I love beautiful urns filled with lush, green plants.
Now that it's spring, many of my ornamental pots are taken out of storage and filled with beautiful plants and small trees for display around the farm. I try to use different specimens every year. Behind my Summer House, I decided to plant four handsome vessels with dwarf river birch trees, Betula nigra 'Little King.' These trees will remain on the terrace until they are moved to more permanent locations in the fall.
Enjoy thee photos.
I have four of these dwarf river birch trees from nearby Hardscrabble Farms, located in Westchester County, New York, a family owned and operated wholesale dealer that specializes in native species, ornamental conifers, evergreens, and perennials.
The leaves of Betula nigra ‘Little King’ are leathery, diamond-shaped, and medium to dark green in summer, becoming a rich dark green before the fall.
But what’s really striking on this tree is the ornamental exfoliating bark. It peels away in layers exposing different colors from salmon pink to reddish brown, and textures.
A birch is removed from its plastic pot. This is the root ball, or the dense, mass of a tree’s roots and the surrounding soil. A healthy root ball is essential for the tree’s stability, nutrient absorption, and transplantation.
Phurba scarifies the sides and trims the bottom slightly. Scarifying a root ball is a pruning technique used to encourage root growth outward into the surrounding soil. I do this with all my plants and trees.
Phurba also scarifies the bottom of the existing root ball.
Meanwhile, the pot is filled about a third with potting mix and fertilizer.
I use Miracle-Gro Organic Outdoor Potting Mix. This potting mix also contains nutrients and feeds for up to two months.
And for these trees, I use Miracle-Gro Shake ‘n Feed Extended Boost for season long feeding.
The tree is placed into the pot – it fits perfectly. When planting a tree in a decorative container or in the ground, the key is to match the planting depth to how deep it grew in its original pot — and to keep the root collar, which is where the trunk meets the roots, level with or slightly above the surrounding soil.
Here, Phurba also looks to see that the trunk of the tree is straight from all sides and makes adjustments where needed.
Matthew backfills the container and adds a bit more food. These trees will be well-fed for the entire season.
The containers are from Lunaform. Lunaform is a pottery studio in West Sullivan, Maine where they create extraordinary garden planters and urns. This is the Asticou planter, a reproduction of a vessel once made by Eric Soderholtz in the early 1900s. I have a collection of both Lunaform and Soderholtz planters.
Dwarf birch trees typically range from two to four feet tall, but this variety, ‘Little King,’ can grow from five to 10 feet tall at maturity.
After planting, Matt uses this battery powered handheld blower from STIHL to clean around the pots and blow away any dirt and soil left on the terrace. This blower is less noisy and perfect for around my homes.
Matthew removes any tags before giving the trees a good watering.
Out in the garden, the ginkgo biloba trees are leafing out beautifully. The ginkgo biloba is one of the most distinct and beautiful of all deciduous trees. It has a cone-like shape when young, and becomes irregularly rounded as it ages.
The focal point is the great old ginkgo tree at the back of the space that is original to the property.
In the garden beds, the Leucojum vernum, or spring snowflakes, are still looking beautiful. This flower is a perennial plant that grows between six to 10 inches in height. The plant produces green, linear leaves and white, bell-shaped flowers with a green edge and green dots.
And so many of the tree peonies are blooming. Tree peonies are larger, woody relatives of the common herbaceous peony, growing up to five feet wide and tall. They are highly prized for the prolific blooms.
It’s so nice to see all the gardens come to life this time of year. We’re all still very busy around the farm, planting, mulching, and grooming, but everything is looking spectacular.
My long and winding pergola is putting on such a colorful and gorgeous display - all the spring flowers are just spectacular this time of year.
Soon after I bought my farm, I built a long pergola along the carriage road leading up to my home specifically for clematis. Over the years, I've added lots of bulbs and perennials that bloom at different times throughout the season. Right now, the Camassia and Alliums are covering the area in an eye-catching palette of purple and blue - it's just stunning.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
It’s amazing what a difference a few weeks make in a spring garden. This is the pergola garden in late April – lush green with new foliage filling the beds.
Here’s Pasang checking and cleaning the beds a few days later.
And now the garden is filled with varying hues of purple and blue – it’s breathtaking.
My pergola garden is located across from my stately bald cypress trees. This pergola starts just outside my flower cutting garden and runs along one side of the carriage road leading to my Winter House.
The uprights for this pergola are antique granite posts from China – originally used as grape supports in a valley that was going to be dammed and flooded to create a reservoir.
The cedar rafters were just replaced last year using my own designs.
The most prominent plant right now is the Camassia – it’s blooming profusely and so beautifully. Camassia is also known as camas, wild hyacinth, Indian hyacinth, and quamash. The bulbs are winter hardy in zones 4 to 8 and both the plant and the bulbs are resistant to deer and rodents.
Camassia leichtlinii caerulea forms clusters of linear strappy foliage around upright racemes.
Camassia is a genus of plants in the asparagus family native to Canada and the United States. It is best grown in moist, fertile soil, and full sun. The flower stalks stand 24 to 30 inches tall and display dozens of florets that open from the bottom up.
Camassia also comes in this lighter shade of blue. Both the lighter and darker shades look so good growing together in this garden. One can see the six-petaled, two-inch, star-shaped flowers.
In the garden, Camassia blooms in late spring, after the daffodils and just before the peonies and other early summer perennials. Camassia is incredibly valuable since it naturalizes well when left undisturbed in a good spot.
