Planting the Skylands Terrace 2024
My large “iced terrace” at Skylands, my home overlooking Seal Harbor, is brimming with beautiful, green plant life once again.
Every year, I like to spend the Memorial Day weekend up in Maine planting all the large outdoor urns, pots, and planters. It is quite an undertaking, but it's become a fun tradition especially with the group that accompanies me. Many of the tropical specimens are stored in hoop houses at my Bedford, New York farm during winter, and then carefully loaded onto a trailer and delivered to Skylands for the summer months. As soon as I arrive there, I design the layout of where things will go, and we all get to work.
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 planters waiting to be filled. And this is not even all of them…
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- … There are more on the Western Terrace. These planters are new to Skylands. They were large terracotta planters we painted Bedford Gray and sent up here to Maine from my farm.
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- I decide where each plant will go before they are moved – staying organized saves lots of time and energy. This year, we brought alocasias, agaves, palms, and so many more.
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- We also had trays of smaller plants and ground covers to use as under plantings. Many of the succulent plants were grown in my greenhouse here in Maine. Propagating this way saves a lot of cost.
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- The plants are carefully placed around the terrace, in or close to where they will be displayed for the season. The stone trough I bought at Trade Secrets in 2013. It has worked perfectly here at Skylands.
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- Here I am adding nutrient-rich potting soil to the pot. This great mix is from Scotts Miracle-Gro.
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- Scotts Miracle-Gro Indoor Potting Mix is blended for a wide variety of container plants.
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- And don’t forget to feed – I always say, if you eat, so should your plants. Here I am sprinkling Scotts Osmocote – an all-in-one plant solution containing essential nutrients and a unique resin that controls nutritional release.
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- Osmocote particles include a core of nutrients – nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
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- During the busy planting morning, we stopped for a good breakfast. Yogurt made by my niece, Sophie, with apricot jam I made along with French toast made from brioche bread I also made.
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- Peter Grub is one of our hard working gardeners and outdoor grounds crew here at Skylands.
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- And this is Amos Price ready to pot up this evergreen. 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.
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- All these pots on the Western Terrace are done. These will fill in so nicely over the course of the season.
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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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- For lunch on this day, we had crab cakes and a fresh cucumber salad.
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- The next morning, I made everyone waffles and bacon.
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- Kevin always creates the most gorgeous flower arrangements. Another tradition is seeing what stunning creations he comes up with every time he is here. He made several arrangements of lilacs – the fragrance is intoxicating.
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- Here’s another trio of lilac arrangements in crisp white vases. The lilac, Syringa vulgaris, is a species of flowering plant in the olive family Oleaceae. Syringa is a genus of up to 30-cultivated species with more than one-thousand varieties.
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- For dinner, we had smashed potato with Roe caviar and sour cream.
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- 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. It starts on Memorial Day morning at 10:30. It’s a great opportunity to get reacquainted with the year-round locals and many of the summer season residents.
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- This is the Main Street of Northeast Harbor. Northeast Harbor is a village on Mount Desert Island. Lots of visitors come out for this parade. It was nice to see all the marching bands and cars of people commemorating those who died while serving in the country’s armed forces.
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- On this last day, I made asparagus velouté, A velouté is the French term for a soup traditionally thickened with egg yolks, butter and cream. I used asparagus grown at my Bedford, farm. It was simply delicious. And a great way to end a fun and productive weekend. See you soon, Skylands…
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