An Early June Tour of My Gardens
It’s garden tour season at my Bedford, New York farm.
During this time of year, when many of the late spring and early summer blooms are bursting with color, I agree to open the gardens for a handful of private walking tours. Yesterday was the first of the season for a lovely group of students from the New York Botanical Garden School of Professional Horticulture. Through its two-year program, the NYBG combines academics with hands-on training, externships, field trips, and special lectures, to prepare its students for positions in both the public and private sectors.
Unfortunately, because I had many meetings to attend at our New York City office, I was unable to lead the tour myself, but I woke up extra early and made several batches of cookies for the group to enjoy. Here are some photos.
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- The day was perfect for a stroll through the gardens – high 60s with light breezes. Guests walked through the cutting garden first. Every group experiences a different tour when they visit the farm depending on what is blooming at the time.
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- My head gardener, Ryan McCallister, welcomed our 15-guests and guided them through the main greenhouse and head house before entering the flower cutting garden.
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- Right now, there are so many irises, poppies, peonies, and columbines in full bloom.
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- Among my favorite flowers is the peony. The peony is any plant in the genus Paeonia. Peonies are considered rich in tradition – they are the floral symbol of China, the state flower of Indiana, and the 12th wedding anniversary bloom.
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- The students looked closely at all the flowers, reciting botanical names as they took photos.
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- Here is a beautiful purple and yellow iris. Iris is a genus of almost 300-species of flowering plants with showy blooms. The distinctive flowers have three large outer petals called “falls” and three inner upright petals called “standards.”
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- Poppy blossoms, Papaver orientale, last only a week or two, but they provide a stunning show during that time. This one is light pink with a dark burgundy center. Poppies look as if they’re made of crepe paper and can be more than six-inches across on stems up to three-feet in height.
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- I have many roses in my flower garden. Some of them were transferred here from my home in East Hampton. I am so happy with how well they’re doing. In the last couple years, I’ve added many more David Austin roses and various varieties from Northland Rosarium.
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- Ryan walked the group down the allee of pin oaks and pointed out the pool and my large orchard.
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- The tour proceeded past the pinetum, which is planted with a collection of evergreens just behind the Equipment Barn. I add several small specimens to this garden every year. Earlier this year, I also had the entire area mulched to save on watering and mowing.
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- While walking through the Boxwood Allee, Ryan stopped to show the group the view of my home in the distance. To the left of my Winter House is my long carport. We’ve had quite a bit of rain over the past several weeks – it has done so much for the landscape. Everything is lush and green.
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- The group also walked under the canopy of lindens in my original Linden Allee. The linden tree is a medium to large tree with loose canopies that produce dappled shade.
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- Of course, a tour just isn’t complete without a visit to see the animals. The chickens were out and about, but everyone was most interested in the babies. Here are two of my goslings excited to meet our visitors.
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- And here is my young peachick perched on a log to get a better look.
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- Ryan walked the group through my Japanese maple grove. Few trees are as beautiful as the Japanese maple. With more than a thousand varieties and cultivars including hybrids, the iconic Japanese maple tree is among the most versatile small tree for use in the landscape. I love how the bold burgundy and red colors look against the green ferns.
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- Also in this area – petasites. Petasites japonicus, also known as butterbur, giant butterbur, great butterbur, and sweet-coltsfoot, is an herbaceous perennial plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to China, Japan, Korea, Sakhalin, and was introduced in Europe and North America.
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- Walking back up the carriage road toward my Summer House, the students looked at the climbing hydrangeas that cover many of the large tree trunks around the farm. It is a vigorous climbing vine that clings to surfaces by aerial rootlets. It has lush green foliage blanketed with magnificent, white lace cap blooms.
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- The garden behind my Summer House is always a favorite stop on the tour. The boxwood looks very lush and green. The lilies are not blooming here yet, but Ryan pointed out all the different plantings including the tall Ginko tree in the back – the focal point of this space.
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- These hostas are also planted in the Summer House garden – everything looks amazing and so healthy.
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- Here is a tree peony in bloom. They flower from late April to early May but the season often varies from year to year. My tree peony border is just across the carriage road from the Summer House. Some of the big, beautiful flowers are still blooming.
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- Unlike the more common herbaceous peonies, which flop over if not staked, tree peonies bloom on graceful woody stems.
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- This peony is still unfurling. They come in colors that include yellow, white, pink, magenta and dark maroon.
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- Nearby, the herbaceous peony bed is glistening with bright pink and white blooms – we see more and more open every day. When this garden was created, I planted 11-rows of peonies, with two varieties in each row. Peonies are undemanding, but they do need a winter dormant period in order to flourish in spring.
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- Peonies bloom for about seven to 10 days, but their shining green foliage lasts the season before dying back to the ground in winter. To perform best, peony plants should get at least five hours of full sun with rich, well-drained soil.
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- Here on the Terrace Parterre, everyone loved the boxwood and barberry. The colors add a dramatic touch to the terrace. And you can see the stable and paddocks in the distance.
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- The group was offered a light snack of cookies and a delicious pomegranate punch. My housekeepers, Enma and Sanu, always prepare a beautiful display of refreshments for our tour groups.
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- Peony blooms lined the tables on the terrace parterre.
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- I made lots of cookies earlier in the morning before I left for work – they all went quickly and not one was left over.
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- If you recall, we planted two new hedges on both the east and west sides of the South Paddock. I chose a collection of European beech trees, Fagus sylvatica, or the common beech – a deciduous tree belonging to the beech family Fagaceae and native to the woodlands of central and southern Europe. They are all growing very nicely.
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- Across from my winding pergola, is the row of bald cypress, Taxodium distichum – a deciduous conifer. This stand of trees has grown so wonderfully over the years.
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- And of course, no one could miss the beautiful alliums – I have so many in bloom along the clematis pergola. Allium species are herbaceous perennials with flowers produced on scapes. They grow from solitary or clustered bulbs.
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- The pergola was the last stop on the walk. The purple alliums look so pretty with the green boxwood and the bright orange-red poppies. This pergola goes through several transformations throughout the year, and every one is a show stopper. It was a lovely day for a tour.
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