I hope you caught a glimpse of my recent Instagram post @MarthaStewart48 - the sunken garden behind my Summer House is bursting with spring growth.
I began this formal garden more than 15-years ago and have added many different kinds of plants, shrubs, and trees ever since. It is a kind of "room" walled by a tall hedge of boxwood. The focal point is the great old ginkgo tree at the back of the space that is original to the property. Over time, I've planted American and English boxwood, smaller ginkgo trees, smoke bushes, Siberian weeping pea shrubs, peonies, hostas, lilies, Leucojum, and so much more.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
This is the sunken garden behind my Summer House. When I first designed this garden, I called it my Boxwood Room. It measures 60 by 120 feet.
The garden’s main focal point is the mighty old ginkgo tree in the back of the space. This tree is about 250-years old. Although not as large as others I’ve seen, my tree is quite massive.
Most of the garden is surrounded by a tall American boxwood hedge. And because the Summer House faces a rather busy intersection, the wall of boxwood provides a good deal of privacy.
In this garden, I also have six weeping Siberian pea shrubs with cascading weeping branches that bear pinnately compound leaves. Soon, small yellow pea-like flowers will appear on these branches.
The garden beds are filled with Leucojum vernum – the spring snowflake, a perennial plant that grows between six to 10 inches in height and blooms heavily in early spring.
The plant produces green, linear leaves and white, bell-shaped flowers with a green edge and green dots. Don’t confuse them with Snowdrops – those bloom much earlier. The Snowflake is a much taller growing bulb which normally has more than one flower per stem.
Ipheion uniflorum, commonly called spring starflower, is native to Argentina and Uruguay and features grass-like foliage and solitary star-shaped flowers on six-inch tall stems. Flowers range in color from almost white to violet blue. Flowers have a mild spicy fragrance, and when bruised the foliage emits an oniony aroma.
Guinea Hen Flower, Checkered Lily, and Snake’s Head Fritillary are all names for this charming Fritillaria meleagris – an heirloom species dating back to 1575. It has pendant, bell-shaped, checkered and veined flowers that are either maroon or ivory-white with grass-like foliage intermittently spaced on its slender stems. I have many in my gardens.
Anemonella thalictroides is an easy-to-grow, deer-resistant, durable, but dainty looking plant. The genus name Anemonella roughly translates as ‘little anemone’ because its flowers are miniature copies of the windflower. These are a light pale pink.
Depending on its stage of development, the bloodroot herbaceous perennial plant is about three to 12 inches tall. It produces only basal leaves that are about three to five inches wide.
These double flowers of bloodroot are brilliant white atop single stems.
And here is one of the first peonies to bloom. Tree peonies are larger, woody relatives of the common herbaceous peony, growing up to five feet wide and tall in about 10-years. They are highly prized for the prolific blooms.
This trout lily is ‘Pagoda Dogtooth.’ It produces up to 10 clustered, 12-inch arching stems that bear yellow, nodding flowers with reflexed petals.
It is also known as yellow trout lily, fawn lily, yellow adder’s-tongue, or yellow dogtooth violet. This species of perennial, colony forming, spring ephemeral flower is native to North America. I have them in my gardens and growing wild in my woodland.
All the hostas are also growing quickly. Hostas are a perennial favorite among gardeners. Their lush green foliage varying in leaf shape, size and texture, and their easy care requirements make them ideal for many areas.
These hostas are so healthy. Hosta is a genus of plants commonly known as hostas, plantain lilies, and occasionally by the Japanese name, giboshi. They are native to northeast Asia and include hundreds of different cultivars.
And here is another hosta with shades of dark and light green.
This is the interesting foliage of the variegated Lily of the Valley. It is delicately striped in a creamy white that lightens shady gardens all season. The charming and richly fragrant plants have many bell-shaped flowers in late spring.
