So many of you love hearing about my pets and seeing photos of them here on my blog. I am happy to report - they're all doing very well, including my three clean, well-groomed cats.
I've always been a firm believer in regular brushing, combing, and bathing my pets. My cats are brushed every single day and bathed about once a month. And, since I started grooming them when they were young, they actually enjoy the process - sometimes they even fall asleep.
Enjoy these photos.
Blackie is my greenhouse cat. He loves people and is always ready for a rub or some playtime.
Ryan is in charge of keeping Blackie well-groomed. Here he is getting brushed – I wish you could hear him purr.
Blackie loves his neck brushed also.
And here, Ryan is brushing his back. Notice – he stays still on his own. Blackie is shorthaired, so Ryan brushes his coat once a week and checks it for ticks and burs every day.
What a handsome boy you are, Blackie.
Then it’s off to my Winter House to bathe my two dominant calico Persians, Empress Tang and Princess Peony. Do you want to be first, my lovely Tang?
Bath time takes place in the big laundry room in my Winter House basement. I have two large, deep enameled sinks there, which are good for soaping and rinsing. Here’s Enma making sure the water temperature is just right.
Enma soaps Tang and then runs a comb gently through her coat. Cats have built-in grooming tools and do a lot of self-grooming. Longhaired cats require a bit more grooming care than shorthaired cats. My cats are longhaired, and very active, so bathing is a necessity. Always use a good quality shampoo specifically made for pets.
Enma is very careful not to get the face wet. She uses a warm towel to gently clean around her eyes and mouth. Cats do not like getting water in their ears or nasal passages. In general, cats are skittish about water. The key is to make it a gentle and positive experience. Enma talks to the cats throughout the entire process. It’s also good to schedule baths when the cat is most relaxed.
Tang is rinsed, conditioned, and then rinsed again.
Removing all traces of shampoo and conditioner is crucial in preventing skin irritations.
After her bath, Tang is wrapped in a large terry towel for drying. Be sure to dry in an area free from drafts. Tang is very affectionate, and loves being swaddled, held, and petted.
And then, with the dryer on the lowest heat setting, Tang is dried and combed thoroughly. It’s always good to look for and remove any matted fur. This is important because collected mats can cause irritation and hairballs. Tang and Peony have been brushed since they were kittens, so they are very relaxed during grooming time.
Enma also checks to see if any of Tang’s nails need trimming. Pet nails grow quickly, so it is important to check them often and trim whenever needed. And only cut the white part of the nail – never the pink part, which is called the quick – this is where the nerve and blood vessels are located.
Enma uses the towel to gently wipe Tang’s ears. Her ears are very clean.
Tang also enjoys being brushed and stays still for much of her grooming session. Here she is on her side while her tail is combed.
Princess Peony is bathed in the same way, with lukewarm water and special pet shampoo. Here, Enma checks Peony’s feet to see if there is any dirt stuck in between or around the nails.
Peony is such a good girl in the bath.
Once on the grooming table, Peony actually begins to fall asleep.
A good, durable comb is a must-have for grooming. Always be sure to introduce the cat to new tools before using them, so they never shy away from grooming time.
Grooming time is not only a good opportunity to get your pets looking clean and beautiful – it’s also a wonderful time to bond with them and check for any other possible abnormalities to the coat and skin.
And in less than an hour, they’re both “free” to roam. My cats definitely like their routines – they like to eat and go out at the same times and they like to sleep and lounge in the same places. Peony and Tang are very healthy and happy.
Meanwhile, Blackie is back outdoors in the shade of the beech hedge and behind these beautiful Nasturtium leaves. How often do you groom your feline friends? Share your comments below.
It's tree planting time here at my Bedford, New York farm.
Every year, I try to plant as many trees as I can. I feel strongly about reforestation and giving back to the earth, so the more trees planted, the better. Trees provide habitat and food for birds and other animals, they absorb carbon dioxide and potentially harmful gasses, and they release oxygen. My outdoor grounds crew has been working very hard to plant hundreds of trees in the woodland - most recently, a collection of catalpas, gray dogwoods, and maples.
