Here at my Bedford, New York farm, my peafowl love to get out and explore.
Peafowl are very social birds - they usually travel in groups, enjoy foraging, and often play together. They are also very loyal and tend to stay where they are well-fed and well-protected. I currently have 16 of these magnificent birds. They live in a very safe and comfortable pen near my stable, where they get lots of attention from visitors. Yesterday, I let them out for a short while to roam the property - they walked around the stable, through the gardens, and even perched high on the rooftops. And then after a few hours, they were led back to their familiar enclosure, where I know they are safe and sound.
Enjoy these photos.
I keep all my birds in large, protected enclosures because of the predators that sometime wander through the property, such as coyotes. On this day, I decided to give the peafowl a little freedom to explore. Here is one male walking past the long boxwood allée.
And here is an all-white male following closely behind.
These birds are going in the opposite direction, but where one goes, others are sure to follow.
Peafowl are smart, docile and adaptable birds. They are also quite clever. It is not unusual for peafowl to come running when the food appears.
This group is headed toward my new raised bed vegetable garden, checking out the ginkgo tree and all its fallen leaves on the way.
Peafowl are ground feeders. They do most of their foraging in the early morning and evening. As omnivores, they eat insects, plants, grains, and small creatures.
In all I have 16 peafowl – juveniles and adults. Within a year, peacocks are almost completely mature. Two year olds resemble adult males, but their tails are still short and need time to develop. They become sexually active around the age of three. Peahens develop faster than peacocks and can mate as early as one.
Here are two in front of my stable office exploring every nook. Peafowl are happiest when living in small groups. They often walk around following each other.
As beautiful as peafowl are, they don’t make very melodious sounds. Peafowl have 11 different calls, with most of the vocalizing made by the peacocks. And, with their sharp eyesight, peafowl are quick to see predators and call out alarms. Oftentimes, I can hear them from across the farm.
Like many birds, peafowl enjoy roosting at higher levels. In the wild, this keeps them safe from predators at night. Here is one peacock up on the stable office roof just watching all the activities.
Peafowl also have acute hearing, but can be poor at discerning from what direction certain sounds originate.
After a few hours, it was time to lead the ostentation back to its pen. Peafowl are members of the pheasant family. There are two Asiatic species – the blue or Indian peafowl native to India and Sri Lanka, and the green peafowl originally from Java and Burma, and one African species, the Congo peafowl from African rain forests. Here is one of my blue peacocks – it is no longer breeding season, so his tail is short. It will grow full feathers again next spring when mating season starts.
Here is a curious female – coming up to see the camera. Female peafowl are more dull brown in color.
Both male and female peafowl have a fan-shaped crest on their heads called a corona. It may take up to one year for a corona to reach full size.
And look at its feet. A peafowl’s legs are very strong. They have three toes on each foot facing forward, and one facing backwards. They also have sharp, powerful metatarsal spurs that are used for defense. Also, as they develop, males will tend to have longer legs than females.
Here is a female perched on the other side of the yard. I always call out to them whenever I drive by… and oftentimes, they answer.
Many had also gone into the coop to perch. Peafowl will look at you in the eye; however, if you stare at them or seem aggressive in your body movements, these birds will feel threatened. Talking softly and keeping eyes averted tells them you are not a predator.
They are put indoors every night – to keep them extra safe.
This white peacock is roosting on the rafters inside the coop. The white peacocks are so beautiful. White peacocks are the result of leucism or albinism. While leucistic white peacocks are far more common than albino peacocks, both types are rare.
And remember, only the males are peacocks. The females are peahens, and both are called peafowl. Babies are peachicks. A family of peafowl is called a bevy. And a group is called an “ostentation” or a “muster.” I am very happy my ostentation of peafowl is thriving here at Cantitoe Corners.
My Bedford, New York farm is buzzing with activity this fall - television shoots, photography shoots, and lots and lots of seasonal chores.
My gardeners have also been hard at work planting spring-flowering bulbs. Every year, I order thousands and thousands of bulbs to add to my landscape. It’s so exciting to see the swaths of color in the gardens after a cold and dreary winter. This week, Ryan McCallister planted Puschkinia and Chionodoxa in various beds outside my Summer House, outside my Tenant House, and under my grove of tall bald cypress trees. They will all look so marvelous come spring.
