The white lily garden at my Bedford, New York farm is overflowing with gorgeous blooms.
Two years ago, I decided to transform the area in front of my main greenhouse into a more formal garden with hostas and white lilies. The beds were planted in a grid pattern, framing squares across the entire area and then filling each square with about 25 lilies in each, organized by height from back to front. The lilies came from Zabo Plant, a wholesale bulb supplier in The Netherlands. Some of the varieties include: 'Severn', 'Saronno', 'Kayenta', 'Maxima', 'Crystal Blanca', 'Zambesi', 'Nova Zembla', 'Seine', 'Castellani', 'San Christina', 'Serena Madonna', and 'Roselily Angela'. The garden has flourished since it was first planted - looking more and more lush and vibrant every summer.
Enjoy these photos.
In the spring of 2019, the two garden beds in front of my main greenhouse were completely transformed. These areas used to be home to my currant bushes, but I wanted to create a more formal garden. Here is one side just before we planted a border of hostas.
We also planted hundreds of white lily bulbs. The perfect spot for lilies has morning sun and late afternoon shade because it protects them from the burning hot midday sun. They will hold their flowers longer and the color is better when they receive some shade during the day.
This is what it looked like after the hostas were planted and all the lily bulbs were in the ground. Symmetry is a very important aspect of any formal garden. Ryan and I planned everything very strategically – taller lillies in back, shorter ones in front and everything perfectly spaced.
By June of that same year, the stems had grown to waste-high and all the hostas were established. My gardens grow so well because of the great soil I use. Every year, I amend it with rich compost made right here at the farm. In front of the two beds, we planted a row of boxwood. These boxwood shrubs were grown here at the farm from small bare-root cuttings.
That first summer, we had dozens of beautiful white lilies.
Last year, the beds looked even fuller – the boxwood, the hostas, and the growing lilies. Behind the beds, I decided to plant a hedge of hornbeams in front of the greenhouse windows and bordering the gardens on two sides. Here, one can just see the top of the hedge.
All the plantings were looking vibrant and lush.
And here are the lilies blooming early July 2020.
This year, everything seemed twice the size.
The hostas around and in between the lilies have filled out – very little of the soil below can be seen. Hosta is a genus of plants commonly known as hostas, plantain lilies, and occasionally by the Japanese name giboshi. Hostas are widely cultivated as shade-tolerant foliage plants.
Hosta leaves come in a variety of greens. A good rule of thumb for selecting a space for planting: the lighter the foliage, the brighter the sun. The deeper, darker foliage retains it color best in moderate shade.
Hosta plants flower in summer, showing off spikes of blossoms in shades of lavender or white. The bell-shaped blooms can be showy and fragrant, attracting hummingbirds and bees.
Between the two beds in front of the greenhouse door are four Camperdown Elms. Camperdown is a weeping elm tree with gorgeous twisted branches and dense foliage.
Its leaves are dark green, alternate, simple, and oblong-ovate to elliptic.
By early July of this year, all the white lily stems were standing tall and growing so well. These lilies have stronger stems than some of the other lilies in my gardens. They are also a bit shorter, so they don’t need individual staking.
These were the first lilies to open. Lilies need at least six hours of full sunlight daily. This sunlight exposure is what enables the lilies to produce their vibrant flowers.
Oriental lilies are known for their fragrant perfume and gorgeous blooms. These lilies have a fast growth rate and should be planted in well-drained loamy or sandy soil. Many lilies have six tepals each. The tepals are free from each other and bear a nectary at the base of each bloom. When cutting lilies, to avoid any pollen issues, pull the anthers off of each flower. Pollen is an important part of a lily’s anatomy, but it is notorious for staining flesh and fabric. Removing the anthers also prevents any pollen from getting on the flower petals, which can eat away at the delicate flower parts and shorten the life of the blooms.
These lilies have a lot of pollen, so If you happen to get a pollen stain on your clothing, do not rub! Instead, reach for a roll of tape and use the sticky side to gently dab the area – the particles will adhere to the tape.
All the lilies in this garden are white, but vary in form and have large flowers.
Here is a double flower form lily that is more than six inches across.
We’ve had several very warm, humid days here in the Northeast. Fortunately, lilies can withstand the high temperatures.
Ryan made this arrangement a few days ago – it sits in the entry hall of my Winter House – such gorgeous blooms enjoyed indoors and out.
We're making lots of progress with our long list of summer chores here at the farm.
