Our annual tree potting and planting project continues at my Bedford, New York farm.
Every year, I try to plant as many trees as I can. I feel strongly about reforestation and giving back to the earth, so the more trees planted, the better. Many of them come to me as bare-root cuttings that are then potted in individual containers where they can develop strong root systems for two to three years before being transplanted to more permanent locations - in allées, in groves, and in large groups in the woodland. It's a big undertaking every spring, but it's so satisfying to see these trees grow and flourish.
Enjoy these photos.
I have tens of thousands of trees here at my farm. In fact, I made this old and beautiful sycamore the symbol of Cantitoe Corners. It stands tall and majestic in the back hayfield where I can see it every time I tour the property.
The bigger and older trees are original to the farm, but I have thoughtfully chosen, planted, and maintained thousands since I moved here.
These trees line one of the carriage roads – the layering of colors from afar is so beautiful. These trees were just feet tall when we planted them.
This allée of lindens is one I designed and planted. It runs from the carriage road next to my pergola all the way down to the chicken coops.
Because we plant trees every year, they are all in different stages of growth.
Here is the area we once used to grow our pumpkins. I decided it was better suited to store our young potted trees. We lined it with industrial strength weed cloth and carefully placed our potted specimens in organized, rows by tree type.
We recently received our order of trees from JLPN, a three-generation family owned tree company in Salem, Oregon that focuses on growing deciduous seedlings and softwood rooted cuttings. These bare-root cuttings are all American Sweetgum.
The sweetgum’s roots are shallow, particularly in its native, moist habitat, but these trees can also develop deep vertical roots directly beneath the trunk in well-drained soils.
Each bare-root cutting is placed into an appropriately sized pot. The root section should fit into the pot without bing crowded at the bottom. Healthy bare-root trees get off to a more vigorous start because their abundant, roots have already had a chance to develop unrestricted.
Pasang plants each specimen carefully, so it is straight and centered in the container. Then Pasang tamps down lightly after the pot is backfilled so there is good contact between the tree roots and the surrounding soil.
Each tree is placed into the soil where the roots start and the top shoots begin.
Here is a mature American Sweetgum in autumn. The American sweetgum, with its star-shaped leaves, neatly compact crown, interesting fruit and twigs with unique corky growths called wings, is an attractive shade tree. It has become a prized specimen in parks, campuses and large yards across the country.
Here, Phurba places a group of sweetgums into the wagon. It is important to keep the trees organized in their groups for identification. They are difficult to identify without the leaves.
The trees are then lined up in the enclosure with narrow aisles in between labeled sections.
These are bald cypress trees. Still bare of any foliage, these cuttings are just twigs in pots…
… That grow up to look like these mature specimens I planted when I moved here. This stand of bald cypress line one side of the carriage road across from my winding pergola. Nestled beneath the bald cypress on one side is my Basket House, where I store all my rare, antique, vintage, and contemporary baskets.
The leaves are compound and feathery, made up of many small leaflets that are thin and lance-shaped. Each leaflet is less than two inches long, alternating along either side of a central stem. They are a medium green in summer and turn russet brown in fall. Like trees with leaves, bald cypress trees drop their needles in autumn leaving the tree – well, bald.
Here’s Chhiring giving all the trees in the “nursery” a good drink. Also in this collection – dawn redwoods, Metasequoia.
The Metasequoia is a deciduous, coniferous tree that grows in a conical shape to 100-feet tall. This tree is just starting to leaf out. As the tree matures, the trunk broadens at the base and develops attractive and elaborate fluting with deeply fissured bark.
These are parrotia trees in late summer – also first nurtured in individual pots before being transplanted to this area outside my Equipment Barn in 2019. Parrotia persica ‘Persian Spire’ is in the family Hamamelidaceae, closely related to the witch-hazel genus Hamamelis. It is native to northern Iran and southern Azerbaijan and it is endemic in the Alborz mountains.
And of course, the beautiful smoke bush, Cotinus coggygria, seen here during summer. These small trees and shrubs are thriving here in this middle field allée backed by London Planes.
I am a firm believer that caring for bare-root cuttings in pots before they go to more permanent locations gives these trees a stronger start. Tomorrow, April 22, we celebrate Earth Day – an annual event supporting environmental protection. I hope this inspires you to plant a tree this weekend – or two, or three…
Creating new garden spaces takes a lot of time, planning, and patience, but it's always so exciting to see areas evolve and take shape.