The Alliums will be blooming very soon. The Allium, also called Ornamental Onion, is one of the most interesting blooms in the spring and summer garden. With a spherical shape that holds its form throughout the season, it’s one of the longest lasting blooms from a bulb. They appear in a variety of colors, heights, and forms – all are highly attractive to pollinators and are very deer resistant.
Cotinus, also known as smoketree or smoke bush, is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the family Anacardiaceae, closely related to the sumacs. They are a great choice for massing or for hedges. The stunning dark red-purple foliage turns scarlet in autumn and has plume-like seed clusters, which appear after the flowers and give a long-lasting, smoky haze to branch tips.
And all the ginkgo trees are just beginning to show leaves. The leaves 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. Ginkgo leaves grow and deepen in color during summer, then turn a brilliant yellow in autumn.
We're making lots of progress with our long list of spring chores here at my farm.
This time of year can be very hectic - my gardeners and outdoor grounds crew are busy keeping up with all the rapid growth. Many days are spent mowing the pastures, trimming and pruning the trees and shrubs, mulching the beds, prepping the vegetable and flower gardens - and of course, weeding. This week, the crew tackled the formal terrace parterres outside my Winter House, clipping and grooming the bright golden barberry hedges.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Along the side of my Winter House overlooking the farm, I have a large stone terrace with formal hedged gardens. For the upper terrace, I have contrasting evergreen shrubs – boxwood, and golden barberry.
To provide interest, these hedges are sheared to different heights, creating a layered or step effect. During the year, we prune them to maintain their shape.
We needed to do the golden barberry first. This is how it looks before it is trimmed.
Golden barberry, Berberis thunbergii, is a deciduous shrub that is compact, adaptable, very hardy and shows off striking small, golden yellow oblong leaves.
Both barbery and boxwood are known for being robust when grown under lots of sun. Golden barberry also takes on its brightest coloring if it gets at least six hours of direct sun a day. The bright orange landscape twine is placed at the corners to provide a guide for trimming.
Trimming is mostly done with hand shears to give them a more clean and manicured appearance. Phurba starts from the top of the shrub and works his way down. He is using Okatsune 30-inch long Hedge Shears. Okatsune shears are light and precise, and come in a range of sizes.
Buxus is a genus of about 70 species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. The leaves are arranged opposite from each other, making pairs.
This is a variegated boxwood shrub, meaning its leaves are edged or patterned in a second color – white.
This chore is time-consuming and takes a couple of days to complete.
There are lots of clippings to clear away, but I am pleased these hedges are doing so well.
Once the barberry is trimmed, the terrace looks so much better – the golden barberry hedges are all level and they will get more gold in the weeks ahead. Next, Phurba will groom the boxwood.
This in my antique sugar pot in the center walkway. Sugar kettles were used on 19th century Louisiana plantations for the production of sugar. In the winter, I use it as a fire pit when entertaining.
Also showing beautiful spring growth is this large weeping katsura tree outside my window. The katsura tree, native to Japan, makes an excellent specimen or shade tree. The weeping katsura, Cercidiphyllum japonicum f. pendulum, has pendulous branches that fan out from the crown and sweep the ground.
The leaves are heart-shaped blue-green.
This is one of two weeping camperdown elms, Ulmus glabra ‘Camperdownii.’ Camperdown elms slowly develop broad, flat heads and wide crowns with weeping branch habits that grow down towards the ground. This is how it looks in spring.
It is full of seed pods in a light silvery green. In summer, it will be covered in dark, bold green leaves.
Here, under my servery windows – a lovely collection of ferns.
There is also spring-blooming fritillaria. Commonly known as Guinea Hen Flower, Checkered Lily or Snake’s Head Fritillary, Fritillaria meleagris is an heirloom species dating back to 1575. It has pendant, bell-shaped, checkered and veined flowers that are either maroon or ivory-white with grass-like foliage on slender stems.
Here is a bright creamy light yellow tulip just about to open.
