What autumn chores are on your to-do list this year?
To stay organized during seasonal transitions, I create very detailed notes of all that needs to be done around my farm. Over the last few weeks, my gardeners and outdoor grounds crew have been working hard getting all the tasks completed. They've been blowing leaves, planting evergreens, cleaning, feeding, and mulching the garden beds, covering air-conditioner pits, leveling the gravel along the carriage roads, and much more. While we desperately need rain, the weather has been mild and so much is getting done.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
It is so beautiful this time of year when all the deciduous trees show their stunning autumn colors before dropping their leaves. Here at my farm, there are leaves everywhere.
As the weather grows colder and sunlight decreases, the trees seal the spots where the leaves are attached – this process is what causes them to change color and fall to the ground. Rather than expend energy to protect these fragile organs, trees shed leaves to conserve resources for the next year.
Here’s Pete blowing the the feathery brown foliage from the bald cypress trees.
And here’s Adan gathering the fallen leaves below my magnolia trees. Once the leaves are blown into a manageable pile, they are directed to the opening of a vacuum tube connected to our dump truck. The leaves are then taken to the compost area, where they will decompose and get used again as mulch.
Fernando is working on the air conditioner pits. I keep all my air conditioners in large pits, where they are well hidden behind each house. These air conditioner pits are covered with industrial strength plastic, plywood, and then burlap to protect them from the winter elements.
The burlap is trimmed and then held down with wooden strips. It looks very finished and tidy.
Covering these pits also makes them easier to maintain. Any snow or debris that falls can be brushed to the side before accessing the units below.
Josh is cleaning up the flower garden beds. It takes a lot of time to cut down and remove all the old, dead plants, and root systems. When cutting back perennials this time of year, they should be trimmed to a height of one to two inches above the ground, close to the dormant base of the plant.
Once a bed is cleaned, Josh feeds the soil. Soon, all the gardens will also get a layer of compost which will replenish nutrients and improve the soil structure over the winter.
All the debris from the garden is loaded onto the tractor and hauled to our compost pile.
Here’s Phurba ready to take another load up. There’s never a dull moment here at Cantitoe.
Meanwhile, here’s Ryan down in what I call the boxwood nursery, where I am nurturing young boxwood shrubs originally planted from bare root cuttings. He is feeding them 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 branch growth. I have been using TopBuxus for several years as a monthly treatment.
In my maze, a tractor bucket full of mulch grown right here at my farm is ready to put down. The mulch helps regulate soil temperatures and protect plant roots from extreme weather fluctuations. It also retains moisture, and suppresses weeds, ensuring healthier plants going into the next growing season.
Phurba uses a hard rake to create a two to three inch layer over the beds.
Nearby, José plants a row of ninebark, Physocarpus. It’s been unusually warm here in the Northeast, so we’re getting as many plants in the ground as possible.
These plants still have time to get established before it gets cold. We’re expecting temperatures to be in the high 70s mid-week.
My farm has four miles of gravel-covered carriage road. Gravel roads are attractive and accumulate less pollutants over time, but it is important to keep them well-maintained. Here’s one of the trucks from Bedford Stone & Masonry Supply Corp. As it moves along the carriage road, the gravel is released from the bottom of the truck’s tailgate very slowly and evenly.
This stone is not only pretty, but water drains more quickly through small stones and gravel, so it is good to use around the farm.
In some areas, Pete uses the tractor bucket to level and spread the gravel.
Here, Pete uses a landscape rake to spread and level the gravel to the edges of the road. This area is also high traffic, so it needs extra attention.
When maintaining a road it is important to ensure it has a crowned driving surface and a shoulder area that slopes directly away from the edge for water drainage.
Here is my Boxwood Allée after a new layer of native stone washed gravel was dropped. Maintaining a farm and property is hard work, but it is also very rewarding.
This year's autumnal hue-fest continues at my Bedford, New York farm.
It's the shorter days and cooler air temperatures that trigger trees to change their leaf color from green to red, yellow, brown, and gold. It's this weather that also activates the hormones within the plants to begin the abscission process, the weakening of the connection between the leaves and branches that make them drop to the ground. Here are more of the late autumn colors around my farm.
