Tours through my gardens are different every time - there's always something new to see.
Yesterday, I opened my gardens for a private showing to The Garden Club of America. The tour was part of their "On the Road" trip to Bedford, New York. 30 guests from various states across the country attended. Whenever I can, I always enjoy leading the walks through the gardens to see what is blooming and growing at the time, to share the farm's history, and to discuss how I care for all the many plantings. It was a lovely late spring morning and a very enjoyable garden tour.
Enjoy these photos.
My perennial flower garden is among the first stops along the walk – so many poppies are blooming, along with the roses, various irises, and Canterbury Bells.
The group arrived mid morning. Mine was the first of three tours the group was scheduled to see this day. Before the tour, I welcome everyone to Cantitoe Corners and talked about what we would see along the guided walk.
My Chow Chows made a quick appearance. Everyone loves to meet Emperor Han and Empress Qin.
I showed them the roses growing along the fence. These climbers and many others were transplanted from Lily Pond, my former home in East Hampton.
In the garden, there are gorgeous poppies blooming everywhere – those papery, tissue-like blossoms that look stunning both in the garden and in the vase.
The name “poppy” refers to a large number of species in at least 12 different genera in the subfamily Papaveroideae, which is within the plant family Papaveraceae. They produce open single flowers gracefully located on long thin stems, sometimes fluffy with many petals and sometimes smooth.
Papaver grows mainly in the northern hemisphere, including within the Arctic Circle, with one species found in southern Africa.
The plants typically grow to about two feet in height forming colorful flowers during spring and into summer.
Also open are the Canterbury Bells – these bell-shaped white, pink, blue, or purple flowers bloom in the early spring through midsummer.
And look at the colorful bold purple irises. Purple Dutch irises, also known as Iris hollandica, typically bloom in late spring to early summer.
Along the footpath, airy sprays of yellow flowers on the Lady’s Mantle, Alchemilla mollis.
I walked the group through the berry gardens to see the currant bushes laden with fruits.
Just outside the flower garden, the group saw the tall bald cypress trees across from my pergola. These trees were just a few feet tall when I first planted them.
All my potted tropical plants are now displayed all around the farm. I told the group this is one of many sago palms I grew from cut “pups” off a parent plant. It’s grown beautifully over the years.
I also grew these boxwood shrubs from bare root cuttings that were nurtured in a bed before being transplanted to this pergola border.
Over a section of my pergola are the climbing vines of my beautiful Rosa ‘Veilchenblau’ – the violet rambler also known as ‘Bleu-Violet’, ‘Blue Rambler’, ‘Blue Rosalie’ and ‘Violet Blue’ that bloom from May to June.
From the carriage road, one can see the abundance of pretty blooms – my guests loved to stop, take photos, and “smell the roses.”
I walked the group through the vegetable garden. They admired the growing brassicas. Everything is doing so well.
Here is one of my Savoy cabbages – so perfectly shaped. Savoy cabbage is a versatile cabbage, similar to green cabbage but a bit milder and sweeter, with leaves that are looser and more ruffled.
Kale, also called leaf cabbage, belongs to a group of cabbage cultivars primarily grown for their edible leaves – these leaves are amazing and so delicious.
I pointed out all the growing broccoli heads. There are so many ready to pick.
And the group loved the tomatoes. I planted 120 tomato plants under these bamboo supports.
The tour met my Friesians. Hylke loves to greet visitors – he is always hopeful for a treat.
And before leaving, the group walked by the pool and learned about the staddle stones, which were originally used in the 17th and 18th centuries as support bases for granaries, hayricks, and game larders. They typically looked like giant stone mushrooms, but mine are square – a more rare and unique version. It was a fun tour with a very fun, enthusiastic, and curious group of gardeners.
My gardeners have been very busy in my large, half-acre vegetable garden. Last week, they planted the season's crops of onions and leeks which were all started from seed in my greenhouse. Onions and leeks are part of the Allium family. They are hardy, thrive in full sun, and are easy to grow in a variety of soils and climates.
Here are some photos.
Every year we harvest lots of wonderful, fresh onions. it’s one of our favorite crops to pick here at my farm. The onion, Allium cepa, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium.
Onions require 90 to 100 days to mature from seed, which is around four months. We start seeding our vegetables shortly after the New Year and then in spring we transplant them into the garden.
Onions should be planted when temperatures are still a bit cool once they start to grow, and then warm when they begin to mature. Early planting gives the onions time to develop tops and store energy for the bulbs.
This day was perfect for planting our onions and leeks. Here, my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, measures the bed for proper placement. Healthy green plants should be 1 to 1 1/2 inches deep in rows 12 to 15 inches apart.
A dibber or dibble or dibbler is a pointed wooden stick for making holes in the ground so that seeds, seedlings or small bulbs can be planted. Dibbers come in a variety of shapes including the straight dibber, the T-handled dibber like this one, the trowel dibber, and the L-shaped dibber.
Onion seeds are less expensive than other growing options such as sets and starts. Starting onions from seed can also offer a wider variety of onion types.
