Memorial Day Weekend up at Skylands is always fun and busy. We try to pack in as many activities as we can - hiking, shopping, and touring local gardens and nurseries are often on my list. And of course, spending time with good friends while sharing delicious meals.
Here are a few more photos from my weekend in Maine. I took many of these images, but a large number of pictures were also taken by my guests Kevin Sharkey and Ryan McCallister. Enjoy.
This is my long table in the entrance foyer of Skylands. I brought the roses up from my Bedford, New York farm, but the miniature classic 1958 Edsel Roundup two-door station wagon was gifted to me by my daughter, Alexis.
Skylands is so relaxing – I always enjoy my stays here. This is a window in one of the bedrooms looking out onto Seal Harbor.
Here is another view looking toward Seal Harbor through the trees. On the right is a row of Rockefeller’s teeth on the top edge of the granite ledge. These teeth were part of Jens Jensen’s design plan for the home and alert passers by that there is likely a drop nearby.
Just below my large terrace is Aristide Maillol’s ‘La Riviere’ – also known around Skylands as “the lady.”
This is my large fenced in garden. This time in Maine, all the lilacs are in full bloom.
We cut lots of them in gorgeous purple, lavender, and white. Here they are in the back of our truck ready to bring to the house.
Every time I go up to Maine, Kevin Sharkey always creates the most gorgeous flower arrangements. Here he is with all the lilacs cut and ready to arrange – the fragrance of all these blooms is intoxicating.
One of his arrangements is on this faux bois table between the dining room and my living hall.
And here is another – each one more beautiful than the last.
I had seen a video of picked dandelions used for a garland and decided to give it a try. We picked a hat full of these dandelion puffs. In fact, the proper term for them is “dandelion clocks” – the single stem of a dandelion in its post-flowering state with the downy covering of its head still intact. Kevin strung the heads together to create a garland.
Look how pretty this garland of dandelion is hanging across the window. Simple, yet so charming. English writer A.A. Milne once said, “weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.”
On this day we also took a short drive to Surry Gardens, in Surry, Maine. I visit this nursery often. It has more than five acres dedicated to growing and selling the area’s largest selection of unusual perennials, classic shrubs, and a huge variety of other favorite plants. There are always many wagons standing by for visitors to use.
Here are some flowering rhododendrons. It’s hard not to walk away with something from this nursery.
There’s always time for a hike when we’re in Maine. Here is a view from atop Cadillac Mountain. From this vantage point, one can see many of the offshore islands. Some of them are hosts to fishing communities, some are privately owned, but most serve as protected nesting sites for sea birds and other migratory species.
Cadillac Mountain features an ancient volcanic landscape. The granite mass was once a magma chamber more than two miles below the earth’s crust. Time has gradually eroded the overlying rock, but the summit still exposes much of the hardened granite.
These views are majestic – be sure to visit Cadillac Mountain if you’re ever touring Acadia National Park. It is the highest point on the eastern seaboard of the United States, and is worth the climb to see this.
At night, we played competitive games of gozo – a card game similar to rummy.
The charming town of Northeast Harbor, near my home in Seal Harbor, Maine, hosts its own Memorial Day Parade every year – I always try to attend. Marching bands from the Mount Desert Island high school and middle school, veterans, and elementary school children participate in the event along with other local first responders and some vintage car drivers.
One afternoon, our group also went to Beal’s Lobster Pier on Clark Point Road in Southwest Harbor. One couldn’t visit Maine without a delicious lobster roll.
In all, it was a wonderful weekend in Maine – I can’t wait to go back.
Whenever I go to Skylands, my home in Seal Harbor, Maine, the days are always filled with lots of great activities and delicious meals.
Here are a few more photos from my Memorial Day weekend in Maine. Moises Fuentes, who is a young hard worker who helps me at my Bedford, New York farm as both a sous chef and a member of my outdoor grounds crew, came up for the holiday to help me prepare many of our favorite dishes.
Enjoy.
