I'm back home after a whirlwind business trip to Nevada.
If you follow me on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48, you may know I flew to Las Vegas earlier this week for a number of business commitments for QVC. Among them - hosting a special luncheon at my restaurant, The Bedford by Martha Stewart. The event helped launch QVC's Age of Possibility, the company's new campaign platform celebrating Q50 female celebrities, leaders, entrepreneurs, and other influencers. I have been part of the QVC family for many years and was honored to be included in this great group of women. In addition, I participated in a panel discussion, appeared in an ad on the famous Sphere Las Vegas, and ate a delicious cheesesteak lunch cooked by non other than Bradley Cooper. But, business trips are always most enjoyable when I can squeeze in a little time to learn about the wonderful places I visit - we also took an early morning drive around the picturesque Red Rock Canyon.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
My trip started right away with a visit to The Bedford located in the Paris Las Vegas. We had a delicious dinner followed by a review of some of the new menu items. If you’re ever in the area, make reservations – you’ll love every dish.
Early the next morning, we visited Red Rock Canyon. Red Rock Canyon features scenic desert cliffs, buttes, and rock formations. The park is located where the southernmost tip of Sierra Nevada converge with the El Paso Range.
The National Conservation Area encompasses 195,819 acres within the Mojave Desert. Visitors can see it via a 13-mile driving loop, but there are also hiking trails, camp sites, and lots of wildlife and plants.
Then it was back to the restaurant. As many of you know, I opened The Bedford by Martha Stewart in August 2022 in a partnership with Caesars Entertainment. We all worked hard to make it feel just like my home in Bedford, New York.
Here I am before hosting our wonderful lunch for QVC. My silk attire is by Balenciaga. (Photo by Gaby Duong)
These House-made Bread Baskets are so popular. Each one includes Garden Flatbreads, Sour Cherry-Rosemary Focaccia and Parker House Rolls.
These tables are surrounded by floor to ceiling windows that look out to Durantrans, or large backlit transparency photos, of my farm. This background shows my Summer House Spring Garden. And of course, everything is changed seasonally.
All the décor inside and out was inspired by my 1925 farmhouse. Some of you may recognize the color palette. (Photo by Gaby Duong)
At each table setting, we place a menu of all the foods to be served. (Photo by Gaby Duong)
And of course, we had Martha’s Chard… work hard, play hard, and drink Martha’s Chard. (Photo by Gaby Duong)
We also had Martha’s Lighter Chard – both have bright citrus fruit notes and a distinctly sweet, oaky flavor. (Photo by Gaby Duong)
Some of the hors d’oeuvres passed around to guests included these Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes with Tartar Sauce. (Photo by Gaby Duong)
The entrées included this Honey Mustard Salmon with Wilted Spinach and Confit Shallots. So many of the dishes are the same ones I serve to family and friends when I entertain at home. (Photo by Gaby Duong)
There was also a lovely dessert buffet which included Upside-Down Lemon Meringue Pie, Mile High Chocolate Cake, New York Style Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce, and Brown Butter Shortbread Cookies. (Photo by Gaby Duong)
Here is a closeup of the decadent chocolate cake. (Photo by Gaby Duong)
And the shortbread cookies. These cookies are a big hit at my own parties. (Photo by Gaby Duong)
We also visited the Sphere Las Vegas – the grand music and entertainment arena in Paradise, Nevada, just east of the Las Vegas Strip. If you have not seen it up close, you may not realize just how big it is. Designed by Populous, the Sphere is 875,000 square feet, 366-feet high and 516-feet wide at its broadest point.
Here it is from the ground. The Sphere is the largest spherical building in the world and includes seating for 18,600 visitors.
Here, one can see how big it is behind the small parked cars.
My photo went up as part of a 90-second QVC Age of Possibility ad that ran through the evening. It was a very busy, but fun and productive trip.
I hope you caught a glimpse of my recent Instagram post @MarthaStewart48 - the sunken garden behind my Summer House is bursting with spring growth.
