The mighty ginkgo tree behind my Summer House continues to thrive after losing one of its big branches.
Ginkgo biloba, commonly known as ginkgo or gingko, and also known as the maidenhair tree, is the only living species in the division Ginkgophyta. It is found in fossils dating back about 300-million years. Native to China, the ginkgo tree is widely cultivated, and was cultivated early in human history. I have several ginkgo trees planted around my home, but the majestic ginkgo in my sunken garden is original to the property and about 250-years old. Although not as large as others I've seen, my tree is quite massive. Not long ago, my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, noticed one of its bigger branches broke and fell - most likely from a recent storm. Fortunately, it did not cause too much damage to the plantings below and the cleanup was quick.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
This is the sunken garden behind my Summer House. This parterre garden is very formal and focuses on the giant 250-year old ginkgo tree in the rear. Growing beneath the ginkgo is a beautiful chocolate mimosa tree, a fast-growing, deciduous tree with a wide, umbrella-shaped canopy.
This is how the ginkgo looks filled with beautiful bright green foliage. The ginkgo biloba is one of the most distinct and beautiful of all deciduous trees. It prefers a minimum of four hours of direct, unfiltered sunlight each day. The ginkgo has a cone-like shape when young, and becomes irregularly rounded as it ages.
The leaves of the ginkgo are unusually fan-shaped, up to three-inches long, with a petiole that is also up to three-inches long. This shape and the elongated petiole cause the foliage to flutter in the slightest breeze.
Each mature leaf often has a single vertical slit in the top center. This forms the fan with a cavity in the middle separating it into two lobes. Bi-loba means “with two lobes”.
The trunk of the ginkgo tree is a light brown to brownish-gray bark that is deeply furrowed and highly ridged. The ridges become more pronounced as the tree ages. The trunk circumference of the giant tree measures more than 14-feet.
A couple of weeks ago, my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, noticed one of the branches had fallen – possibly struck by lightning during a recent storm.
The branch was pretty large, so it had to be removed in sections. Pasang begins cutting the fallen branch with one of our trusted STIHL chainsaws. STIHL’s most well-known tool is the chainsaw. We use several models here at the farm. STIHL designed and built its first electric chain saw in 1926 and 94 years later, it is still one of its best pieces of equipment. STIHL has chainsaws that are powered by AP 300 S Lithium-Ion Battery and by gas.
Pasang is a very skilled chainsaw operator. He cuts smaller branches first, making sure they are not in the way of any other plants or trees in the area.
These STIHL chainsaws all have a smooth start-up, quick refuelling feature, and are simple to use. We’ve used STIHL’s chainsaws for years.
Some of the branches can be cut using a hand saw. Arborist hand saws are designed to cut quickly in live or dead wood, and the most common pruning saws are curved for increased cutting power.
A mature shade tree can survive the loss of a limb – thankfully, this one was not too major. The broken branch will have to be pruned back to the trunk later. The ginkgo tree is a living fossil, with the earliest leaf fossils dating from 270 million years ago. It was rediscovered in 1691 in China and was brought to this country in the late 1700s.
Some of the leaves of the tree have already started to drop. Here are some on the ground – most are still green, but they will turn yellow in the coming weeks.
The ginkgo leaves turn a brilliant, luminous yellow in mid-fall.
My great ginkgo tree is a female specimen. Female ginkgo trees produce tan-orange oval fruits that fall to the ground in October and November. The most noticeable thing about these is their smell – it is hard to miss, and the stench is quite disagreeable. The outer, nasty smelling pulp is known botanically as sarcotesta.
Ryan assesses the area after the cleanup is complete. There are also dormant hosta plants here as well. I am relieved no other trees were damaged.
Ryan brought in collection of green mimosa trees to add to this space. Mimosa trees are fast-growing, cold weather tolerant, and pollinators absolutely love them.
Mimosa tree leaves are medium green in color, which nicely sets off the bright pink of their spring flowers. They do not change color before they drop. The complex composition of the leaves gives the tree a light, feathery appearance.
These are the beautiful deep-colored leaves of the chocolate mimosa tree on the other side of the ginkgo. These leaves are bronze-green, fern-like leaves that appear in late spring and then become a deeper rich chocolate-burgundy color in summer.
