I love this time of year when I can walk through my flower gardens and see all the wonderful blooms. Everything looks so amazing this season, especially the roses.
As many of you know, I adore roses and have grown them for more than 25-years. Many of the rose cultivars growing at my Bedford, New York farm were transplanted from the gardens at Lily Pond, my former home in East Hampton. Here in Bedford, I have a large collection planted along both sides of my lilac allée and a newer rose bed planted behind my main greenhouse, but most of the roses are in the perennial flower cutting garden and they're thriving.
Here are some photos, enjoy. And remember to stream "Martha Gardens" - it's free on The Roku Channel. In my latest episode, I share lots of tips for planning and planting a beautiful garden of roses.
At my farm, I have thousands of roses growing in my perennial flower garden. Most are climbing on all four of the garden fence sides, while some varieties fill obelisk trellises in the center. All the roses are so beautiful this year.
A rose is a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus Rosa, in the family Rosaceae. There are more than a hundred species and thousands of cultivars.
Rose stems are often armed with sharp prickles – they aren’t thorns at all. Unlike a thorn, a prickle can be easily broken off the plant because it is really a feature of the outer layers rather than part of the wood, like a thorn.
Roses have alternate leaves, which vary from simple to trifoliate, palmate, or pinnate. The whole leaves or smaller leaflets are frequently more or less oval-shaped with serrated edges.
Many of my roses are old fashioned and antique varieties. They include: ‘Alchymist’, ‘Boule de Neige’, ‘Cardinal de Richelieu’, ‘Charles de Mills’, ‘Constance Spry’, ‘Dainty Bess’, ‘Pierre de Ronsard’, ‘Ferdinand Pichard’, Konigin von Danemark’, Louise Odier’, Madame Alfred Carriere’, ‘the Reeve’, ‘Pearlie Mae’, and ‘Sweet Juliet’.
Over the years, I’ve also added ‘Night Owl’, Poseidon’, ‘Quick Silver’, ‘Colette’, ‘Cecile Brunner’, ‘Ebb Tide’, ‘Jeannie Lajoie’, Lykkefund’, ‘Veilchenblau’, and ‘Geschwind’s Most Beautiful’.
I also have a selection from David Austin – ‘Abraham Darby’, Graham Thomas’, ‘Heritage’, ‘Lady of Shallot’, ‘Golden Celebration’, ‘Snow Goose’, ‘St. Swithun’, ‘Benjamin Britten’, ‘Brother Cadfael’, ‘James Galway’, ’Teasing Georgia’, ‘The Generous Gardener’, ‘Wolverton Old Hall’, ‘Malvern Hills’, and ‘Jude the Obscure’.
Roses come in many different colors, such as pink, peach, white, red, magenta, yellow, copper, vermilion, purple, and apricot.
When selecting a location, plant roses in a sunny spot with good drainage. Fertilize them regularly and water them evenly to keep the soil moist.
The flowers of most rose species have at least five petals. Each petal is divided into two distinct lobes and is usually white or pink.
Rose plants range in size from compact, miniature roses, to climbers that can reach several feet in height.
Climbers always do best when well supported by a trellis or fence – one that is the appropriate height, width, and strength for the climber. And always consider plants at maturity. The support should be strong enough to hold the weight of a full-grown rose plant in both wet and windy weather.
When watering roses, give them the equivalent to one-inch of rainfall per week during the growing season. Water at the soil level to avoid getting the foliage wet. Wet leaves encourage diseases such as black spot and powdery mildew.
This rose is a lovely white variety. It has full-petalled, rosette-shaped flowers with a button eye and a strong fragrance.
And here is one in pink. The best way to prevent rose diseases is to choose disease-resistant varieties. Many roses are bred and selected to resist the most common rose problems.
Rose bushes need six to eight hours of sunlight daily. In hot climates, roses do best when they are protected from the hot afternoon sun. In cold climates, planting a rose bush next to a south or west-facing fence or wall can help minimize winter freeze damage.
Here are two smaller roses in soft light pink.
The flat bloom is just as it sounds, with petals generally flaring out.
I also have a large collection planted along both sides of my lilac allée, just past my chicken coops and vegetable garden. During late spring and summer, this area is filled with various shades of pink, fragrant rose blooms.
Single blooms are fully opened and almost flat, consisting of one to seven petals per bloom.
Some blooms are very interesting. This is the swirled ‘Variegata di Bologna’ with its large, cupped flowers and petals of creamy white cleanly striped with purple crimson. It is one of the most striking of the striped roses providing a fantastic display in any garden.
This light pink rose is opening perfectly.
To produce an impressive show of flowers, always use nutrient-rich compost, composted manure, and other organic and natural fertilizers, such as fish emulsion. Organic amendments also help to encourage beneficial soil microbes and a well-balanced soil pH.