Here are some photos - enjoy.
Every year it is a rush to plant all our bulbs before the ground freezes. This season, we’ve had some very pleasant, very mild days – just perfect for planting. Ryan keeps track of all the flowers and plants, and knows exactly where our bulbs should go. Here he is organizing the varieties – all from Van Engelen Inc., and its sister company, John Scheepers,
When purchasing bulbs, always look for those that are plump and firm, and avoid those that are soft.
The bulbs getting planted on this day include this pretty Puschkinia. Puschkinias are also known as Striped Squill – a deer- and rodent-resistant naturalizer named after Russian botanist Count Apollos Apollosvich Mussin-Puschkin. Puschkinia does best in moist, fertile, well-draining soil in full sun to partial sunlight. (Photo from vanengelen.com)
This is Puschkinia scilloides var. libanotica alba. All Puschkinia varieties take time to mature, but if it’s happy where it’s planted and left undisturbed, it naturalizes by bulb offsets called bulbils: baby bulbs and great planted en masse in garden borders. (Photo from vanengelen.com)
This is Chionodoxa forbesii. Commonly known as Glory of the Snow, this Chionodoxa has up to 12 star-shaped, six-petaled clustered rich blue flowers with bright white central zones atop dark stems with narrow foliage. (Photo from vanengelen.com)
A very close variety is Chionodoxa forbesii Blue Giant. Blue Giant is the improved form of forbesii with up to eight, larger, star-shaped, six-petaled clustered rich blue flowers. (Photo from vanengelen.com)
And this is Chionodoxa sardensis, which has multiple star-shaped, six-petaled clustered bright blue flowers with small white centers atop dark stems. This variety was discovered circa 1883 from an area around Turkey. (Photo from vanengelen.com)
The first thing before planting bulbs is to prepare the bed with the proper bulb food. The food should be a balanced fertilizer that has a good amount of phosphorous. Fertilizing spring-blooming bulbs also helps them fight off diseases and pests.
This area outside my Summer House garden is fed evenly and generously.
In this area, Puschkinia bulbs are tossed gently onto the soil – where they fall is where they are planted, creating a natural growth appearance.
Both Puschkinia bulbs and Chionodoxa bulbs are small, but looking closely, one can still tell which end is pointed and which end is not – it is important to know when planting.
This tool is a dibber, used to create a narrow deep hole for smaller bulbs.
In general, holes should be three times deeper than the bulb’s length.
One by one, each bulb is carefully placed into a hole, with the pointed end faced up, or root end faced down, so the plant grows properly from the bulb.
Once in the soil, Ryan backfills the area with his gloved hand.
Ryan planted both sides of the footpath leading to my Summer House garden. It will look very pretty come spring.
Another area is here, underneath and near my towering bald cypress trees, Taxodium distichum – a deciduous conifer.
Once again, Ryan feeds the area with a good amount of food specifically for planting bulbs.
Bulbs need to be packaged very carefully to ensure they are kept in the best conditions during transport. Van Engelen uses different bagging materials depending on the bulbs’ humidity needs. The bags are also designed with a number of holes for air circulation and humidity control.
Here are chionodoxa bulbs. These bulbs also have very distinct pointed ends and rounded bottoms.
Each bulb is placed in a hole about three to five inches deep. Ryan is always careful to place it in the hole properly. However, if a bulb accidentally gets planted sideways or upside down, it will still grow – it will just take a bit longer.
And once again, as the bulbs are planted, the areas are backfilled.
I can’t wait to see all these bulbs erupt with gorgeous color come spring. We still have many, many more bulbs to plant. Follow this blog and see where we go next – the daffodil border perhaps?
At my Bedford, New York farm, I have thousands and thousands of trees. Many were already well-established when I purchased the property, but the rest I've planted - in allées, in groves, as privacy hedges, and in rows within my living maze. One type of tree, however, stands out this time every year - the mighty ginkgo.