This is my ‘Great Wall of China’ – four open shelves that span nine-feet across one kitchen wall at Skylands. I love this wall – everything is visible and within easy reach. Below is a large table with utensils, small plates and bowls, and whatever fresh fruits, and eggs we have.
I always bring lots of fresh eggs from my farm. My hens lay the most delicious eggs and I am fortunate to be able to enjoy them all year long with family and friends.
When we arrived, everyone dove into the platter of palmiers. Also known as elephant ears, shoe-soles, palm trees or palm leaves, palmiers are delicious pastries that can be served for breakfast, dessert, or any time the craving hits for something sweet. They have a delicate, flaky texture and a sweet buttery taste.
For our late lunch, we enjoyed bronzo mezzi rigatoni pasta with crab meat, lemon, parmesan cheese, and parsley.
And a delicious garden greens salad with a light vinaigrette dressing.
Our first breakfast of the weekend included warm croissants, toast, and avocado. And don’t forget the cappuccinos.
We also had a large platter of smoked salmon. A good, hearty breakfast before planting all the containers on the terrace.
Lunch was another garden greens salad with the freshest lettuces and vinaigrette dressing.
We also had Mexican street corn with butter, shredded parmesan cheese, and sprinkled with cayenne pepper.
We also ate bits of this Stilton cheese. Stilton is an English blue cheese, which has Penicillium roqueforti added to create the characteristic smell and taste.
The next morning, Moises and I prepared stacks of buttermilk pancakes for everyone. Who doesn’t enjoy pancakes? And there was enough for everyone to have seconds if they so desired.
The pancakes were served with poached eggs and buttered toast.
And to drink, green juice. I start every morning with a glass of my green juice. My version includes a pear or apple, celery, cucumber, parsley, spinach, ginger, and citrus with the rind.
Plus, fresh fruit – watermelon cut with pieces of the rind left on for holding.
Lunch that day was crab cakes, tartar sauce, homemade coleslaw and cornichons. Cornichons are tart and sweet, with a briny flavor. They’re crisp and crunchy, but less sour than traditional dill pickles.
For those looking for snacks – brown butter shortbread cookies, more of that giant wedge of Stilton cheese, and Whoopie Pies from one of Kevin Sharkey’s favorite establishments –The Colonel’s Restaurant and Bakery in Northeast Harbor, Maine.
Dinner was the most flavorful borscht soup topped with a dollop of crème frâiche and caviar. It was a big hit for everyone at the table.
Our soup was served with baked potatoes, topped with more crème frâiche and caviar.
Here’s a view from overhead. Our meals were served in the kitchen, family style. We usually finished without leaving any leftovers.
Dessert was homemade chocolate chip cookies and lemon ice cream.
Our last weekend dinner was this garden salad with avocado and parmesan cheese…
… and bowls of bucatini pasta with anchovies, roasted garlic brioche bread crumbs, parsley, and olive oil.
And here’s my handsome Emperor Han ready for another outing in Maine. In all, we had such an enjoyable time at Skylands. I can’t wait to return this summer. In my next blog, some of the other activities that filled our days – stay tuned.
The terraces at Skylands are bursting with plant life and color once again.
I spent Memorial Day weekend at my home in Maine to carry out my yearly task of planting the large urns, pots, and planters that adorn the exterior of the house. It’s quite an undertaking, but I always enjoy the time, especially with the group that accompanies me from year to year. The greenhouse at Skylands isn’t large enough to accommodate the big plants during winter, so many of the tropical and exotic specimens are stored in hoop houses at my Bedford, New York farm, and then carefully loaded onto a trailer and delivered to Maine for the summer months. As soon as I get there, I design the layout of where things should go, and then we all get to work.
I have a sizable collection of tropical specimens. Here are some of the plants after they’ve been pulled from the hoop houses. Once they are outdoors, they are groomed and displayed. Most of the plants are placed in various locations here at Cantitoe Corners, but a selection also goes up to Skylands.
Fernando, Pete, and the rest of the crew work very hard to get all the plants out. They are all grouped by type, so I can easily assess which plants go where.
