A brief trip south to escape the cold winter can be so invigorating - even if it's for business.
If you follow my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48, you may have seen photos from my recent visit to Palm Beach, Florida. Among my commitments there, I was the keynote speaker for the annual Old Bags Luncheon developed by the Center for Family Services of Palm Beach County. The 25th anniversary Silver Jubilee event was held at The Breakers Palm Beach and featured a silent auction of more than 300 brand new or gently used designer handbags. It's the organization's premiere fundraiser - raising money to operate behavioral health and wellness programs, provide family and child services, and raise awareness of mental health issues. It was a very fun and successful event for all who attended.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
I was so honored to be invited to speak at the annual Old Bags Luncheon. I talked about my Sports-Illustrated swimsuit cover, Snoop Dogg, and my 100th book, which I am working on now. (Photo by Michelle Kammerman/BFA.com)
My hosts were the event chairs, Fernando Wong and Tim Johnson, internationally recognized leaders in garden design and landscape architecture. (Photo by Carrie Bradburn/CAPEHART)
The event originally began in 1999 by a group of supporters who donated their gently used handbags for auction. 25-years later, there are hundreds donated – some old and others brand new from retail partners. Here they are displayed in the Ballroom of The Breakers Palm Beach Resort founded in 1896 by business magnate Henry M. Flagler. (Photo by Carrie Bradburn/CAPEHART)
There was even a surprise bag from yours truly! (Photo by Michelle Kammerman/BFA.com)
Here I am with Tommy Hilfiger and his wife, Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger who received the inaugural Fashion and Philanthropy Award.
The morning started with an introductory gathering. Here I am with Fernando and Tim at the “Mimosas with Martha” VIP experience in the Magnolia Room. (Photo by Michelle Kammerman/BFA.com)
The event included small bites passed around to all the guests… (Photo by Michelle Kammerman/BFA.com)
… and of course, refreshments. (Photo by Michelle Kammerman/BFA.com)
More than 550 guests attended the event and crowded around the auction tables to see all the available handbags.(Photo by Carrie Bradburn/CAPEHART)
In a silent auction, participants bid for items in writing instead of raising paddles or calling out. (Photo by Carrie Bradburn/CAPEHART)
Everyone was given about two hours to place their bids. (Photo by Carrie Bradburn/CAPEHART)
Here’s my longtime publicist and friend, Susan Magrino, with the Gucci bag she was eyeing.
Once the Silent Auction closed, it was time for lunch. (Photo by Carrie Bradburn/CAPEHART)
Tables were set in cheerful spring colors.(Photo by Carrie Bradburn/CAPEHART)
The first course was a chilled pea soup with caviar, crème fraiche, and herbs served alongside a chopped vegetable salad with lemon vinaigrette. (Photo by Carrie Bradburn/CAPEHART)
The second course was pan seared North Atlantic salmon with sugar snap peas, haricots verts, rainbow carrots, and fingerling potatoes.(Photo by Carrie Bradburn/CAPEHART)
Dessert was a trio of sweets – a silver white chocolate purse, a dark chocolate lollipop, and a strawberry petit four.(Photo by Carrie Bradburn/CAPEHART)
Here I am with my dear friend, Charlotte Beers at our table.
And then after lunch, a Q & A conversation with me and moderator Fernando. It was such a wonderful event for such a special cause. Please learn more about the Center for Family Services Palm Beach County at their web site, ctrfam.org.
(Photo by Carrie Bradburn/CAPEHART)
Houseplants and cut flowers bring life to any room, especially during the cold, dreary days of winter.
Whenever I am home, I like to decorate with an assortment of potted plants and cut blooms that provide color and interesting and expressive foliage. It’s an inexpensive way to add beauty and texture to any space. Right now, I have a cheerful selection of orchids, witch hazel, and amaryllis to enjoy in my kitchen, servery, and sitting room.
Enjoy these photos.
I have some of the most beautiful orchids displayed on the counters and tables of my Winter House. Orchids come in a range of colors. Cymbidium, Phalaenopsis, and Dendrobium orchids come in blue, red, pink, white, purple, yellow, orange, and green.
