It's unmistakably mid-summer when my long, winding pergola is aglow with the luminous orange blooms of tiger lilies.
Set along one side of the carriage road near my Tenant House, this pergola goes through several transformations during the year. In winter, the beds are bare, while the bordering boxwood is carefully swathed in protective burlap. As spring gives way to early summer, bold purple alliums, Spanish bluebells, and blue Camassia create a striking display, followed by the delicate shades of lavender from the flowering clematis vines that wrap around each of the antique granite posts. Now, hundreds of brilliantly speckled tiger lilies brighten the garden bed - it's so beautiful.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
I hope you saw my Instagram video @MarthaStewart48. My pergola is filled with these striking lillies. Tiger lilies, Lilium lancifolium, bloom in mid to late summer, are easy to grow, and come back year after year.
Native to China and Japan, these robust flowers add dramatic beauty to any border with their bright and showy orange colored blooms.
In winter, my pergola is sleeping – the boxwood border is covered in burlap and the beds are bare.
By late May, this pergola garden is filled with lots of blue and purple flowers. This palette of colors is a big favorite at the farm – it grows more colorful and more vibrant every spring.
The beds are filled with brightly colored alliums, Camassia, and Hyacinthoides or Spanish bluebells.
And now it’s filled with bright orange lilies.
Tiger lilies are covered with black or deep crimson spots, giving the appearance of the skin of a tiger. They have large, down-facing flowers, each with six recurved petals. Many flowers can be up to five inches in diameter. And they’re well-known for having heavily pollinated stamens, which stain. When cutting, always remove the anthers to prevent a clothing disaster – just pinch them off with gloved fingers.
The tiger lily’s petals bend back far during the flowering cycle, curling up against its own stem and exposing the stamens and pistol for visiting pollinators.
There are also a few white lilies in this bed – adding more interest to the long floral display.
This lily is white and orange with orange pollinated stamens.
The leaves can grow to three inches long and about 3/4-inch wide. They are medium green, narrow, smooth along their margins, and glabrous, clasping the stem at their bases.
The blackish, round “seeds” that develop in the axils of the leaves along the main stem are called bulbils.
Along both sides of the pergola, I planted a hedge of smaller boxwood shrubs, which have grown excellently.
This pergola starts across from my perennial flower cutting garden and runs along the carriage road leading to my Winter House. It’s one of the first gardens guests see when they come to visit.
It’s also across the carriage road from my charming Basket house – filled with all kinds of wicker baskets I’ve collected over the years.
On the granite posts, there are still a few lasting clematis flowers. I have always loved clematis, and have grown many varieties of this wonderful plant.
I also have pops of daylilies. The daylily is a low-maintenance perennial—easy to grow, virtually disease- and pest-free, and able to survive drought, uneven sunlight, and poor soil. The daylily’s botanical name, Hemerocallis, comes from Greek hemera “day” and kallos meaning “beauty”. The name is appropriate, since each flower lasts only one day. Despite their name, daylilies are not “true lilies.” Leaves grow from a crown and the flowers form on leafless stems called “scapes,” which rise above the foliage.
And on one side of the pergola is my giant weeping copper beech tree. I have several large specimens on the property. The deep red to copper leaves grow densely on cascading pendulous branches.
And one by one, the orange lilies begin to open. New ones open every day during this time.
And there are still many more lilies waiting to bloom. Tiger lilies do best in full sun.
The entire pergola border and its surrounding gardens, trees, and other specimens provide a spectacular show every year.
Here at my farm, we're harvesting an abundance of fresh, nutritious produce from the garden.
Yesterday, my head gardener Ryan McCallister gathered a beautiful bounty of vegetables, including beans, artichokes, peppers, eggplants, carrots, onions, beets, celery herbs, and more. Growing all of this takes time, care, and plenty of hard work. From choosing the right varieties and preparing the soil to watering, weeding, and staking plants as they grow. It's so rewarding to see all that effort pay off in a healthy, productive harvest. And there's still plenty more to come.
Here are some photos.
After any harvest, the freshly picked vegetables are loaded up and brought to my flower room, where they can be washed if needed, then bagged and stored in the refrigerator. It makes me so happy to be able to share all of this produce with friends and family every summer.
The right time to harvest cabbage depends on the variety of cabbage planted and when the heads mature. Look for heads that are firm all the way through when squeezed – that’s when they’re ready.
I have such beautiful carrots this season. Most are familiar with the orange carrots, but they also come in red, yellow, white, and purple.
The carrots are rinsed in cold water and then placed in a large stainless steel bowl. Enma removes the outer leaves of the cabbage and rinses off any dirt.
Summer squash is best harvested when young, tender, and about eight inches long, with glossy, slightly firm skin.
Here’s one of the onions fresh from the garden.
Elvira peels off the outer layers and gently wipes each one clean.
These look so wonderful. I planted a lot of white, yellow and red onions. There will be a bigger onion harvest soon.
