It's so important to keep up with the maintenance and care of the many trees and plants here at my Bedford, New York farm.
Two years ago, I started creating a garden maze of interesting hedges, espaliers, and shrubs in the pasture across the carriage road from my Winter House terrace. I've planted hundreds of different specimens that add texture and interest - all according to a very detailed map I designed specifically for the space. To keep them healthy and looking their best, I make sure we prune, feed, and mulch them regularly. I'm happy to report, every row is looking vibrant and "a-maze-ing."
Enjoy these latest photos.
Here is one path of my maze. A living garden maze is a puzzle of plantings – most will grow tall enough to prevent walkers from seeing the paths ahead. And each row will branch off with various pathway options and dead ends – with only one correct route to the center.
Remember this view? I designed the maze in this three acre pasture in front of my Winter House, so I could see it right from my window.
As each puzzling path bed is cleared of sod, the spaces are measured and marked, the plants are carefully counted and placed, and then planted, watered and top dressed with nutrient-rich mulch.
Here is one of the early rows. For a maze, it’s best to use relatively fast-growing trees. Many will grow to be at least six feet tall and two feet wide at maturity.
And here is one of the rows I planted just this spring. Everything is looking so lush and green, in part because of the maintenance and care I give them throughout the year.
Each shrub or bush is planted appropriately with enough space to accommodate its full grown size. These will grow taller and more stout.
When needed, the developing hedges are trimmed. Proper and regular trimming helps keep them thick and full, giving them a neat and tidy look. It also promotes new growth, improves air circulation and light through the branches, and keeps them looking aesthetically pleasing.
I also trim the hedges in layers, so they can be seen from afar.
The footpaths are also designed appropriately, so my horses can walk through the maze as well. I think they really enjoy it.
Not long ago, the crew started taking on the task of mulching all the beds at the farm. Here, Alex takes a wheelbarrow of mulch to the maze. This mulch is made right here – downed trees are ground multiple times by a tub grinder I call in every couple of years.
The three-inch mulched area extends to the drip line of the branches. And be sure not to over-mulch, which could suffocate the roots.
I planted both deciduous and evergreen specimens, so there is something interesting to see at every turn.
This is one of three young weeping camperdown elms. Camperdown elms prefer partial to full sun, but will also grow in light shade. The maze is a perfect environment for these trees.
I also planted several Liquidambar styraciflua ‘Slender Silhouette’ trees, American sweetgums. As these trees mature, they will maintain their erect, columnar form, growing up to 50 feet tall and only about four-feet wide.
This is an Ember Waves Western Arborvitae
– a colorful evergreen with yellow new growth that contrasts so beautifully with the maturing chartreuse to bright green foliage.
Paul’s Gold threadleaf false cypress, Chamaecyparis pisifera, has year-round golden green foliage.
I also have espaliered apple trees growing in my maze – at the right time, those walking through can pick a fruit while they meander through this botanical puzzle.
All the apple trees are doing so well here – I already have so many fruits growing on the branches.
Red Beauty holly has bright red berries combined with glossy, dark green foliage. Many varieties of holly, Ilex, have compact habits and glistening leaves that’s excellent for hedges, borders, and yes, mazes.
And in this area, 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 will surround and shade an open space.
The maze is looking so great – I am very pleased with how it is turning out. And we’ve gotten so much done. I think it may be finished sooner than expected – I can’t wait. Follow my blog here online and on Instagram @marthastewartblog and see all the latest updates on all my gardens at the farm.
My Stewartia Garden continues to thrive at my Bedford, New York farm.
My Stewartia Garden is located across from my long clematis pergola. The space was once planted with rows and rows of ferns and lilies. Many still grow here, but the garden is also filled with beautiful Stewartia trees, Japanese maples, Cotinus, and lush plants including Epimediums, Syneilesis, Thalictrum, and more.
Enjoy these photos.