We planted five mimosa trees in the space. They should do well in this location. A mature mimosa grows up to between 20 and 40 feet in height.
And soon, this majestic ginkgo and all the other ginkgo trees around the farm will all turn golden yellow, and then on one day after the first frost, all the leaves will just fall, covering the ground beneath them with a gorgeous carpet of autumnal color. I’ll be sure to share those photos. Stay tuned.
I hope you all saw the photos on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48 showing my Bedford, New York farm shrouded in a blanket of early morning fog.
Fog is made up of tiny water droplets or ice crystals - a result of the air being cooled to the point where it can no longer hold all the water vapor it contains. Because I live in close proximity to a reservoir, early patches of fog are common, especially in the fall and winter. When the fog is thick, visibility is reduced, making it very difficult for driving or even walking.
Here are more photos, enjoy.
I always enjoy taking photos around the farm. The following photos were taken before 9am. The atmosphere is thick with fog. Here is a view through the Allee of Pin Oaks, which is just starting to turn colors. This particular morning was so foggy, one can barely see the other end of the Allee.
The long pergola can be seen up close, but everything else is covered in fog.
Here is the soccer field where my grandson, Truman, loves to play when he is here. The large regulation soccer net can hardly be seen in the distance. To the right are some of the quince trees, now laden with fruits.
Here is a look at one entrance to the pool. Fog is actually made up of millions of tiny droplets of water floating in the air. It can form in two ways: either by cooling the air to its dew point or by evaporation and mixing – this happens when the earth radiates heat at night or in the early morning. I live in a region where there is additional moisture, so when the air is cooled, and the vapor starts to condense, patches of fog emerge.
The carriage road to the woodland looks eerie surrounded by fog. Fog reduces visibility below one-kilometer, or six-tenths of a mile, making it very difficult to navigate. Some describe fog to be “as thick as pea soup”. This was originally used to describe the dingy yellow smog from burning soft coal common in Europe. Such fogs occurred in London until the Clean Air Act of 1956.
These tall eastern white pines can be seen from nearly every vantage point on this side of the farm – still a bold and majestic sight even through the fog.
More fog blocks a clear view of the trees. The thicker the fog, the longer it takes to dissipate.
Here is a view from another side of the white pines. Fog is most likely to occur at night or near dawn when the temperature of the day is normally at its lowest.
Hard to see down this path – the fog is still very low and thick. And don’t confuse fog with mist – mist is actually easier to see through. Visibility is at least a half-mile with mist. Visibility below this is considered fog.
Look at the fog across the paddock – it’s so dense. However, the foggiest place in the world is the Grand Banks off the island of Newfoundland, Canada. It gets more than 200-days of fog per year.
This view is from the stable looking down the long Boxwood Allee. Dense fog is when visibility is at least one-quarter mile or lower. And, when fog mixes with air pollution, it’s called smog.
This is what we call the “house paddock” – it is closest to my home. In this paddock are the ancient apple trees on the left surrounded by antique fencing – barely visible now. And, can you see my house? It’s there…
The sun is trying to peek through the morning fog. There are also several different types of fog – radiation fog, sea fog, ground fog, advection fog, steam fog or evaporation fog, precipitation fog, upslope fog, valley fog, ice fog, freezing fog, and artificial fog, which is when water, glycerin or propylene glycol are mixed together to create “fog juice” and then passed through a super-heated nozzle at high pressure and atomized into the air in a fine mist.
This view is over a boxwood shrub and a cobweb. Do you know the difference between a spider web and a cobweb? A spider web typically refers to a web that is apparently still in use by an insect, whereas the term cobweb refers to one that has been abandoned.
This view is over my stable and staff offices. The sky looks very flat when the atmosphere is full of fog. In desert areas where there is little rainfall, fog can also serve as a source of water. The Atacama Desert in Chile is one of the driest areas in the world. Early in the 20th century, it went a parching 173 months without rain. It does, however, experience frequent fog. When it is foggy, large nets are used to ‘catch’ the fog’s water droplets which then drip off into a gutter that collects the water.
Fog is common near large bodies of water and valleys – my farm is not far from the reservoir.
Unlike clouds, fog only forms at low altitudes. This is another view through the “house paddock.” On the left is one of two linden tree allees. The taller trees are sycamores.
