I always enjoy entertaining at home especially in spring when the gardens look so wonderful. This week, many of the azaleas are blooming, the tree peonies are exploding with color, and all the boxwood shrubs are lush and green.
Yesterday, I hosted a dinner gathering for a group of business partners and colleagues. My friend, Chef Pierre Schaedelin, from PS Tailored Events, and I, planned a delicious menu for 11. The first course was Jumbo Asparagus Grenobloise using vegetables freshly picked from my garden, followed by Pan Seared Black Bass with Fresh English Peas and Morel Mushrooms. And dessert was a mouth-watering Vanilla Panna Cotta with Poached Rhubarb grown right here at the farm. It was the most delectable meal and a lovely spring evening.
Enjoy these photos.
Here is my gorgeous spring dining table filled with all sorts of flowers freshly picked from my gardens. When entertaining, take time to dress the table and look in your own garden and backyard for inspiration.
It’s so important to create an inviting atmosphere for any dinner – casual or formal. My peonies started blooming just in time for this occasion.
Each setting has a place card and a menu, both stamped with the symbol of my Cantitoe Corners Farm, the giant sycamore.
If you haven’t yet, be sure to get a copy of my latest book – THE MARTHA WAY: Essential Principles for Mastering Home and Living. It’s out now and includes my best tips for hosting a well-planned and memorable gathering.
This day began with lots of preparations. Enma created several large flower arrangements using bunches of blooming azaleas cut from the garden.
Here is a bright red arrangement in my Winter House foyer.
In my Flower Room, Chef Pierre prepares the asparagus. These green spears are fresh from my vegetable garden – so big and perfect. Chef removes the skin from the bottom half of the asparagus to provide a a more tender core.
White asparagus is also prepared. White asparagus is a variety of grown without sunlight, resulting in pale, tender spears with a delicate, slightly sweet flavor.
A giant bowl of fresh peas were removed from their pods.
Beautiful black bass fish fillets ready to be seared.
I often serve brown butter shortcake cookies when I entertain. The dough can be prepared early, chilled and then cut and baked shortly before the meal.
These rounds are baked perfectly in the oven. My recipe is in my 100th book, MARTHA: THE COOKBOOK. You’ll want to make these over and over too.
Here, Chef Pierre pours the panna cotta mixture into molds before chilling.
After a lengthy and productive meeting, I conducted a tour of the gardens. By dinnertime, everyone was very hungry. Enma and Andres are ready to greet guests as they enter my kitchen. If serving drinks, consider a signature cocktail and always have non-alcoholic options.
Appetizers included oysters on the half shell – these were devoured quickly.
Mini potatoes topped with caviar and mini salmon bites are also offered.
And then the first course, the Jumbo Asparagus Grenobloise. Country bread crumbs, dried capers, brown butter and parsley dressed these spears wonderfully. The parsley and spinach leaf garnishes are also from my garden.
The asparagus spears were served with small cups of cold asparagus soup. When planning a menu, think seasonally and think ahead.
The black bass was served on a bed of fresh English peas and Morel mushrooms and potatoes.
And there is always room for dessert. this is vanilla panna cotta with poached rhubarb grown right here, and two brown butter shortbread cookies. Panna cotta is a traditional Italian dessert made from sweetened cream thickened with gelatin, and known for its custard-like texture. Not a morsel was left. It was a lovely dinner and a perfect day for a spring gathering.
When entertaining, plan ahead - there's always something that can be accomplished early to save time and worry later.
This evening I am hosting a small dinner for a group of business partners. Yesterday, my housekeeper, Enma Sandoval, started some of the preparations - picking garden flowers and creating the floral centerpieces, pulling the appropriate plates and silverware, and setting the table in my Winter House Brown Room. Getting these tasks done a day in advance allows ample time to do it nicely and ensures everything is in place before guests arrive.
Enjoy these photos.
I love using fresh flowers from the garden whenever I entertain. Right now, some of the early azaleas are in bloom, so Enma cut a few branches and placed them in a glass finger vase. They look so gorgeous on my servery counter – guests will love them.
Enma also took the opportunity to cut a collection of flowers for the centerpieces. Centerpieces don’t have to be elaborate – a few flowers placed in glass containers is easy to do the day before the gathering.
Whenever arranging cut flowers, it is important to cut any leaves that sit below the waterline to keep the flowers fresh and prevent bacteria from growing.
Give each flower stem a fresh cut to the right height for the vase.
These flowers were just cut. Putting them in water soon after cutting prevents stems from sealing, which can slow water uptake and reduce freshness.
I like to keep similar colors and varieties together, but they can also be mixed depending on preference.
Tulips and tree peonies look beautiful together. Each small vase of flowers is different.
