Another interesting and informational episode of "Martha Gardens" is now available exclusively on The Roku Channel - Azaleas, Hostas, and Wild Birds. Be sure to stream it!
Every year here at my farm, I add lots of plants to both existing gardens as well as new spaces. Earlier in spring, in a large area under the shade of my majestic dawn redwoods, Metasequoia, we planted lots of hostas. Hostas, with a palette of so many different colors, textures, and sizes have tremendous landscape value and offer great interest to the garden. The hostas came from Pioneer Gardens, a wholesale company located on the outskirts of Deerfield, Massachusetts.
Enjoy these photos. And be sure to watch "Martha Gardens" to learn more about growing hostas.
The hosta is one of America’s favorite shade plants. 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.
Hostas are perennial plants which grow from rhizomes. Hostas thrive in total shade to nearly full sun which makes them ideal for planting under trees.
Hosta leaf textures can be smooth, veined or puckered. Their surfaces may be matt, shiny or waxy but are usually satiny.
My plan was to plant lots and lots of hostas in the garden beds under my dawn redwoods. Their lush green foliage, varying leaf shape, size, and texture, and their easy care requirements make them perfect for this area. We planted hundreds of hostas here since 2020 and they’re all doing so excellently.
Unlike many perennials, which must be lifted and divided every few years, hostas are happy to grow in place without much interference.
Hosta leaves rise up from a central rhizomatous crown to form a rounded to spreading mound. Most varieties tend to have a spread and height of between one and three feet.
Across the carriage is an area of younger hostas. I wanted to expand the bed and add some more.
For “Martha Gardens,” we received a shipment containing hundreds of bare root hostas from Pioneer Gardens. Bare root is a technique of arboriculture whereby a plant is removed from soil in a dormant state. Here is Ryan organizing and planning where these plants will go in the garden.
Bare root stock should be planted within 48 hours of receipt, so it was important to get these plants in the ground right away. In my show, you’ll see me and Pioneer Gardens Arjen Vriend talking about how to divide and propagate plants as well as how to plant these specimens.
The soil in this area is already well amended with nutrient-rich compost. Ryan adds fertilizer around the existing plants and those areas where new hostas will be placed.
The best hosta plant food is a slow release 10-10-10 fertilizer. Those three numbers stand for the amount of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium in the fertilizer. Slow release fertilizers feed the plant each time it rains or the plant is watered.
Ryan positions the hostas where they will be planted depending on the variety and growth habit of the plants. When planting hostas, leave about 30 to 36 inches apart for large varieties, about 18 to 24 inches for medium sized hostas and about a foot to 18 inches for small ones.
Here is one of the bare root hosta plants. The roots are healthy and the leaves of the plant are bright green.
When planting, it is important to dig a hole wide enough to accommodate all the roots of the hosta without cutting or folding them.
This hole is the perfect size – about six to eight inches deep and twice as wide – it gives the plant enough space to spread out its roots.
The plant crown is kept at soil level to avoid rot.
And then the plant is carefully backfilled.
Once the plant is backfilled, it is given a good drink of water. Water, water, water… I always say.
The crew works in a production line process to get the job done quickly and efficiently. As one plants, another waters. These plants were done earlier this spring – the best time for planting hostas.
The next morning, all the hostas looked so pretty under the morning dappled shade. This area will soon be filled with a drift of gorgeous hostas.
Depending on the hosta, it will take a bit of time for the plant to reach maturity. Smaller and more vigorous hostas can reach mature sizes in about three to five years. Giant and slower growing hostas can take five to seven years to reach their potential.
Right now, some of the more mature plants are also showing off their tall flowers. Hostas produce flower stalks with multiple flowers that are usually purple to sometimes pale lavender or even white. In the back is a Dicentra plant. Its yellowing leaves in summer are natural and signal the end of the growing period for this cool season plant.
Hostas are big, they’re bold, and they’re easy to grow. I hope this inspires you to add some hostas to your garden. And don’t forget – watch “Martha Gardens” exclusively on The Roku Channel for more great ideas and tips.
It's berry season and here at my Bedford, New York farm, all available hands are busy picking delicious summer berries.
