The Garden Club of America Zone III Visits Cantitoe Corners
Another enjoyable garden tour at Cantitoe Corners!
One day last week, I opened my gardens for a private showing to The Garden Club of America Zone III. The tour was part of their annual business meeting. Just before the event, I spoke to the group at the nearby Bedford Playhouse about the creation and design of my gardens. And then it was just a brief ride to see all that was blooming at the farm. More than 120 guests attended. Afterward, we served a variety of refreshments and small bites, including Martha's Chard, Black Diamond caviar with homemade Melba toast, Murray's Stilton cheese with homemade brown butter shortbread biscuits, gougères and cheese and poppyseed puffed pastry straws made by PS Tailored Events. It was a lovely afternoon and a very enjoyable garden tour.
Enjoy these photos. You'll also see more of this tour on an upcoming episode of "Martha Gardens" exclusively on The Roku Channel, stay tuned.
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- I was so delighted to be a part of this year’s Garden Club of America Zone III annual horticulture conference. Here I am at the Bedford Playhouse, not farm from my farm, where I was interviewed as part of the program.
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- I spoke about the design and building of my Bedford gardens. I prepared a slide show of photos showing all the gardens currently at the farm. This is a photo of my upper and lower terrace parterre, just outside my Winter House kitchen. It is planted with large boxwood shrubs surrounded by a smaller hedge of boxwood and bright golden barberry.
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- After my presentation and interview at the playhouse, everyone drove to my farm for the tour. Because the group was so large, Ryan led one of four groups. The first stop was my new half-acre vegetable garden. He talked about its transformation from a donkey paddock to this lush and productive space for growing the most beautiful vegetables I’ve ever had.
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- Our three other group leaders were Wendy Norling, my gardener in Maine, my dear friend and EVP Director of Design at Marquee Brands, Kevin Sharkey, who knows about all my gardens past and present, and my Bedford gardener, Brian O’Kelly. Each carried signs, so guests would know where their group leader was at all times.
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- Nearly every bed was filled with beautiful vegetables. Kevin took a series of great images earlier in the morning – everything was just bursting with growth.
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- These are just three of the broccoli heads – each one more perfect than its neighbor. I picked one not long ago and it weighed two and a half pounds! Look at my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48 and see how much my cauliflower heads weighed. The vegetables are so robust and they’re so early – every day something new is ready to pick.
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- The group saw my tree peony border planted under the semi-shade of giant sugar maples near my Summer House. And Ryan talked about my extended azalea garden, where we planted hundreds and hundreds of azaleas.
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- The garden behind my Summer House is always a favorite stop on the tour. The boxwood look very lush and green. Ryan pointed out the tall, old Ginkgo tree at the back – the focal point of this garden.
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- They also saw the blooming Cotinus at the edge of the Summer House terrace.
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- Here are more shapely boxwood shrubs – these surround my massive herbaceous peony bed. Ryan explained how we care for the boxwood and cover all the shrubs with burlap every winter to protect them from the elements. He also explained how we use TopBuxus to keep them looking so healthy.
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- The group walked down the carriage road and saw my stand of tall bald cypress trees. Look closely, do you remember what the small structure beneath the trees houses? It’s my basket house – filled with dozens and dozens of baskets I’ve collected over the years.
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- On the left, my winding clematis pergola, with the clematis just starting to bloom on each granite post. Most species are known as clematis, but it has also been called traveller’s joy, virgin’s bower, old man’s beard, leather flower, or vase vine.
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- Over a section of my pergola are the climbing vines of my beautiful Rosa ‘Veilchenblau’ – the violet rambler also known as ‘Bleu-Violet’, ‘Blue Rambler’, ‘Blue Rosalie’ and ‘Violet Blue’ that bloom from May to June. Climbers always do best when well supported by a trellis or fence – one that is the appropriate height, width, and strength for the climber. It should be strong enough to hold the weight of a full-grown rose plant in both wet and windy weather. From the carriage road, one can see the abundance of pretty blooms – my guests loved to stop, take photos, and “smell the roses.”
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- Guests had the opportunity to walk through the main greenhouse and my flower cutting garden. Every group experiences a different tour when they visit the farm depending on what is blooming at the time.
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- There were still many lupines showing off their lovely colors.
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- And these delicate and beautiful irises.
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- I stopped to take this photo of Kevin and two guests from his group as they exited the flower garden – where to next?
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- The groups then strolled under the shade of my great pin oaks, Quercus palustris, with such distinguishable lower, middle and upper branches forming a most interesting growth habit.
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- The Boxwood Allée always grabs everyone’s attention.
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- And then at the end of the tour, we set up tables in my stable for our refreshments. These Cotinus branches with their billowy hairs looks so pretty and different.
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- We served delicious Black Diamond caviar on Melba toasts I made earlier in the morning. The parsley from the garden was so pretty, we used it to decorate the edges of platters.
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- If you’re wondering what to pair with Stilton Cheese, try it with brown butter shortbread – it is so delicious.
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- And of course, we had Martha’s Chard – play hard and drink Martha’s Chard. It was such a fun afternoon for all. Be sure to see more on an upcoming episode of “Martha Gardens” exclusively on The Roku Channel.
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