At my Bedford, New York farm, I have thousands and thousands of trees. Many were already well-established when I purchased the property, but the rest I've planted - in allées, in groves, as privacy hedges, and in rows within my living maze. One type of tree, however, stands out this time every year - the mighty ginkgo.
Ginkgo biloba, commonly known as ginkgo or gingko, and also known as the maidenhair tree, is the only living species in the division Ginkgophyta. It is found in fossils dating back 270-million years. Native to China, the ginkgo tree is widely cultivated, and was cultivated early in human history. In the sunken garden behind my Summer House, I have a stunning ginkgo tree that's probably about 250-years old. Although not as large as others I've seen during trips to Asia, my tree is quite massive - its trunk circumference measures at least 14-feet. Ginkgo trees have beautiful green leaves that turn a luminous golden-yellow in autumn. Then at some time after a hard frost sweeps down the east coast, this ginkgo, along with others at my farm and countless more in the area, drops its leaves to the ground leaving a gorgeous carpet of color below.
Enjoy the season's changes on the ginkgo in these photos.
This is the great ginkgo tree in the back of my Summer House sunken garden in June. This parterre garden is very formal and focused on the giant tree. Growing beneath the ginkgo is a beautiful chocolate mimosa tree, a fast-growing, deciduous tree with a wide, umbrella-shaped canopy. The other green trees are younger ginkgoes.
The leaves of the ginkgo 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. They are bold green in summer.
The younger ginkgo trees are planted on both sides of the footpath in this garden. The ginkgo is considered both a shade tree and an ornamental tree. It features a spreading canopy capable of blocking sunlight and adds visual interest and beauty to the landscape. The ginkgo grows to about 50 to 80-feet tall with a spread of 25 to 35-feet at maturity.
Starting in late September, one can see a slight change to the color of the leaves – they’re starting to turn.
A couple of weeks later, many of the changing leaves are two-toned, with separate bands of gold and green.
The season’s changes can be seen on the ginkgo trees planted at each corner of my herbaceous peony bed. This ginkgo in the northwest corner of the bed was still mostly green in late October.
On the same day, the tree in the northeast corner shows a few more golden-yellow leaves.
Each mature leaf often has a single vertical slit in the top center. This forms the fan with a cavity in the middle separating it into two lobes. Bi-loba means “with two lobes”.
This is the tree on the southwest corner taken on the same day as the others, also showing half green and half yellow leaves.
And here is the southeast ginkgo tree – mostly yellow.
Here is the giant ginkgo tree in late October. This tree is a female specimen. Female ginkgo trees produce tan-orange oval fruits that fall to the ground in October and November.
Here is the great ginkgo tree two weeks ago. It is still quite full, but its leaves are all bright golden-yellow. The smaller ginkgoes are also more yellow than green.
As soon as the giant tree turns color, every day all of us at the farm check to see whether it has dropped its leaves. This is a view from the carriage road outside the garden.
Inside the garden, the trees are sill full, but many of the leaves have already fallen to the ground in the beds and on the footpath. Ginkgoes are grown as hedges in China to supply the leaves for western herbal medicine. The leaves contain ginkgolides, which are used to improve blood circulation to the brain and to treat many cardiovascular diseases. It is usually Europe’s number one selling herbal medication.
Earlier this month, these two ginkgoes outside my new raised bed vegetable garden gave off a beautiful autumn show.
But here are the same trees now.
And here is the Summer House garden. The leaves have fallen – in almost a synchronized leaf drop. With such mild temperatures this autumn, the “great fall” seems less dramatic. Some of the leaves blew off in the wind, with some still clinging to the branches.
Now the fruits are also falling. They can be found all along the footpath. The most noticeable thing about these is their smell – it is hard to miss, and the stench is quite disagreeable. The outer, nasty smelling pulp is known botanically as sarcotesta. Inside is a single hard-shelled seed enclosing an edible kernel. The kernels are often roasted and used in Asian cuisines. This year, a bucketful of my ginkgo fruits went to New York City’s Masa Restaurant.
Here is a closer look at the fruit, which is small and fleshy – about the size of small jujube, or Chinese date.
All the ginkgoes are now bare. This is the ginkgo tree outside my Winter House, with the gorgeous carpet of yellow below.
And across the carriage road – the trees around my herbaceous peony bed. Look, very different now.
And these are the ginkgo trees behind my chicken coops. All showing their bare winter branches. It’s a cycle of growth and bloom, followed by a period of dormancy – until spring, when nature’s cycle begins all over again.
If you haven’t started planting your spring-blooming bulbs yet, try to get it done soon! Here in the Northeast, the temperatures are getting colder fast.