Alliums are often overlooked as one of the best bulbs for constant color throughout the seasons. They come in oval, spherical, or globular flower shapes, blooming in magnificent colors atop tall stems.
An allium flower head is a cluster of individual florets and the flower color may be purple, white, yellow, pink, or blue.
Alliums require full sunlight, and rich, well-draining, and neutral pH soil.
Spanish Bluebells, Hyacinthoides, are unfussy members of the lily family, and native to Spain and Portugal. They are pretty, inexpensive, and good for cutting – they add such a nice touch of blue-purple.
This is lady’s mantle, Alchemilla mollis. It’s a clumping perennial which typically forms a basal foliage mound of long-stalked, circular, scallop-edged, toothed, pleated, soft-hairy, light green leaves and sprays of chartreuse, star-shaped flowers. Lady’s mantle is used here along the footpath.
Growing low to the ground is Ornithogalum. It features spear-like flower stems with multiple star-shaped white blooms.
Nepeta is such a hardy, low-maintenance perennial that can be added to many gardens.
Both sides of the pergola are bordered by boxwood. There are more than 300 boxwood shrubs planted here. These boxwood shrubs were grown from small saplings nurtured in one area of my vegetable garden next to my chicken coops. They’ve grown so much since we planted them eight years ago.
On one side of the pergola is this giant weeping copper beech tree – I love these trees with their gorgeous forms and rich color. I have several large specimens on the property. The deep red to copper leaves grow densely on cascading pendulous branches.
And behind the pergola are six matched standard weeping hornbeams, Carpinus betulus ‘Pendula’. Weeping hornbeams can grow to be about 50-feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 40-feet. These are very rare and precious trees.
I am so proud of the spring gardens. My pergola garden is among the first one sees when they arrive at the farm, and some of it can also be viewed from my terrace parterre outside my Winter House kitchen. The palette of colors is a big favorite – it grows more colorful and vibrant every year. In a few weeks, it shall transform once again and feature lovely shades of orange.
My Winter House terraces are looking so lush and beautiful.
This time of year, I always display a variety of specimens around my home - potted plants, small evergreens, and even some trailing ground covers that work well as underplantings in ornamental vessels. They all look wonderful next to the terrace parterres, or formal geometric gardens - some planted with herbs and flowering plants, and some planted in tiers of bold green boxwood and golden barberry. This week, my gardeners and outdoor grounds crew spruced the terraces up with fresh plants and amended the beds with soil and food.
Here are some photos.
When well-maintained, terrace parterres are so stunning. I am proud of how well these have developed through the years. Parterres are designed as geometric symmetrical beds bordered by low, groomed hedges. In the center is one of my giant sugar pots now used as a fire pit.
It’s always fun to visit local nurseries and select plants for one’s own gardens and terrace containers. Neighborhood shops sell what grows best in the area and experts on staff are there to answer any questions. I enjoy bringing home different plants for my spring and summer displays. These are all small Japanese holly shrubs.
Planting the urns outside my Winter House is already underway. Every urn has a drainage hole at the bottom. Matthew places a layer of weed cloth first to protect the vessel itself. This will also make it easier to remove the plant next autumn, when it is put back in the greenhouse for the cold season. The container is filled two-thirds of the way up with a good quality potting soil.
This year, I am planting three of this interesting plant – Abies koreana ‘Kohout’s Ice Breaker.’ This is a dwarf, evergreen conifer that develops into a small, broadly pyramidal tree.
It has short, stubby branches with flat, curved silvery blue and white needles and an incredibly slow growth rate.
I use Miracle-Gro Organic Outdoor Potting Mix. It contains a quick-release natural fertilizer that feeds plants for up to two months.
It looks great planted in this vessel, but it would look even better underplanted with trailing ground covers. Don’t be afraid to mix and match plants in a single container.
Matthew adds Helichrysum and Dichondra, both of which have trailing growth habits that I often use as underplantings for potted specimens.
These plants are located at the bottom of my stairs where I can see them every day. They will grow wonderfully through the season.
I also have pairs of stone planters on the steps and landings of the terrace parterres. Here is another one being prepped for planting.
I brought home several small Japanese holly shrubs, Ilex crenata, that are just perfect for these urns.
Ilex crenata is an evergreen shrub or small tree prized for its soft, glossy, dark green foliage.
The lower parterres are planted with herbs. The crew added some thyme and rosemary to fill in any bare spots.
I use Miracle-Gro Organic Raised Bed & Garden Soil in all my raised beds at the farm. It is filled with nutrients.
Here, soil is added to all these beds. I also grow catmint, a perennial herb in the mint family, used for culinary and ornamental purposes.
Catmint forms compact, mounded clumps with gray-green foliage and lavender-blue flowers.
It is important to add organic soil mix to garden beds each year as a way to refresh and maintain the garden soil health. Over time, soil settles, compacts, and loses nutrients, especially after a busy growing season. I feed and amend the soil often and it always pays off!
The boxwood hedges and shrubs are freshly groomed. And don’t worry, as the weeks progress, the bold green of the boxwood will return.
On the upper parterres, I grow boxwood and golden barberry, Berberis thunbergii. It is a deciduous shrub that is compact, adaptable, very hardy and shows off striking small, golden yellow oblong leaves. Golden barberry takes on its brightest coloring in full sun.
These garden beds will mature beautifully during the season and provide a splendid and welcoming area for gathering.
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
