I wish you all a pleasant and safe Fourth of July holiday.
I hope you caught my segment on the TODAY Show last week. I shared a few photos on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48. I made my rendition of a beautiful and festive American flag cake with 13 stripes for the original 13 colonies, and 50 stars for each of our 50 states.
I hope you celebrate this July Fourth Independence Day and remember its significance – a day set aside every year to commemorate the ratification of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing the United States of America.
Here I am with TODAY Show host, Carson Daly. First, I showed him and the audience how to put together an inexpensive frame tray for the cake. For big cakes, one can make a tray to fit by using a picture frame, available at any craft store.
I embellished the frame with patriotic ribbon trims and small wooden blocks for the tray feet.
And here is a behind the scenes look at me piping the wavy American Flag cake with buttercream.
This double white sheet cake is decorated with 13 stripes and 50 stars. I used two to three pints each of red raspberries and blueberries. I also used three batches of Swiss Meringue Buttercream, which makes about five cups. All the recipes are on MarthaStewart.com
For the table, I used patriotic place settings and lots of American flags.
Each host was served a delicious piece of cake – just big enough to satisfy that sweet craving. My American Flag cake serves 24 guests.
Use red, white, and blue ribbon as a simple napkin holder.
Hosts Craig Melvin, Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, and Al Roker sat at the nearby tasting table. All the hosts loved the cake.
Over the years, I have attended many of the Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks shows in New York City. This year, the show is back over the Hudson River on the West Side of Manhattan. These next three images are from some of the light shows of years past.
I took this one in 2012 from the rooftop terrace of our former Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia office headquarters at the historic Starrett Lehigh Building.
And this one on July 4th 2011. Do you know… in early July of 1776, after the Continental Congress voted for independence from Great Britain, it was John Adams, who was a leader of the American Revolution, and later served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801, who helped inspire the July Fourth Fireworks tradition? He wrote a letter to his wife, Abigail, saying “future celebrations for this momentous occasion should include ‘illuminations,’ or fireworks… from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward and forever more.” The following year, one of the first organized July Fourth celebrations was held in Philadelphia and included a fireworks display.
From my Skylands home in Maine…
… to my Bedford, New York farm – Happy July Fourth. May we all celebrate America, its beautiful flag, and our country’s freedom. (Photo by Marcus Nilsson)
Potted plants bring life to any space - indoors and out.
I love container plants and whenever I am home I always like to keep a collection of interesting specimens in and around my Winter House where I can see them every day. Most of my potted plants are kept in my main greenhouse, so they can be monitored and maintained properly. Now that it is summertime, I have a beautiful selection of lemon cypress, Eugenia topiaries, and a variety of herbs displayed in the sunken terrace behind my kitchen.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
I feel so fortunate to have such an amazing collection of extraordinary potted plants. Not only do they 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 displayed inside, but now I also have some right outside my home.
This is a ledge along one side of the sunken garden in my back courtyard terrace. I filled the entire area with a variety of pretty herbs and topiaries.
From the upper courtyard looking down, one can see the different forms, types of foliage, and colors of the plants displayed.
These are potted lemon cypress, Cupressus macrocarpa. The lemony fragrance and golden yellowy chartreuse color make it a lovely choice for display – and using multiples of the same plant is even prettier.
Lemon cypress has a narrow, columnar habit and needled evergreen foliage. It does best in direct light, so when selecting plants to display together, consider the plants’ light requirements and group those with similar needs together.
This is a small Eugenia topiary, or an Australian Brush Cherry tree, Syzygium paniculatum. The Brush Cherry is an evergreen tree or shrub with shiny dark green leaves native to Australia and New Zealand.
It is the same as these very large potted topiary Eugenias in the upper courtyard.
A display of pretty plants can be simple as well as functional. I have lots of potted herbs, such as this oregano. Oregano is a staple in Italian cooking and is often used in salsas, tacos, enchiladas, and braised meats.
Another attractive potted herb is rosemary. Like oregano, thyme, basil, and lavender, rosemary is a member of the mint family Lamiaceae and is often used as a culinary condiment.
This is a curry plant with its silvery leaves and slightly spicy fragrance. The young leaves and shoots of the curry plant can be used to flavor meat, fish, and vegetables in Mediterranean dishes. The leaves are also a key ingredient in South Indian cooking, curries, chutneys, and other traditional recipes. Curry leaves are rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other nutrients, and have a complex flavor with notes of cumin, menthol, popcorn, and grass.