Planting these bulbs can be a a very labor intensive task. As many of you know, every autumn we plant thousands and thousands of bulbs at my farm. This week, my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, carefully planted rows and rows of Dutch iris bulbs in one of the beds of my new vegetable garden. These irises from Van Engelen Inc., a wholesale family-run flower bulb business in Bantam, Connecticut, are in shades of blue and purple and include varieties 'Silvery Sky,' 'Picasso,' 'Eye of the Tiger,' 'Pink Panther,' and 'Red Ember.'
Enjoy these photos.
Ryan wrote all the names on markers, so we could identify the flowers when they bloom in spring. Ryan repurposed some unused paint stirrers to make these, but plant markers can be found at all gardening shops.
I’ve been using Van Engelen Inc. as a bulb source for years. Van Engelen Inc., and its sister company John Scheepers, Inc. are located in the Litchfield, Connecticut borough of Bantam. Jo-Anne’s father, Jan Ohms, acquired the Van Engelen flower bulb company in the 1970s and created the first real wholesale flower bulb catalog available to private residences in the US. Jan then acquired John Scheepers in 1991 in order to keep his uncle’s flower bulb business in the family.
Among the varieties I selected for planting – Iris ‘Silvery Sky.’ This has beautiful periwinkle-blue standards and blue-tinged, white falls with yellow blotches. (Photo from VanEngelen.com)
Iris hollandica ‘Picasso’ has bright yellow falls with chocolate veins and shades of lavender and purple standards. (Photo from VanEngelen.com)
Another interesting Dutch iris is ‘Eye of the Tiger’ with its violet-blue standards and dark mahogany-bronze falls with yellow blotches. (Photo from VanEngelen.com)
This variety is called ‘Pink Panther.’ It is lavender-pink with a buttercup-yellow blotches on deeper magenta-pink etched falls. (Photo from VanEngelen.com)
And this one is ‘Red Ember’ – a more dramatic iris with bold purple-red standards and copper-terracotta falls accented with yellow blotches. (Photo from VanEngelen.com)
The bed was already fed with an all-purpose flower and vegetable continuous release fertilizer.
Ryan then uses garden twine to mark where the rows would be in the bed. Proper spacing is crucial in a flower cutting garden. Ryan figures out how many rows are needed for each variety, so the entire bed is well-utilized and the bulbs have ample room to grow.
Next, Ryan makes the rows using the bed preparation rake from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. This tool allows him to easily create furrows in the soil. Hard plastic red tubes slide onto selected teeth of the rake to mark the rows.
Here is the bed all ready for the bulbs.
The bags of bulbs are placed on the bed where they will be planted.
The coinciding markers are put down next.
Ryan places each of the bulbs six-inches apart in the row.
Bulbs should always be planted pointed end up. On many bulbs, it is very easy to see which end should be faced up. If it is planted upside down, the flower will still grow, but it will likely take longer.
Spacing the bulbs carefully takes a bit of time. On the right is a tape measure, so Ryan can be sure they are all planted equally spaced. We take a lot of photos of my gardens, so it is also important to plant everything properly, so I can share the most precise and beautiful photos with all of you.
For these Dutch iris bulbs, Ryan uses a dibber. A dibber or dibble or dibbler is a pointed wooden stick for making holes in the ground so seeds, seedlings or small bulbs can be planted. Dibbers come in a variety of designs including the straight dibber, T-handled dibber, trowel dibber, and an L-shaped dibber. This is a T-handled dibber.
Then, once all the bulbs are in their designated rows, Ryan pushes the dibber into the soil making a hole where the bulb will be planted.
Smaller bulbs can be planted about five-inches deep.
Here is the bulb in the soil.
Ryan plants all the bulbs before backfilling, so he can keep track of the planted holes and rows.
And then it’s time to rake this side of the bed. The other side will be done next. Dutch iris bulbs are planted around the same time as tulips and daffodils, so be sure to plan accordingly. These will look so beautiful when they bloom in spring – I can’t wait.
For those of you asking how my geese are doing, they're all doing great and thriving here at my Bedford, New York farm.
I currently have 17 beautiful geese. I’ve had Pomeranian guard geese for many years, but I also keep Sebastopol geese, Toulouse geese, African geese, and Chinese geese. They all reside in a large enclosure outside my stable and next door to the peafowl, where they have lots of room to roam, a number of dipping pools, and a shelter providing ample shade, protection from strong winds, and a safe place to nest and lay eggs. Yesterday, we also added some hay to their pen - where they can keep warm on cold nights. Geese are very resilient animals and love the outdoors in all kinds of weather. I am glad they are happy here at Cantitoe Corners.
Here are some of the latest photos, enjoy.
