The next time you're in the New York City area, I encourage you to visit Untermyer Gardens.
Last weekend, I attended a Mehregan gala, an ancient Persian harvest fair, hosted by the Untermyer Gardens Conservancy. The event was a fundraiser honoring celebrated photographer Firooz Zahedi. The evening included delicious Persian foods, music, dancing, and a performance by Iranian singing star, Sattar. Untermyer Gardens is an historic 43-acre park located in Yonkers, New York, not far from my home. The gardens were named after lawyer and civic leader, Samuel Untermyer, who purchased the original land from former New York State Governor, Samuel Tilden, in 1899. During the first 40-years of the 20th century, Untermyer, who was passionately interested in horticulture, developed the property with help from architect, Welles Bosworth, and made it one of the finest private gardens of its time. Today, the gardens continue to be lovingly revived and restored by the Untermyer Gardens Conservancy.
Enjoy these photos.
This is the entrance to the Walled Garden of the Untermyer Gardens. It was inspired by the great Indo-Persian gardens of antiquity – originally intended to resemble a “paradise on earth.” Above the doorway is a carved stone plaque of a recumbent Artemis sculpted by Ulric Henry Ellerhusen.
Just inside the entrance is the first of four crisscrossing canals of the Walled Garden. Here, one can see the overhanging boughs of two majestic weeping beeches, Fagus syllvatica ‘Pendula’. The wide marble fountain basin spills into this central canal.
Here is a view of the same canal looking back to the entrance and the grand beeches.
This is called the Temple of the Sky, a roofless crown with its columns of Alabama marble, where legendary Persian singer Sattar performed later in the evening. The mosaic floor encircles a portrait of Medusa, the winged demon in Greek mythology.
Here I am in the Temple of the Sky with Drew Schuyler, assistant head gardener at Untermyer.
This is a view from the Walled Garden’s Lower Terrace looking out onto the Hudson River and the Palisades.
Below the Temple of the Sky is the ruined Persian Pool, once the swimming pool of the Untermyer family. Construction is underway to transform it into a reflecting pool.
Along the East Border of the Walled Garden is this Auraucaria auraucana, also known as the monkey puzzle tree or Chilean pine. I also have one in the greenhouse at my Bedford farm. There is also Dasylirion longissima, a Mexican grass tree on the left and azaleas on the right.
This section of the East Border features oakleaf hydrangea, Hydrangea quercifolia, and Persian silk tree, Albizia julibrissin ‘Summer Chocolate’ – showing the contrasting colors to the mostly green foliage of the early fall plantings.
Here, one can see the dried flower heads of Hydrangea quercifolia in front of an espaliered southern magnolia, Magnolia grandiflora ‘Edith Bogue’ which is flanked by two crape myrtles, Lagerstroemia indica.
This is a stoa, a covered portico or walkway according to Greek architecture. It is embellished with a group of potted tropical specimens including a container planted with various ferns: emionitis arifolia, Selaginella, Impatiens repens, Pteris cretica ‘Albolineata,’ Pteris ensiformis ‘Evergemiensis,’ and Pellaea rotundifolia.
Here is another canal leading to the garden’s Amphitheater with gorgeous green foliage along both sides.
Here I am in the open-air, Grecian-style Amphitheater where guests are often entertained by musicians, dancers, and other events. Seasonal container plantings line the back wall and include elephant ears, Alocasia, bird-of-paradise, and mixed containers with tall fuzzy fronds of dog fennell and Eupatorium capillifolium ‘Elegant Feathers.’
These Alocasia plants which were planted in the canal beds last year grew quite well and were repurposed into some massive planters in the Amphitheater this year.
In front of the Amphitheater are two sphinxes by noted Art Deco sculptor, Paul Manship, who was also famous for Prometheus at Rockefeller Center in New York City. The sphinxes are sitting on top of cippolino marble columns. The mosaic floor of the Amphitheater stage refers to designs at Tiryns and ancient Roman villas.
A reflecting pool below the sphinxes is filled with assorted aquatics and framed by a border of annuals that attract butterflies in warmer weather.
In this bed – Nandina domestica ‘Seika’ OBSESSION on the lower terrace contrasts nicely with the various hydrangeas.
This is the Hydrangea Border on the Lower Terrace with arching stems of Patrinia scabiosifolia reaching toward the path.
Here, the Hydrangea quercifolia is starting to show its signature fall color.
