Developing any garden takes time, planning, and lots of patience.
A couple of years ago, I decided to create an azalea border along one side of the carriage road between my Summer House and my stable. I wanted to plant lots of colorful azaleas - a variety of unique specimens in shades of pink, orange, crimson, and white. I already have many azaleas growing and flourishing in this area, but I wanted to expand the collection. First, we planted about 170 azaleas on one side of the carriage road, and then another 200 on the other side. Every year since, my gardeners and I watch how the plants grow and add more where needed. Of all the shrubs that flower in spring, azaleas provide some of the most brilliant displays - I am looking forward to seeing this garden bloom later this season.
Enjoy these photos.
If you follow my blog regularly, you may recall I designed this expanded azalea garden in 2021. For this garden, I purchased hundreds of gorgeous azaleas in a variety of bright, cheerful colors. The best time to shop for azaleas is when they are in bloom so you can see their flower colors and forms.
I decided how they would be placed on both sides of the carriage road – planted by color from white to pink to red and then orange and yellow. When selecting a location for planting, be sure you know the mature size of the plants so they can be grouped accordingly in the landscape – tall plants in the background and short plants in the foreground. Plant height ranges from about three to six feet for most varieties, but rare plants can range from under one foot to well over 15-feet tall. It’s also important to keep azaleas where they can be protected from midday and winter sun to prevent leaves from drying out and burning.
I also decided to mulch most of the garden, so there would be less grass to mow and maintain. Fortunately, we are able to make lots of mulch, and compost, right here at my farm. Last year, the azaleas bloomed so beautifully.
Many of the plants were filled with healthy, gorgeous flowers.
Azaleas are flowering shrubs in the Ericaceae family, which includes blueberries and mountain laurel. They are also all rhododendrons and members of the genus Rhododendron.
Azaleas are generally healthy, easy to grow plants. Some azaleas bloom as early as March, but most bloom in late April and May with blossoms lasting several weeks.
Leaves of most azaleas are solid green, with a roughly long football-shape. The length of azalea leaves ranges from as little as a quarter-inch to more than six inches. Here, one can also see the bud in the center.
Azaleas are native to several continents including Asia, Europe and North America. These plants can live for many years, and they continue to grow their entire lives.
The tube-shaped base of the flower contains a stamen that protrudes from the center.
Azalea flowers can be single, hose-in-hose, double or double hose-in-hose, depending on the number of petals.
Azalea petal shapes vary greatly. They range from narrow to triangular to overlapping rounded petals. They can also be flat, wavy or ruffled. Many azaleas have two to three inch flowers.
Right now, most of the azaleas are still bare of any flowers, but here is one of the first true azalea blooms of this season – such a lovely shade of pink.
Yesterday, my gardeners planted a collection of azaleas that we have been nurturing in pots. Here, they are positioned thoughtfully where there are empty spaces.
When planting, dig the hole at least twice the size of the plant. Azaleas thrive in moist, well-drained soils high in organic matter. The hole sides should be slanted and the hole should be no deeper than the root ball is tall, so it can be placed directly on undisturbed soil. Digging a wide planting hole helps to provide the best opportunity for roots to expand into its new growing environment.
Next, a generous handful of good fertilizer is sprinkled in the hole and in the surrounding soil. We used Holly-tone.
This fertilizer is great for for feeding hollies, azaleas, camellias, evergreens, dogwoods, rhododendrons and others. It is a slow-release fertilizer that is easy to sprinkle into the freshly dug holes. Remember, if you eat, so should your plants.
The potted plant is placed into the hole to ensure it is the right depth. Planting too deep could eventually cause bark deterioration at the soil line and kill the plant.
Once a proper hole is established, the plant is removed from its pot, and small portions of the root ball are loosened to create some beneficial injuries. This helps the plant become established more quickly in its new spot.
And always save the pots. We save all our plastic pots to use again for younger plants and trees.
The azalea is positioned so its best side faces out. Always buy plants that are sturdy, well-branched, and free of insect damage or diseases. And, avoid plants with weak, spindling growth and poor root systems. The azalea is backfilled and the soil is lightly tamped for good contact with the root ball.
This plant has a lot of room to grow and spread. Some azaleas, including native types, can reach towering heights of 20 feet or more. Dwarf azaleas grow two to three feet tall, and many garden azaleas stay four to six feet in height with as wide a spread. I am excited to see both sides of this carriage road burst with colorful azaleas in another four or five weeks. I’ll be sure to share photos.
Today in Bedford, New York, we're expecting plentiful sunshine and near record high temperatures, for this time of year, in the upper 80s. We are well into springtime weather and all the gardens are transforming.
It always amazes me how quickly plants and trees grow from day to day. I am constantly noticing something new blooming at my farm. And, while many of the spring flowers are erupting with vibrant color, we've also been taking photos of the various trees and all the precious buds just beginning to open on their branches.
Enjoy these images.
This week, all of us here at the farm are enjoying the show from these two weeping cherry trees down behind my stable. A weeping cherry tree is at its best when the pendulous branches are covered with pink or white flowers. These trees are in full bloom right now, but it doesn’t last long – only a couple weeks.
