Fruit Trees from Windy Hill Farm

May 30, 2019

The orchard at my Bedford, New York farm continues to grow and thrive.

The large orchard surrounding my pool is filled with a variety of apple trees, plum trees, cherry trees, peach, pear, apricot, and quince trees - more than 200 in all. Many of these trees have already produced lots of beautiful, delicious fruits. Last week, I decided to plant a few more specimens - some to replace trees that were not developing as well, but most as additions to the huge field. I turned to Windy Hill Farm in Great Barrington, Massachusetts for this newest selection. Windy Hill Farm is a family owned and operated horticultural operation that focuses on flowering trees, ornamental shrubs, conifers, broadleaf evergreens, tree fruits, and more.

Here are some photos - enjoy.

: Windy Hill Farm is in western Massachusetts – not far from the Connecticut border. It includes a seven-acre apple orchard, a one-acre blueberry field, eight acres of field-grown specialty ornamental nursery stock, a retail garden center, and a full-service landscape department.

: It was started in 1980 as a part-time business on an abandoned dairy farm. Owners Dennis and Judy Mareb opened Windy Hill to the public in 1986. The garden center is a 36-foot by 24-foot timber-frame structure cut from hemlocks on the property.

: Surrounding the garden center is a two-acre yard displaying an extensive selection of plants, shrubs, and trees.

: Windy Hill offers many traditional favorites, including native species as well as cultivars and selections from across the United States and abroad.

: This is a ‘Vanilla Twist’ Weeping Redbud, Cercis canadensis – a captivating small tree that shows off a canopy of beautifully cascading branches of white blooms in early spring.

: An uncovered hoop house displays lots of the smaller specimens – all well-maintained and lush.

: Here is a nine-foot larch, Larix K ‘Varied Directions’ – a vigorous and spreading grower with robust twigs that propel branches up and out in varied directions.

: The branches eventually arch down and cover the ground with bright green spring foliage that changes to gold before the needles fall in autumn. One of my favorite weeping larch trees is the one planted at the end of my farm’s Pin Oak Allee – a European cultivar, Larix decidua “Pendula”.

: Windy Hill Farm also has a section for shade loving perennials – everything is very well-marked with plant descriptions and blooming flower images.

: This section is dedicated to small succulents.

: And here’s a table filled with shade-tolerant hostas. I have many hostas growing at the farm – they’re so beautiful with their large green leaves.

: Inside the retail garden center – lots of seed potatoes.

: And a rack filled with vegetable seeds – good reminders for those who still have to get their summer crops into the ground.

: I purchased a total of 18 fruit trees. Here they are being wheeled out and loaded onto our truck.

: A few hours later, they’re all safely transported to my farm and unloaded.

: This is my orchard. We planted these trees a couple of years ago and I am so pleased with how well they have developed.

: These trees produced many fruits in the first season – in part because of how nutrient-rich the soil is. When choosing to grow fruit stock, it is very important to select those that are best for your area’s climate and soil.

: The new trees were planted the very next day. Among them, this peach “White Lady”, which produces delicious white-fleshed freestones with low acid and a full, rich flavor.

: This peach variety is called ‘Redhaven’ – a blue-ribbon, all-purpose peach, with luscious, top-quality fruit that’s great as a fresh snack or for canning and freezing.

: And this peach tree is called ‘Blushing Star’. This cultivar is a late-season, easy-care peach tree. It provides prolific harvests of beautiful fruit with firm white flesh and a unique, sweet flavor.

: I also got a few more apricot trees. This is apricot ‘Chinese Mormon’. It produces heavy crops of medium yellow to orange fruit with excellent flavor and texture early in the growing season.

: Sweet Cherry ‘Ranier’ (Mazzard) is one of the most in-demand varieties, for both its taste and its beauty. This variety produces large, yellow fruit with a half-red blush. The fruits are very firm, with sweet flesh and wonderful flavor that’s excellent for baking, canning, freezing and eating out of hand.

: Sweet cherry ‘White Gold’ is a sweet cross with great looks and taste. This heavy-cropping tree is the offspring of ‘Emperor Francis’ and ‘Stella’ cherry parents. It bears gorgeous yellow-blushed-red sweet cherries that mature in mid-cherry-season.