Because I use a lot of onions for cooking and for sharing with my family, we plant many trays of onions.
Our seed packets are kept in plastic envelopes, and plastic bins – all are labeled and filed for easy reference and stored in a greenhouse refrigerator. Then, when it is time to seed our trays, we know they are well organized and in good condition. Here are many of our seeds for onions and leeks. We get our seeds from our favorite companies and wherever I find them during my travels.
Here is one tray of onions in our Urban Cultivator the day we started them.
Here they are a few days later…
And then last week, we took them all out to plant in the garden. Onions are closely related to garlic, leeks, shallots, scallions and chives.
Matthew separates the plants and places each one down in the row a few inches from the next.
Using the dibber, Phurba carefully positions the plant with the root end down and pushes it into the soil about two-inches deep until all the roots are well covered.
Onions are also categorized in two growing types: long-day and short-day. Long-day onions begin sprouting in late spring to summer when days are between 14 and 16 hours long. Short-day onions begin sprouting when days are between 10 and 12 hours in length – winter and early spring.
Be sure the top of the plant’s neck isn’t covered too deeply. If too much of the plant is buried, the growth of the onion will be reduced and constricted.
The two beds include red onions, white onions, yellow and brown onions.
Here, Matthew backfills the rows with the back of a soft rake.
Here is our bed of leeks. To thrive, leeks need lots of nitrogen and consistent soil moisture.
And two beds of onions. Next, they’ll all get a good drink of water.
We’re off to a wonderful growing season – it won’t be long now before I have bounties of fresh, nutritious vegetables.
My garden maze now includes a long row of Lynwood Gold Forsythia.
I started this three-acre maze in the spring of 2022, and so far I've completed more than two-thirds of the entire course. I've planted European beech, European hornbeams, boxwood, parrotias, espaliered apple trees, American sweetgums, barberry, London planetrees, privets, camperdown elms, yews, a variety of evergreen shrubs, and now forsythia. The Lynwood Gold Forsythia is fast growing and maintains an upright growth habit with graceful arching branches. This flowering shrub features beautiful bell shaped yellow blooms in spring, alternating green leaves in summer that turn to a dark purple in fall and winter with the return of cold weather.
Enjoy these photos.
A couple weeks ago, we picked up 16 forsythias from Select Horticulture in nearby Pound Ridge. I knew these shrubs would be great additions to my living maze.
The crew uses marking spray, often used for landscaping jobs, to indicate exactly where each tree will be planted. Forsythia do best in full sun to light shade with well-draining soil.
Backhoes are extremely versatile. I am fortunate to have this attachment for our tractor. Backhoes come with a bucket and digging arm that can perform many different tasks.
These holes are carefully dug along the northern most side of the maze. It will eventually develop into a beautiful spring blooming hedge.
Chhiring manually smooths out each hole as needed and ensures it is deep enough for each specimen. The hole sides should also be slanted. Digging a wide planting hole helps to provide the best opportunity for roots to expand into its new growing environment. The entire process of planting these forsythia takes a couple of days.
Chhiring also sprinkles fertilizer specially made for transplanting. Remember, “if you eat, so should your plants.”
Scotts Evergreen Flowering Tree & Shrub is a fertilizer that is ideal for acid-loving trees and shrubs, including evergreens, dogwoods, hydrangeas, and magnolias. It encourages vigorous root growth and lush foliage, and is easy to use – just sprinkle a generous amount into the soil.
Chhiring removes the protective burlap from around the root ball.
And then he removes the cage. Removing all the material is very important. Some gardeners will leave the wrapping in the ground, but I prefer to remove everything around any trees that are planted at the farm, so there is nothing blocking its root growth. Some burlap is also treated to prevent it from disintegrating.
As it is removed, all the protective cages and coverings are placed by each tree, so we are sure it was taken off.
To place each one into its designated hole, Chhiring slowly rolls the root ball into position. Only hold it by the root ball and the base of the trunk – never by its branches, which could easily break.
All these shrubs are in good condition, but we always position plantings with the best side facing the walking path.
Next, Chhiring rmoves the twine holding the branches together.
Here the twine is removed and the branches are given time to open naturally.
The leaves of the Lynwood Gold Forsythia are oval, dark green and three inches long with toothed margins. In the fall, the leaves turn yellow with a hint of purple, or shades of red and purple, before going dormant.
The shrubs are then backfilled. A good tip is to “plant bare to the flare,” meaning do not bury above its flare, where the first main roots attach to the trunk. The roots need oxygen to grow. By placing the root flare at or slightly above ground level when planting gives the specimen the best chance for survival, growth and development.
Phurba follows behind and rakes the pit, so it is neat and tidy.
Once they’re all planted, the forsythias are given a very deep and thorough drink. It’s been hot and humid here this week – we’ve been watering quite a bit.
Here is a view of the row planted and backfilled. When fully mature, these will be about eight to 10 feet tall and 12 feet wide.
I think it looks excellent. I am so pleased with how well my maze is turning out. What do you think?
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