The First Garden Tour of the Season at My Farm
It’s garden tour season at my Bedford, New York farm.
Every now and then, I agree to open my gardens for private walking tours. This week, we hosted the first scheduled tour for the Garden Club of Manchester. The Garden Club of Manchester was founded in 1920 with a mission to raise horticultural interest in southern Vermont. The club has grown to more than 100-members and its work includes civic beautification and conservation projects throughout the region. Unfortunately, because of my busy work schedule, I wasn’t able to join them for the tour, but my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, guided the walk through the allees and gardens. The day was very cloudy, but everything was flourishing with color and life.
Here are some photos…
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- Ryan welcomed all 25-guests and distributed maps of the property. Before starting the walk, Ryan also gave a brief history of the farm and reviewed what gardens they would visit.
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- Guests walked through the cutting garden first. Every group experiences a different tour when they visit the farm depending on what is blooming at the time.
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- Everyone loved all the blooming plants and quickly started taking photos of their own.
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- Iris is a genus of almost 300-species of flowering plants with showy flowers. It takes its name from the Greek word for a rainbow, which is also the name for the Greek goddess of the rainbow, Iris.
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- The distinctive iris flowers have three large outer petals called “falls” and three inner upright petals called “standards.”
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- Lupines have rounded shrub-like habits and grow from 12 to 48-inches high depending on the species or variety. Individual flowers resemble those of peas and are densely packed on several spikes above the foliage. They come in lovely shades of pink, purple, red, white, yellow, and even red!
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- The group loved the Pin Oak Allee. Pin Oak is one of the most popular landscaping oaks because it’s so easy to transplant, grows relatively quickly and is a very hardy tree. They looked so majestic all leafed out.
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- Ryan pointed out the new pool and the trees surrounding it – purple beech trees and a vast orchard of fruit trees.
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- The tour then proceeded past the pinetum, which is planted with a various collection of evergreens just behind the Equipment Barn. I add several small specimens to this garden every year.
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- At one end of the Boxwood Allee is this beautiful weeping copper beech, Fagus sylvatica ‘Purpurea Pendular’, an irregular spreading tree with long, weeping branches that reach the ground. It always attracts a lot of attention from visitors.
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- The boxwood looked so lush and green. The group learned how much time we put into caring for the boxwood so they remain healthy. After the netting and burlap are removed, the limbs are thinned to allow sunshine and air to reach the inner foliage and the beds are mulched so they all look their best.
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- At the other end of the Boxwood Allee are two horse-chestnut trees. Aesculus x carnea is a striking deciduous specimen with dark green, coarse-textured foliage. The multitude of pink to bright scarlet blooms are eye-catching.
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- These blossoms appear on erect, eight-inch long panicles at each branch tip – they’re very attractive, and very accessible to bees and hummingbirds.
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- This is a newer allee of lindens leading up to the pergola and carriage road to my home. Linden can grow from about 65 to 130 feet in height. It develops dense, pyramidal or round-shaped crowns and can live several hundred years.
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- Two of my gorgeous peacocks were in front of the stable waiting to greet everyone who passed.
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- My Friesians love greeting visitors as well. I share my farm with five Friesians, a Fell pony and three Sicilian donkeys.
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- The group was then led through the original Linden Allee. The linden tree is a medium to large tree with loose canopies that produce dappled shade below.
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- Here is a photo of the carriage road leading to the chicken coops and vegetable gardens. I love how all the trees are leafed out, creating layers of color in the landscape.
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- All the chickens were out and about, but they stayed mostly in the shade to keep cool. The group also saw the Sebastopol goslings, the Guinea hens and my talkative Pomeranian guard geese.
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- The adjacent vegetable garden is filled with new plants and seeded garden beds – the club’s members enjoyed peeking through the fence to see what we’re growing this season.
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- Ryan stopped periodically to answer questions and explain the care and maintenance of all the gardens. Another show- stopper was the herbaceous peony bed.
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- My blooming herbaceous peony bed was full of color. There were so many brilliantly colored white and pink flowers. I planted 11-rows of peonies in this bed, with two varieties in each row. Peonies are undemanding, but they do need a winter dormant period in order to flourish in spring.
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- Peonies bloom for about seven to 10 days, but their shining green foliage lasts the season before dying back to the ground in winter. To perform best, peony plants should get at least five hours of full sun with rich, well-drained soil.
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- My longtime housekeeper, Laura Acuna, made gorgeous peony arrangements to line the table on the terrace parterre.
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- The group was offered a light snack of cookies and punch – all the cookies were very popular and went quickly.
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- My housekeeper, Sanu Sherpa, served everyone a delicious pomegranate punch – everyone loved it.
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- This is one of two new fountains we put up in the beds outside my Winter House kitchen. They are old and casted by hand.
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- After the refreshments, the group saw the apple espaliers and these blooming “Miss Kim” Korean lilac standards. This upright, compact lilac blooms later than others, extending the season with deep purple buds that reveal clusters of highly fragrant, lavender flowers.
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- The pergola was hard to miss with all its beauty. The purple alliums are so prominent right now – I have so many in bloom along the clematis pergola and right outside my flower cutting garden. Allium species are herbaceous perennials with flowers produced on scapes. They grow from solitary or clustered bulbs.
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- And just as if planned, these wild turkeys “crossed the road” as the group approached the end of the pergola – everyone took many photos.
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- Before boarding the bus, the group stopped for this last photo. I am so glad the rain held off for the duration of the walk.
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- Becky Burke, co-president and program chair posed for this quick photo with Ryan, my personal executive assistant, Shqipe Berisha Lulenaj, and our property director, Fred Jacobsen. It was a wonderful visit for all.
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