This is a stunning view down the Vista Stairs. It is enhanced by the 99 Cryptomeria japonica ‘Radicans’ and ribbons of Japanese forest grass, Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’.
After our tour of the Garden, we sat down to a delectable Persian entrée of grilled jujeh kabob and kabob barg; a bundle of sabzi, or greens; timbale of sabzi polo, which is herbed rice; grilled red, orange & yellow peppers, and plum tomatoes.
A lavish dessert buffet includes a selection of summer fruits, my own lemon meringue tartlets, assorted mousse shots, homemade chocolate barks, chocolate dipped fruits, chocolate clusters and truffles, Persian sweets baklavah, bamieh, sholezard, and graybeh, stuffed dates, marzipan fruits, knafe, koluchen yazdi, chay and rock candy, and a Persian tea station.
And here’s a night view of the Temple of the Sky looking out onto the Hudson River and the Palisades. It was a beautiful early autumn evening. For more information on the Untermyer Gardens, please go to the website, or just click on this highlighted link. If you are able to visit Untermyer, I know you will enjoy it as much as I do.
As many of you know my schedule is very busy, but every few months I always set aside time to make my beautiful dogs a big batch of home-cooked food.
I've been preparing my own dog food for years. It has many benefits - fewer preservatives and additives, more varied and better ingredients and, of course, more of what I know my dogs like to eat. I also know the food is from wholesome, organic, reputable sources - and that is very important to me. This past weekend, I prepared a giant amount of food filled with excellent quality quinoa, beef, fish, poultry, and lots of nutritious vegetables.
Enjoy these photos.
It always makes me so happy to be able to provide the best meals for my pets – they love all the fresh vegetables and meats I cook for them. I currently have four dogs – my Chow Chows, Emperor Han and Empress Qin, and my French Bulldogs, Bête Noire and Crème Brûlée. Having multiple dogs means there’s a lot to prepare. Here are two of the sweet potatoes – great for digestive health because they’re high in dietary fiber. They’re also low in fat and contain vitamin B6, vitamin C, and manganese, and they’re rich in the powerful antioxidant beta-carotene.
The butternut squash is cooked until soft and then cut into chunks. Butternut squash is also filled with antioxidants, including vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene.
Here’s a giant bowl of peas and quinoa. Quinoa is an amazing gluten-free superfood with high levels of essential amino acids. It is a high protein grain type food, so give it in small amounts. When preparing homemade diets, be sure it is well-balanced. Always be sure to research and discuss with your veterinarian what your pet needs.
These broccoli heads are cooked until fork tender and placed in the big stainless steel bowl. All my food is completely organic and full of flavor.
Here are the added carrots. My dogs love carrots. They are low in calories and high in fiber and vitamins. Occasionally, crunching on raw carrots can also be good for their teeth.
On top of this bowl of vegetables is some cooked fish. And watch out for bones. While some of the bones will be ground in a processor, it is a good idea to always carefully check for potentially dangerous bones.
Here, more vegetables including cabbage and turnips.
All the foods are cooked thoroughly and distributed into the large bowls. Look how much we’ve prepared.
Next, everything is run through a food processor. This step may seem extraneous; however, I have found that my dogs prefer their food ground up rather than in big chunks.
For my dog food, I use quart-sized containers. This step of filling the containers is done in a production line process, so it can be completed quickly and efficiently. Can you guess how many containers we filled? If you saw my Instagram post @MarthaStewart48, you know…
40-quarts in all! It’s very important that dogs also get adequate amounts of calcium, and omega-three fatty acids – add supplements if needed. And, whenever changing a dog’s diet, it’s a good idea to do it over the course of a few days.
I freeze my containers until they are ready to use. If planning to freeze, only fill up to the first line around the container so it has room to expand. Here, the quarts of food are left to cool a bit before securing the lids.
Each lid is marked properly, so there is no confusion.
Here are the quarts ready to freeze.
This quart was put aside in my fridge, so it’s ready for the next meal.
Here’s Enma scooping some food into the dog bowls for supper. We mix high quality kibble with a scoop of their home-prepared food. Enma mixes it thoroughly with the dogs’ additional vitamins and supplements.
And then it’s meal time! My dogs eat two meals a day – once in the morning and once in the evening. Splitting meal times is good for their digestion. Cooking for one’s dogs is a personal choice, so if you have time, and are interested in giving it a try, I know your pets will love every meal. Han, Qin, Crème Brûlée, and Bête Noire are always excited to eat!
