I always enjoy entertaining at my Bedford, New York home, where even important business meetings don't feel like work.
Earlier this week, I hosted a small dinner gathering for four - you may have seen images on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48. I set the table early in the morning and started cooking. My menu included vegetarian Polish borscht, a light greens salad with leafy vegetables from my greenhouse, buckwheat crepes with caviar and creme fraiche, and for dessert a delectable apple tart. I also served Aligote white wine from our own Martha Stewart Wine Co. I'm already very busy working on my 100th book, so I am revisiting many of my favorite recipes for selection - you will all love it!
Here are some photos, enjoy. Most of the images were taken by our own Kevin Sharkey - be sure to follow him @seenbysharkey on Instagram.
My Bedford, New York farm still has a pretty layer of snow on the ground from recent storms. Temperatures have been below freezing, so much of it has hardened with many patches of treacherous ice, but the landscape remains beautiful, especially under sunny skies. These are some of my mature dawn redwoods, Metasequoia, located near my tennis court and allee of lilacs.
This is my run-in paddock, where my dear horses love to gallop and roll. The run-in shed is in the distance – a shelter where the horses can take cover when needed.
Here, the afternoon sun casts pretty shadows on the snow from the antique fencing that surrounds my horse paddocks. The fencing on the left surrounds my boxwood “nursery” where I am growing hundreds of small shrubs.
Which way did they go? It looks like the peacocks and peahens are venturing out again. These birds love to walk around the farm – in any kind of weather.
And when it is cold outside, they know to return to their safe and warm coop.
This is one of my new chicks. If you’re familiar with chicken breeds, you may know this is a Silkie – a breed of chicken named for its atypically fluffy plumage, which is said to feel like a combination of silk and satin. I will tell you more about these birds in a future blog.
Inside my home – gorgeous forced hyacinths blooming with color and fragrance.
And in my Brown Room, the table is set for four – a simple neutral color theme for a cold, winter’s day.
Here is a closer look at one of the place settings. My housekeepers, Enma and Elvira, work with me to choose all the table settings. We create a couple of options, set them on the table and see which one we like best.
Here is the apple tart I made for dessert. I already had the crust in the freezer, so it was easy to prepare the morning of the dinner. I placed very thin McIntosh apple slices on top and sprinkled them with sugar before baking.
As my guests arrived, I started cooking my crepes. French crepes are thin and very delicate pancakes that can be filled with fruit, chocolate sauce – or in our case, delicious caviar and creme fraiche.
I also made Polish borscht, or beet soup. Here is a pot of it on the stove. Although borscht is important in both Russian and Polish cuisines, Ukraine is frequently mentioned as its place of origin. Its name is thought to be derived from the Slavic word for the cow parsnip, or the common term hogweed.
The crepes are ready when the bottom is lightly golden. And like pancakes, the first crepe is never perfect. I made a stack – and they all went quickly.
And here is the container of delicious ROE caviar and bowl of Vermont Creamery creme fraiche. ROE uses only very fine salt to preserve the flavors of the white Sturgeon caviar – it’s one of my favorites. And so is this creme fraiche, which is simply soured cream containing 10 to 45 percent butterfat – thicker, richer, and less tangy than sour cream.
Our borscht was plated and topped with a dollop of creme fraiche and sprigs of dill from my indoor garden.
Here it is on the table. Borscht is best served piping hot. My guests devoured every drop.
The caviar, creme fraiche, and crepes were served family style.
The caviar and creme fraiche are spooned into the center of the crepe…
… And then the sides of the crepe are folded over in a pocket fashion, also called a blintz fold. The filled rectangular pocket is easy to eat.
We also enjoyed a fresh greens salad using vegetables from my greenhouse. It included baby spinach, arugula, lettuce, parsley, and coriander, or cilantro. Are you for cilantro or against? Some love cilantro, while others feel it tastes like soap.
Finally, look at this apple tart – baked to perfection. The sugared top caramelized beautifully.
And since there were only four of us, we each had a quarter serving! It was a very productive business meeting and most delicious meal. The only downfall… no leftovers.
Among my favorite plants are the exotic forms of succulents. I have many potted up in my greenhouse - they make excellent container specimens.
In my last blog, I shared photos from The Tropics, Inc., a large family-owned botanical gallery of tropical plants, trees, orchids, and other vintage and decorative accessories for residential and corporate use, real estate staging, and television and film projects. While I visited the shop, I admired the beautiful Abromeitiella brevifolia mounds - terrestrial bromeliads with small rosettes of fleshy triangular leaves. I hope you saw some of the stunning plants in the current issue of "Living." As the plant matures, it will grow in diameter. And when the plant produces flowers, they will emerge from the center of the small grayish green rosettes. I am always searching for rare and interesting plants and decided to add a few Abromeitiella brevifolia mounds to my collection.
Enjoy these photos.
Abromeitiella brevifolia plants are mat-forming succulents with spined leaves arranged in numerous rosettes. They grow slowly and sometimes form cushion-shaped colonies. In their natural environment, they almost never get water, and have developed the capacity to absorb water from the humidity in the air. Here, Ryan is preparing to repot these beautiful new plants.