Look at the gorgeous blossoms. These trees are big eye-catchers when guests are lucky enough to see them in flower.
One of the earliest trees to flower here in spring is the magnolia. I have several pink, white, and creamy yellow magnolias. Magnolia is a large genus of about 210 flowering plant species in the subfamily Magnolioideae. It is named after French botanist Pierre Magnol.
Growing as large shrubs or trees, they produce showy, fragrant flowers that are shades of pink, white, red, purple, or yellow – the blooms are so stunning.
Here are the flowers of a white magnolia outside my Summer House. The magnolia family is one of the oldest trees in existence. Because of this, their flowers do not have true petals and sepals; instead, they have petal-like tepals. Also, the flowers do not produce real nectar, but attract pollinating beetles with fragrant and sugary secretions.
Magnolia flowers range from three to 12-inches in diameter. Some species of Magnolia flowers are also protogynous, meaning they appear with or before the tree’s leaves.
Very few ornamental trees offer the variety of tree shapes, sizes, bloom shades, and fruits as the flowering crabapple tree. The crabapple has more than 35 species and 700 cultivars. Crabapple trees can reach 50-feet tall, but most remain in the 15-25-foot range. They can be columnar, spreading, weeping or vase-shaped.
Once the flowers, which tend to be small, but bountiful, all bloom, they can last for up to several weeks. Flowering crabapples are quite adaptable, but thrive in rich, loamy soil with a pH of about 5.0 to 6.5.
These “ancient” apple trees are original to the farm. These, too, are showing seasonal growth.
In spring, the apple trees’ buds unfold, and newly formed leaves and pure white flowers begin to grow on the ends of the twigs.
These are ‘Miss Kim’ lilacs, which bloom in May. They are some of the most fragrant of all the lilac bushes. These lilacs prefer full sun, but will also live in partial shade.
Here is some of the early spring growth. Soon, these sweet ‘Miss Kim’ lilacs will be smelled all over the garden. The blooms will become bright lavender and will stand out nicely against their dark green leaves.
Across the carriage road are the beautiful Malus ‘Gravenstein’ espalier apple trees. I am hopeful we will have a very productive apple season this year.
These trees are also showing off their early springtime buds.
Just outside my Winter House is this weeping katsura, one of my favorite trees. Cercidiphyllum japonicum f. pendulum has pendulous branches that fan out from the crown and sweep the ground. Caramel-scented foliage emerges bronze or purple-red, turns blue-green, then fades to gold or apricot in autumn.
Tiny red flowers emerge in late March or early April before the leaves. Here is a closer look at the fresh foliage.
I love these rare weeping hornbeams, Carpinus betulus ‘Pendula’ – the branches of these trees gracefully weep creating an umbrella of foliage that reaches the ground.
Hornbeam is monoecious, meaning male and female catkins, which appear before the leaves, are found on the same tree.
From a distance, everyone notices the stunning golden-yellow weeping willows. Here is one grove of weeping willows at the edge of my pinetum. The golden hue looks so pretty against the early spring landscape.
When the tree blooms in late winter or spring, yellow catkins such as these appear. The catkin flowers are one to two inches long, and each blossom consists of hundreds of hairlike protrusions. The flowers mature to yellow before they are disbursed by wind or rain.
And remember my grove of American beech trees which we treated organically last year? I noticed they were not as vibrant and was worried they had caught a relatively new beech leaf disease that is spreading rapidly through the Northeast killing both mature American beeches and saplings. We are now seeing lots of new buds all over the trees. I can’t wait to see how they look all leafed out.
This is a weeping larch, Larix decidua ‘Pendula’. It has bright green needles in spring, which turn gold before dropping in fall. This curvaceous tree is located at “the triangle” where the carriage roads leading to the Boxwood Allée, the Pin Oak Allée, and the woodland, all converge.
Looking closely, one can see all the new spring growth starting to emerge.
Aesculus hippocastanum is a large deciduous tree commonly known as the horse chestnut or conker tree. I have many of these trees. This is one of two located at one end of my stable at the foot of my long Boxwood Allée. The flowers provide a rich source of nectar and pollen to insects, particularly the bees.
Here are the leaves of the horse chestnut which will grow over the next few weeks. Even at this early stage, one can clearly see leaves and developing flowers. By mid-May to early June, these trees will be in full bloom.
Here’s another espalier of fruit trees. I purchased 10 espalier Asian pear trees and planted them outside my stable near my peafowl, and geese enclosures. Espalier refers to an ancient technique, resulting in trees that grow flat, either against a wall, or along a wire-strung framework. Many kinds of trees respond beautifully to the espalier treatment, but fruit trees, like apple and pear, were some of the earliest examples. These trees are all doing excellently.
I have six ‘Shinseiki’ and four ‘Nijisseiki’ pear trees. These flowers will soon be open.
And here is a weeping Japanese cherry in pink. This was gifted to me last year and is now planted at the east end of my Boxwood Allée.
Look at the spring blooms. Its showy pink and white flowers attract butterflies like the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. Everything here is just bursting with spring life. I am so pleased with the gardens and I am looking forward to sharing more photos as the season progresses.