I am just so pleased with how well all the roses are doing, especially this year – they all look amazing.
And here is just the first of many rose arrangements I’ll enjoy in my home this year. Different shades of beautiful pink. Don’t forget to watch “Martha Gardens” exclusively on The Roku Channel for lots of useful information and tips for growing roses. It’s available to stream right now!
There is so much growing and blooming here at my Bedford, New York farm - it's a perfect time for a garden tour.
As many of you know, every now and then I agree to small, guided walks around my property. Earlier this week, I opened my gardens for a private showing to the Garden Club of Yorktown, an organization of passionate gardeners of all levels here in Westchester. Unfortunately, because of my busy work schedule I wasn’t able to join this group, but they had a very thorough and enjoyable visit with my head gardener, Ryan McCallister. The tour took them through my flower cutting garden, under the shade of the great pin oaks, down the length of my long Boxwood Allée, through the stable to see my horses and donkeys, past the herbaceous peony bed and winding clematis pergola, and finally to my terrace parterre for a few photos and refreshments.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Most of the tours start at the front gate of my home. All the guests receive a map of the property and a short introduction and history about the farm and how it has evolved over the years. Here is Ryan welcoming the group to Cantitoe Corners.
Right now, the smoke bushes are looking spectacular. They’re among the first plantings one sees when visiting my farm. Smoke bushes, Cotinus, are among my favorite of small trees – they have superlative color, appealing form, and look excellent in the gardens.
The tour then walked through my glass greenhouse and attached head house and then out to the flower cutting garden – it’s so full of colorful blooms this time of year.
Lupinus, commonly known as lupin or lupine, is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. The genus includes more than 200 species. It’s always great to see the tall spikes of lupines blooming. Lupines come in lovely shades of purple, pink, white, yellow, and even red. Lupines also make great companion plants, increasing the soil nitrogen for vegetables and other plants nearby.
The roses are looking spectacular this year. I have a vast collection – many of which are heirlooms that we moved from Lily Pond, my former home in East Hampton, to Bedford.
We have dianthus flowering as well with its beautiful pink fringed margins. Most varieties of dianthus are perennials, meaning they come back every year,
I grow so many alliums here at the farm and they continue to bloom so beautifully interspersed with other flowers. These easy-to-grow bulbs come in a broad palette of colors, heights, bloom times, and flower forms. They make excellent cut flowers for fresh or dried bouquets. What’s more, alliums are relatively resistant to deer, voles, chipmunks, and rabbits.
Also blooming this week – the poppies. Poppies produce open flowers that come in many colors from crimson red to purple, lavender, and pale pink. Poppies require very little care, whether they are sown from seed or planted when young – they just need full sun and well-drained soil.
Here’s another rose – my roses are at their peak. Rose bushes need six to eight hours of sunlight daily. In hot climates, roses do best when they are protected from the hot afternoon sun. In cold climates, planting a rose bush next to a south or west-facing fence or wall can help minimize winter freeze damage.
Wisteria also loves lots of light. And wisterias of all types are scented. Some have a musky fragrance, while others release a sweet, intoxicating smell.
I have many iris cultivars. Iris flowers bloom in shades of purple, blue, white, and yellow and include many hybridized versions that are multi-colored. Iris × hollandica, commonly known as the Dutch iris, is a hybrid iris developed from species native to Spain and North Africa. The bulbous iris has narrow linear green leaves and bears largish blue to yellow to white flowers.
The group walked out of the garden to my stand of bald cypress trees on the left and my long clematis pergola on the right.
Many enjoyed taking photographs of the gardens and flowers – everything is looking very lush and green.
Next, Ryan guided the group through the Pin Oak Allée, Quercus palustris, which looks fuller every week with its distinguishable lower, middle and upper branches – such a lovely collection of trees.
Ryan often stops along the carriage road to answer any questions. Here he points out the pool area behind the growing hedges of purple columnar beech trees, Fagus sylvatica ‘Dawyck Purple’ inside the pool fence and Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Diabolo’ and Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’ shrubs outside the pool fence. He also shows everyone my orchard, filled with more than 200 fruiting trees.
The Boxwood Allée and stable always grab everyone’s attention. Ryan goes over how we care for the boxwood in winter, covering it with protective burlap. Looking up, the skies are hazy from all the smoke drifting down from the wildfires in the eastern Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It has been particularly bad on the east coast with air quality reaching dangerous levels. This day, however, was safe for our walking tour around the farm.
No tour is complete without a brief visit in the stable. Here’s Bond saying hello to the group.
After leaving the stable, the tour continued up the carriage road, past the grove of azaleas, and around the corner to the peonies. Luckily, some of the herbaceous peonies were still blooming.
