Trees Around My Farm
Summer weather here at my farm is expected to be sunny and mild today - only reaching 75-degrees Fahrenheit. Hard to believe the season is almost over.
It always amazes me how quickly plants and trees grow from day-to-day. Many flowers have already finished blooming for the season, but the trees, most of which I've planted through the years, are still so beautiful and lush with foliage.
Enjoy these images.
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- Every single day I am home, I tour the farm to see how all the trees and plants are doing. Every specimen is special. These trees line the main carriage road to and from my woodland.
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- I’ve planted thousands and thousands of trees here on my 153-acre farm – in and around the gardens, along the carriage roads, and throughout the woods. I love how they look in the landscape and how they change through the seasons. Most importantly, we need trees for the environment – they help combat climate change, provide habitat and food for birds and other animals, and release oxygen for us to live. This is one side of my allée of pin oaks, Quercus palustris, which I planted soon after moving to my farm. At that time, they were just about six feet tall.
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- From this side of my long and winding pergola, one can see the towering bald cypress, Taxodium distichum – a deciduous conifer. Though it’s native to swampy areas, the bald cypress is also able to withstand dry, sunny weather and is hardy in USDA climate zones 5 through 10. I also planted these when I took over my farm.
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- Nearby is this beautiful weeping copper beech, Fagus sylvatica ‘Purpurea Pendular’, an irregular spreading tree with long, weeping branches that reach the ground. I have several of these trees on the property.
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- And across the soccer field is this row of weeping hornbeams, Carpinus betulus Pendula. The branches of these rare trees gracefully weep to create an umbrella of foliage that reaches the ground.
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- I am very proud of my orchard. There are more than 200-fruit trees planted here – apple trees, plum trees, cherry trees, peach, pear, medlar, apricot, and quince trees.
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- From a distance, everyone notices the weeping willows. This one is in a grove at the edge of my pinetum.
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- This is my “Christmas Tree Field” – a large space where I grow more than 600 evergreen trees – rows of Frasier Fir, Canaan Fir, Norway Spruce, Blue Spruce, and others.
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- This is the newer of two linden allées here at Cantitoe. This one is planted between the paddocks and runs from the pergola to the Boxwood Allée and then all the way down to the chicken coops. It, too, has grown so beautifully over the years, in part because I pay so much attention to the soil and keep it rich and filled with nutrients for all the plantings.
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- Do you see them? My handsome Friesians, Hylke and Geert, are under the stand of great white pine trees. These trees are visible from almost every location on this end of the farm. Pinus Strobus is a large pine native to eastern North America and commonly known as the eastern white pine, white pine, northern white pine, Weymouth pine, and soft pine. The fencing was bought in Canada. Although the uprights are mostly new cedar posts, the horizontal pieces are antique white spruce that’s still as beautiful now as it was when I purchased it.
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- Down beyond the chicken coops is a grove of dawn redwoods. Dawn redwoods, Metasequoia, grow faster than most trees and need an area under full sun that is large enough to accommodate the mature trees which can grow to more than 160-feet tall.
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- I’ve planted many Japanese maples just in this woodland near my chickens. I always look forward to their gorgeous displays of color, especially in autumn.
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- London plane trees and about 100 royal purple smoke bushes, Cotinus coggygria make up another allé in my middle field. I planted it in 2019 and it has grown exceptionally well since. These trees are so lush and the bold colors of the specimens look amazing together.
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- I also have London planes in one section of my living maze. These large trees are sought after for the large three-lobed, toothed, dark green leaves that turn yellow, orange, and red with the fall season.
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- Also in this maze are several Liquidambar styraciflua ‘Slender Silhouette’ trees, American sweetgums. As these trees mature, they will maintain their erect, columnar form, growing up to 50 feet tall and only about four-feet wide.
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- Acer saccharum, the sugar maple, is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry and lychee family Sapindaceae. It is native to the hardwood forests of eastern Canada and eastern United States. Sugar maple is best known for being the primary source of maple syrup and for its brightly colored fall foliage. Sugar maples covered with climbing hydrangeas shade my tree peony garden.
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- Here’s a look down one row of espaliered apple trees just behind my long carport and flower room. Father Legendre of Hannonsville, France is credited with pioneering the espalier growing method in 1684. Because sunlight reaches every piece of fruit that these trees bear, espalier pruning continues to be a standard procedure at commercial orchards in France.
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- Across from the dwarf apple espalier orchard is the Malus ‘Gravenstein’. This antique variety is well known for cooking, sauce, cider, and eating out of hand. The fruit is large, with crisp white flesh and a distinct, juicy flavor.
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- Outside my Winter House is this weeping katsura, one of my favorite trees. Cercidiphyllum japonicum f. pendulum has pendulous branches that fan out from the crown and sweep the ground. Caramel-scented foliage emerges bronze or purple-red, turns blue-green, then fades to gold or apricot in autumn.
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- And off the terrace is this beautiful Nyssa sylvatica, or black tupelo – a medium-sized deciduous tree native to eastern North America from the coastal Northeastern United States and southern Ontario south to central Florida and eastern Texas, as well as Mexico. Its summer leaves are a bold dark green.
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- But look closely and see the changing color. This Nyssa tree is showing a few of its autumn leaves – shades of yellow, orange, bright red, and scarlet, which can all appear on the same branch. It’s a sign that autumn is on its way. In fact, the autumnal equinox is exactly one month from today, on September 22nd.
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