Enma prepares several to run down the table in my Brown Room.
For more casual dinners, I love using these cabbage leaf place mats.
Enma selects a palette of green and white for the table. We work together to decide what plates to use. On this day I was busy at our corporate offices, so she sent photos of what she selected.
When setting a table it is important to consider the menu items and select the plates accordingly. It can be fun to mix and match china, so don’t be afraid to experiment and see what looks best.
Here, Enma folds the crisp white linen napkins.
And then puts out the appropriate glasses. Also take note of what drinks will be served and choose the right glassware. The water glass belongs to the right of the plate, just above the main dining knife. Depending on what else will be served, those glasses would placed next.
Setting the table allows more time for creativity. Here is the place setting so far. No need to overdo it – remember the star of the show is the food.
Next, Enma selects the silverware. Know what foods and what courses will need what utensils and serve only the essentials.
At each place setting, Enma includes salad forks and dinner forks. And always place them in the order of use, from the outside in. Forks on the left, knives and spoons on the right.
And then the flowers – no other greenery is necessary.
These pink flowers look so wonderful – a vessel of blooms between each pair of place settings. And remember to keep them at a height where conversations are not blocked.
Here is one vase of tulips on the side table.
Setting the table ahead of time prevents last-minute issues and allows more time for focusing on the food and the guests.
It’s a beautifully set table with fresh flowers from my gardens, cheerful place settings, and gleaming silverware – all ready for a delicious meal.
Developing a garden requires lots of careful planning, planting, and patience. I am so happy with how well the plants are doing around my pond.
After restoring the old pond here at the farm, I wanted to create a garden of beautiful shady trees and bright, colorful azaleas. I planned a variety of unique specimens in yellow and orange hues to mix with the bold glossy green foliage of ferns and birch trees. I planted more than 100 azaleas last year. Yesterday, my gardeners planted another 100 from Summer Hill Nursery - a wholesale-only company in Madison, Connecticut. Of all the shrubs that flower in spring, azaleas provide some of the most brilliant displays. These plants are sure to look stunning every time they bloom.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Summer Hill Nursery is a mid-sized wholesale-ONLY establishment growing beautiful landscape specimens since 1957. It offers more than 1000 varieties of flowering trees, shrubs, evergreens, and grasses.
I ordered 130 azaleas to add to my gardens at the farm. And they all fit into my covered truck!
Once they arrived, the plants were placed right away around the pond. Here’s Andres positioning them where they will be planted. When planning a garden, it is important to consider size of inventory, light needs and growth habits of the plants, and the location of any necessary footpaths.
Always buy plants that are sturdy, well-branched, and free of insect damage or diseases. And, avoid plants with weak, spindling growth and poor root systems.
I planted about 80 azaleas here one year ago and they are all thriving in this location. After the first batch is planted, one can see where more are needed. Filling in the bare areas takes time.
The next day, planting begins.
When planting, dig a hole at least twice the size of the plant. Azaleas thrive in moist, well-drained soils high in organic matter.
Phurba sprinkles a generous handful of good, water-soluble fertilizer to the existing soil.
I feed with Miracle-Gro Shake ‘n Feed Flowering Trees & Shrubs plant food – a dependable fertilizer that feeds for up to three months.
Phurba carefully removes the plant from its pot – it’s completely intact and in excellent condition.
Then he scarifies. Scarifying stimulates root growth. Essentially, one makes small cuts along the root ball to loosen the roots and create some beneficial injuries. This helps the plant become established more quickly in its new environment.
Phurba has been working with me for almost 19 years. He’s planted many specimens around the farm and has seen so many of the gardens grow, develop, and change over the years.
The plant is placed into the hole and then checked to be sure it is at the right depth. Planting too deep could eventually cause bark deterioration at the soil line and kill the plant.
The azalea is backfilled and the soil is lightly tamped for good contact with the root ball. Azaleas have short root systems, so they can easily be transplanted in early spring or early fall.
Here he plants another azalea – this one in bloom. Azaleas are generally healthy, easy to grow plants. Some azaleas bloom as early as March, but most bloom in April and May with blossoms lasting several weeks.
This one is also in bloom. Some of the varieties include ‘Lemon Drop,’ ‘Sea Breeze’ ‘Golden Oriole’ Exbury, ‘Tangelo,’ ‘George Reynolds’ Exbury, and ‘Gibraltar’ Exbury,
Most of these are still waiting to open. I can’t wait to see the area in a couple of weeks.
By the end of the day all the azaleas are planted. Here’s Phurba giving each newly planted azalea a good drink.
All the plants are checked. Any plant ID and care tags still hanging are removed.
This pond garden is coming together so nicely. Keep checking – this area should burst with color in another couple of weeks. I’ll be sure to share photos.
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