My herbaceous peony collection includes 11-double rows of peonies, and 22 different varieties of peony plants – two varieties in each row. I chose the varieties for their colors, their forms, and their long blooming periods.
After seeing the peonies, the group was led through the upper terrace parterre to the lower terrace just outside my Winter House. The golden barberry glistens above the bold green of the boxwood hedges.
Carlos and Enma set up some refreshments. I always like to offer guests some tasty treats at the end of our tours. We offer cookies and cool pomegranate juice made using concentrate from our friends at POM Wonderful.
A coyote was also on the terrace wall watching all the activity, but don’t worry, it’s not real.
At the end, the group stopped for a final photo. It was a nice ending to a pleasant early summer walk. Thanks for visiting my gardens, Garden Club of Yorktown.
As you may know, pumpkins grow on vines, which means they take up a lot of space. I always plant my pumpkin patches in roomy beds that can accommodate large crops of big, colorful fruits. This year, I decided to plant them in the large garden adjacent to the chicken coops, where we used to grow all the other vegetables. We planted lots and lots of seeds. Many of them are from Johnny’s Selected Seeds in central Maine - a company I’ve been using for quite some time. Some of the varieties should be ready to harvest in about 100-days. We also planted several rows of corn - also from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. It's going to be a bountiful season.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Many of you already know, this garden is where I grew the majority of my vegetables. Now that I have a new and giant half-acre vegetable garden closer to my home, I decided to designate this area for our pumpkins and corn. The area was already cleared, rototilled and prepared for planting. Pumpkins are one of the last crops we plant because the soil must be thoroughly warmed to at least 70-degrees Fahrenheit – pumpkins are very sensitive to the cold.
Pasang begins transporting wheelbarrows of compost into the garden. The pumpkins will be planted in “hills” to allow the soil to warm more quickly, while encouraging the seeds to germinate faster.
Here, Phurba shapes the compost into the hills or mounds. These “hills” are the perfect size for planting the pumpkin seeds.
The two work in a production line process to get the job done efficiently and quickly. As one drops the soil in place, the other works at the opposite end creating the needed beds.
It doesn’t take long to create all the mounds for our pumpkin seeds.
Meanwhile, Ryan prepares all the seeds and markers for the pumpkin patch. We always use seeds from various seed companies, and seeds I save from interesting or tasty pumpkins I’ve enjoyed. This year, most of our pumpkin seeds are from Johnny’s Selected Seeds.
Each mound is then appropriately marked, so we can identify the fruits throughout the season.
Pumpkin seeds are oval-shaped with cream-colored husks. Some also come coated or dressed with an antimicrobial.
Ryan plants about five or six seeds in each spot, with each seed about an inch to an inch and a half deep into the soil.
Among the varieties we planted – ‘Rouge Vif D’Etampes.’ “Rouge vif” means “vivid red” in French. Shaped flatter than more traditional pumpkins, this variety averages about 10 to 15 pounds and the flesh is moderately sweet and orange – excellent for pies. (Photo from Johnny’s Selected Seeds)
‘Porcelain Doll’ is a popular favorite. It is a pink pumpkin with sweet flesh that can be used for pies, soups, and other gourmet delights. (Photo from Johnny’s Selected Seeds)
‘Valenciano’ has snow-white skin – it is among the whitest of pumpkins. It makes a unique for doorstep decoration. ‘Valenciano’ pumpkins are slightly ribbed, medium-sized and flatter in appearance. (Photo from Johnny’s Selected Seeds)
‘Cargo’ pumpkins are robust hybrid fruits with strong handles and beautiful rich orange color. (Photo from Johnny’s Selected Seeds)
We also planted a few melon varieties such as this ‘Starlight’ watermelon, a round “icebox” variety with sweet red flesh.
And this is ‘Griselet’ with an old-fashioned sweet and succulent melon flavor.
On the other side, Moises plants corn seeds. Corn is best planted in a location that has rich soil and receives at least six to eight hours of light per day.
Here, Moises plants two seeds together in each spot about an inch deep.
The seeds can be spaced about seven to 12 inches apart.
This is ‘Superb’ – a strong bicolored corn variety that thrives in difficult growing conditions. (Photo from Johnny’s Selected Seeds)
Another bicolor we planted is ‘Montauk.’ This has eight inch long ears with about 16 to 20 rows of small, sweet kernels. (Photo from Johnny’s Selected Seeds)
And another strong grower is ‘Solstice,’ which offers good eating quality and ear size along with delicious flavor. (Photo from Johnny’s Selected Seeds)
Once all the seeds are planted, Moises carefully rakes and backfills the seeds and then gives them a good drink. Our gardens are all planted – now to watch them grow. Sweet corn takes up to 100 days to mature. I can’t wait to pick our pumpkins and ears of corn.
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