Orchids grow on every continent except Antarctica. They are native to the tropical regions of Asia, Australia, the Himalayas, and the Philippines. The orchid forms one of the largest families in the plant kingdom, with more than 25,000 species worldwide.
Paphiopedilum orchids are often called ‘lady slippers’ or ‘slipper orchids’ because of their unique pouch-like flowers. The size of orchids depends on the species. They can be quite small or very large. However, every orchid flower is bilaterally symmetrical, which means it can be divided into two equal parts.
Sitting in between two ‘lady slippers’ orchids is this blooming amaryllis. Amaryllis are large, flowering bulbs originally from the Andes Mountains of South America. They show off dazzling trumpet-shaped blooms for weeks on end.
Here’s my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, bringing in two Dendrobium orchids into my Winter House. Native to Southeast Asia, the genus Dendrobium is among the largest of all orchid groups. There are more than 1000 individual species that vary in size, bloom color, and appearance. Dendrobiums grow in all climates, from hot, wet lowlands to high-altitude, colder mountains. All Dendrobiums are epiphytes, which means they grow on other plants. In nature, they grow on the branches of trees.
These white Dendrobiums look great on this center table in my foyer. The evergreen canes are topped by a single three to five inch long inflorescence, each one producing four to eight flowers.
Here is a closer look at the graceful floral sprays. The flowers are bright, showy, and fragrant.
Dendrobium orchids also come in white, pink, orange, yellow, purple, brown, and green.
Here is another Dendrobium in pink. Notice the roots on the outside of the pot – these roots creep over the surface instead of growing in the soil.
Dendrobium flowers are smaller orchid blooms. They have a butterfly-like shape and are about three inches across.
These cut orchids are in my Green Parlor. Once cut, keep them out of direct light to prevent them from dehydrating or fading in color.
Fresh cut orchids have an impressive shelf life. With proper care, they can last for weeks.
Here is a potted Christmas orchid. Rule of thumb – orchids that receive a proper balance of light, humidity, and temperature will have healthy bright green leaves. Too little light would make the leaves very dark. The size, shape, and texture of leaves depend on the habitat. Orchids that live in dry climate have large, thick leaves covered with wax, while species that live in warm and humid areas have thin, elongated leaves.
The Christmas Orchid is a lavender-white flowering, tropical epiphyte orchid native to Columbia with succulent light green leaves.
On the other side of the room is this bright yellow and magenta colored orchid. Optimum temperatures for potted orchids in winter are 45 to 55-degrees Fahrenheit at night and 65 to 75-degrees Fahrenheit during the day.
These cut orchid flowers are on the coffee table.
Each stem has about eight to 10 blooms, each light green with burgundy speckled markings.
I also asked Ryan to bring in some of the blooming witch hazel. I have lots of witch hazel at the farm. The name witch hazel is a derivation from the Old English “wice” or “wiche” meaning pliant or bendable. Early settlers used the pliable branches to make bows for hunting. The same forked branches also became favorite witching sticks of dowsers, who used them to search for underground water. Nowadays, witch hazel is often used ornamentally as splashes of color during winter.
When cutting witch hazel, Ryan slits the base of the stems vertically to allow more intake of water.
The slits don’t have to be long – about an inch.
Then he places like colors into a heavy vase of water to keep them sturdy. Witch hazel grows as small trees or shrubs with numerous clusters of rich yellow to fiery orange-red flowers. Common names include Witch hazel, American Witch hazel, Common Witch hazel, Winterbloom, Snapping Hazelnut, Striped Alder, Spotted Alder, Tobacco-wood, and Water-witch.
Most species bloom from January to March and display beautiful spidery flowers that let off a slightly spicy fragrance. The flowers are able to curl inward to protect the inner structures from freezing during the winter. They unfurl again on milder days.
Witch hazel is a genus of flowering plants in the family Hamamelidaceae. There are four types of witch hazel – Hamamelis virginiana, Hamamelis vernalis, Hamamelis japonica, and Hamamelis mollis. All of these produce flowers with strap-like crumpled petals.