Every year, when the cold weather sets in for the season, we put down a large bed of hay for the geese. It serves as a bed for keeping warm, but it also allows for good footing when it’s icy. We use hay grown right here at the farm. The older hay my horses won’t eat is perfect for use as insulation around my greenhouses and for the geese enclosure.
If this is happiness, I think my African geese are very pleased with the delivery of hay.
Word of the hay spread fast – all the geese are on their way to inspect the delivery.
This one is also flapping its wings. Although their heavier weight and build make flying challenging, most domestic geese are capable of flying short distances with strong flapping and a good headwind.
These four made themselves right at home – I think they like their new bed, don’t you? Waterfowl don’t need roosts – they are very happy gathering together and sleeping on the ground.
My goose pen is just outside my stable. Eveyone stops to greet the geese when they visit. And the geese all love to watch the activity around the farm.
I have several goose breeds. Here is my pair of Chinese geese. The Chinese goose is refined and curvaceous. The Chinese goose holds its head high. Its head flows seamlessly into a long, slim, well-arched neck which meets the body at about a 45 degree angle. Its body is short, and has a prominent and well-rounded chest, smooth breast and no keel. Mature ganders average 12 pounds, while mature geese average 10 pounds.
Their bills are relatively long and slender, with a large, rounded, erect knob that attaches to its forehead.
Look closely at the Chinese geese in the back compared to the other in the foreground. The Chinese geese most likely descended from the swan goose in Asia, though over time developed different physical characteristics, such as longer necks and more compact bodies. The Chinese goose is a very hardy and low-maintenance breed.
Everyone asks about the Sebastopols. These birds are considered medium-sized birds. Both males and females have pure white feathers that contrast with their bright blue eyes and orange bills and feet. Sebastopol geese have large, rounded heads, slightly arched necks, and keelless breasts.
And what is most striking is the plumage. The plumage of the head and upper two-thirds of the neck is smooth, while that of the breast and underbody is elongated and well-curled. Sebastopol geese cannot fly well due to the curliness of their feathers and have difficulty getting off the ground.
These two in the center are my African geese – a breed that has a heavy body, thick neck, stout bill, and jaunty posture which gives the impression of strength and vitality. The African is a relative of the Chinese goose, both having descended from the wild swan goose native to Asia. The mature African goose has a large knob attached to its forehead, which requires several years to develop. A smooth, crescent-shaped dewlap hangs from its lower jaw and upper neck. Its body is nearly as wide as it is long. African geese are the largest of the domestic geese. These two African geese are often found together in the yard.
And these buff-brown geese are Toulouse geese. On this breed, the bill is stout, the head large and broad, and the moderately long neck is thick and nearly straight. Often suspended from the lower bill and upper neck is a heavy, folded dewlap that increases in size and fullness with age. The body is long, broad and deep, ending in a well-spread tail that points up slightly. And thanks to their honks, these geese make excellent guardians. They can scare off any animals on the ground and they’re great at spotting aerial predators, such as hawks and falcons.
And if you follow my blog regularly, you may recognize the Pomeranian guard geese – the oldest of my gaggle.
Geese are grazing birds that eat a variety of different items. They eat roots, shoots, stems, seeds, and leaves of grass and grain, bulbs, and berries. They also eat small insects. In addition, I fortify their diet with a mix specifically made for waterfowl. And we always give them lots of vegetables from my gardens. They pick at them during the day.
This is Bear. He was incubated and hatched right here at the farm. He is about two years old and is very attached to the humans, but his “affectionate” pecks can sometimes be a bit insistent.
These geese love to gather close together most of the time. And do you know, a group of geese on land is called a gaggle. This is because when geese get together they can get quite noisy and rowdy.
Whenever someone comes near, the geese all come waddling over to see what is happening – they are very curious birds.
Some even “sound the alarms.”
Domestic geese have plump bodies, slender necks, and humped bills that taper at the end of the mouth. Some geese have rounder heads than others. Geese have impressive visual capabilities. The way their eyes are structured allows them to see things in much finer detail at a further distance than humans. They can also see UV light and can control each of their eyes independently.
And, while the term “goose” may refer to either a male or female bird, when paired with “gander”, the word goose refers specifically to a female. Gander is the term used to identify a male.
In flight, a group of geese is called a skein, team or wedge. On the water or flying close together, a group is referred to as a wedge of geese.
And while both ducks and geese love water, geese don’t require a pond or large swimming pool – they swim much less than ducks and are content with a small dipping pool where they can dunk and clean their noses and beaks.
Geese are very hardy and adaptable to cold climates. Waterfowl don’t mind the cold at all. Here they are just enjoying the afternoon at the farm. See you soon, my geese.