I began this formal garden more than 15-years ago and have added many different kinds of plants, shrubs, and trees ever since. It is a kind of "room" walled by a tall hedge of boxwood. The focal point is the great old ginkgo tree at the back of the space that is original to the property. Over time, I've planted American and English boxwood, smaller ginkgo trees, smoke bushes, Siberian weeping pea shrubs, peonies, hostas, lilies, Leucojum, and so much more.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
This is the sunken garden behind my Summer House. When I first designed this garden, I called it my Boxwood Room. It measures 60 by 120 feet.
The garden’s main focal point is the mighty old ginkgo tree in the back of the space. This tree is about 250-years old. Although not as large as others I’ve seen, my tree is quite massive.
Most of the garden is surrounded by a tall American boxwood hedge. And because the Summer House faces a rather busy intersection, the wall of boxwood provides a good deal of privacy.
In this garden, I also have six weeping Siberian pea shrubs with cascading weeping branches that bear pinnately compound leaves. Soon, small yellow pea-like flowers will appear on these branches.
The garden beds are filled with Leucojum vernum – the spring snowflake, a perennial plant that grows between six to 10 inches in height and blooms heavily in early spring.
The plant produces green, linear leaves and white, bell-shaped flowers with a green edge and green dots. Don’t confuse them with Snowdrops – those bloom much earlier. The Snowflake is a much taller growing bulb which normally has more than one flower per stem.
Ipheion uniflorum, commonly called spring starflower, is native to Argentina and Uruguay and features grass-like foliage and solitary star-shaped flowers on six-inch tall stems. Flowers range in color from almost white to violet blue. Flowers have a mild spicy fragrance, and when bruised the foliage emits an oniony aroma.
Guinea Hen Flower, Checkered Lily, and Snake’s Head Fritillary are all names for this charming Fritillaria meleagris – an heirloom species dating back to 1575. It has pendant, bell-shaped, checkered and veined flowers that are either maroon or ivory-white with grass-like foliage intermittently spaced on its slender stems. I have many in my gardens.
Anemonella thalictroides is an easy-to-grow, deer-resistant, durable, but dainty looking plant. The genus name Anemonella roughly translates as ‘little anemone’ because its flowers are miniature copies of the windflower. These are a light pale pink.
Depending on its stage of development, the bloodroot herbaceous perennial plant is about three to 12 inches tall. It produces only basal leaves that are about three to five inches wide.
These double flowers of bloodroot are brilliant white atop single stems.
And here is one of the first peonies to bloom. Tree peonies are larger, woody relatives of the common herbaceous peony, growing up to five feet wide and tall in about 10-years. They are highly prized for the prolific blooms.
This trout lily is ‘Pagoda Dogtooth.’ It produces up to 10 clustered, 12-inch arching stems that bear yellow, nodding flowers with reflexed petals.
It is also known as yellow trout lily, fawn lily, yellow adder’s-tongue, or yellow dogtooth violet. This species of perennial, colony forming, spring ephemeral flower is native to North America. I have them in my gardens and growing wild in my woodland.
All the hostas are also growing quickly. Hostas are a perennial favorite among gardeners. Their lush green foliage varying in leaf shape, size and texture, and their easy care requirements make them ideal for many areas.
These hostas are so healthy. Hosta is a genus of plants commonly known as hostas, plantain lilies, and occasionally by the Japanese name, giboshi. They are native to northeast Asia and include hundreds of different cultivars.
And here is another hosta with shades of dark and light green.
This is the interesting foliage of the variegated Lily of the Valley. It is delicately striped in a creamy white that lightens shady gardens all season. The charming and richly fragrant plants have many bell-shaped flowers in late spring.
The Alliums will be blooming very soon. The Allium, also called Ornamental Onion, is one of the most interesting blooms in the spring and summer garden. With a spherical shape that holds its form throughout the season, it’s one of the longest lasting blooms from a bulb. They appear in a variety of colors, heights, and forms – all are highly attractive to pollinators and are very deer resistant.
