Preparing for a Special Cinco de Mayo Business Party
Spring is a wonderful time for outdoor entertaining.
Today I am welcoming a group of colleagues, business partners, and influencers to my farm for a special Cinco de Mayo party. The event will be held under my new pavilion located just outside my pool. Preparing for any special gathering takes a lot of effort, a lot of time, and a lot of advanced planning. With so much to do, all hands were on deck yesterday, especially around the pool and in the gardens and orchard - grooming and mulching the tree pits, planting outdoor containers, weeding beneath the hedges, etc.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
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- I’m “breaking in” the new pavilion and yew table later today when I host the first of many dinners and gatherings outside my pool. The table seats 26 guests. This week, we hung six of my giant staghorn ferns. They look so beautiful here.
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- Here’s another view of the pavilion from the side. I think this will quickly become a favorite warm weather gathering spot here at the farm.
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- There are 17 different species of staghorn fern, Platycerium alcicorne. Its common names include elkhorn fern and antelope ears.
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- Each staghorn fern has antler-like foliage as well as flat, basal leaves. The flat leaves are infertile and turn brown and papery with age. They overlap onto a mounting surface and provide stability for the fern.
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- Depending on the fern variety, the foliar fronds may droop or be erect. These leaves resemble the horns of a large herbivore.
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- In preparation for my Cinco de Mayo business party, the grills are taken out of storage and cleaned.
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- Although it may still be too cold to swim outdoors, all the pool furniture is out and ready to use.
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- If you haven’t already seen them, these are my staddle stones. I purchased them from the annual NYBG Garden Furniture & Antiques Fair. Staddle stones were originally used in the 17th and 18th centuries as support bases for granaries, hayricks, and game larders. They typically looked like giant stone mushrooms, but mine are square – a more rare and unique version. Guests are always so interested to learn about these staddle stones when they see them at the end of my pool.
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- I also asked my gardeners to plant a few urns around the pool – these containers are planted with pretty spider agaves.
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- The spider agave is a small species with long arching and twisting pale-green leaves that taper to a soft point. This garden-friendly species grows 12 to 15 inches tall and eventually forms clumps of plants several feet across.
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- My orchard surrounding the pool has more than 200 fruit trees. We planted a couple new ones where others did not do well. This is Prunus ‘North Star’ – a sour cherry tree. A dwarf cultivar, it typically grows eight to 10 feet tall. Developed by the University of Minnesota, it is also self-pollinating and a heavy producer of mahogany-red, medium-sized fruit.
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- As part of the orchard maintenance and spring cleanup, I wanted the tree pits around each fruit tree to be expanded. Larger tree pits will help to keep the mowers at a safe distance, so branches are not disturbed.
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- The outdoor grounds crew uses our Little Wonder gas powered edger to create the straight lines for the square tree pits. This machine is a single purpose machine used to make good, crisp lines along the edges of garden beds. We’ve been using this handy and dependable machine for years.
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- Pasang carefully removes each piece of sod.
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- Here, one can see the straight, square tree pit.
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- All the tree pits are made to the same size, so the area looks uniform.
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- Next, Pasang adds a pile of mulch to each pit using one of our new Scenic Road wheelbarrows. The mulch is made right here at the farm – look how dark and rich it is. This mulch is also combined with tree mold and manure.
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- Phurba spreads the mulch around the pit, being careful not to put too much around the tree. As the saying goes, “bare to the flare.” The tree’s flare is where the trunk gets wide and meets the soil line.
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- Phurba also lightly packs down the mulch so it does not blow away by any winds or by our leaf blowers.
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- This outdoor chore takes a few days to complete, but I think it is worth all the effort – the trees look so handsome.
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- This view shows four of the square pits beneath the fruit trees. They will look perfect for the party.
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- And like clock work, some will also be blossoming. Please stay tuned for my next blog when I share photos from the party itself! Happy Cinco de Mayo!
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