These wild geese can often be seen resting in large numbers in my paddocks. All the activity of my working farm doesn’t bother them one bit. Just behind the geese are my row of chicken coops.
This is a photo of my American beech tree grove. Soon, these trees will show off their gorgeous autumn colors.
Before 10am, the fog begins to lift. The day ended up to be quite overcast with temperatures in the low 70s. If one is lucky, one may also see a fog bow – a rainbow that appears in fog rather than during rainfall. They are fainter and slightly harder to see than rainbows, but the complete circle of the optical effect may be visible. No fog bows this time, but perhaps we’ll see one the next time the fog rolls in…
Early fall is such a nice time to entertain at home.
The day I hosted a special breakfast meeting for a potential business partner, I also hosted an important luncheon for our business Home division executive team - al fresco. My friend, Chef Pierre Schaedelin from PS Tailored Events, and I, collaborated on the delicious menu for 10, which included an endive salad with gorgonzola, poached pears, and pecans; penne rigate with roasted tomatoes, eggplant and capers; and for dessert, apple tarte tatin with creme fraiche.
Enjoy these photos - I hope they don’t make you too hungry.
The most time consuming part of cooking a dish is the preparation – having all the ingredients measured, cut, peeled, sliced, grated, etc. Here, Chef Pierre has gathered the cut olives, capers, crushed garlic, and roasted tomatoes together for the pasta.
We are also using eggplants from my garden. I love when we can use produce that is freshly picked right here at my Bedford, New York farm.
The eggplants are sliced into small pieces and then oven roasted until tender with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Meanwhile, Chef Pierre works on the dessert. We decided on an apple tart tatin using a combination of fresh apples from my trees. The apples are peeled, quartered, and cooked down with sugar until they are amber brown in color.
Caramel sauce is also made in another saucepan with butter and sugar.
We decided to make individual servings, so the apples are packed tightly into silicone muffin pans and cooked until firm.
This is what the apples look like after baking – they are turned out onto a sheet pan, so perfectly browned.
The puffed pastry is also cut and baked in the oven. These will be the bases for the tartes.
Look how gorgeous they are after they’re removed from the oven. Puff pastry is a light and flaky pastry made from a laminated dough, or dough that is made by alternating layers of butter and dough. One can see the layers here. The only ingredients used to make puff pastry are butter, salt, water, and flour — no leavening agents are required.
Chef Pierre and Chef Moises also poach pears for the salad. Poaching is gentle, stove-top cooking. These pears are slowly poached until tender – about 20 minutes.
The endives and radicchio are cut, the lemon vinaigrette dressing is made, and all the ingredients are brought into my Winter House kitchen about an hour before serving.
Chefs Pierre and Moises stop for a quick photo in my kitchen. I’ve known Chef Pierre for years – we have collaborated together for many, many meals.
I decided to serve lunch outside in the courtyard behind my Winter House. Here, I planted Australian Brush Cherry topiaries in large containers that surround an antique faux bois gazebo I acquired years ago.
The table was set with pumpkins and light colored plates and napkins.
Chef Pierre begins to construct the salads. First, a bed of frisee. Frisée, also known as curly endive in the UK, is a frizzy salad green of the chicory family along with endive, escarole, and radicchio. Frisee is a tousled head of lacy ruffles, sprouting from a pale yellow core.
The poached pears are drained and ready to be sliced for the salad.
Here, the endive, raddichio, and pear slices are stacked perfectly.
And then pieces of Gorgonzola, pecans and a drizzle of dressing finish off the salad.
Chef Pierre begins plating the pasta puttanesca. Puttanesca is an Italian pasta dish invented in Naples in the mid-20th century and made typically with tomatoes, olive oil, olives, capers, and garlic. This is our rendition of the classic dish served with penne rigate #64 made with Tuscan wheat.
The pasta is topped with sprigs of green and purple basil, also from my garden.
And for dessert, Chef Pierre plates a scoop of creme fraiche topped with mint from my garden. A smear of creme fraiche on the side will keep the tart tatin gently in place.
A lovely dessert to end our delicious meal. It was a great lunch and a very productive gathering. What are you serving at your next luncheon? Share your menus with me in the section below.
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