Enjoy these photos, and remember Daylight Saving Time ends this weekend, so turn your clocks back one hour tomorrow, Sunday, November 3, 2024.
Here at my farm, the peak of fall, when leaves have changed color and are most vibrant, is nearing its end, but look at the gorgeous show. This view looks down between two of my fenced paddocks.
The yellow leaves of the climbing hydrangea stand out on this sugar maple planted behind my garden of tree peonies.
And here, the late afternoon sun shines through the leaves of the American Beech. American beech is native to the eastern United States and Canada. It is a deciduous tree, meaning soon it will lose all these leaves and remain bare for the cold season.
These lindens look more spectacular every year. Lindens, Tilia, are medium to large shade trees that are easy to maintain and beautiful in any landscape. They turn pale green to pale yellow in autumn.
These lindens can be seen from so many areas of the farm. They are near the dark green eastern white pines.
This allée extends from my long pergola down to my chicken coops.
It is the varied colors of the changing leaves that add so much interest. Fall hues include yellow, gold, brown, russet, crimson, and scarlet red.
Soon, all my Japanese maples will also become brighter. The chlorophyll in the leaves breaks down, revealing the red pigment and creating the vibrant red color we see after the first frost – just wait.
In my Summer House garden, the giant female Ginkgo is holding onto her leaves – for now. “The Great Ginkgo Leaf Drop” will happen in a couple weeks. Ginkgos lose all their leaves at the same time because of the way their petioles, known as stems, work. As the weather gets colder, the petioles get what’s called scars to protect the tree from disease after the leaves fall. For most trees, that happens on a leaf-by-leaf basis. But in the case of the ginkgo, all the scars form mysteriously on the same day.
This Ginkgo in my herbaceous peony garden is still changing colors from green to brilliant yellow.
More color is seen along the carriage road in my upper hayfield at this stand of red maples, Acer rubrum. Red maple is one of the most colorful in autumn and one of the earliest trees to show its color changes – shades of yellow, orange, and red, sometimes on the same tree.
Not far is my old sycamore tree, the symbol of my farm. It has already lost most of its leaves for the season.
Dawn redwoods, Metasequoia, have feathery, fine-textured needles that are opposite each other and approximately a half-inch long. Don’t confuse them with the bald cypress needles, which grow alternately. In autumn, these dawn redwood needles are different shades of golden-brown.
The tree on the right grows pawpaws. I have a grove of these pawpaw trees behind my greenhouse. Asimina triloba, the American pawpaw, is a small deciduous tree native to the eastern United States and Canada. The taste of a pawpaw fruit is a mix of mango-banana-citrus all in one. It’s a big favorite for some here at the farm.
The Parrotia persica, also known as the Persian ironwood, is a deciduous tree that is known for its spectacular fall foliage. Here is a Parrotia persica hedge on the left. This time of year, it shows off a variety of colors, including yellow, orange, red, and purple.
When the leaves of larch turn color, the greenish-yellow transform to golden yellow – a beautiful contrast with surrounding evergreens in my pinetum.
Across from my winding pergola is a row of towering bald cypress, Taxodium distichum – a deciduous conifer. These trees are also changing colors.
In summer the leaves are green and turn russet brown in fall. Like trees with leaves, bald cypress trees drop their needles in the fall leaving the tree – well, bald.
Here is yesterday’s view of them from the other side of the pergola.
Do you recognize these plants? This is the foliage of Syneilesis, commonly called the shredded umbrella plant because of the narrow, dissected leaves that cascade downward like an umbrella.
And here a view of one of my majestic pin oaks. The pin oak allée is the first allée guests see when entering my farm. These trees are tall and impressive. Pin oaks, Quercus palustris, are popular landscape trees because they are fast-growing and easy to maintain.
One of the pin oak tree’s most distinguishable traits is its habit – the lower branches hang down, while the middle branches reach out horizontally and the upper branches grow upright.
It is now November, but in my flower garden, one beautiful rose still remains.