Just beyond my charming Basket House and behind my Tenant House where my daughter and grandchildren stay when they visit, is a garden filled with lush perennials.
If you didn’t already guess, I named this garden the Stewartia garden because I planted several Stewartia trees in this space. Stewartia is a species of flowering plant in the family Theaceae, native to Japan and Korea. All varieties are slow-growing, all-season performers that show off fresh bright green leaves in spring, white flowers resembling single camellias in summer, and colorful foliage in autumn. Some of the varieties in this garden include: Stewartia gemmata, Stewartia x. henryae, Stewartia pseudocamellia ‘Ballet’, Stewartia monadelpha, Stewartia rostrata, and Stewartia henry ‘Skyrocket’. And do you know why I love Stewartia trees? Well, Stewart is my last name after all. However, there is no relation. “Stewartia” is named for Scottish nobleman and botanist, John Stuart, who had imported the plant to his personal London garden. He later served as British prime minister from 1762 to 1763.
The tiger lilies are just beginning to bloom. Native to China and Japan, Tiger lilies, Lilium lancifolium, bloom in mid to late summer, are easy to grow and come back year after year. I also have them across the carriage road in my long and winding pergola garden.
Hostas have easy care requirements which make them ideal for many gardens. I have them all around the farm. Hosta is a genus of plants commonly known as hostas, plantain lilies and occasionally by the Japanese name, giboshi. They are native to northeast Asia and include hundreds of different cultivars.
When blooming, osta flower rise high about the foliage. The flowers feature spikes of blossoms that look like lilies, in shades of lavender or white. The bell-shaped blooms can be showy and exceptionally fragrant.
Some of the ferns in this area include the Japanese painted ferns – beautiful mounds of dramatic foliage with luminescent blue-green fronds and dark central ribs that fade to silver at the edges.
In contrast are the ostrich ferns – a light green clump-forming, upright to arching, rhizomatous, deciduous fern which typically grows up to six feet tall.
Heuchera is a genus of largely evergreen perennial plants in the family Saxifragaceae, all native to North America. Common names include alumroot and coral bells.
Last year, I decided it was time to create some new footpaths around my Stewartia garden. I used large flagstone pavers placed several inches apart and surrounded with mulch. I have many stone materials already here at the farm and knew these would be perfect for this space.
These are the dainty leaves of Thalictrum, or Meadow Rue – a robust, upright, clump-forming perennial featuring clouds of lavender mauve flowers later in the season.
This is Syneilesis palmata. Over time, these plants form a sizeable patch of green umbrella-shaped leaves. Mature foliage can be more than a foot across with deeply toothed, narrow leaves – it is really an interesting plant.
I love Japanese maples and have many here at the farm. With more than a thousand varieties and cultivars, the iconic Japanese maple tree is among the most versatile small trees for use in the landscape. Some of the Japanese maples in this garden include Acer palmatum var. dissectum ‘Crimson Queen’, Acer palmatum ‘Shaina’, and Acer palmatum var. dissectum ‘Red Dragon’.
This is Pulmonaria, or lungwort – a beautiful, versatile, hardy plant. Lungworts are evergreen or herbaceous perennials that form clumps or rosettes. The spotted oval leaves were thought to symbolize diseased, ulcerated lungs, and so were once used to treat pulmonary infections.
The garden is edged on one side by the towering bald cypress trees, Taxodium distichum – a deciduous conifer. Though the bald cypress is native to swampy areas, it is also able to withstand dry, sunny weather and is hardy in USDA climate zones 5 through 10.
One of the most interesting characteristics of the bald cypress is its knees. Known by the scientific name pneumatophores, these growths are specialized root structures that grow vertically above the moist soil near the tree. It is believed that these structures aid the oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange in the roots. Looking carefully at the ground, one can see many of these unique knees.
The delicate puffs from the Cotinus can be seen from afar. Cotinus, the smoketree, or smoke bush, is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the family Anacardiaceae, closely related to the sumacs.
