Early Summer Blooms in My Flower Garden
Early summer is such an exciting time at the farm because so much is growing and blooming, especially in my massive flower cutting garden. I hope you’ve seen some of the beautiful blooms on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48.
It takes a lot of time to maintain a flower cutting garden this large - it measures 150-feet by 90-feet. We're constantly weeding and watering, and then weeding again. Every season, I add a number of flowering plants to this collection. And now, it is so full of color. In only a few years, this space has really developed into one of the most eye-catching areas of Cantitoe Corners.
Enjoy these photos.
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- This garden is one of the first guests see when visiting my farm. I wanted the plants to be mixed, so every bed in this garden would be interesting and colorful. I love walking through here on early summer mornings – there is always something new in bloom.
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- This year, this large space has exploded with gorgeous flowers – every bed is full.
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- This is the tall and stately foxglove plant, Digitalis purpurea. These add lovely vertical interest to any garden. Foxglove flowers grow on stems which may reach up to six feet in height, depending on the variety.
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- Poppies produce open flowers that come in many colors from crimson red to pale pink. Poppies require very little care, whether they are sown from seed or planted when young – they just need full sun and well-drained soil. All the poppies in the garden were grown from seed in my greenhouse.
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- Poppies are an attractive, easy-to-grow flower in both annual and perennial varieties. I recently posted a glossary of poppies on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48.
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- Here is another poppy with fringed leaves. The flowers are attractive to pollinators like honey bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. They usually grow to at least a foot tall and have one bloom per stem.
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- And here’s another poppy with its silky light pink petals and its black center.
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- And this unique poppy is one that just opened last week – poppies come in such a large variety of sizes, shapes, and forms.
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- Moroccan poppies, modest, simple sun drop flowers that love sunny, dry weather.
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- Everyone loves pansies. These short-lived perennials thrive in cool weather; summer heat or prolonged frost kills them, so they are usually grown as annual flowers.
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- Lilium martagon is a Eurasian species of lily. Not only are martagons tall, stately and stunning, but they can have between 12 and 30 lily flowers per stem. Martagon lilies can be yellow, pink, lavender, pale orange, deep, dark red or even pure white.
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- Achillea millefolium, commonly known as yarrow, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is a hardy perennial with fernlike leaves and colorful blooms. The large, flat-topped flower clusters are perfect for cutting and drying.
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- Clary sage, Salvia sclarea, is an herb in the genus Salvia. It is primarily grown in the temperate areas of the world and is a short-lived herbaceous perennial or biennial. More commonly known as Cleareye or Eyebright, clary sage herb is easy to grow and adds an ornamental display of flowers to any bed.
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- Rodgersia is a genus of flowering plants in the Saxifragaceae family. Rodgersia plants are herbaceous perennials originating from East Asia. The common name is Roger’s Flower. Rodgersia prefers partial shade and fertile, damp soils.
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- Shasta daisy flowers provide perky summer blooms, offering the look of the traditional daisy along with evergreen foliage. I have an abundance of shasta daisies this season – they always look so cheerful, especially when planted in large groups.
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- The oxeye daisy is a perennial plant in the Compositae family. It is often confused with the ornamental shasta daisy, which is a taller plant with larger flowers and a toothed whole leaf. This daisy has a star-shaped flower head with a center composed of disc florets surrounded by ray florets with long petals.
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- Veronica is the largest genus in the flowering plant family Plantaginaceae, with about 500 species. Common names include speedwell, bird’s eye, and gypsyweed. It is a carefree and easy-to-grow perennial with long spikes of small petals in purple, blue, pink, or white.
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- Dianthus flowers belong to a family of plants which includes carnations and are characterized by their spicy fragrance. Dianthus plants may be found as a hardy annual, biennial or perennial and most often used in borders or potted displays. There are numerous types of dianthus – most have pink, red, or white flowers with notched petals.
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- The Japanese iris, Iris ensata, is an easy-to-care-for flower that loves wet conditions. This flowering perennial is available in a range of colors, including shades of purple, blue and white, with attractive medium green foliage.
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- I also have many different irises in this garden. Iris flowers can begin blooming in late winter to early spring. Iris care is minimal once the growing iris is established. Iris flowers bloom in shades of purple, blue, white and yellow and include many hybridized versions that are multi-colored.
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- Lady’s mantle, Alchemilla vulgaris, grows along both sides of the main path of my cutting garden. It is a clumping perennial which typically forms a mound of long-stalked, circular, scallop-edge light green leaves, with tiny, star-shaped, chartreuse flowers.
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- And don’t forget all my many roses in this flower garden. Many of them were transferred here from my home in East Hampton a few years ago. I also planted many new rose bushes and climbers from David Austin. I have roses in a variety of colors including shades of pink, apricot, white, and yellow.
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- I am so happy with how well they’re all doing. This arbor is filled with the rambling rose, ‘Paul’s Himalayan Musk’. They are beautiful, little, rosette-shaped flowers held in large, open sprays of pale pink with a wonderfully strong musky fragrance. I will share more photos as more blossoms appear. What flowers are blooming in your garden? I would love to hear from you.
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