I take more than 100 tropical and exotic plants to fill the many pots at Skylands. Here are the plants heading north for the season – all packed safely in the trailer. The trailer and the team going by car leave a day or two ahead of me, so everything can be unloaded and put in place by the time I get there.
This year, I left the day after the plants. A group of good friends and I board a plane early in the morning for Maine. This day and the entire weekend were expected to be very pleasant.
After just an hour and a half, we can already see Maine and the roads and bridges to Mt, Desert Island.
Here I am with the Tradewinds and airport crew. It was a very safe and smooth flight.
And here are some of our hard working gardeners and outdoor grounds crew – Peter Grub, Amos Price, Rick Andros, Wendy Norling, and Ryan McCallister who traveled with me from Bedford.
Here are some of the bigger plants taken out of the trailer and placed on the driveway. I decide where each plant will go before they are moved – staying organized saves lots of time and energy. This year, we brought agaves, alocasias, palms, and so many more.
Agaves are long-leafed succulents with shallow roots and showy, spiked leaves. A little extra care should be taken whenever working with such sharp plants – always protect the eyes and face when handling agaves.
We also had trays of smaller plants and ground covers to use as under plantings – helichrysum, dichondra, and lysimachia.
Before we start planting, we make sure all the supplies are ready. Here we have trowels, pruners, hori hori gardening knives, gloves, and plastic bags. The bucket is filled with clay pot shards for drainage in the pots. And a refreshing can of seltzer water, for the gardener at this station of course.
Here are bags of soil mix, our wheelbarrow and tarps to catch any soil that falls or cut foliage. Using tarps makes it so much easier to gather the soil and put it back into a container. For planting, we use Pro-Mix BX Biofungicide + Mycorrhizae – a general-purpose growing medium that is great for a wide variety of plants and transplanting applications. A good potting mix will include a mix of sterile soil, very well rotted leaf mold, and compost. On the right, a bag of Osmocote fertilizer – we always remember to feed the plants.
It’s always a busy, but fun weekend at Skylands when we fill the planters with beautiful specimens. Look at all the planters and troughs waiting to be filled. The vines on the walls are ancient actinidia, which are small kiwi. They are original to the home and have done exceptionally well all these years. This great, fast-growing, sturdy vine is fruit producing.
The plants are carefully placed around the terrace, in or close to where they will be displayed for the season.
To protect the rather porous and fragile pots, I like to line them with garbage bags, so the pots don’t soak up too much water. The garbage bags have drain holes at the bottom and are neatly tucked inside the pot, so they are not visible.
We also put in a layer of bubble wrap – this is a great way to reuse and repurpose all that bubble wrap that may have accumulated over the winter months from package deliveries. Filling the bottom of large planters with something other than soil also benefits plantings in several ways – it is more economical, easier to move, and better for drainage and root growth. A good amount of bubble wrap was placed right at the bottom of this urn.
Here’s a wider view. This is one of two giant Soderholtz pots – Ellis Soderholtz was a pioneer in American garden pottery at the turn of the last century, turning concrete into these gorgeous vessels. This plant is an Alocasia with its pretty large leaves. Alocasia is also known as elephant ear.
The pot is then covered with more soil mix and a ground cover that will spread and fall over the sides of the container in the next several weeks. Notice the two glazed terra-cotta sphinxes in the background. They are designed by Emile Muller and guard this entrance to the house.
Here, Peter pots up an agave. Agaves are exotic, deer-resistant, drought-tolerant plants. Agaves make wonderful container plants. Everyone takes turns doing everything – from preparing the plants to moistening the potting mix, to filling the pots, to planting.
Amos works on this alocasia in another area of the “iced” terrace.
And here I am adding some Osmocote to this potted alocasia. This faux bois planter is very old – about 1925 to 1930 – and very heavy. In fact, many of the containers date from this time.
The terrace looks excellent after it is done – I can’t wait to see it all filled out later this summer. In my next blog, I’ll share photos from all the great foods we ate and places we visited during this trip to Maine.
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