The Abromeitiella brevifolia, also known as Deuterocohnia brevifolia, is a beautiful, rustic, and resistant plant in the Bromeliaceae family. The genus Deuterocohnia consists of about 18 species of bromeliads native to Brazil, Bolivia, and Chile in South America.
The Abromeitiella brevifolia is a small succulent with short stems. In this close-up, one can see the rosettes. And its leaves are triangular, about an inch long, and gray-green in color.
I’ve been using Guy Wolff pots for many years. Every few years, I add to my stock and Guy delivers the gray pots to Bedford, New York – he makes every one of them by hand. On the side of each one, Guy stamps the name of my farm, Cantitoe, and the year the pot was made. He also stamps his name and the wet-weight of the clay used. They all look so great in my house during special occasions.
Each pot has a drainage hole. A clay shard is placed over the hole to help prevent any soil from falling out and to aid with drainage. I also like to use clay pots because they allow proper aeration and moisture to penetrate through the sides and to the plant.
Abromeitiella brevifolia can thrive in any well-drained soil, whether it’s rocky, poor, or dry. The important thing is that it drains properly. This will prevent the plant from getting sick with fungi and the roots from rotting. Notice the mix of materials in this root ball – soil, gravel, sand, etc.
Ryan removes each plant from the pot very carefully, avoiding mistreating any of the roots.
Before placing it into its new container, Ryan loosens the root ball with his hands just a bit to stimulate new root growth. Then, he pots it to the same height it was in its original vessel.
The waterings need to be moderate since they resist drought very well. They will be watered regularly when the substrate has completely dried. And they do not like to have water on their leaves.
After potting the smaller specimens, Ryan moves onto the larger ones. Notice, the pots he is using are wider than they are tall. This is important because of the growth habit of the plant – it grows in diameter and has shallow roots.
For succulents, we use a mix of equal parts sand, perlite, and vermiculite for best drainage. The right soil mix will also help to promote faster root growth, and gives quick anchorage to young roots. Here, there are also tiny pebbles and hardwood bark to ensure good drainage.
Ryan scoops the proper soil mix into the bottom of the pot.
He works in assembly line fashion, which we have found to be most efficient and least time consuming. He fills all the larger pots with the soil medium and then proceeds with planting.
Next, Ryan loosens the root ball of the plant.
I also like to top-dress my succulents with pea gravel, or in this case, sand stone. It can be found at most garden centers.
Ryan rinses the sand stone and drains it through a colander.
Once planted, Ryan tops the pot with small scoops of sand stone.
These plants will do well in my greenhouse where the temperature and humidity levels can be monitored.
First, I will enjoy them in my Winter House. Not only do houseplants enhance the overall appearance of a space, but they’ve also been known to increase creativity, reduce stress, and eliminate air pollutants. I always have some plants in my home when I am there. All my guests love to learn about the container plants they see.
Here are three sitting on the large able in my entrance hall. Whenever I decorate with plants, I use silver, copper, or glass plates, purchased from tag sales or antiques fairs, under the pots to catch any water. I find them more decorative than the clay saucers that come with the pots.
There are more on this plant stand on my enclosed porch. Abromeitiella brevifolia can be kept in a sunny window or one with partial shade.
Succulents are so easy to maintain and are able to survive prolonged drought because they store moisture in their fleshy stems, roots, and leaves. They make such wonderful container plants. What are your favorite succulents? Share your comments with me in the section below.
I hope you've seen the January/February 2022 issue of our magazine "Living" - it's on newsstands right now! You can't miss it - my beautiful heart-shaped raspberry and coconut topped cake is on the cover. Inside, there are lots of great ideas, tips, and stories for the New Year including heart-healthy recipes, two of my own favorite Valentine's treats, and a tour of a one-of-a-kind botanical showroom in Hollywood, California called The Tropics, Inc.
The Tropics, Inc. has become one of my favorite stops whenever I am in the Los Angeles area. During a recent business trip, I paid a visit to Ron Horziencik, CEO and President of the 20,000 square foot gallery filled with tropical plants, trees, orchids, and other vintage and decorative accessories. The family-owned company, which turns 50 this year, offers plants for both residential and corporate use, real estate staging, and television and film projects. I always find something interesting and inspiring whenever I walk through the space and look at the many unusual cultivars, containers, and outdoor garden ornaments.
Here are some of my photos, enjoy - and please pick up an issue of "Living" to see many, many more.
There is something beautiful to see as soon as one enters The Tropics, Inc. In the center is an aged Elephant Foot Tree. Also pictured here is a specimen Nolina and variegated Veronica bushes. Ryan’s father, Ronald J. Hroziencik, started the business selling junk at a swap meet with his college roommate. Occasionally, they would have plants to sell, and customers loved them. Now, it’s a successful establishment with a large inventory of unique and beautiful horticultural specimens. Read all about it in the current issue of “Living.”
These are aged Aloe polyphyllas – also known as the spiral aloe, kroonaalwyn, lekhala kharetsa, or many-leaved aloe. It is a species of flowering plant in the genus Aloe that is endemic to the Kingdom of Lesotho in the Drakensberg mountains. These are at least 35-years old and feature compact evergreen succulent foliage arranged in a perfect spiral pattern.