And from above, one can see that Han is in excellent shape. With a healthy body weight, one should be able to see its waist tucked behind the ribs – one can see that on Han, even with his dense coat.
For Crème Brûlée and Bête Noire, I use dish drying trays under their bowls in case any food spills out – but they always clean it all up.
Within minutes every bowl is licked clean.
Han even checks out Qin’s bowl to see if there is anything left – even my dogs don’t let anything go to waste.
Next, it’s back inside for a nice evening nap before I return home from a busy day at work. Cooking nutritious and delicious food for your dogs… it’s a very good thing.
Autumn in Maine signals several important maintenance chores at my home, Skylands.
Because winters can be rather harsh in the Northeast, I pay very close attention to the preparations made before the season’s arrival. This includes the meticulous care of the landscape, and the carriage roads that meander through the woods. Danish landscape architect, Jens Jensen, designed the grounds at Skylands for the home’s original owner, Edsel Ford, in 1925. Not only was the main house constructed out of pink granite, but the driveways and all the carriage roads were laid with the same finely crushed stone. To preserve the pink granite gravel, which is very common on Mount Desert Island, I make sure it is removed and stored before winter every year, and then sifted and cleaned in spring before it is laid on the roads for the summer season. Last week, my outdoor grounds crew at Skylands took on the task of removing and storing the stone with the help of our new Kubota M4-071 and its durable front loader and bucket attachment.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
I’m always on the lookout for innovative, sensible, and easy-to-use tools and supplies to use around my homes. I am a big fan of Kubota tractors. Not long ago, our new Kubota M4-071 arrived at Skylands, my home in Maine.
This Kubota tractor is sure to get lots of use at Skylands – pulling and pushing, plowing, transporting, and so much more. It was also very important to have a tractor with an enclosed cab. This M4-071 offers a wide cab for increased visibility and comfort during the very cold Maine months.
Rick Andros is my property manager at Skylands. Here he is inspecting the engine and getting familiar with the machinery.
The new Kubota is stored in the tractor garage, where it can be kept dry and in good condition.
Here, one can see the Kubota front loader and bucket attachment. The two provide excellent lifting power. This attachment can also be used and driven with a slanted boom, so the operator has good visibility ahead and on the sides.
This is the compost area at Skylands. On one side, we store all the pink gravel for the winter.
This crushed pink granite is distinct to Mount Desert Island. It is a pink coarse-grained hornblende granite that contains the mineral, biotite.
Last week, the crew at Skylands used the tractor to organize the piles of pink granite, so there was more room for more stone. Rick operates the tractor from inside the cab – completely free from the flying gravel dust.
The rear wheels have about a five-foot radius with deep treads for excellent gripping and traction.
The entire process of picking up all the granite from the carriage roads and storing it neatly takes a few days. Here, the bucket is able to lift hundreds of pounds of stone at a time…
… and then move it to the top of the pile.
This is what my driveway looks like in summer, when all the pink granite gravel covers the roads. Each of the carriage roads is 12-feet across, and is covered with at least a couple inches of the crushed stone.
And here it is as the stone is blown and gathered. Peter Grubb and Amos Price are both using our trusted STIHL backpack blowers – another piece of equipment I’ve been using for many years at Skylands and at my Bedford, New York farm. The gravel is blown to the center – one operator on each side.
… starting at the very edge and working inward.
Here you can see the gravel pile begin to narrow. Underneath the crushed pink granite is pure carriage road – built using layers of crushed rock, and several inches of crown for proper drainage that are perfect for horse-drawn carriage rides, bicycling, and walking.
It takes quite a bit of time to go over all the roads, but it is well-worth the effort to preserve the precious gravel. Here, the pink gravel is ready for the next phase of the process.
The gravel is scooped up and placed into the dump truck and then delivered to the pink gravel storage pile. In spring, the pink gravel will be sifted, washed and then laid down on the roads once again.
This is what my circular driveway at the font of Skylands looks like after the pink gravel is picked up. Now the road is ready for the winter season ahead.
I like to do this process before too many of the leaves start to fall, so leaf debris doesn’t get mixed in with the gravel. This also helps when the gravel is cleaned and redistributed in the spring.
And here’s our Kubota – ready to head to another task at Skylands.
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