Here are some photos.
I keep thousands of potted young trees in this area behind my stable, where they can be closely monitored and well-watered. Every year, we take stock of the inventory and decide where many of them will be planted.
These saplings, or young trees, were originally ordered as bare-root cuttings, which are plants that are removed from the earth while dormant and stored without any soil surrounding their roots. I order a selection every spring and then nurture them in containers for a couple of years until they are ready to plant in more permanent locations.
Among them – evergreens, such as these white spruce trees, Picea glauca, a species of spruce native to the northern temperate and boreal forests in North America.
Its needles are sharp, and stiff, and are arranged spirally on the twigs – they become pleasant smelling with age.
Recently, Ryan and the outdoor grounds crew began loading up the trees to start planting – some of these trees have grown quite tall.
This woodland area is just beyond my pumpkin patch near the carriage road to my compost piles. These catalpa trees were placed at least 20 feet apart. They prefer full sun or partial shade locations. While catalpas do best in alkaline soils, they also thrive in neutral, acidic and somewhat salty soils.
Catalpa, commonly called catalpa or catawba, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae, native to warm, temperate, and subtropical regions of North America, the Caribbean, and East Asia. Catalpas develop a beautiful, symmetrical and rounded habit when they are given plenty of space to grow.
The leaves of the catalpa are about eight to 12 inches long and heart-shaped. They are also thick, firm, dark green on top and downy on the underside.
This is the leaf of a gray dogwood tree. Its leaves are opposite, ovate to lance shape, and taper to a pointed tip. The lateral veins are evenly spaced and tend to curve. Gray dogwood is very adaptable and excellent for naturalizing, especially in difficult sites, such as pond and stream banks.
The gray dogwood is a slow grower. It grows less than 12-inches per year, but it is also easy-to-care for and can tolerate dry soil.
Fertile flowers of the gray dogwood produce globular, ellipsoid shaped drupes, four to eight millimeters in diameter which start off green and turn white in the fall. Each flower stalk turns to a conspicuous red as the fruits form and mature.
Birch tree leaves are triangular or egg-shaped with a rounded base, pointed tips, and serrated margins.
One can also recognize birch trees by the bark. Look closely and notice the long, horizontal marks called lenticels. As it grows, the tree will develop strips of peeling bark that can be white, gray, or yellow.
As each tree is planted, it is also fed with a good quality tree fertilizer. Remember, if you eat, so should your plants and trees.
And each tree is also well staked with bamboo and jute twine. Notice how the twine is secured – I always teach every member of the crew to twist the twine before knotting, so the tree or vine or cane is not crushed or strangled. I like to tie the twine in a figure-eight formation. Each piece is tied just tight enough to keep the tree secure, but not break it.
Here is a grove of growing maples. Acer is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. There are more than 130 species of maple, most of which are native to Asia, with a number also appearing in Europe, northern Africa, and North America. Most maples are deciduous woody plants, ranging from multi-stemmed shrubs to large upright trees with massive trunks.
Maple trees commonly have leaves with pointed lobes and with deep indentations between the lobes.
Up the carriage road is an area planted with evergreens. When planting these trees always select evergreens that tolerate the sunlight options in your garden: full sun, partial sun, partial shade, and full shade.
All spruce varieties are in the genus Picea, a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae. This one is already well-established with lots of room to grow.
I can’t wait to see all of these trees flourish around my farm. I hope you can go out and enjoy some of the trees near your home, or plant a tree in your own backyard.
Time for some pruning and maintenance on the trees at my Bedford, New York farm.