Last week, we picked black currants - those juicy, tangy fruits that grow on thornless understory shrubs. I use them to make jams, jellies, and tarts. They also make wonderful sorbets and they're easy to freeze for later use. And, we picked boxes of blueberries - everyone loves eating blueberries fresh off the stem. Low in fat, yet packed with vitamin-C and antioxidants, it’s not surprising they’re one of America’s favorite fruits to eat.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Here at the farm, everyone eagerly awaits the ripening of the blueberries. They are so perfect for snacking fresh off the stem or for making lots of delicious desserts and other treats. Once we see the berries turn this dark blue, we’re all out there with our berry boxes ready to pick.
My blueberries are all from these bushes located near my Flower Cutting Garden and large Equipment Barn, next to my grove of quince trees. The posts are the same 18th-century Chinese granite uprights I use for the clematis pergola, my apple espaliers, and to support my raspberry bushes. I grow many blueberry varieties, including ‘Bluegold’, ‘Chandler’, ‘Darrow’, ‘Jersey’, and ‘Patriot’. Standard blueberry bushes grow about six to 10-feet tall. New shoots grow from the crown under the soil. At the base, blueberry shrubs have multiple canes growing directly out of the soil in clumps. The canes or branches are smooth and thornless. These bushes have done so well here at the farm. I am always so pleased with how prolific they are. A single mature blueberry bush can produce up to six thousand blueberries per year.
Blueberry bushes have glossy leaves that are green or bluish-green from spring through summer. The leaves are ovate, in an irregular oval or slightly egg shape that is wider at the bottom than the top. Blueberry leaves can also be harvested and dried for teas.
Every branch is full. Blueberries are perennial flowering plants. They are classified in the section Cyanococcus within the genus Vaccinium. Vaccinium also includes cranberries, bilberries, huckleberries, and Madeira blueberries.
Blueberries are about five to 16 millimeters large with a flared crown at the end. They are pale greenish at first, and then reddish-purple and finally dark purple-blue when ripe for picking. When harvesting the fruits, select plump, full berries with a light gray-blue color. A berry with a hint of red is not fully ripened.
Blueberries were once called “star fruits” by North American indigenous peoples because of the five-pointed star shaped crown.
They are covered in a protective powdery epicuticular wax known as the “bloom”. These berries are just right. Blueberries are high in fiber, high in vitamin-C, and contain one of the highest amounts of antioxidants among all fruits and vegetables.
And, the blueberry is one of the only foods that is truly naturally blue. The pigment that gives blueberries their distinctive color is called anthocyanin – the same compound that provides the blueberry’s amazing health benefits.
Blueberries don’t actually reach their full flavor until a few days after they turn blue, so a tip to know which ones are the best – tickle the bunches lightly, and only the truly ripe ones will fall into hand. Enma is careful to pick only the bluest of them all, leaving the light green ones and reddish ones to mature.
Blueberries are among the most popular berries for eating. Here in the United States, they are second only to strawberries.
Unfortunately, many blueberries also fall to the ground or get snatched by birds. All those picked are carefully inspected – only the best are saved.
There will be lots of berries to pick for the next several weeks. We check the bushes every day from now through August.
This first harvest was very successful. Elvira is holding a tray of seven boxes – just a fraction of what was picked on this day.
Then it was a short walk to the currants located just behind my main greenhouse near the raspberries where they can get full sun. All these shrubs are full of black currants.
Currant leaves are palmate and deeply lobed, similar to maple tree leaves. The leaves of the black currant are a pale green in color and up to two inches long.
The varieties of black currants in my garden include ‘Ben Sarek’ and ‘Ben Lomond.’
I grow all currant colors – black, white, pink, and red currants, but on this day, we only picked the black ones.
Black currant, Ribes nigrum, is a woody shrub grown for its piquant berries. You can’t miss them in the garden – they are very aromatic. When ripe, black currants are dark purple in color, with glossy skins.
The best time to pick black currants is when they are dry and ripe. Harvest currants by picking the fruit clusters (strigs) rather than the individual berries. After picking, the individual berries can be stripped from the stems.
Black currants are the most nutrient-rich of the currants. They are high in vitamins A, C, B1, B5, B6, phytochemicals, and antioxidants. They are also high in minerals, such as iron, copper, calcium, and phosphorous. They can be eaten raw, but are usually cooked in a variety of sweet and savory dishes.
