Planting the Skylands Terrace 2025
My large “iced terrace” at Skylands, my home overlooking Seal Harbor, is planted for the summer!
Every year, I like to spend Memorial Day weekend up in Maine planting all the large outdoor urns, pots, and troughs. It is quite an undertaking, but it's become a fun tradition especially with the friends and colleagues that accompany me every year. Many of the tropical specimens we use 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 among my favorite traditions – going up to Maine for a spring weekend with good friends to plant the terrace. Rain or shine, we always get it done. Here I am with this year’s group – Douglas Friedman, Hannah Milman, Ryan McCallister, Kevin Sharkey, and the “Lady.”
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- Here is my handsome Chow Chow Emperor Han guarding his ledge – the dogs love to go up to Maine with me too.
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- Look at all the planters waiting to be filled. And this is not even all of them…
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- I have all different sized planters. They are put away for the winter or covered in place and then displayed around the terrace when I arrive.
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- These trays of succulents were propagated over winter in the Skylands greenhouse. Before we start planting, I make sure all the supplies are ready – the urns, the potting mix, and of course the plants.
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- My greenhouse at Skylands cannot accommodate a lot of plants, so many are wintered over at my farm and then brought to Maine. Here are some of the plants that came up the day before. I decide where each plant will go before they are moved – staying organized saves lots of time and energy.
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- Peter Grub, a member of my Skylands crew, is young and strong! He’s carrying one of the potted plants, a bird’s nest fern, from the front driveway to the west terrace.
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- One of the first meals was a hardy early morning breakfast. I used my delicious farm fresh eggs and scrambled them in butter and then served them with croissants I got from New York City’s Ladurée.
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- Then it’s planting time. The containers and plants are carefully positioned in or close to where they will be displayed for the season. The small pieces of wood are shims which will be placed under each pot. This is a Lunaform vessel. Lunaform is a coastal Maine studio where beautiful handmade garden containers are made.
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- 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. It’s also easier to clean up after the season.
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- Here’s my gardener, Wendy Norling, moistening the potting mix in this long trough. I bought this stone trough at Trade Secrets in 2013. It has worked perfectly here at Skylands.
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- The trough is planted with something different this year – succulents and ornamental grasses. In less than a month, this trough will be so full of gorgeous growth.
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- This planter is filled with small succulents and then top dressed with pink granite gravel stones. Everyone takes turns doing everything – from moving and preparing the plants to moistening the potting mix, to filling the pots, to planting.
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- Another one is filled with dark burgundy succulents.
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- And once planted, the shims are put in place. Elevating the pots helps to prevent drainage holes from getting blocked. It also allows better air circulation and looks more aesthetically pleasing on the wall.
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- More succulents and agaves are planted in these containers. The antique faux bois planter on the left is extremely heavy – about four to five hundred pounds.
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- 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. This is an Eric Soderholtz pot – a deceptively simple turned pot, with Soderholtz’s scarab trademark impressed on the side.
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- I am fortunate to have such a good crew up in Maine who can care for all these plants when I am not here.
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- Many of the urns are also planted with ground covers that will spread and fall over the sides of the container.
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- For lunch on this day, we enjoyed smoked salmon, fresh brioche, mozzarella drizzled with balsamic vinegar, cucumbers, and refreshing orange slices from my orangerie.
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- The terrace looks excellent after all the hard work – I can’t wait to see it all filled out the next time I return.
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