Planting the Skylands Terrace 2017
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 a hoop house at my Bedford 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.
It's always a wonderful time - enjoy these photos.
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- It’s always a busy, but fun weekend at Skylands when we fill the planters with beautiful specimens. Look at all the plants waiting – agaves, alocasias, ferns, begonias, and so many more. This day was cool, but still very comfortable. (Photo by Douglas Friedman @thefacinator)
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- It’s a lot of work to plant everything in just a couple of days, but it’s a weekend I look forward to every spring. Here’s Kevin trimming a Lady palm, Rhapis excelsa. Rhapis adapts to a wide range of climates, soils, and environments, and can grow to more than 14-feet in height. This one is underplanted with yellow Helichrysum.
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- Here is a beautiful large palm. The small one behind it is a cedar I recently purchased at Trade Secrets.
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- Ferns can add dramatic beauty to any planter. A fern is a member of a group of roughly 12-thousand species of vascular plants. In general, ferns are low-maintenance, hardy plants. They require lots of shade and ambient sunlight.
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- The western terrace is among my favorite summer meal spots. The pergola is covered with kiwi vines that are original to the home.
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- On this wall of the western terrace, we planted three Soderholtz pots. Eric Soderholtz was a pioneer in American garden pottery and a most creative artist – his works are collectible items. Every year, I select different types of plants and try to vary where they are planted. Each of these three pots contains a variety of begonia, palms and baby’s tears.
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- Here is another…
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- And another.
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- Here is our friend and master photographer, Douglas Friedman. He is taking a break and soaking in the views. The vines on the retaining walls are also ancient actinidia, which are small kiwi. This great, fast-growing, sturdy vine is fruit producing.
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- The varying shades of green in this garden bed of alocasia and ferns look so vibrant. This will grow even more full in the weeks ahead. I love the copper pot with the palm in it.
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- This is a large Kalanchoe beharensis, commonly known as velvet elephant ear, velvet leaf or felt bush. Kalanchoe beharensis is a slow-growing tree-like shrub that can grow up to 12 to 20 feet tall. Its leaves are large, folded, olive green, with a soft, velvety texture.
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- I love to plant uniquely shaped succulents in this ancient English stone trough. Many Echeveria species are popular as ornamental garden plants. They are drought-resistant, although they do better with regular deep watering and fertilizing. (Photo by Douglas Friedman @thefacinator)
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- Here is the trough all finished. (Photo by Douglas Friedman @thefacinator)
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- Here is a blue agave underplanted with Helichrysum petiolare, commonly known as licorice plant.
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- This is the stone trough I bought at Trade Secrets several years ago. It has worked perfectly here at Skylands, and looks beautiful planted up with succulents. This year, I wanted it planted in color blocks with pink gravel – the same pink gravel that covers the carriage roads at Skylands.
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- Here is a view from above – it looks so wonderful when planted.
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- This is one of two urns that flank the long trough. It contains succulents, dyckia, agave, and lotus.
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- The large Lunaform urn looks wonderful with the agave and Helichrysum. Helichrysum is exceptionally easy to grow and doesn’t need much fertilizing.
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- This is a very old iron planter on the landing coming off the main terrace. This year, we filled it with jasmine.
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- Here’s another fun photo Douglas took of me planting another blue agave. The sky was overcast, but it was a very productive and enjoyable day. (Photo by Douglas Friedman @thefacinator)
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- A few years ago, we created this peaceful sitting area on the terrace with the faux bois bench and these Gertrude Jekyll style pots. Gertrude was an influential British garden designer, horticulturist, artist and writer. The area looks so inviting. Through the trees, a breathtaking view of Seal Harbor.
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- Here is a nice top view of one of the blue agave plants.
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- I love how all the agaves look together in this grouping. Agaves are exotic, deer-resistant, drought-tolerant plants. Agaves make wonderful container plants. We also planted Senecio, a genus of the daisy family that includes ragworts and groundsels. In the bed – wild ginger and hosta are thriving.
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- Here is a view that never gets tiring. It’s from terrace one overlooking Seal Harbor and Sutton’s Island in the distance. (Photo by Douglas Friedman @thefacinator)
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- Here is a large, antique lead container planted with another blue agave and some Helichrysum. This planter is one of a pair, and was made sometime in the 18th to 19th century.
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- Here you can see the pair in front of one of the doors leading to the expansive terrace.
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- Here are more kiwi vines growing on my home. This vine should be planted in well-drained soil. Kiwi vines can tolerate a lot of different light conditions, but more exposure to sun brings out better colors in the leaves, some of which can be variegated. On both sides of the planter, my glazed terra-cotta sphinxes watching over the terrace. These sphinxes were designed by Emile Muller. (Photo by Douglas Friedman @thefacinator)
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- I love this faux bois planter holding another agave. 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.
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- Here’s a nice snapshot of Douglas and Kevin.
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- Another lovely pot on the corner of the west terrace – planted with a blue agave and more Helichrysum.
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- This is such a pretty part of the terrace – right in the middle looking toward the ocean. In the garden bed are lilies and hostas, while blue agave with helichrysum sit in pots. In the foreground are the large leaves of beautiful and bright alocasia, or more commonly referred to as elephant ear because of the huge green leaves that closely resemble the ears of an elephant.
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- It is always so much fun planting at Skylands. In this photo I am joined by three of my Skylands crew – Rick Andros, Mike Harding and Wendy Norling, on the “iced terrace”.
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