Astilboides is an interesting plant with huge, bright green leaves that are round and flat and measure up to 24-inches across. The effect is dramatic, and beautiful among other hardy perennials.
Epimediums are long-lived and easy to grow and have such attractive and varying foliage. Epimedium, also known as barrenwort, bishop’s hat, and horny goat weed, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Berberidaceae.
I also have several Cotoneaster in one corner of the garden. Cotoneaster is a vigorous, dense, evergreen shrub with soft arching stems studded with leathery, glossy, rounded, dark green leaves. These plants work well for a low hedge – I only wish I had planted more.
Asarum europaeum, or European Wild Ginger, is a slowly spreading ground cover that is primarily grown for its glossy, leathery, heart-shaped, dark green leaves.
Here’s another view of the handsome stand of bald cypress. All my gardens continue to be works in progress. Every year, they grow more beautiful and more lush.
Another outdoor chore is checked off the list - my crew is getting so much done.
My Bedford, New York farm sits on 153 acres of gardens, pastures, and woodlands. Every year, I work hard to design new garden spaces and enhance existing ones. I take into consideration a plant's growing needs and mature size and plant accordingly. Down by my tennis court, I already have a collection of wonderful white hydrangeas growing on one side. I decided the area would look even better with hydrangeas planted around the entire perimeter... and it does.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
My tennis court in Bedford is tucked away in a far corner of my farm. The court is surrounded by the same type of fencing as my perennial flower garden. And like all the other structures on the farm, it is painted Bedford gray.
The surface of this court is gray clay, a wonderful surface to play on.
On one side of the court behind and next to the observation pergola, is a selection of beautiful white hydrangeas including Pee Gee hydrangeas.
Recently, I instructed my gardeners and outdoor grounds crew to plant more white hydrangeas around the entire court. Here, my foreman Chhiring Sherpa removes the sod from the areas to be planted.
Two foot wide strips of sod are removed and rolled up in sections for easy carrying. It may not look it, but a section of sod can weigh between 15 and 30 pounds per piece, depending on the moisture content of the soil.
Cesar carefully loads the bucket of our tractor with sod, which is always repurposed elsewhere on the farm when possible.
The flowers start out lime green, then turn white in the summer and eventually to an antique white in the fall.
Along the strip where the sod was removed, holes are dug in an assembly line fashion that is quick and efficient.
Fertilizer is sprinkled generously inside the hole and on the surrounding soil.
A good fertilizer made especially for the type of plant is used. This Scotts Miracle-Gro Evergreen, Flowering Tree & Shrub fertilizer is fortified to help with transplant survival, increased water and nutrient absorption, and to encourage vigorous root growth and lush foliage.
Chhiring scarifies the root ball to stimulate growth.
Chhiring uses a Hori Hori knife, one of our favorite tools for the garden. It’s great for digging holes for transplants and bulbs, dividing plants, pruning, weeding, and so much more.
And then Chhiring plants the hydrangea similar to the way it was planted in the pot. Hydrangeas have shallow root systems that spread out broadly near the surface of the soil. Planting them too deep can bury the stems, which can promote root rot.
The hole is backfilled with the existing soil as well as new composted soil made right here at my farm.
I also added a selection of First Editions Diamond Rouge hydrangeas, Hydrangea paniculata ‘Rendia’, which is a small, bushy, deciduous shrub that produces large, rounded flower heads that change color over the season – creamy white in summer, changing to pink later in the season, and then wine red in fall.
Each plant is positioned thoughtfully before it is planted – the best side always faces out.
After everything is planted, Chhiring gives each specimen a good drink.
The entire perimeter is then dressed with mulch also made right here at the farm. It is delivered from my compost yard on our trusted Kubota M4-071 tractor bucket and then spread in an even two to three inch layer.
Chhiring is careful not to bury the plants too deeply.
What do you think? I am very pleased with how it all turned out. I am sure they will flourish here by my tennis court where they will get full sun.
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