And here is one of two hand-casted antique fountains I purchased many year ago. It is turned on with the smallest dome of water possible – I wanted to be sure it was an attractive spot for visiting birds.
The fountain is surrounded with smaller boxwood shrubs and a sculpted boxwood hedge. I love this view looking over the peaceful fountains and out onto the pretty spring landscape – everything is looking so strong, healthy, and beautiful.
So much is growing around my Bedford, New York farm. This week, many of my tulips are in full bloom.
Tulips, which come in a variety of shapes and sizes, are perennial plants that open up each spring. They're grown for their graceful leaves and bright, cheery blooms. Some are traditional and cup-shaped, some have fringed petals, others have pointed ones, and some are full of fanciful ruffles. Some varieties even carry a soft, subtle scent.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
It’s so exciting to see the swaths of color in the garden beds after a gray, dreary, winter. Look at these perfectly formed tulips.
Just before last year’s Thanksgiving holiday, we planted all of our tulip bulbs in a handful of raised beds in the vegetable garden. We received hundreds of tulip bulbs from The Flower Hat. These look so healthy. Any kind of bulb should be firm and free of soft spots or visible rot.
All tulips are planted in the fall and bloom in the spring. They grow best in zones 3 to 8 where they can get eight to 12 weeks of cold temperatures while under the soil.
Once all the bulbs were in their designated rows, each one was placed into a hole made with a dibber. Tulip bulbs are medium sized, so they should be buried at least six to eight-inches deep. As a rule of thumb, bulbs should be planted about three times the height of the actual bulb.
And always place each bulb with the pointed end faced up. This is important for all bulbs. If the pointed end is not obvious, look for the flat side of the bulb, which is the bottom.
The beds were raked carefully so as not to disturb any bulb placements. Finally, they were left to nature for the duration of winter.
This week, many were blooming beautifully! Tulips have a fascinating history. Although closely associated with Holland, tulips were first cultivated in Turkey. The name tulip is believed to be derived from the Turkish word for turbans, “tulbend,” because of their resemblance. They gained popularity in Europe in the 17th century, peaking in 1636 to 1637.
This is Tulip ‘Columbus’ with its rich deep pink double flowers and petals tipped in silvery cream.
From above, one can see the large cupped, peony-shaped blooms and pointed petals.
‘Foxy Foxtrot’ is a double tulip with shades of apricot, yellow, and hints of rose orange.
Its delicate blooms show slightly curved inner petals with a tinge of contrasting color.
Most tulip plants range between six to 24-inches tall. Taller ones should be shielded from any winds, so they don’t topple over.
The broad, strappy leaves of tulips have a waxy coating that gives them a blue-green color. There are usually two to six leaves per plant.
Tulips are stunning when planted en masse. Tulip ‘Spryng Break’ starts with dark pink-red blooms, but then changes ever so slightly as the white turns creamy yellow over time.
The inside is so geometric. Like many spring bulbs, tulips contain alkaloid compounds that are moderately toxic to pets as well as humans. The bulbs contain the highest concentration of toxins, but trace amounts are also found in the tulip flowers and leaves.
Tulip ‘Sanne’ has impressive, elegantly tapered flowers that open deep rose-pink and creamy-pink edges. As it matures, it turns lilac-pink with pink-ivory edges.
There are currently more than 3000 registered tulip varieties, which are divided into at least 15-groups, mostly based on the flower type, size, and blooming period.
Tulips have been hybridized in just about every color except blue. Most tulips have one flower per stem, but there are some multi-flowered varieties.
Tulips need well-drained soil. Sandy soil amended with some organic matter is perfect. They also prefer a slightly acidic soil pH of 6.0 to 6.5. I am fortunate to have such great soil here at the farm.
Tulip bulbs should be planted in full sun to partial shade. Too much shade will diminish blooming in spring.
By planting varieties with different bloom times, one can have tulips blooming from early to late spring. These should open within the next week – I’ll be sure to share more photos, stay tuned.
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