An Early Fall Garden Tour
There's always something new to see during tours of my Bedford, New York farm.
Last week, I opened my gardens for a private early autumn showing to a group of architects and interior designers. They came from Rockwell Group, an award-winning architecture and design practice founded by my friend - its founder and president, David Rockwell. Before leaving for a busy day at the office, I stopped to greet the group and to welcome them to my home. My head gardener, Ryan McCallister, then guided everyone through my gardens, groves and allees. Despite the light showers, everyone had an enjoyable time.
Here are some photos.
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- Here I am with the group of 42. To my right is Greg Keffer, a business partner of Rockwell Group and leader of this studio class. He focused the outing on “food and design” and included Cantitoe Corners as part of the day’s scheduled stops. The group also planned visits to a creamery and a distillery before concluding the day at Greg’s home for a barbecue.
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- I talked briefly about the farm and how it has evolved over the years. I spoke about how I kept all the outbuildings on the original footprints but designed them to face the beautiful fields instead of the roads. Everyone was given a map of the farm to learn more about its design and history. Do you recognize my jacket? It is my quilted down puffer jacket from my Apparel Collection on QVC. https://www.qvc.com/Martha-Stewart-Quilted-Down-Short-Sleeve-Puffer-Jacket.product.A342397.html?sc=NAVLIST
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- First on the tour was a “peacock sighting” – these two peacocks are very curious and love walking around the farm.
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- Here they are standing on top of the ledge by the stairwell leading to my greenhouse basement. They watched the group for a few minutes before they flew to the roof to get a better view.
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- The walking tour started in my main greenhouse to see my expansive and ever-growing collection of tropical plants. I also talked about my large flower cutting garden just behind me. I explained how it was once my vegetable garden, which moved down to the chicken coops several years ago.
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- I wanted to stay and conduct the tour myself, but unfortunately, I had many meetings to attend in New York City, so Ryan guided the group through the rest of the hour-long tour.
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- The group saw the Pin Oak Allee, Quercus palustris, with its distinguishable lower, middle and upper branches forming a most interesting growth habit and canopy. Ryan told the group these trees were among our best growers – and so easy to maintain. I love the shade these trees produce.
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- Ryan walked them over to the new pool – it looks so inviting even on a chilly, rainy day.
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- Ryan pointed out my vegetable greenhouse and my collection of citrus trees now replanted into my fiber resin round and square planters with false bottoms available on QVC. If you haven’t seen them, go to the web site. These citrus trees will soon be brought inside where they will spend the winter months in a temperature and humidity controlled environment. https://www.qvc.com/for-the-home/garden-center/planters/martha-stewart/_/N-silyZ1z140z9/c.html
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- The tour loved seeing all the different specimens in my pinetum. I started planting the pinetum about 10-years ago. The pinetum is tucked between my equipment shed and these weeping willows.
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- One of the tour’s highlights is a walk down my long Boxwood Allee to my stable. Ryan explained how we cover all these shrubs with burlap shrouds during the colder months to protect them from winter’s elements.
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- The group stopped to see this view through the large paddock with the ancient apple trees and my Winter House and carport in the distance.
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- On the other side, a view of the chicken coops – visitors always ask about the four small houses seen from afar.
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- Here is a view of some of the many trees I’ve planted on the property. Some of them are already beginning to drop their leaves. The row of smaller specimens is a newer allee of lindens in between two of my paddocks – it is growing very nicely.
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- The group passed the great white pine trees – visible from almost every location on this end of the farm. Pinus Strobus is a large pine native to eastern North America. Some white pines can live more than 400-years.
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- During the warmer months, I love to decorate the stable courtyard with large tropical plants – these potted palms add such a pretty touch to the natural stone color. Behind them are displays of some of our great pumpkins harvested from the garden – they look so charming flanking the giant stable doors.
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- My dear horses were quite a treat for this group. They were all very eager to pet the Friesians, pony and donkeys – it was a treat for the horses as well.
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- Over at the pigeon coop, my beautiful and rare homing pigeons are enjoying the rain showers – they love to perch outside on their tree whenever it is raining.
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- The group asked about these tree seedlings – just a very small fraction of the trees I have purchased for the farm. I like to nurture them in pots for a couple of years before planting them around the property.
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- These giant blue agaves behind the stable will also soon be brought into the hoop house for the cold season.
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- My original linden tree allee is always eye-catching. On this day, it provided a little cover from the rain mist.
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- The tour continued on to the chicken coops – another popular stop for these animal lovers.
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- My dear young Sebastopol geese are damp and a bit gray from the rain and mud, but they still came over to observe all the activity.
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- Throughout the walking tour, Ryan answered questions and explained the care and maintenance of all the gardens.
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- The garden behind my Summer House is the next stop on the tour. The boxwood and ginko trees look very green and full. All the flowers are gone for the season, but the space still shows off a beautiful arrangement of shrubs and trees.
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- On the steps to the Summer House, the agaves and Helichrysum petiolare look so healthy in these Lunaform containers. We’ve had quite a bit of rain, so they’ve also grown in quite a bit.
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- For a couple weeks each summer, this bed is overflowing with color – whites and pinks. My herbaceous peony collection includes 11-double rows of peonies, and 22 different varieties of peony plants – two varieties in each row. The garden is surrounded on all sides by a hedge of lush boxwood.
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- For every walking tour, I always provide refreshments. This time, a pistachio rhubarb yogurt cake, a buttercream pie, a caramelized oat bread and another rustic loaf. You will see these again in my next season of PBS television show, “Martha Bakes” – stay tuned. We also served cookies, hot chocolate, and green tea. It was a nice ending to a very fun tour for this group.
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