We're now in the third week of spring, all the protective burlap is removed from the boxwood and ornamental urns, and seasonal chores have begun at my Bedford, New York farm.
The area around my pool is planted with a variety of dark-colored burgundy-black leafed plants. I always try to incorporate unique and interesting specimens in the gardens. Along the inside of the pool's fence, I have a growing hedge of purple columnar beech trees, Fagus sylvatica 'Dawyck Purple' - a splendid tree with deep-purple foliage. On the outside of the fence, I have Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Diabolo’ and Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple.’ Yesterday, my outdoor grounds crew checked all the specimens, pruned what was necessary, and dressed all the beds with nutrient-rich compost. All the gardens are looking better and better every day.
Enjoy these photos.
This is what this space looks like in summer – the pool is open for my family and friends, there are gorgeous views of the landscape, and all trees, hedges, and shrubs are filled with bold colored foliage.
Around the pool, I have plantings on both sides of the fence. These hedges and shrubs are all deciduous, meaning they shed their leaves in autumn. This photo was taken in July.
We planted this hedge exactly five years ago. I am so pleased with its development, in part because of all the thoughtful care I give them through the year.
The leaves of the columnar purple beech are rounded ellipses, two to four inches long and one to three inches wide, with an undulating margin and a slightly pointed tip. They are smooth and softly lustrous in the sunlight. In spring the new leaves are a vibrant, deep purple-red. As they mature in summer they become dark burgundy-purple, holding this color well through the hotter weather.
This is what the hedge looks like now. One can see all the new buds growing. The pool is surrounded by about 170 of these European columnar beech trees along the inside fence line. The columnar beech trees will grow to 40 to 50 feet in height and only 10-feet wide which makes them perfect for tight spaces and as an interesting hedge.
Here’s my outdoor grounds crew foreman, Chhiring, bringing over wheelbarrows filled with my nutrient-rich compost made right here at the farm.
And here’s Phurba spreading the compost below the beech hedge surrounding the pool. Adding compost to the garden has many benefits. Among them, improving the structure and health of the soil by adding organic matter, helping the soil retain moisture and nutrients, attracting beneficial organisms to the soil reducing the need for pesticides and fertilizers, and helping to prevent the potential for soil erosion. We cover all the garden beds with compost this time of year.
And looks what is now blooming. Commonly known as The Guinea Hen Flower, The Checkered Lily or The 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 intermittently spaced on its slender stems. I have many in my gardens.
And here is fritillaria in ivory white.
Guests always ask about these structures at one end of the pool. Do you know what these are? They’re called staddle stones. I bought these staddle stones in 2017 from the annual NYBG Garden Furniture & Antiques Fair. Staddle stones were originally used in the 17th and 18th centuries as support bases for granaries, hayricks, and game larders. They typically looked like giant stone mushrooms, but mine are square – a more rare and unique version.
The hedge bed looks so clean and tidy after the compost dressing is put down. In several weeks, these plantings will show off a stunning dark burgundy color.
On the outside of the fence, Pasang is working on the shrubs – Cotinus alternating with Physocarpus. He cuts off any dead, dying, or diseased branches and twigs first.
Pasang also cuts any big dead or crisscrossing branches from the bottom. Pruning means to lop or cut off any superfluous branches or shoots for better-shape and better growth. These look fuller every year – in part because of our regular pruning.
Here is the Cotinus leafed out in summer. 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 and has plume-like seed clusters later in the year, which appear after the flowers and give a long-lasting, smoky haze to branch tips.
In fact, the name “smoke bush” comes from this – the billowy hairs attached to the flower clusters which remain in place through the summer, turning a smoky pink to purplish-pink. I have many smoke bushes around the farm.
This is physocarpus in June. Physocarpus, commonly called ninebark is an upright, spreading, somewhat coarse, deciduous, Missouri-native shrub which is closely related to the genus Spiraea. It boasts dark foliage with ovate to rounded, usually three to five-lobed leaves.
For these shrubs, Pasang uses two distinct tools. This is his hand-held pruner. Every member of the outdoor grounds crew has one. This tool is good for trimming delicate flowers, cutting thin branches, or getting rid of old, dead wood.
For thicker branches up to two-inches, Pasang uses the STIHL PL 40 lopper, made with aircraft aluminum handles measuring 32-inches long and perfect for getting better leverage or reaching taller branches. I always instruct the crew to use the right tool for the job.
He also trims all the tops to keep them at the same height as the fence itself.
All the cuttings are gathered on a tarp to make cleanup easy and quick.
Here is Chhiring shoveling compost on the outside hedge. A layer of compost should not be too think – just top dress perennial flower gardens with a layer no greater than an inch or so.
The beds look so nice after some spring maintenance.
And here is the outside of the fence – so straight all the way around. The lawn was also mowed for the first time this season. These plantings create such a gorgeous privacy screen around my pool and still disguise the fence very well – one cannot see it at all.
It won’t be long before the pool is uncovered. I am looking forward to the warm season – aren’t you?
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