Here is a closer look from the top of one. Its fleshy gray-green leaves form a tight rosette forming clockwise or counterclockwise as it ages.
This is a large specimen aged Abromeitiella brevifolia mound in a low charcoal gray concrete disk planter. Look in the January/February issue of “Living” for a beautiful overhead view of these gorgeous plants.
This is another Abromeitiella brevifolia mound in a low iron ceramic bowl planter. It is a dwarf, succulent bromeliad that grows terrestrially. It forms small rosettes of lance-shaped to triangular stiff, fleshy, leaves that proliferate from offsets to form a compact rounded mound that could grow up to 70-inches in diameter. From a distance, the entire plant looks soft and moss-like but they are anything but – instead they are very, very sharp!
Nearby is a specimen Dioscorea elephantipes sitting in a handmade planter. This is also referred to as a turtleback, elephant’s foot or Hottentot bread – a species of flowering plant in the genus Dioscorea of the family Dioscoreaceae, native to the dry interior of South Africa. It has a deeply fissured surface and a large, corky caudex that can grow up to six feet in nature.
Caudiciform plants form a caudex, or a fat, swollen stem, trunk, or aboveground roots. This one is also in a handmade artist planter.
Adenia glauca is a caudiciform succulent that starts forming a fat green trunk almost after seed germination and continues to grow fatter as it ages. The leaves are pale gray-green to glaucous green and are largest at the base of the stem and smaller at the tips.
I saw these assorted Haworthia plants and remembered my own in my greenhouse in Bedford, New York. Haworthias are succulents native to South Africa and are small, low-growing plants that form rosettes of fleshy green leaves generously covered with white pearly warts or bands.
This is a giant staghorn fern cluster on an aged burled tree stump from Bali. It is massive in size. I love staghorns and also have a beautiful collection of my own. Staghorn ferns look very much like deer or elk antlers and are native to Asia and Australia. The plants are part of the Polypodiaceae family. They grow slowly, but end up quite large and impressive when mature.
This is the old burled tree stump below – so very rare and interesting.
In the front is a specimen Pseudobombax ellipticum bonsai in a low rustic planter. This caudex forms a fat base, resembling a turtle shell. It is a very rare succulent.
I am a big fan of faux bois planters and saw these extra large faux bois planters right away. Faux bois is from the French meaning “false wood” and refers to the artistic imitation of wood or wood grains in a variety of mediums. It was probably first crafted with concrete using an iron armature by garden craftsmen in France called “rocailleurs” using common iron materials such as rods, barrel bands, and even chicken wire.
In another corner, more large faux bois planters – I admired them all.
This is a vintage Willy Guhl planter. Willy Guhl was a pioneering Swiss furniture designer and one of the first industrial designers in Switzerland. He designed a wide range of objects and furnishings, from chairs to door handles, church pews, and vases. He is probably best known for his chairs, especially the Loop Chair. In 1951, the Swiss company Eternit commissioned Guhl—along with his students at the School of Applied Arts in Zurich—to create a line of attractive and durable planters for use indoors or out. These planters were made using concrete.
Here’s another assortment of vintage items – a large French work table, and more faux bois planters in various sizes.
In this photo – a vintage French sunburst mirror on the wall, club chairs, and a specimen black olive tree on the left. Black olive trees reach heights ranging from 20 to 80 feet, and develop strong, sturdy trunks covered by a thick, dense gray, deeply fissured bark. The tree canopy is also dense and tight, with most branching spreading outward and horizontally when mature.
Here’s another staghorn. Staghorn ferns, Platycerium, are epiphytic, which means they grow mounted on plaques like this one or other substrates. They have two distinct leaf forms—small, flat leaves that cover the root ball structure and take up water and nutrients and the green, pronged antler fronds that emerge from the base.
This is called Dion spinulosum, giant dioon, or gum palm – a cycad endemic to limestone cliffs and rocky hillsides in the tropical rainforests of Veracruz and Oaxaca, Mexico. At maturity, it is among the tallest cycads in the world – elegant, palm-like, and evergreen with an open rosette of perfectly arranged long fronds.
Here is a large Furcraea macdougallii, or MacDougall’s Century Plant. It is a large rosette forming succulent that has six-foot long dark-green stiffly-upright leaves with regularly-spaced hooked teeth growing at the top of an unbranched trunk that can be eight-feet tall or more. In its natural habitat, it can grow to more than 20 feet and is considered the tallest of the Agave relatives.
This is an “ancient” and very large Encephalartos tree. Encephalartos woodii, Wood’s cycad, is a rare cycad in the genus Encephalartos, and is endemic to the oNgoye Forest of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is one of the rarest plants in the world.
And here is Ryan, standing in front of an enormous vintage French wine barrel. The Tropics Inc. is an amazing gallery of botanical specimens and interesting decor. Wait until you see what I bought there! Please go to The Tropics web site for more information and be sure to pick up a copy of “Living” to learn how this family-owned business began – its story is interesting, informative, and inspiring.
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