Ginkgo biloba, commonly known as ginkgo or gingko, and also known as the maidenhair tree, is the only living species in the division Ginkgophyta. It is found in fossils dating back 270-million years. Native to China, the ginkgo tree is widely cultivated, and was cultivated early in human history. In the sunken garden behind my Summer House, I have a stunning ginkgo tree that's probably about 250-years old. Although not as large as others I've seen during trips to Asia, my tree is quite massive - its trunk circumference measures at least 14-feet. Ginkgo trees have beautiful green leaves that turn a luminous golden-yellow in autumn. Then at some time after a hard frost sweeps down the east coast, this ginkgo, along with others at my farm and countless more in the area, drops its leaves to the ground leaving a gorgeous carpet of color below.
Enjoy the season's changes on the ginkgo in these photos.
This is the great ginkgo tree in the back of my Summer House sunken garden in June. This parterre garden is very formal and focused on the giant tree. Growing beneath the ginkgo is a beautiful chocolate mimosa tree, a fast-growing, deciduous tree with a wide, umbrella-shaped canopy. The other green trees are younger ginkgoes.
The leaves of the ginkgo are unusually fan-shaped, up to three-inches long, with a petiole that is also up to three-inches long. This shape and the elongated petiole cause the foliage to flutter in the slightest breeze. They are bold green in summer.
The younger ginkgo trees are planted on both sides of the footpath in this garden. The ginkgo is considered both a shade tree and an ornamental tree. It features a spreading canopy capable of blocking sunlight and adds visual interest and beauty to the landscape. The ginkgo grows to about 50 to 80-feet tall with a spread of 25 to 35-feet at maturity.
Starting in late September, one can see a slight change to the color of the leaves – they’re starting to turn.
A couple of weeks later, many of the changing leaves are two-toned, with separate bands of gold and green.
The season’s changes can be seen on the ginkgo trees planted at each corner of my herbaceous peony bed. This ginkgo in the northwest corner of the bed was still mostly green in late October.
On the same day, the tree in the northeast corner shows a few more golden-yellow leaves.
Each mature leaf often has a single vertical slit in the top center. This forms the fan with a cavity in the middle separating it into two lobes. Bi-loba means “with two lobes”.
This is the tree on the southwest corner taken on the same day as the others, also showing half green and half yellow leaves.
And here is the southeast ginkgo tree – mostly yellow.
Here is the giant ginkgo tree in late October. This tree is a female specimen. Female ginkgo trees produce tan-orange oval fruits that fall to the ground in October and November.
Here is the great ginkgo tree two weeks ago. It is still quite full, but its leaves are all bright golden-yellow. The smaller ginkgoes are also more yellow than green.
As soon as the giant tree turns color, every day all of us at the farm check to see whether it has dropped its leaves. This is a view from the carriage road outside the garden.
Inside the garden, the trees are sill full, but many of the leaves have already fallen to the ground in the beds and on the footpath. Ginkgoes are grown as hedges in China to supply the leaves for western herbal medicine. The leaves contain ginkgolides, which are used to improve blood circulation to the brain and to treat many cardiovascular diseases. It is usually Europe’s number one selling herbal medication.
Earlier this month, these two ginkgoes outside my new raised bed vegetable garden gave off a beautiful autumn show.
But here are the same trees now.
And here is the Summer House garden. The leaves have fallen – in almost a synchronized leaf drop. With such mild temperatures this autumn, the “great fall” seems less dramatic. Some of the leaves blew off in the wind, with some still clinging to the branches.
Now the fruits are also falling. They can be found all along the footpath. The most noticeable thing about these is their smell – it is hard to miss, and the stench is quite disagreeable. The outer, nasty smelling pulp is known botanically as sarcotesta. Inside is a single hard-shelled seed enclosing an edible kernel. The kernels are often roasted and used in Asian cuisines. This year, a bucketful of my ginkgo fruits went to New York City’s Masa Restaurant.
Here is a closer look at the fruit, which is small and fleshy – about the size of small jujube, or Chinese date.
All the ginkgoes are now bare. This is the ginkgo tree outside my Winter House, with the gorgeous carpet of yellow below.
And across the carriage road – the trees around my herbaceous peony bed. Look, very different now.
And these are the ginkgo trees behind my chicken coops. All showing their bare winter branches. It’s a cycle of growth and bloom, followed by a period of dormancy – until spring, when nature’s cycle begins all over again.
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