We're getting lots of outdoor work done around my Bedford, New York farm despite the hot and humid late summer weather. This time of year, my outdoor grounds crew is busy weeding, weed whacking, and pruning.
Pruning is one of our biggest and most important tasks. Proper pruning improves the health of the plants, prevents disease, and encourages better growth. There are different pruning strategies for different times of the year, but overall the goals are the same - to control the shape, to keep bushes and trees fresh and open, and to allow for better air circulation through the center of the specimen. This week, my outdoor grounds crew "limbed up" the majestic pin oaks and removed all the dead branches.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
The pin oak allée is the first allée guests see when entering my farm. These trees are tall and impressive. Pin oaks, Quercus palustris, are popular landscape trees because they are fast-growing and easy to maintain.
Pin oaks have leaves that are three to six inches long, bristle tipped, deeply lobed with wide circular or U-shaped sinuses.
The bark on the straight, erect trunk of a pin oak is relatively smooth. Shallow fissures develop as it matures, creating a distinctive diamond-like pattern running longitudinally on the trunk with a reddish-brown color in the crevices.
This week, I instructed Pasang Sherpa, our resident tree expert here at the farm, to cut all the dead lower branches and make sure all the lower tree branches were completely level down the entire length of the allée.
Here’s Pasang all set in his safety gear and standing in the cage of our dependable Hi-Lo, ready to tackle the pin oaks.
And here’s Fernando Ferrari – ready to drive and maneuver the Hi-Lo where it needs to be. It is always important to have teams working on these big projects for efficiency and safety.
Pasang is lifted in the Hi-Lo while he assesses where he has to cut. The first to go are any dead, damaged, or diseased branches. Pasang also looks up to see which branches may be crisscrossing.
We use STIHL’s chainsaws for many outdoor projects. Pasang uses a STIHL in-tree saw, which is made especially for those who need lightweight and powerful equipment that can effectively prune and shape high above the ground. I always remind the crew to bring everything they may need to every job, so they don’t have to run back and forth to get equipment.
As he works, Pasang makes sure the branches that remain are in perfect line with those of the other pin oaks in the allée.
Pasang is lifted as close as possible to the tree, so he can cut from the safety of the Hi-Lo cage.
As branches are taken down, they’re gathered and placed into tidy piles, so they can be cleaned up easily and quickly. After the job is done the crew will chip the branches and use the wood chips as top dressing in another area of the farm. Everything is always reused, repurposed or recycled when possible.
It is important to always use sharp tools whenever pruning so that the cuts are clean. Dull tools are difficult to use and could even damage the tree. A straight, clean-cut promotes quick healing of the wound and reduces stress on the specimen.
One can see where Pasang made these cuts. If any branch is larger than an inch in diameter, Pasang also cuts in sections to avoid tearing the bark.
STIHL also carries several efficient hand tools such as the pruning saw. Pasang uses the saw often for thinner, easy-to-reach branches.
Pasang is almost done at this pin oak. Here he is checking his work before he moves onto the next tree.
Down on the ground, any branches that have fallen in the carriage road are quickly moved, so other vehicles can pass. This branch has no foliage, indicating it is dead and had to be removed. This time of year, all the trees are still very green and lush.
Here, one can see that the trees already look so much better. Light and air can better circulate through the branches. And no branches are hanging too low.
The entire task takes a couple of days to complete, but it is good to give trees a hard pruning every two to three years to keep them in good condition. Cutting any dead or diseased branches should be done as soon as they are noticed.
Here is the Pin Oak Allée in the late afternoon after it is all done. I am so pleased with how these trees thrive here at Cantitoe Corners.
And here is a view from the other end of the allée. Pin oak trees can live 150 to 200 years when well maintained. I’m hoping these stately trees live even longer.
Do you know... clematis is known as the queen of climbers and is among the most decorative and spectacular of all the flowering vines? It looks great growing on trellises, over arbors, and up posts. The star like blooms come in beautiful shades of pink, white, blue, red, purple, and bicolor.
I have always loved clematis, and over the years I have grown many varieties of this wonderful plant. When I purchased my Bedford, New York farm, I built a long, winding pergola, supported by antique granite uprights where I could grow lots of clematis. From time to time, we add more clematis to these supports. We also plant them next to some of the surrounding trees. And then starting in late spring, a surge of magnificent clematis blooms appear and continue through summer.
Here are photos of some of the clematis we planted yesterday, enjoy.
In late June, all the posts along my winding pergola are filled with clematis flowers – shades of sparkling shades of lavender, blue and purple.
Each pair of posts grows the same variety, but over the years, I’ve added others all in the same palette of colors.
Clematis is a genus of about 300-species within the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. The name Clematis comes from the Greek word “klematis,” meaning vine.
Yesterday, my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, and Phurba Sherpa from my Outdoor grounds crew, placed and planted a collection of new clematis plants from Monrovia, one of our sources for quality perennials.
Ryan places each potted clematis beside the post where it will be planted.
This is ‘Sapphire Indigo’ – a compact vine that shows off stunning masses of sapphire blue flowers. The standard clematis flower has six or seven petals, measuring five to six inches across.
This can be grown upward as a vine or even without support and trained as a ground cover.
Most clematis leaves are pinnately compound and heart-shaped with a smooth to coarsely toothed margin. They also feature a pointed tip and a shallowly lobed cleft at the petiole.
Phurba digs the hole next to the post. He is also careful not to disturb any bulbs in the soil.
The ideal fertilizer for clematis is a balanced food that will provide low-key, continuous release steady feeding. We are using Rose & Bloom by Scotts.
Phurba carefully removes the plant from its pot…
… and teases its roots, or scarifies the root ball. This stimulates the roots to grow.