This vase is in my Winter House kitchen. Do you decorate with flowers and houseplants? What are some of your favorites?
Inside my main greenhouse, we've already planted lots of seeds for the coming gardening season and they're all growing so nicely.
Starting from seed is not difficult to do, but it does require careful attention and patience. And once the seedlings start to develop, it’s important to keep up with maintenance care - thin out seedlings that are weak, prick out those that are growing too big for their seed starting trays, and transplant them into larger pots and flats.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
The tiny seeds we planted just a few weeks ago are already sprouting and ready to move. These seedlings are lupines – those colorful pea-like flowers with an upper standard, or banner, two lateral wings, and two lower petals fused into a keel.
Here at my farm, most of the seedlings start off in our commercial-size Urban Cultivator. The automated system provides a self-contained growing environment with everything the plants need to thrive.
The seed trays sit over reservoirs and are automatically watered from the back of the unit. The trays receive about 18-hours of light a day.
Every winter my Skylands gardener, Wendy Norling, comes down to help at the Bedford farm. She comes just in time to transplant hundreds of growing flower seedlings. It’s a great way to learn about my farm and how its growing season differs from the one up in Maine.
As the seeds germinate and begin to mature, it’s important to check their development, so they continue to thrive. Regardless of how perfect seeds may appear, germination is never guaranteed, so multiple seeds are always planted in each seed starting tray cell. This provides a better chance at least one in each cell will take root.
When the seedlings are a couple inches tall and have reached their “true leaf” stage, which is when each seedling has sprouted a second set of leaves, it’s time for a process called selective thinning. Selective thinning prevents overcrowding, so seedlings don’t have competition for soil nutrients or room to grow.
When thinning, Wendy carefully inspects the seedlings and determines the strongest ones. She looks for fleshy leaves, upright stems, and center positioning in the space. The smaller, weaker, more spindly looking seedlings are removed, leaving only the stronger ones to mature. These stronger specimens will be transplanted into larger cells or pots.
These tools are great for transplanting seedlings. The tool on the right is a pair of extra large tweezers. The one on the left is from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. It’s called a widger. It has a convex stainless steel blade that delicately separates the tiny plants.
A good quality organic mix designed for seedlings will be fast draining and light. These mixes are formulated to encourage strong, healthy growth in new plants.
Using the widger, Wendy carefully moves the seedling from the tray to its new and larger pot. The widger also helps to avoid damage to the plant’s leaves or roots.
Our greenhouse cat, Blackie, loves to watch from the nearby counter.
Wendy gently firms up the surrounding soil. She avoids handling the seedling by its tender stems, which can bruise easily. The stronger plants now have more room to grow before getting transplanted into the ground.
The purpose of transplanting is to provide enough room – overcrowding can stress the sprouts.
The seedlings are then loaded into our trusted Polaris vehicle, so they could be transported to one of my hoop houses, where they can continue to grow. Foxglove, Digitalis, is an attractive plant that grows throughout the United States. It grows in the wild and is cultivated in private gardens for its beauty. Its bell-shaped flowers are usually bright purple but can sometimes be white, cream yellow, pink, or rose and generally bloom in the spring.
Ryan places the trays where they have good exposure to the light. I have several hoop houses here at the farm. A hoop house is a semi-circular-like structure covered in polyethylene, which heats from incoming solar radiation to warm the plants.
These seedlings will remain here until spring when they are transplanted outdoors.
Right now, these shelves still have room, but it won’t be too long before they are all filled with healthy strong flower and vegetable plants for the garden.
And then come June, the gardens will be bursting. Remember my lupines? They grow so wonderfully here at the farm.
And here is a foxglove in bloom – completely grown from seeds right here at Cantitoe Corners.
Here is my garden in early summer. When I started it, I wanted the plants to be mixed, so every bed is planted with a variety of specimens. Every row of flowers is interesting and colorful – a beautiful sight every year.
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