This time of year can be very hectic - my gardeners and outdoor grounds crew are busy keeping up with all the rapid growth in the garden beds. Many days are spent trimming and pruning the hedges and shrubs, mowing the horse paddocks and hay fields, tending the vegetable and flower gardens - and of course, weeding, weeding, weeding. Last week, the team tackled the terraces outside my Winter House - clipping and shaping the boxwood and golden barberry.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
On the upper terrace parterre in front of my Winter House porch, I have four quadrants, each with a large boxwood shrub surrounded by a square hedge of boxwood and golden barberry. Here is one of the quadrants before it is trimmed – look at all the growth.
I love boxwood and use a lot of it around the farm. Buxus is a genus of about 70 species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. The leaves on boxwood branches are arranged opposite from each other, making pairs.
Golden barberry, Berberis thunbergii, is a deciduous shrub that is compact, adaptable, very hardy and shows off striking yellow foliage year-round.
At least once a year, we groom and prune the boxwood and barberry. This is mostly done with hand shears to give them a more clean and manicured appearance. Okatsune shears are light and precise, and the blades are made using the same hammer-forged steel used for manufacturing Japanese swords. Phurba starts from the top of the shrub and works his way down.
I prefer much of the trimming be done manually so the leaves are not damaged. Hand shears are user-friendly and leave hedges looking flat and tidy.
For the flat tops of the hedge, we also use our STIHL HSA 25 Battery-Powered Garden Shear. The hedge shear attachment with double-sided cutting blades cut in both directions. It’s one of our favorite tools – it’s very light and handy.
Here, Phurba trims and shapes the low boxwood hedge. Afterward, he moves onto the barberry, which is trimmed so it is just a few inches taller than the boxwood.
Here, one can clearly see what side is trimmed and what side still has to be done.
Phurba also works on the lower terrace parterre, again shaping and trimming the manicured hedge. And always use sharp, clean shears when pruning any plantings – this will ensure precise, neat cuts.
To clean the area after pruning, Phurba lightly blows any cut leaves and debris with STIHL’s backpack battery and handheld blower. The backpack battery eliminates the cost of fuel and engine oil and can be used for several hours before needing another charge.
Once everything is trimmed, the terrace looks so much better. All my boxwood is also treated monthly with TopBuxus Health Mix, which prevents the fungal disease called box blight and provides the plants with rich nutrients that restore new green leaves and strong branches.
Here is another view looking out onto the paddocks and my chicken coops beyond. Once clipped, the outermost parts of the hedges are also exposed to more light and air, which help promote good growth.
On the terrace, I also have a few potted plants. This is a cycad. Cycads are seed plants with a very long fossil history. They typically have a stout and woody trunk with a crown of large, hard and stiff, evergreen leaves.
Just outside my Winter House kitchen and servery is this beautiful weeping katsura tree. The katsura tree, native to Japan, makes an excellent specimen or shade tree. The weeping katsura, Cercidiphyllum japonicum f. pendulum has pendulous branches that fan out from the crown and sweep the ground. Caramel-scented foliage emerges bronze or purple-red, turns blue-green, then fades to gold or apricot in autumn.
Mixed in the terrace gardens are beautiful white lilies – all opening now. In an upcoming blog, I’ll share photos of my white lily garden in full bloom.
And this is part of the stone wall surrounding the terraces outside my Winter House. Here we planted lots of sedums – they really work well in rock gardens. Sedum is a large genus of flowering plants, also known as stonecrops. Sedums are members of the succulent family. They have fleshy, water-storing leaves and are drought tolerant.
Sedum, like other succulents, retain water in their leaves and can thrive in dry climates. They need little soil and water to survive, which makes them excellent for planting here.
Here is more sedum growing at the base of a step. Once the roots take hold, the plant wedges itself in and begins to spread. Sedums thrive nearly anywhere as long as they get good drainage.
And here is one of two hand-casted antique fountains I purchased many year ago. It is turned on with the smallest dome of water possible – I wanted to be sure it was an attractive spot for visiting birds. I love this view looking over the peaceful fountains and out onto the pretty summer landscape. I hope you are all enjoying your gardens this season.
If you have a vegetable garden, how is it doing this year? Mine continues to produce bounties of beautiful and nutritious foods.
Last week, my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, picked another sizable amount of vegetables from my Bedford, New York farm, including some of the season's cucumbers, artichokes, peppers, cabbage, and so much more.
Here is an update on what we last picked - let me know what you're harvesting from your garden this week!
There has been so much growth in this vegetable garden in the last couple of weeks – there is so much to pick! Many of you ask what I do with all these vegetables. I share most of them with my daughter, Alexis, and her beautiful children, Jude and Truman – they love all vegetables. I also share them with my friends and staff here at Bedford. And, I use them for various television and magazine shoots whenever needed, or when we test recipes here at the farm. Nothing is ever wasted – whatever isn’t used goes to my chickens, geese, peafowl, and pigeons.