Cotinus, also known as smoketree or smoke bush, is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the family Anacardiaceae, closely related to the sumacs. They are a great choice for massing or for hedges. The stunning dark red-purple foliage turns scarlet in autumn and has plume-like seed clusters, which appear after the flowers and give a long-lasting, smoky haze to branch tips.
And all the ginkgo trees are just beginning to show leaves. The leaves are unusually fan-shaped, up to three-inches long, with a petiole that is also up to three-inches long. This shape and the elongated petiole cause the foliage to flutter in the slightest breeze. Ginkgo leaves grow and deepen in color during summer, then turn a brilliant yellow in autumn.
We're making lots of progress with our long list of spring chores here at my farm.
This time of year can be very hectic - my gardeners and outdoor grounds crew are busy keeping up with all the rapid growth. Many days are spent mowing the pastures, trimming and pruning the trees and shrubs, mulching the beds, prepping the vegetable and flower gardens - and of course, weeding. This week, the crew tackled the formal terrace parterres outside my Winter House, clipping and grooming the bright golden barberry hedges.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Along the side of my Winter House overlooking the farm, I have a large stone terrace with formal hedged gardens. For the upper terrace, I have contrasting evergreen shrubs – boxwood, and golden barberry.
To provide interest, these hedges are sheared to different heights, creating a layered or step effect. During the year, we prune them to maintain their shape.
We needed to do the golden barberry first. This is how it looks before it is trimmed.
Golden barberry, Berberis thunbergii, is a deciduous shrub that is compact, adaptable, very hardy and shows off striking small, golden yellow oblong leaves.
Both barbery and boxwood are known for being robust when grown under lots of sun. Golden barberry also takes on its brightest coloring if it gets at least six hours of direct sun a day. The bright orange landscape twine is placed at the corners to provide a guide for trimming.
Trimming is mostly done with hand shears to give them a more clean and manicured appearance. Phurba starts from the top of the shrub and works his way down. He is using Okatsune 30-inch long Hedge Shears. Okatsune shears are light and precise, and come in a range of sizes.
Buxus is a genus of about 70 species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. The leaves are arranged opposite from each other, making pairs.
This is a variegated boxwood shrub, meaning its leaves are edged or patterned in a second color – white.
This chore is time-consuming and takes a couple of days to complete.
There are lots of clippings to clear away, but I am pleased these hedges are doing so well.
Once the barberry is trimmed, the terrace looks so much better – the golden barberry hedges are all level and they will get more gold in the weeks ahead. Next, Phurba will groom the boxwood.
This in my antique sugar pot in the center walkway. Sugar kettles were used on 19th century Louisiana plantations for the production of sugar. In the winter, I use it as a fire pit when entertaining.
Also showing beautiful spring growth is this large weeping katsura tree outside my window. The katsura tree, native to Japan, makes an excellent specimen or shade tree. The weeping katsura, Cercidiphyllum japonicum f. pendulum, has pendulous branches that fan out from the crown and sweep the ground.
The leaves are heart-shaped blue-green.
This is one of two weeping camperdown elms, Ulmus glabra ‘Camperdownii.’ Camperdown elms slowly develop broad, flat heads and wide crowns with weeping branch habits that grow down towards the ground. This is how it looks in spring.
It is full of seed pods in a light silvery green. In summer, it will be covered in dark, bold green leaves.
Here, under my servery windows – a lovely collection of ferns.
There is also spring-blooming fritillaria. Commonly known as Guinea Hen Flower, Checkered Lily or Snake’s Head Fritillary, Fritillaria meleagris is an heirloom species dating back to 1575. It has pendant, bell-shaped, checkered and veined flowers that are either maroon or ivory-white with grass-like foliage on slender stems.
Here is a bright creamy light yellow tulip just about to open.
And here is one of two hand-casted antique fountains I purchased many year ago. It is turned on with the smallest dome of water possible – I wanted to be sure it was an attractive spot for visiting birds.
The fountain is surrounded with smaller boxwood shrubs and a sculpted boxwood hedge. I love this view looking over the peaceful fountains and out onto the pretty spring landscape – everything is looking so strong, healthy, and beautiful.
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