It's that time of year again when the hornbeam hedges around my farm are pruned and groomed.
Every summer, my outdoor grounds crew trims the hornbeam hedges in front of my main greenhouse - the large sculpted hedge across the carriage road and the hornbeam hedges surrounding part of my formal Martha Stewart Rose gardens. The English hornbeam, Carpinus betulus, is a fast-growing deciduous tree. It can grow about four to five feet per year. From a distance, it appears solid, but light streams in through the leaves providing a pleasing and dappled space. I keep a close eye on all the hornbeams - it’s crucial to prune them regularly, so they never look too overgrown and unruly.
Here are some photos.
This tall hornbeam hedge is quite pretty here, but serves primarily as a privacy and noise barrier from the road. Hornbeams grow very quickly, so it is important to trim and sculpt them regularly. Here, the top is just from the one’s year’s growth. The bottom half has already been trimmed.
The English hornbeam is related to the beech tree, with a similar leaf shape. On the hornbeam, the leaves are actually smaller and more deeply furrowed than beech leaves. They become golden yellow to orange before falling in autumn.
Looking inside the hedge, the hornbeam has pale grey bark with vertical markings. The sturdy branches grow outward and slightly upward.
Pasang Sherpa is my resident tree arborist. He is very skilled at pruning and grooming and enjoys working with the trees.
Most of the pruning is done by hand. Everyone uses Japanese Okatsune shears specially made for trimming hedges. These shears are user friendly and come in a range of sizes. It is more time consuming to trim these hedges this way, but it is also more exact.
I prefer hand trimming because the cuts are very clean and smooth.
The front face sections are done first. We use a traditional English style of pruning, which includes a lot of straight, clean edges. A well-manicured hedge can be stunning in any garden but left unchecked, it could look unruly.
For the hedge tops, we use the STIHL HLA 85 battery powered extended hedge trimmer. It’s light, easy to maneuver and cuts extremely well.
To keep the hedges straight on top, I instruct everyone to use landscaper’s twine to create a guide. It’s an easy way to make sure everything is cut properly. This nearby hedge is younger, but also growing very nicely and fast.
Here is the same section after trimming.
This entire side is straight and lush. My garden plantings do so well in part because of the excellent soil, which I feed and amend consistently through the year.
The opposite side of the garden beds is also pruned so nicely and so straight.
The tops of the taller hornbeams are accessed by our trusted Hi-Low.
And here is a side view of the big hedge showing how the front is sculpted with the taller sections protruding just a bit.
Down below – all the cut leaves. These are raked up as they work, so cleanup is easier at the very end.
Here’s Pasang keeping up with all the pruning cleanup.
Under the hedges are hostas. Hostas thrive best in partial shade and this area is perfect.
Hosta is a genus of plants commonly known as hostas, plantain lilies, and occasionally by the Japanese name, giboshi. Hostas display a rich palette of foliage colors, including green, blue, gold, yellow, white-centered, and variegated patterns, with subtle variations.
Just across the gravel covered parking area is my glass greenhouse. Flanking the doorway are Camperdown Elm trees. These Camperdown elms, Ulmus glabra ‘Camperdownii,’ are weeping cultivars of the wych elm and loved for the fountain‑like, umbrella‑shaped canopy and twisted, drooping branches.
All the green foliage is accented by formal gardens filled with rows of my Martha Stewart hybrid tea rose. My rose has large pink blooms, dark green foliage, and a most wonderful and sweet fragrance.
After just a couple of days, the hornbeams are done and this year, they look spectacular – greener and fuller than ever before.
Pruning and grooming all the hornbeams is a big task, but once they’re finished they look so terrific – thanks to my hardworking crew!
Rain or shine, chores have to be done each and every day.
Here at my farm, my gardeners, housekeepers, stable team, and outdoor grounds crew are constantly working off a running list of important tasks. During the summer season, these include pruning and grooming the many trees and shrubs, cleaning various outbuildings, edging the roads, weeding, polishing the stable walls and stall doors, and of course, tending the vegetable garden and harvesting what is ready. What's on your to-do list?
Here are some photos, enjoy.