Then Phurba places it into the hole, backfills, and points the top toward the post. As the vine grows, it will be wrapped loosely around the post.
This is Clematis ‘Arabella’ with beautiful, color-changing blooms. Its single flowers with slightly upturned sepal edges open to violet-blue, then develop mauve-colored centers and fade to soft blue as they age.
This clematis is called ‘Comtesse de Bouchard’ – a compact woody vine with leathery textured foliage and a profusion of large, brilliant pink blooms with soft yellow centers.
These deeper clematis varieties are placed in another location near my blueberry bushes – some along the outside of my flower garden fence, some on the posts of the blueberry pergola, and some around the persimmon trees just in front of the blueberry bushes.
Clematis ‘Killian Donahue.’ This cultivar is one of the most dramatic clematis with flowers ranging from shades of deep ruby red to brilliant fuchsia and lavender with orchid-pink highlights. It’s a great climber for fences and arbors.
This is Clematis ‘Boulevard Acropolis’ – another long-lasting variety. This clematis produces an abundance of large, showy intensely pink blooms.
Clematis ‘Piilu’ is noted for being one of the heaviest blooming Clematis with its bright pink flowers. In cooler climates, this plant blooms non-stop from late spring through early fall.
I hope you have one or two clematis growing in your garden. Most species are called clematis, but it has also been called traveller’s joy, virgin’s bower, leather flower, or vase vine. It’s also been called “Old Man’s Beard,” because of the long fluffy seed heads that look similar to an old man’s beard. Many clematis are also lightly scented. If you don’t have clematis, pick one up this week and plant it – you’ll love it as much as I love all of mine.
Creating a perennial garden takes time, patience, and thoughtful planning. The perennial bed located across from my chicken coops is several years old and thriving - looking more and more beautiful every summer.
This garden, my perennial hydrangea border, had long been home to a selection of colorful hydrangeas including mature mopheads transplanted from my former Lily Pond home in East Hampton. In more recent years, I expanded it and filled it with lots of other plantings, such as irises, ligularia, phlox, Aruncus, Euonymus, catnip, and more. Last week, I added a few more hydrangeas to fill in bare spots, including Hydrangea 'Seaside Serenade Bar Harbor,' and Hydrangea 'Seaside Serenade Martha's Vineyard.' The plants are from Monrovia, one of our sources for quality perennials and shrubs.
Enjoy these photos.
In 2020, I decided it was time to expand this hydrangea border, so we planted a selection of perennials I knew would do well in this location with sunny mornings and shady afternoons.
It’s developed nicely over the years, but my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, and I keep an eye on it and supplement it with other plantings to fill in any voids.
It already has many mature hydrangeas. I love hydrangeas and have been collecting them for quite a long time. Hydrangeas are popular ornamental plants, grown for their large flower heads, which are excellent in cut arrangements and for drying.
Hydrangea is a genus of at least 70-species of flowering plants native to southern and eastern Asia and the Americas. By far the greatest species diversity is in eastern Asia, notably China, Japan, and Korea.
Hydrangeas are long-lived, and extremely vigorous specimens that offer lavish and varied blooms. The most common garden hydrangea shrub is the bigleaf mophead variety, Hydrangea macrophylla. The name hydrangea originates from two Greek words – “hydro” meaning “water” and “angeion” meaning “vessel” or “container.” Together, the rough translation is “water vessel” which refers to their exceptional thirst for water.
The secret to the hydrangea’s color is in the soil, or more specifically, the soil’s pH level. Adjusting the measure of acidity or alkalinity in the soil can influence the color of the hydrangea blossoms. Acidic soils tend to deepen blue shades, while alkaline environments tend to brighten pinks.
Most hydrangeas are shrubs, but some are small trees. They can be either deciduous or evergreen, though the widely cultivated temperate species are all deciduous.
In addition to the mopheads, there are also hydrangeas that bloom in lovely lacecaps in this garden.
The lacecap is very similar to the mophead, but instead of growing round clusters of showy blossoms, this hydrangea grows flowers that resemble flat caps with frilly edges.
All the hydrangeas are doing well. Hydrangeas love the warm morning sun, but they dislike the heat of the afternoon, so this is the most ideal location.
The hydrangea blooming season depends upon the type and cultivar as well as the planting zone. Most new growth hydrangeas put on buds in early summer to bloom in the following spring, summer and early fall seasons.
Recently, we received a selection of pretty hydrangea varieties from Monrovia to add to the border.
This is Hydrangea ‘Seaside Serenade Bar Habor.’ This relatively new compact form is great for smaller spaces, such as in between the larger hydrangea varieties already established in this garden. It features masses of big, white flower heads throughout summer. Its straight sturdy stems also hold up well in heavy rain.
This is Hydrangea ‘Seaside Serenade Martha’s Vineyard.’ This hydrangea shows off long-lasting, bold pink mophead blooms that are not influenced by soil pH. Flowers also develop a lovely green tinge as they age.
Hydrangea leaves are opposite, simple, stalked, pinnate and four to eight inches in long, toothed and sometimes lobed.
Here, Brian digs the hole for the plant. As always, at least twice the size of the plant’s root ball.
Once dug, Brian sprinkles fertilizer in the hole and in the surrounding soil. For these, we use an all-purpose formula with a good balance of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium.
As with any plant, Brian teases the root ball to stimulate growth. This root ball is not root bound, so the soil is softer and easy to scarify, or tease, with his hands.
The plant should sit at the same depth it was in the pot.
Next, Brian backfills, tamping the soil lightly at the end to ensure good contact.
These productive plants will flourish in this garden and make nice additions to the already established plants. Remember, perennials grow slowly the first year, faster the second year, and then usually reach full size in the third year. A well-designed perennial garden will provide many years of enjoyment.
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