This year, we’ve had a lot of very warm days. This can sometimes be a detriment to growing crops, but some of the plants continue to do well such as our peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, and summer squash.
Here’s Ryan just before harvesting this week’s bounty. One can harvest any time of day, but when possible, the best picking time is early morning, when the sun is just clearing the eastern horizon and greens are still cool and dew-covered from the previous night.
Look at the cabbage – they’re the perfect size for picking. The right time for cabbage harvesting will depend on the variety of cabbage planted and when the heads mature. Look for heads that are firm all the way through when squeezed – that’s when they’re ready.
To get the best health benefits from cabbage, it’s good to include all three varieties into the diet – Savoy, red, and green. This is a Savoy cabbage.
Ryan picked two heads. The leaves of the Savoy cabbage are more ruffled and a bit more yellowish in color. Cabbage, Brassica oleracea, is a member of the cruciferous vegetables family, and is related to kale, broccoli, collards, and Brussels sprouts.
Here’ a head of broccoli, which is high in vitamins A and D.
This beautiful cauliflower head is brimming with nutrients. Cauliflower holds plenty of vitamins, such as C, B, and K.
This is kale – very pretty with ruffled leaves and a purple-green color. One cup of chopped kale has 134-percent of the recommended daily intake of vitamin-C – that’s more than a medium orange, which only has 113-percent of the daily C requirement.
This year, I planted lots of delicious herbs in this garden. We designated the center beds for this year’s crops – they’re doing great as well – sage, rosemary, thyme, and more.
And here are just a couple of the artichokes – I love artichokes. We have many growing! Artichokes are actually flower buds, which are eaten when they are tender. Buds are generally harvested once they reach full size, just before the bracts begin to spread open.
Artichokes have very good keeping qualities and can remain fresh for at least a week.
When harvesting artichokes, all you need is a utility knife to cut the stem approximately one to three inches from the base of the bud. The stem becomes a useful handle when trimming the artichoke. After harvesting the center bud, the artichoke plant will produce side shoots with small buds between one to three inches in diameter.
We planted more than 100-tomato plants this year. All the plants are now well-supported by bamboo stakes. We’re growing both hybrid and heirloom varieties.
Most tomato plant varieties need between 50 and 90 days to mature. Planting can also be staggered to produce early, mid and late season tomato harvests. Lots of tomatoes are developing on the vines, but they’re not ready just yet – they still need a few more weeks.
There are several types of tomatoes available in my garden, including globe tomatoes used in processing, and for fresh eating. Beefsteak are large, often used for sandwiches. Oxheart tomatoes vary in size and are shaped like large strawberries. Plum tomatoes are usually oblong, and used in tomato sauces. Cherry tomatoes are small round, often sweet and eaten whole. Campari tomatoes are sweet and juicy and of small to medium size.
Swiss chard always stands out in the garden, with its rich red stalks. Swiss chard is a leafy green vegetable often used in Mediterranean cooking. The leaf stalks are large and vary in color, usually white, yellow, or red. The leaf blade can be green or reddish in color. Harvest Swiss chard when the leaves are tender and big enough to eat.
A bit crunchier than spinach, Swiss chard is also more tender than kale. Swiss chard is actually a beet but doesn’t have a bulbous root. It’s referred to as a member of the “goosefoot” family due to the shape of its leaves. And always cut chard leaf by leaf, so the plant can continue to grow new leaves during the rest of the season.
Ryan also picked the first cucumbers of the season. I prefer small to medium sized cucumbers. Cucumbers, Cucumis sativus, are great for pickling – I try to find time for pickling every year.
These peppers are ready too. Be careful when picking peppers – always keep the hot ones separated from the sweet ones, so there is no surprise in the kitchen.
Here’s Chhiring tending the garden beds. Because of all the heat and rain this summer, the weeds are growing rampant. It takes a lot of work to maintain such large gardens here at the farm.
We harvested a full bucket of summer squash. Zucchini can be dark or light green. A related hybrid, the golden zucchini, is a deep yellow or orange color – all so delicious.
And to keep up with our program of succession planting, Ryan prepares seeds for another bed. Succession planting is the practice of seeding crops at intervals of seven to 21 days in order to maintain a consistent supply of harvestable produce throughout the season. Succession planting also involves planting a new crop after harvesting the first crop. It’s a great summer for fresh vegetables here at the farm.
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