It’s late June and the gardens are lush and green, but this time of year, we’re constantly weeding and grooming the plants. Here’s Phurba in the garden behind my Tenant House.
Pasang grooms the apple espaliers outside my Winter House.
Any clippings are placed onto a tarp, so cleanup is quick and easy.
Here’s Pete edging the carriage road at my long Boxwood Allée. Edging roads, lawns, and around garden beds can be done manually with a variety of spades or edging type tools, but depending on the size of the space, it can also be very time-consuming. Rotary edgers, powered by gasoline, electricity, or portable battery reduce the time it takes to complete this job. These machines feature a spinning blade that cuts through the turf as the edger is pushed along the road where it meets the grass border.
Here is the finished line made by the edger – so clean and crisp. In this section, one can see where the edger has passed and made a clean line through the turf.
Next, our friends from Lawton Adams Materials, Supplies & Recycling – a company in Somers, New York drops loads of 3/8-inch native stone gravel. A fresh coating of gravel always looks so pretty.
Pete uses the bottom of the tractor bucket to spread the gravel along the road.
The gravel needs to be spread evenly across the 12-foot wide surface. During this time, we block the road, so no other vehicles can come through.
On the other end of the tractor is our Land Pride PR1690 Power Rake. This piece of equipment has a 90-inch rake to work on large properties. We use it to rake and grade the carriage roads. When it is lowered onto the road surface and tilted to the proper angle, this attachment moves the gravel to the center, creating the proper crown. There should be about a three-percent slope from the shoulder to the center of the road.
Mulch is put down and spread in the beds of my Linden Allée.
Mulch as well as compost are essential for healthy garden soils and thriving plants.
Carlos cleans the windows of the stable buildings, which also my Carriage House and my business offices.
Inside the stable, maintenance work is done on the stalls.
These beautiful wooden stable stall walls and gates often get kicked and marred by hooves. They need to be scrubbed down and treated regularly.
Color Reviver Tonic by my friend Christophe Pourny adds a boost to the wood finish and helps hide any nicks and scratches. Once a year, my stable team cleans and coats the stalls. Whether you use Christophe’s light or dark Furniture Tonic, I know you’ll love the results. And please look at his web site to see all his other furniture care products, including wood and leather cleaners, conditioners, waxes, serums, and soaps.
This stable has eight stalls, so the entire project takes a full day, but the results speak for themselves.
Treating the wood not only returns it to its original lustre, but it also creates a protective layer that adds to the wood’s durability – regular maintenance is time consuming, but key.
Ryan places more evergreens in various areas around the farm. All of my trees and shrubs from Monrovia are in such excellent condition. This arborvitae is one of several being planted as part of a privacy screen.
In the vegetable garden, peas are ready for harvest. Every year I plant one side for shelling peas, which need to be removed from their pods before eating, and the other side for edible pods, which can be eaten whole.
It’s important to plant peas as soon as possible in spring in order to get a bountiful harvest come summer. I always have large bounties of delicious fresh peas.
And here’s my Equipment Barn. It’s about 40 by 120 feet, with a substantial amount of height. It is where we keep our mowers, blowers, tractors, tools, and other pieces of important machinery. At least once a year, my crew clears the entire space, power washes the floors, and then inspects and organizes every item before returning it neatly to its place, so everything is in good order and ready to use.
Keeping things well maintained and properly stored will always save time in the long run. This week is expected to be a hot one here in the Northeast with temperatures soaring into the 90s. My farm crew works hard rain or shine, in hot weather and cold, to ensure everything functions at its best.
In 2022 I decided to create a maze of hedges, espaliers, and shrubs in the pasture across the carriage road from my Winter House terrace. A living maze is a puzzle of tall plantings - tall enough to prevent those walking through from seeing the paths ahead. The maze includes rows, openings, and various dead ends, but only one true route leading to the center. The course was planted according to a very detailed map I designed. It's been a very long four year process, but my living maze is finally complete, and yes --- it is definitely "a-maze-ing."
Here are some photos.
The living maze was previously a large pasture that extended from my Winter House down to my Boxwood Allée and my stable complex on the left. It was a blank slate and I was ready to take on the challenge of building a botanical puzzle course. Mazes, as well as labyrinths, have been popular in European gardens and estates for centuries. And now there is one at Cantitoe Corners.