And many will recognize the leaves of sage. Common sage, Salvia officinalis, leaves are often grayish-green, but can also be purple, silver, or variegated. They are pebbly, slightly fuzzy, and can grow up to five inches long.
This topiary is Santolina chamaecyparissus, commonly called lavender cotton or gray santolina, – a small, semi-woody, tender sub-shrub with aromatic, evergreen, silver-gray foliage.
Another tip for displaying groups of plants is to use a variety of plant heights such as these lavender topiaries – they look very interesting next to the shorter potted sage.
This is an olive tree, a slow-grower with leathery, gray-green leaves that remain all year-round. This also prefers full sun, or at least six hours of direct sunlight each day.
I often underplant with sedum. Sedum is a drought-tolerant succulent that comes in many different shapes and styles. It grows well and makes a nice carpet of green under taller specimens.
One can also use pebble pea gravel to decorate the tops of pots. These stones come in an array of colors and are available in gardening supply shops.
And don’t forget to water! If you drink, so should your plants.
At the entrance to this sunken terrace, I have two potted ponytail palms flanking the gate. The ponytail palm is drought tolerant, slow-growing, and requires very little care. It’s also called Bottle palm, Elephant’s foot tree, Elephant’s foot palm, Flask lilia, and Nolina palm.
And these are the leaves of a potted Pittosporum, a tough, evergreen shrub.
Be sure to also place potted plants where they can be protected from strong winds and heavy summer rains. And consider the pots – one can add character and interest to a display by using pots with different shapes, textures, and materials.
Displaying a selection of healthy, attractive container plants outside is an easy and inexpensive way to decorate a terrace ledge, a porch, a deck table, or any place where they can be seen and enjoyed. Potted plants… they’re a good thing.
Smoke bushes, Cotinus, are among my favorite of small trees - they have superlative color, appealing form, and look excellent in the gardens.
I have many smoke bushes around my Bedford, New York farm - paired with London plane trees in an allée through a hay field, in the sunken garden behind my Summer House, around my pool, in the beds outside my Tenant House where my daughter and grandchildren stay when they visit, and near the front entrance to the property where family and friends can see their beauty right away.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
This time of year, many of the Cotinus bushes around my farm are covered with fluffy, hazy, smoke-like puffs.
Cotinus, the smoketree or smoke bush, is a genus of seven species of flowering plants in the family Anacardiaceae, closely related to the sumacs. It has an upright habit when young and spreads wider with age.
They have rich colored foliage in dark purple or bright green.
The leaves of the smoke bush are about one-and-a-half to three inches long and ovate, or oval like, in shape.
Here, these leaves have turned a beautiful deep dusky purple color.
The name “smoke bush” comes from the billowy hairs attached to the flower clusters which remain in place through the summer, turning a smoky pink to purplish-pink as the weeks progress.
These smoke bushes are near the front of my home, where guests can see them when they arrive.
These colorful tufts extend from the foliage and can be seen from afar.
Cotinus prefer full sun and well-draining soil, but some varieties can tolerate dappled shade. Growth rates also vary, but fast-growing varieties can add three to five feet per year.
This smoke bush is planted in the garden outside my Tenant House. Smoke bushes do well in almost any soil type and most any pH level. The ideal circumstance is slightly sandy loam, but they can thrive in rocky soils.
In colder climates, where winter winds can damage the plants, it’s also a good idea to plant smoke bushes where they can be protected. When grouping plants, they should be well spaced to give them enough room to grow.
This smoke bush is on one side of my Summer House garden terrace.
This one in the back of the Summer House garden is showing off brilliant light colored puffs.
These fine, feathery clusters remain attractive for many weeks from now to fall.
I also have smoke bushes surrounding my pool on one side of the fence.
Alternating are Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Diabolo’ and Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’. These have done so well here – they disguise the fence completely.
Here’s a close look at one of the delicate “smoke” clusters. In some areas, the tree is also called Wig Tree because of these puffs.
And in the middle field, an allée of smoke bushes paired with tall London plane trees.
I planted this allée in 2019. All 100 smoke bushes are thriving.
And look at the new growth. Remember the gardener’s adage, “sleep, creep, leap” which describes how perennials grow over the first three years. These smoke bushes are now well-established and thriving.
I hope this inspires you to add a smoke bush in your garden – it is easy to care for and provides so much natural beauty in return.
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