Currants are still largely unknown here in the United States. They are well-loved in many other countries, and here in the US, they are slowly gaining popularity, especially because of its high antioxidant content. They are now more prevalent at local farms and home gardens.
Enma and Elvira picked lots of great currants – this batch would be used to make sorbet for a summer business luncheon.
Beautiful, colorful dahlias continue to bloom at my Bedford, New York farm.
Dahlias begin to bloom with great profusion just as many summer plants pass their prime, and they last right up until the first frost. My all-dahlia garden was planted in a large bed behind my vegetable greenhouse and we saw our first dahlias of the season already blooming in early June. As they grow it's important to provide tall dahlia stems with good support to help the plants weather any storms and strong winds. Yesterday, my gardener Brian O'Kelly, along with the help of Phurba Sherpa from my outdoor grounds crew, staked every plant using bamboo canes and jute twine.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
My dahlia garden is located behind my large glass vegetable greenhouse, so these plants are already somewhat protected from strong winds. These plants bloomed early this year – we saw the first flower on June 6th. Now it is time to provide the tall stems with more support, so they don’t break in the coming weeks.
Brian cuts the stakes, so they are all about seven feet tall. We reuse bamboo whenever we can, saving and storing the canes from year to year.
And then he pounds each of them down about a foot into the ground. Brian secures one stake every three plants.
Currently, there are about 42 species of dahlia, with hybrids commonly grown as garden plants. A member of the Asteraceae family of dicotyledonous plants, some of its relatives include the sunflower, daisy, chrysanthemum, and zinnia.
The array of flower colors, sizes, and shapes is astounding. Dahlias come in white, shades of pink, red, yellow, orange, shades of purple, and various combinations of these colors – every color but true blue.
This dark maroon dahlia always stands out in the garden. The genus Dahlia is native to the high plains of Mexico. Some species can be found in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador & Costa Rica as well as parts of South America where it was introduced.
Phurba ties one end of the twine to a bamboo stake about two feet off the ground and then stretches it to the next stake a few feet away on one side. He does the same for the other side allowing the stems to sit in between the jute ties.
Then he does the same about eight inches up, so the support is at different heights. This is done three times.
Here is a view from above. The twine opens in a “V” and goes around the plants.
Here, Phurba carefully lifts any listing stems and places them inside the twine loop, so they are all together standing upright.
This process takes some time, but it is worth doing to prevent the stems from breaking.
Jute twine is available in different thicknesses and its tensile strength can reach about 140-pounds, but because it is a natural material, it can degrade over time. Pulling the twine tightly will help it keep its form through the season.
Dahlias are classified according to flower shape and petal arrangement. Flowers come one head per stem. The blooms can be as small as two-inches in diameter or up to one foot across. They are divided into 10 groups: single, anemone, collarette, waterlily, decorative, fall, pompon, cactus, semi-cactus, and miscellaneous.
Dahlia plant leaves grow segments that are ovate to oblong to lanceolate in shape. The leaf margins may be lobed or dentate. Leaves may be green, reddish-purple, or purple-black depending on the variety.
Here is a large yellow dahlia still in the process of opening.
Here is one side completely supported.
And here is a view down one of the rows. Staking keeps the sometimes heavy and large blooms from hitting the ground and rotting.
From this end, one can see how clear the rows are making it easy to reach and cut the flowers for arrangements. The plants on the right are younger and still growing. We just planted them this spring.
Dahlias were first recorded by Westerners in 1615, and were then called by their original Mexican name, acoctli. The first garden dahlias reached the United States in the early 1830s. Today, dahlias are grown all over the world.
Pompon dahlias yield masses of intricate, fully double blooms measuring up to two-and-a-half inches across. This dahlia is a pretty pink to salmon color.
The majority of dahlia species do not produce scented flowers or cultivars, but they are brightly colored to attract pollinating insects.
These dahlias are also fed. Dahlias require a low-nitrogen fertilizer, usually referred to as a bloom food and is available at garden stores.
This area was once used for growing grapes. I had placed granite posts years ago with heavy gauge copper wire laced through them for added plant support. I designed them, so the wire can be tightened or loosened depending on the need. We are still able to use the wire to support the taller dahlia stems.
These plants are developing so nicely. I am looking forward to seeing more and more of the gorgeous blooms later this season.
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