, designer, and owner of Contained Exuberance, Contemporary Pots & Plantings for the Garden in Portland, Oregon.
Before leaving for a busy day at the office, I stopped to greet the group and to welcome them to my home. My head gardener, Ryan McCallister, then guided everyone through my many gardens, groves and allees. Here are some photos - enjoy.
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- Here I am with Bob Hyland. Bob’s husband, Andrew Beckman, is my former head gardener and the former gardening editor of my magazine, “Living”. He is now working in Portland, Oregon as Publisher and Editorial Director at Timber Press.
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- I wanted to stay and conduct the tour myself, but unfortunately, I had many meetings to attend at our New York City headquarters, so Ryan and Heather guided the group through the hour-long tour.
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- The walking tour started in my main greenhouse to see my expansive and ever-growing collection of tropical plants.
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- On both sides of the greenhouse, I designed long sliding tables that hold hundreds and hundreds of rare and unusual specimens.
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- The group then walked through my flower cutting garden – just outside the main greenhouse and head house.
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- Every group experiences a different tour when they visit the farm depending on what is blooming at the time. Although summer officially ends this week, there is still lots of color in this garden.
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- These are two wisteria standards planted at one end of my curvaceous clematis pergoIa. I designed this pergola with granite uprights and wooden tops. Most recently, we added a beautiful boxwood border that lines both sides of the structure.
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- The group saw the Pin Oak Allee, Quercus palustris, with its distinguishable lower, middle and upper branches forming a most interesting growth habit. And yes, they also saw two peacocks crossing the carriage road – these young peafowl are very curious and love walking around the farm.
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- Throughout the walking tour, Ryan answered questions and explained the care and maintenance of all the gardens.
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- One of the tour’s highlights is a walk down my long Boxwood Allee to my stable. Ryan explained how we cover all these shrubs with burlap shrouds during the colder months to protect them from winter’s elements.
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- The group passed the great white pine trees – visible from almost every location on this end of the farm. Pinus Strobus is a large pine native to eastern North America. Some white pines can live more than 400-years.
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- Here is a view of some of the many trees that I’ve planted on the property. Some of them are already beginning to drop their leaves.
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- Here is a newer allee of lindens in between two of my paddocks – it is growing very nicely.
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- The group stopped to see this view through the large paddock – the ancient apple trees and my Winter House home and carport in the distance. My large porch can be seen on the right.
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- During the warmer months, I love to decorate the stable courtyard with large tropical plants – these potted palms add such a pretty touch to the natural stone color.
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- My dear Friesians were quite a treat for this group.
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- Everyone on the tour received a copy of my October issue of “Living”. Have you gotten the issue yet? It’s available on newsstands now!
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- My linden tree allee is always so inviting. And on this warm day, it provided a wonderful canopy of shade.
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- This group loved all the fencing that surrounds my paddocks. This is old Canadian white spruce fencing I imported when I bought this farm.
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- The tour continued onto the vegetable gardens. We’ve picked many of the summer vegetables, but it continues to thrive.
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- The vegetable garden is still full of fresh, leafy greens.
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- Here are more shapely boxwood shrubs – these surround my massive herbaceous peony bed.
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- For a couple weeks each summer, this bed is overflowing with color – whites and pinks. My herbaceous peony collection includes 11-double rows of peonies, and 22 different varieties of peony plants – two varieties in each row.
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- This is my terrace parterre outside my Winter House, where the group stopped for refreshments.
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- For every walking tour, I always provide a fun treat – these are homemade cookies made by the chefs in our test kitchen. It was accompanied by refreshing cups of cider made from apples grown right here that I pressed myself last weekend.
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- Bob and my longtime housekeeper, Laura Acuna, posed for this quick photo – a keepsake for Andrew.
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- This is the view from my terrace parterre looking at the ancient apple trees – a popular view for visitors.
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- Here, you can see more white spruce fencing and the old corn crib, which is original to the farm.
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- This is the other end of the long and winding pergola. On the right, a stand of bald cypress, or Taxodium distichum – a deciduous conifer. It is a large tree with gray-brown to red-brown bark. It is popular as an ornamental tree because of its light, feathery foliage. These trees have grown so much over the years.
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- And here is the group, with Bob seated front and center. Thank you, Pacific Horticulture Society, for visiting my gardens – I hope you enjoyed your tour.
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