From the very start, each row was carefully measured, cleared of sod and then planted.
Monrovia, a wholesale plant nursery specializing in shrubs, perennials, annuals, ferns, grasses, and conifers with several nursery locations across the country, helped me to finish the maze. Their plant collection is exceptional – please look out for Monrovia whenever shopping for plants.
Monrovia Chief Marketing Officer, Katie Tamony, came to the farm on the last day of planting. Here she is with my head gardener, Ryan McCallister.
The planting process is the same for every specimen. Plants are selected based on their type, growth at maturity, soil and lighting needs. As each plant is removed from its pot, its root ball is scarified to stimulate root growth.
Each hole is dug precisely. The rule of thumb is to dig a hole that is two to three times wider than the root ball, but only as deep as the height of the root ball.
Generous handfuls of fertilizer are dropped into the hole and on the surrounding soil. Always use food that promotes faster establishment, deeper roots, and good soil structure such as Miracle-Gro Shake’n Feed Flowering Trees & Shrubs plant food.
Especially when the weather is warm, I instruct my team to fill the holes first with water to give the plants a strong start, improve root establishment, reduce transplant shock, and increase survival chances.
Before planting in the ground, each specimen is positioned so its best side faces the footpath.
On this last day of maze planting, the crew planted several different evergreens. This is Spartan Juniper,
Juniperus chinensis ‘Spartan’ – a handsome, fast growing evergreen that forms a densely branched column that is naturally symmetrical, pyramidal, and rarely needs pruning.
It features dark green, scale-like foliage that remains vibrant year-round.
Emerald Fountain® Canadian Hemlock,
Tsuga canadensis ‘Monler,’ is an excellent low-maintenance hedge tree. It is also densely branched and bushy, and retains dark green foliage color throughout winter.
Its needles are flat with two white bands on the underside giving it a lacy look.
This row shows Upright Japanese Plum Yews,
Cephalotaxus harringtonia ‘Fastigiata.’ These have a carefree, vertical growth habit. The foliage is finely textured, shiny, dark green, and deer resistant.
Eddie Yew,
Taxus x media ‘H.M. Eddie,’ is an excellent choice evergreen shrub for tall hedges and privacy screens. It has long, upright-growing branches with dense, dark green foliage.
I also included several different viburnum varieties in the maze. This one is Burkwood Viburnum,
Viburnum x burkwoodii, which has clusters of pinkish white spring flowers with a spicy-sweet fragrance and beautiful, lustrous, dark green foliage.
These are the leaves of Eastern Snowball,
Viburnum opulus ‘Sterile.’ On this plant, masses of large, pure white, snowball-like flower clusters give a showy display in spring.
And this is Jade Waves® Fernspray False Cypress,
Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘MonYur.’ It features sprays of fern-like green foliage that takes on a bronze hue in winter.
It was a race to the finish, just one day before a large party I am hosting for 225 guests to celebrate the country’s semiquincentennial, or the Quarter Millennium, the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence. I’ll share more of that event in an upcoming blog.
By day’s end, everything was perfectly planted. Don’t forget to save the pots – they always come in handy.
After the last plant was put in the ground, sprinklers were turned on – water, water, water! These plants will mature so beautifully.
I am so proud of how it came out. I designed the maze with different plantings to add texture and interest.
The plants are spaced closely, so they become closed hedges in time.
Some plants are small now, but they will grow lush and tall, creating the fun, interesting, and puzzling walk for which they were intended.
In this space I added a selection of handsome London planetrees, Platanus acerifolia ‘Bloodgood,’ a relative of the mighty sycamore. These trees are large shade trees with broad open crowns. They were the perfect choice for the center of my maze, where they surround an open green space.
And close to the north end of my maze is my giant eagle looking out toward the landscape beyond.
At the end of certain rows, I placed anchoring specimen trees.
These trees add even more interest – and great color variation.
It’s taken four years of careful planning and planting and now I’m looking forward to watching all these plants mature and also confuse those who dare stroll through… after all, it is a maze.
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