Here’s the season’s first big bounty of cucumbers. Cucumbers, Cucumis sativus, are great for pickling – I try to find time for pickling every year. I like them best when they are about six to eight inches in length. These will be so sweet and juicy.
The globe artichoke, Cynara scolymus, is actually a flower bud, which is eaten when tender. Buds are generally harvested once they reach full size, just before the bracts begin to spread open. Artichoke harvest starts in late July or early August and continues well until frost.
Enma uses a brush specifically made for removing dirt, debris and any bacteria left on the surface of the vegetable.
She carefully cleans the beets one by one.
And look at all the beets that were picked. Beets grow so well here at the farm. The beetroot is the taproot of the beet plant, and is often called the table beet, garden beet, red or golden beet or simply… beet.
There are two types of green beans. Pole beans grow on climbing vines and require trellising. Bush beans like these grow on bushes up to two feet and do not need support. And with the proper care, the bushes can produce beans through the entire season.
This celery will be so delicious in my daily green juice. Celery is ready when the stalks stand tall and have a diameter of about two to three inches.
Also great in my green juice is parsley. I always grow parsley in the garden. Parsley is a low-calorie, nutrient-dense herb that is rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
It’s good to pick eggplants when they are young and tender. Try to pick a little early, which will encourage the plant to grow more, and will help to extend the growing season.
Peppers hold up great in the heat, and we’ve had a lot of warm days, so these should be very flavorful. Sweet bell peppers are popular in the garden – all grassy in flavor and crunchy in texture. I love making stuffed peppers.
I also grow many hot peppers to share. These thrive in full sun and are ready to pick when they are firm, green, and about three inches long. Be careful when picking peppers – always keep the hot ones separated from the sweet ones, so there is no surprise in the kitchen.
And a bucket of lush basil in green and purple. Basil is used for its fresh, sweet, and slightly peppery flavor.
What a fantastic bounty. Enma finishes cleaning all the vegetables so they’re ready to use. What are you picking from the garden this weekend?
Rain or shine, the work of caring for a farm never stops. Daily task lists keep the farm running smoothly and looking its best.
My gardeners, housekeepers, stable team, and outdoor grounds crew are always busy tackling important chores. During the summer months, that means pruning trees and shrubs, mulching the garden beds, weeding, tending the vegetable garden and of course, providing the best possible care for all the animals.
Enjoy these photos.
We’ve had a stretch of strong rain this week, but skies cleared nicely in between flooding storms. Fortunately, with good planning, my crew was still able to get a lot done around the farm.
During storm cleanup, Pasang takes down a dying tree in the Japanese Maple Tree Woodland. The tree is secured to another, so it falls in a safe direction away from Pasang and other more delicate plantings.
In the foreground is the stump remaining after a dead maple tree fell overnight.
Once on the ground, Pasang cuts the tree into sections before loading it onto the tractor for transport to my compost yard where it will be chipped and used for top dressing in another part of the farm.
In the maze, Chhiring moves mulch into a wheelbarrow to dress the many shrubs. It’s an arduous job to mulch my three-acre maze, but I am so glad I am able to make all the mulch right here at the farm.
Every row is dressed with mulch to improve the soil health, conserve moisture, suppress any weeds, regulate temperature, and protect the plants from any environmental stress.
My stable manager, Helen Peparo, rides the horses regularly to keep them mentally stimulated and exercised. I have four miles of carriage road at the farm topped with gravel for good footing.
The big peony blooms are gone for the year, but maintenance in the garden continues. Here’s Matthew weeding the long beds. Last spring, I decided to cover the footpaths with weed cloth – doing so cuts down the time used for weeding.
Phurba works in another row – there are 11 double rows in all.
And my 48-gallon reusable heavy-duty, multi-purpose debris bags are great to use all over the farm. These bags hold hundreds of pounds. Look for them on my shop at Amazon.
In my Winter House, Enma cleans the oven. I do a lot of entertaining, so it’s important the kitchen is always in perfect working condition.
What’s Pasang doing now? He’s grooming under one of my Styrax japonicus ‘Marley’s Pink Parasol’ trees. I have an allée of these charming trees leading to my tennis court.
In the chicken coops nearby, Cesar my resident bird expert, rakes the gravel clean of any old food or debris.
Every coop is also cleaned thoroughly once a week to keep the birds healthy and happy.
My chickens get the very best care and attention. Here are some of the younger roosters and hens in their clean enclosure.
When dry, Adan mows the lawns using our STIHL equipment. Mowing wet grass can damage the lawn, strain the mower, and create safety hazards, so it’s always best to wait until the grass is dry.
Behind the chicken coops, the hawthorn trees get a good pruning. The hawthorn tree is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree or shrub, known for its thorny branches, clusters of white or pink flowers in spring, and bright red berry-like fruits called haws.
Here’s Pasang carrying away more debris for chipping.
Blueberry bushes are checked once again for any ripe fruits.
Today is supposed to be sunny to partly cloudy with light winds and temperatures in the low 80s – a good day to finish up the week’s chores and projects.
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