There's always something to admire in the gardens, even on a day of ground soaking rains.
Five years ago I planted hundreds of hosta plants down behind my chicken coop yard and across the carriage road from my allée of lilacs. I first got the plants as bare-root cuttings and kept them in a cold frame for several months until they were big enough to transplant. In all, we had more than 700 hostas in a variety of cultivars including 'Wide Brim,' 'Francee,' 'Regal Splendor,' 'Elegans,' and 'Blue Angel.' They have flourished over the years. Now they fill the entire space with verdant foliage under the dappled shade of the stately dawn redwoods.
Here are some photos taken yesterday after a morning of showers, enjoy.
I tour all the gardens on a daily basis. I check how much the plants have grown, how healthy they are, and whether they need more food or water. I also assess what areas need more filling, or if plants need moving. Right now, so many of the gardens are just brimming with color and vitality – in particular, my hosta garden.
This garden is planted under the shade of tall dawn redwoods, Metasequoia.
Dawn redwood trunks are reddish-brown with vertical, shredding bark.
The dawn redwood has feathery, fine-textured needles that are opposite each other and approximately a half-inch long. Don’t confuse them with the bald cypress needles, which grow alternately. These dawn redwood needles will turn shades of red and brown before falling – it is one of the few deciduous conifers.
Another favorite is Continus – a few are also planted in this space. The smooth, rounded leaves come in exceptional shades of clear pinkish-bronze, yellow, deep purple, and green.
Hyacinthoides hispanica, commonly called Spanish bluebell or wood hyacinth, is a bulbous perennial native to Spain, Portugal and northwest Africa. Each bulb produces a clump of two to six strap-shaped leaves from which a rigid flower stem grows, typically containing up to 12 to 15 hanging, bell-shaped, bluish-lavender flowers that rise from the center.
These Spanish bluebell plants dot the garden with soft blue amidst shades of green.
It’s hard to miss these beautiful flowers. Dicentra is an elegant, easy-to-care-for perennial for shady gardens. More commonly known as bleeding heart, it is named for its heart-shaped blossoms that dangle from slender, arching stems. Dicentra is a great companion for other shade loving perennials such as hostas. Here it is in pink.
Viburnums have long been one of the most popular flowering landscape shrubs. This large group of plants consists of more than 150 species and numerous named cultivars. Viburnums include deciduous and evergreen specimens as well as small trees, mostly native to North America or to Asia. The leaves of viburnum range from glossy green to a dull, dark green to foliage that is thick and leathery.
But the main focus of the garden is this lush carpet of hostas – hundreds of bold, green, gorgeous hosta plants are thriving.
Before they fully open, they unfurl like this one.
And then they show off their large beautiful leaves. The hostas were strategically positioned and spaced, paying attention to variety, color, and growth habit.
Hosta leaves rise up from a central rhizomatous crown to form a rounded to spreading mound.
These beautiful plants have been opening more and more every day.
Hosta is a genus of plants commonly known as hostas, plantain lilies, and occasionally by the Japanese name, giboshi.
Hostas are native to northeast Asia and include hundreds of different cultivars.
Hosta leaf textures can be smooth, veined or puckered. Their surfaces may be matt, shiny, or waxy but are usually satiny.
‘Regal Splendor’ is a large hosta featuring thick, wavy-undulate, blue-gray leaves with irregular creamy white to pale yellow margins and cuspidate tips.
‘Elegans’ has huge, rounded, blue-gray leaves with white flowers that bloom mid-summer.
Occasionally, leaves will feature half white and half green making the markings even more interesting.
Most varieties tend to have a spread and height of between one and three feet.
Unlike many perennials, which must be lifted and divided every few years, hostas are happy to grow in place without much interference. In summer, blooms on long stalks extend up above the clumping hosta foliage.
Hostas thrive in sites where filtered or dappled shade is available for much of the day, but they can survive in deep shade. If you have a shady area, experiment with shade-loving plants. Hostas, with their palette of different colors, textures, and sizes have tremendous landscape value and offer great interest to any garden.
The outdoor terraces and stone ledges around my Winter House are filled with potted plants.
This time of year, I always display a variety of warm weather specimens around my home - potted flowering plants, small evergreens, and even some ground covers look good planted together in urns. This week, my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, potted several planters outside my carport.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Before potting anything, Ryan places the plants in their designated spots and positions them in the order that looks best. He selects plants that not only fit the containers but also look good grouped together.
It’s always fun to visit local nurseries and select plants for one’s own gardens and terrace planters. Neighborhood shops sell what grows best in the area and experts on staff are there to answer any questions. This is a weeping dawn redwood, Mesasequoia glyptostroboides ‘Miss Grace.’ It has green needles that turn bronze in autumn.
Landscape fabric is made from a solid sheet with perforated holes to allow water to soak through. It is available at any garden shop.
Ryan places a layer of weed cloth in every pot to protect the vessel itself. This will also make it easier to remove the plant next autumn, when it is put back in the greenhouse or planted outdoors.
The fabric is cut larger than the pot and then positioned generously so it covers the entire inside of the container.
