The big task of pruning the hornbeam hedges is in full swing at my farm.
This week, the outdoor grounds crew trimmed the hornbeam hedge in front of my main greenhouse. Botanically known as Carpinus betulus, the hornbeam is a fast growing deciduous tree that can grow up to several feet per year. I like to maintain it using a traditional European style of pruning, so it has a nice, sculpted appearance. This means, it’s crucial that the hedge be trimmed regularly, so it doesn’t look overgrown and unruly.
It is quite a chore, but the end result is so beautiful - enjoy these photos.
In the parking area in front of my main greenhouse, there’s a tall hedge. It’s an English hornbeam hedge, or Carpinus betulus. It is quite pretty in this location, but more importantly, it serves as a good privacy barrier from the road.
Here is Chhiring trimming the visible growth on the front of the hedge. Carpinus betulus is a hornbeam native to western Asia and central, eastern and southern Europe, including southern England. Because of its dense foliage and tolerance to being cut back, this hornbeam is popularly used for hedges and topiaries.
Carpinus betulus grows pretty quickly – about four to five feet per year, so it has to be trimmed and sculpted regularly. The crew takes on this task around this time every summer.
Some formal hedges can be trimmed a few times a year, especially while they are actively growing.
I decided to maintain this hedge using a traditional English style of pruning. A well-manicured hedge can be stunning in any garden, but left unchecked, it could look quite unruly.
Using Japanese Okatsune hedge shears, Chhiring prunes the hornbeams nice and flat. These shears are user friendly, and come in a large range of sizes. Okatsune 30-inch long Hedge Shears and Okatsune 20-inch long Hedge Shears are light, precise, and made using the same hammer-forged steel used for manufacturing Japanese swords. Ours are from A.M. Leonard. http://www.amleo.com/
Chhiring prunes all the front sections reachable by ladder.
Using hand shears is definitely more time consuming than using a gas powered tool, but it is also more exact, and that’s important when sculpting formal hedges.
Pruning such a large hedge can quickly wear out the shears’ blades, so they are sharpened several times during the trimming process.
Here is a closer look at the growth that is being pruned.
Most of the trimming is also done by eye, since my hedges are well-maintained and regularly pruned.
This photo shows the top sections that still need trimming – so much growth in one year’s time. This hedge is thriving here at the farm.
Hornbeams are often confused with the common beech because of their similar leaves; however, the hornbeam leaves are actually smaller and more deeply furrowed than beech leaves.
It takes Chhiring several hours to trim the front of the entire hedge.
Once the front was all done, the crew brings in my Hi-Lo machine, so the top of the hedge could be trimmed as well. This piece of equipment is very useful around the farm.
If you recall, we keep thousands of tree seedlings in this area as well. The trees were repositioned so the Hi-Lo could work around them.
Chhewang uses those trusted Okatsune shears to continue pruning the upper areas.
Chhewang is lifted above the hedge, so he can safely trim the top from the cage of the Hi-Lo.
The top of this hedge section is trimmed perfectly level. The underside of the cage also serves as a guide.
Chhewang has trimmed the tops of the hedge on the right and he working his way left – see the difference?
It takes some time, but the outcome is so worth the effort.
Look at all the leaves that were pruned – and that’s just from one section.
Chhewang is carried from section to section very carefully on the Hi-Lo. As he moves from one area to another, he also looks at the work he has done so far and decides whether adjustments are needed.
This hedge could be sculpted in any way, but I decided to shape it very square, with the taller sections protruding just a bit.
Here is a view showing how some sections extend outward.
Chhewang and Chhiring have trimmed this hedge many times, and are excellent hedge sculptors.
Here is Chhewang assessing his work from the ground.
Once Chhewang trimmed the front and top of the hedge, he moved to the roadside.
Trimming here is tight, but at least it is a little more shady – temperatures on this day hit 90-degrees Fahrenheit.
Here in the Northeast, temperatures remain well into the 90s, with lots of humidity.
Despite the uncomfortable summer weather, the vegetables at my Bedford, New York farm are thriving, and the gardens are looking spectacular this season. Fortunately, we were able to harvest another sizable amount of vegetables just in time for my weekend trip to my home in East Hampton. I am hosting a party, so I am very happy to have such fresh and delicious produce to share.
Here is an update on what we picked this week - enjoy these photos.
There has been so much growth in this vegetable garden in the last couple of weeks – look at all there is to pick!
We’ve had a lot of very warm days, and little rainfall. This combination can sometimes be a detriment to growing crops, but some of the plants continue to do well.
Here is Ryan picking more cabbage from our prolific patch.
To get the best health benefits from cabbage, it’s good to include all three varieties into the diet – Savoy, red, and green. The leaves of the Savoy cabbage are more ruffled and a bit more yellowish in color – this one is ready for picking.
And so is this beautiful green cabbage head. Cabbage is an excellent source of antioxidants and vitamins K and C. It is also a good source of fiber, manganese, folate, vitamin B6, potassium, and omega‐3 fatty acids.
Last harvest, we only picked one head of nappa cabbage – look at all we have now! Nappa cabbage, which is sometimes called Chinese cabbage, is milder and more tender than some of its cabbage counterparts.
And look at all the kale. One cup of chopped kale has 134-percent of the recommended daily intake of vitamin-C – that’s more than a medium orange, which only has 113-percent of the daily C requirement.
There was lots of broccoli to harvest too. Broccoli is a hardy vegetable of the cabbage family that is high in vitamins A and D. And, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA, the average American eats more than four-pounds of broccoli a year.
These beautiful cauliflower heads are brimming with nutrients. They hold plenty of vitamins, such as C, B, and K.