And after all the leaves have changed and fallen, the trees remain bare. Essentially, they enter a dormant state, “going to sleep” for the winter. this is when they conserve energy by stopping active growth while roots remain active, absorbing water and nutrients from the soil, and preparing for new growth come spring.
A garden at my Bedford, New York farm goes through another transformation.
Every year, I always add a few interesting and rare trees to the gardens. The space behind my Tenant House is already filled with shade-loving plants and a variety of Japanese maples, but there were a couple of bare spots that needed filling. Four Acer palmatum 'Bloodgood' trees from Select Horticulture, Inc. were the perfect specimens to plant in these areas. Yesterday's weather was warm and pleasant, so my outdoor grounds crew went to work to get them all in the ground.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Few trees are as stunning as the Japanese maple. With more than a thousand varieties and cultivars including hybrids, the iconic Japanese maple tree is among the most versatile small trees for use in the landscape. Japanese maples are native to areas of Japan, Korea, China, and Russia. In Japan, the maple is called the “autumn welcoming tree” and is planted in the western portion of gardens – the direction from which fall arrives there.
These Japanese maples, Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood,’ are from Select Horticulture, Inc, a nursery in nearby Pound Ridge, New York. When i saw them, I knew right away where I wanted to plant them.
The leaves consist of five or seven pointed, lobed, wine-red to burgundy leaves that hold their color in summer and turn vibrant crimson red in fall before dropping.
The crew carefully wheels the trees into the garden using a large hand truck that is able to carry the weight of these heavy specimens.
I indicated exactly where to place them. When selecting a location for a tree, be sure to consider the size when the tree is mature. And place it far enough from any structures, so the branches do not touch anything.
It will be nice to see these trees from the expansive windows of the Tenant House. Some of the small plants were removed from the beds during this process and will be transplanted after planting is completed.
Alex begins to dig the holes. He watches out for the surrounding plants and any bulbs that are in the ground. A crucial step in growing healthy trees is to plant them at the proper depth. Planting a tree too deep can kill it.
A good rule of thumb is to dig the hole as deep as the root ball.
It is very important to feed the plants and trees. Here, José sprinkles a generous amount of Miracle-Gro all purpose fertilizer into the hole.
Feeding plants and trees when they are newly transplanted helps transplant survival and increases water and nutrient absorption.
The plastic wrap is removed from the root ball…
… and the burlap is also removed. The root ball should be completely bare of any wrapping before it is planted.
José then cuts off the bottom of the wire basket. Most trees will have this wire cage, so if one is not visible, be sure to feel for it – it may be covered by the roots. The crew also scarifies the root ball at this stage. Don’t be afraid to scarify – this stimulates root growth. Small portions of the roots are purposely cut to loosen them and create beneficial injuries. This helps the plant become established more quickly in its new environment.
Slowly the crew rotates the tree on its root ball closer to the hole. When moving heavy trees, never hold one by its branches, which could easily break. The crew uses heavy metal bars to maneuver the tree into place.
The root system is not known to be invasive so there are no worries for structural damages. The crew lowers the tree the rest of the way down into its new hole.
Then the crew looks at the tree from all sides to ensure its best side is facing the footpath. It is also a good time to check that it is completely straight.
Once positioning is perfect, backfilling begins until the hole is filled. And remember, don’t plant it too deeply – leave it “bare to the flare.” After putting a new tree into the ground, be sure to keep it slightly moist for the first year as it takes root.
José waters the tree thoroughly to remove any air pockets and to settle the soil.
This upright Japanese maple is a large deciduous tree that will grow 15 to 20 feet tall and wide when mature.
Here is another one of the group closer to my Tenant House where it will get full sun to part shade. Red and variegated leaves need relief from the hot afternoon sun but need the light to attain full color. This area is perfect for my new Japanese maples.
These trees will need little maintenance – just light grooming to remove dead or crisscrossing branches when it is dormant. This garden already looks so much better with the exquisite colors of these Japanese maples. Japanese maples typically grow about one-foot per year for the first 50-years, but they can live to be more than a hundred years old.
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