As the owner of a working farm with many gardens, groves, and allees, I am constantly looking at all the plants and trees, making sure they are in perfect condition. Pruning is one of our biggest and most important tasks. Pruning is about more than just looks; proper pruning improves the health of the plants, prevents disease, and encourages better flowering. There are different pruning strategies for different times of the year, but overall the goals are the same - to control the shape, to keep bushes and trees fresh and open, and to allow for better air circulation through the center of the specimen. Yesterday, my gardeners "limbed up" the bald cypress trees - pruned back the low branches to keep them from hitting any cars on the carriage road and to allow enough light to filter down to the plants below.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Across from my winding pergola is a row of towering bald cypress, Taxodium distichum – a deciduous conifer. Though it’s native to swampy areas, the bald cypress is also able to withstand dry, sunny weather and is hardy in USDA climate zones 5 through 10. These trees do so well here at the farm, but they were in need of some good pruning.
The leaves are compound and feathery, made up of many small leaflets that are thin and lance-shaped. Each leaflet is less than two inches long, alternating along either side of a central stem. They are a medium green now and turn russet brown in fall. Like trees with leaves, bald cypress trees drop their needles in the fall leaving the tree – well, bald.
The bark of the bald cypress is brown to gray and forms long scaly, fibrous ridges on the trunk. Over time, these ridges tend to peel off the trunk in strips.
Here, one can see the ribbon-like bark stripping off this bald cypress trunk.
These tall, majestic trees have seed pods that are round and about the same size as a walnut.
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.
Here’s another knee. Some protrude from the ground more than others. They are called knees because they look like a bent human knee when viewed from the side.
On one end of the grove, nestled under the canopy of foliage is my Basket House. I had this small structure built shortly after moving to my Bedford farm, so I could have a place to store my large basket collection.
Here is a view looking up through the foliage.
This carriage road by the bald cypress grove leads to my Winter House driveway. I instructed Ryan and Bryan to limb-up the trees and remove any low inner branches that could get weighed down after heavy rains and brush against passing cars. It was also important not to block any sunlight from the plants below or disturb the open and airy appearance.
For pruning the bald cypress, Brian uses this telescoping pole pruner from STIHL. It has a quiet, zero-exhaust emission, and is very lightweight. Plus, with an adjustable shaft, the telescoping pole pruner can cut branches up to 16 feet above the ground.
Brian starts by cutting the most obvious low growing branches and checks for dead, broken, and diseased branches that also need to be removed. This can be done at any time of year.
He also checks for any crisscrossing branches that need cutting.
Regular and thorough pruning gives the branches more circulation and room to grow. Here, Brian cuts the branch at the collar. It’s important to make the cut on the outside of the branch collar, so the wound can heal properly and form a callus.
Here, Ryan uses the STIHL GTA 26 garden pruner, which offers impressive high cutting performance, quiet operation, excellent ergonomics, and long battery life in a small hand tool. This mini saw fits right in the palm of one’s hand and is great for smaller jobs and tight spaces. For this branch Ryan makes two cuts to safely remove the limb without stripping any bark. The first cut should be about a third to halfway down the branch. Cutting in sections also prevents splitting and allows the large portion of the branch to fall and not tear into or damage the tree.
Then he cuts off the remaining branch by cutting back to the branch collar.
It is important to always use sharp tools whenever pruning so that the cuts are clean. Dull tools are difficult to use and could even damage the tree. A straight, clean-cut promotes quick healing of the wound and reduces stress on the specimen.
As branches are removed, they’re gathered close to the road, so they can be collected for chipping.
Ryan and Brian stop often to assess the shape of the tree and to check where more pruning is needed.
Here is a photo from 2010. One can see the bald cypress trees on the left. They are under than 20-feet tall.
Here they are in 2013 – much more full in appearance. These trees are slow growers, but they fill out very nicely.
And here are the bald cypress trees in 2015. These trees have developed so well over the years.
After pruning yesterday, these newly limbed-up bald cypress trees look so much better. Now, there is more space and no inward branches that can block airflow and sunlight from reaching healthy plants below. The bald cypress tree can survive for centuries. These trees will get taller and taller for roughly 200 years, reaching heights up to 150 feet. It is definitely worth all the effort to have well-manicured, healthy trees.
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