We also harvested more crisp, white turnips. Turnips are a versatile vegetable since both the root and the greens are edible.
In general, onions are picked after the long onion leaves start to flop over and brown, signaling that the plants have stopped growing and are beginning to prepare for storage; however, they can be harvested early if eaten within the same week.
The onions looked wonderful and so big – we planted many red, yellow, and white varieties.
Onions are a rich source of vitamin-C, manganese, potassium and phosphorus. Onions are low in caloric value and high in dietary fibers.
And more artichokes grew on their healthy stems. The globe artichoke, Cynara scolymus, is popular in both Europe and the United States. Artichokes are actually flower buds, which are eaten when they are tender.
There is also a lot of fresh and fragrant cilantro. Often known in the United Kingdom as coriander, cilantro comes from the plant Coriandrum sativum. In the United States, the leaves of the plant are referred to as cilantro and the seeds are called coriander. Cilantro is also commonly known as Chinese parsley.
And here is Ryan picking a nice bunch of parsley.
This is dill. Dill is an annual herb in the celery family Apiaceae. It is the only species in the genus Anethum. Dill is widely grown in Eurasia where its leaves and seeds are used as a herb or spice for flavoring food.
Lots of tomatoes are developing on the vines, but they’re not ready just yet – they still need a few more weeks.
Everything is loaded in trug buckets and brought up to my flower room, where they will be washed if needed, then bagged and stored in the refrigerator.
Look at our bounty of artichokes and broccoli – and there are many still growing!
Laura is amazed with all the vegetables.
Here are Laura and Sanu cleaning the onions and turnips. Turnips are actually washed in cold water, while onions are just wiped clean.
These are all the beautiful turnips from our harvest.
And the cauliflower – two heads removed from its bed of leaves – waiting to be bagged.
This onion so gorgeous. Onions are brushed and wiped clean before its top papery layers are peeled.
All these onions are perfect, and just waiting to go into my next salad. My guests will love all these vegetables.
Once everything is washed and dried, the vegetables are then stored in the refrigerator until they’re packed up in coolers ready to be taken to East Hampton.
My long, winding pergola will soon be filled with striking tiger lily blooms.
This pergola goes through several transformations during the year. In late spring, bold purple and white alliums cover the area, followed by the delicate shades of lavender and blue from the flowering clematis vines that wrap around each of the granite posts. And now, hundreds of lily stems line the garden bed. These flowers can grow very tall - many are more than six-feet. Most lilies have strong wiry stems, but those with heavy flower heads often need staking. In order to keep them looking their best, my gardeners, Ryan and Wilmer, use bamboo uprights and twine to give them added support.
Here are photos of our process and the pretty lily flowers that grow around my home. Enjoy.
The long pergola meanders along a carriage road adjacent to my Party Lawn. It is filled with hundreds of lilies just beginning to open. I grow many lilies at the farm – they include a combination of trumpet, Oriental, Asiatic, and Orienpets.
Here, it is clear that the tall lily stems need a little more support.
This lily is at least six-feet tall. Lilium is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with prominent flowers.
They can range in height from about two-feet to nearly seven-feet.
The flowers are large, often fragrant, and come in a range of colors including oranges, whites, yellows, pinks, reds and purples. These plants are late spring- or summer-flowering.
The tiger lily, Lilium lancifolium, is an Asian species of lily, native to China, Japan, Korea, and the Russian Far East.
Pollen is an important part of a lily’s anatomy, but it is notorious for staining flesh and fabric. Also, if the pollen gets on the flower petals, it can eat away at these delicate flower parts, leading to a shorter life for the blooms. If using them as cut flowers, gently pull the anthers off as soon as the flowers open.
Wilmer places tall bamboo stakes along the front side of the bed – each about eight to 10-feet apart.
At one end, Wilmer ties green jute twine to one of the granite posts.
He then walks alongside the lilies securing the twine around each bamboo stake. Lilies are best planted in south-facing sun or part shade.
For this bed, one line of twine was about two-and-a-half feet off the ground to accommodate the shorter lilies. Wilmer also creates a second row of twine to support the taller plants from about five-feet above the ground.
At each bamboo stake, Wilmer makes one loop around to secure the twine. Lilies prefer a porous, loamy soil, and good drainage.
The twine keeps the lilies straight and tall, and protects the stems from breaking.
Once the twine is tied, Wilmer checks that each lily is supported.
The bed looks so pretty, with all the lilies lined up perfectly.
On the inside of the pergola, Wilmer secures the twine to the wire that supports each clematis plant to the granite posts.
All the lilies are now appropriately staked. Most species bloom in July or August. I can’t wait to see all these lily flowers.
Outside my Winter House kitchen, Ryan uses individual metal stakes to support the lilies. These stems are not as tall, but also need support because of the heavy flowers.
He ties twine around the stake, and then secures it gently to the stem of the plant.
Whenever twine is used around a stem, we always tie them in figure-eights to protect the stems from being crushed.
These bold pink lilies look much better when supported.
I love the striking markings of this lily. Lily markings include brush strokes like these, or spots seen on many tiger lilies.
These lilies are behind my Summer House. They aren’t as tall, and have much stronger stems which don’t need staking. These are mostly oriental hybrids, also called Orienpets. They are already blooming beautifully.
These are interspecific crosses between Oriental and Trumpet lilies. They have the sweet fragrance and shape of Oriental lilies.
I have them in shades of yellow, and this creamy orange.
I also have them in beautiful crisp white. Lily flowers have six tepals each. The tepals are free from each other, and bear a nectary at the base of each bloom.
Look how stunning they are in this garden. What kind of lilies do you grow? I would love to hear from you – let me know in the comments section below.
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