Ryan does this for all the pots on the ledge.
Then the container is filled two-thirds of the way up with a good quality potting soil. Using a proper soil mix will help to promote faster root growth and give quick anchorage to young roots. Here is the inside of the urn. One can always add more soil later if needed. I use Miracle-Gro potting mix.
Fertilizer is also added to the soil. This is Miracle-Gro Shake ‘n Feed, an easy to use plant food that nourishes above and below the soil.
Ryan removes the plant from the urn and inspects the root ball.
Remember, whenever transplanting always scarify the root ball, meaning tease or loosen the roots, so they are stimulated. This will help the plant roots grow and form a good foundation in the pot.
He fills the pot with soil to just under the urn’s lip.
And then cuts off the excess weed cloth. Any cloth that can be seen afterward can be tucked into the soil.
Ryan top dresses the potted specimens with natural colored mulch.
Miracle-Gro makes an organic variety that is available at garden stores.
Here is the potted weeping dawn redwood. It will add so much interest on the wall. It is planted in an antique faux bois, or “false wood,” planter.
Here, Ryan prepares to plant artemesia, also known as wormwood, absinthe, southernwood, and mugwort. Artemisia leaves are covered with whitish hairs that give it a silvery, grayish look.
When planting different specimens in one pot, be sure to consider the growth habits of each plant to ensure there’s enough room to last all season.
Here is small evergreen which will do nicely in this pot before it is transplanted somewhere outdoors next fall.
This pot is planted with a young Abies koreana, a small to medium-sized evergreen coniferous tree. It is underplanted with Dichondra argentea, or silver ponysfoot, a trailing perennial known for its striking silvery foliage and drought tolerance.
After everything is planted, Ryan gives all the plants a good drink. Don’t forget, if you drank today, so should your plants.
Using potted plants to decorate the outside of one’s home can totally transform a space. These plants will thrive in this location.
I hope you caught a glimpse of my pergola garden on @MarthaStewart48 - it is putting on such a colorful and gorgeous display.
Soon after I bought my Bedford, New York farm, I built a long pergola along the carriage road leading to my home. Over the years, I've added lots of bulbs and perennials that bloom at different times throughout the season. Right now, the Camassia and alliums are covering the area in an eye-catching palette of blue and purple.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Across from my stately bald cypress trees is my long and winding pergola. This pergola starts just outside my flower cutting garden and runs along one side of the carriage road leading to my Winter House.
The uprights for this pergola are antique granite posts from China – originally used as grape supports in a valley that was going to be dammed and flooded to create a reservoir. The cedar rafters were just replaced earlier this year.
Bordering the garden on both sides are these boxwood shrubs. There are more than 300 boxwood shrubs planted here. These boxwood shrubs were grown from small saplings.
This is the pergola garden late last month – lots of fresh, healthy green foliage.
This is the garden now filled with varying hues of purple and blue – it’s breathtaking.
The most prominent plant right now is the Camassia – it’s blooming profusely and so beautifully.
Camassia leichtlinii caerulea forms clusters of linear strappy foliage around upright racemes.
On this, one can see the six-petaled, two-inch, star-shaped flowers of Camassia.
Camassia is a genus of plants in the asparagus family native to Canada and the United States. It is best grown in moist, fertile soil and full sun.
Camassia also comes in this lighter shade of blue.
Both the lighter and darker shades look so good growing together in this garden.
The flower stalks stand 24 to 30 inches tall and display dozens of florets that open from the bottom up.
Alliums are often overlooked as one of the best bulbs for constant color throughout the season. They come in oval, spherical, or globular flower shapes, blooming in magnificent colors atop tall stems.
An allium flower head is a cluster of individual florets and the flower color may be purple, white, yellow, pink, or blue.
Alliums require full sunlight, and rich, well-draining, and neutral pH soil. Alliums are rabbit-resistant, rodent-resistant, and deer-resistant, but adored by bees, butterflies, and pollinators.
Alliums pop up above the Camassia throughout the garden adding color and texture.
Spanish Bluebells, Hyacinthoides, are unfussy members of the lily family, and native to Spain and Portugal. They are pretty, inexpensive, and good for cutting – they add such a nice touch of blue.
Behind the pergola and across the “soccer field,” where my grandson, Truman, loves to play whenever he visits, are six matched standard weeping hornbeams, Carpinus betulus ‘Pendula’. Weeping hornbeams can grow to be about 50-feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 40-feet. These are very rare and precious trees.
In the center and at the ends of this winding pergola are wisteria standards. One can see them in the back of this image. Right now, these beauties are cascading over the pergola and giving off the most intoxicating fragrance.
Wisteria is valued for its beautiful clusters of flowers that come in purple, pink and white. Looking closely one can see flowers drape down from the soft green heads of foliage.
I am so proud of this pergola garden. It is among the first one sees when they arrive at the farm, and some of it can also be viewed from my terrace parterre outside my Winter House kitchen.
Here is a view from the carriage road beneath my allée of pin oaks. My gardens are looking stunning this spring.
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