Here at my Bedford, New York farm, we're working on a new garden near my stable. You may have caught a small glimpse at it on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48. You'll see more in a an upcoming episode of "Martha Gardens" exclusively on the Roku Channel. Enclosing this new garden, I decided to plant a hedge of European Hornbeams, Carpinus betulus - a fast-growing deciduous tree. Not long ago, my outdoor grounds crew planted about 300-bare root hornbeams from JLPN, a three-generation family owned tree company in Salem, Oregon that focuses on growing deciduous seedlings and softwood rooted cuttings. I am so pleased with how they look - and they're already showing lots of healthy new growth.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Carpinus betulus is native to Western Asia and central, eastern, and southern Europe, including southern England. Because of its dense foliage and tolerance to being cut back, this hornbeam is popularly used for hedges and topiaries. Hornbeams are often confused with the common beech because of their similar leaves; however, the hornbeam leaves are actually smaller and more deeply furrowed than beech leaves. The leaves are deciduous and alternate, with serrated margins.
I have a giant European hornbeam hedge outside my main greenhouse. It is quite pretty here, but serves primarily as a privacy and noise barrier from the road.
The same hornbeams border my formal white lily gardens across the gravel driveway.
Here is another hornbeam hedge that runs in front of my Summer House and along the road behind my Winter House.
I wanted to enclose this entire space with the same bold green European Hornbeams – it’s a half acre large.
I decided the hedge would be close to the fence. Here are Brian and Ryan measuring enough space for the hornbeams as well as for the Polaris vehicles we use to tour the tight spaces around the farm.
These are European hornbeam bare-root cuttings. Bare-root trees are so named because the plants are dug from the ground while they are dormant, and stored without any soil surrounding their roots. Once they arrived from JLPN, they were placed in tubs of water right away.
The sod was removed from the entire perimeter of the space.
And then the soil was rototilled.
Chhiring and Pasang dug a trench just deep enough for the bare-root cuttings – about eight to 10-inches deep. Chhiring also sprinkles a good a fertilizer into the trench, a fertilizer made with mycorrhizal fungi, which helps transplant survival and increases water and nutrient absorption.
The cuttings are removed from the water in groups, so they don’t dry out.
Hornbeams have taproots rather than a lot of roots close to the surface. This means the root systems grown down rather than out.
I wanted the trees planted two-feet apart, so Pasang uses a pipe exactly that length as a guide. He also puts up bright landscape twine to ensure all the trees are planted straight.
The tree is placed where the roots start and the top shoots begin.
Here is a closer look at the tree in the designated hole.
The soil is then gently filled in around the roots and then lightly tamped down.
The twine creates a good guide for all the trees being planted. It also saves lots of time – one does not have to check the line of planted specimens after each one is in the ground.
And then Pasang measures the distance again for the next tree.
Pasang planted nearly 300 bare-root trees in less than three days – everything is coming along so nicely.
Looking closely, one can see how perfectly straight these trees are. If they are in good condition, the trees should sprout leaves in the same year they are planted.
And look – every single tree is already sprouting growth. This hedge will look so wonderful – wait and see it grow and evolve with me.
Our spring gardening season is always extremely busy. My outdoor grounds crew, gardeners, and I work very hard to make sure all the gardens look their best.
Among our annual tasks this time of year - planting and potting up thousands of bare-root trees and other small seedlings. Over the last week, the crew planted about 600 young boxwoods. These boxwoods are still too small to plant in the garden beds, so they are placed in an enclosure designated for young specimens, where they can be carefully maintained until they are large enough to transplant.
Enjoy these photos.
Because the boxwood grows so well here, I plant a few hundred bare-root cuttings every year. I ordered another 600 hundred from Musser Forests, Inc., a Pennsylvania-based company specializing in conifer and hardwood seedlings and transplants. Buxus is a genus of about 70 species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. Boxwood is native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean.
These are bare-root seedlings, meaning they arrived free of soil on the roots. This helps reduce the price of the seedling and makes them more adaptable to the soil in which they are planted. Once they arrive, they are placed in water right away.
This area behind one of several hoop houses and near my chicken coops is where I grow many young boxwood shrubs – the boxwood “nursery.” The back section of this enclosure is where our youngest bare-root cuttings will be planted.
Chhiring begins digging holes for each of the seedlings. Because there are so many, the crew works in a production line process.
Each hole is about eight-inches deep.
The soil in this yard is rich with nutrients, so the boxwood will grow very well here. The space has several sections of growing boxwood – all at different stages of growth.
Chhiring sprinkles a generous amount of fertilizer into the holes. Slow-release, balanced fertilizers are best for boxwood.
Next, one boxwood seedling is dropped near each hole. Phurba does this in small batches, so the boxwood doesn’t dry out. If planting a lot, keep the new seedlings in shade until they are planted in the ground. And make sure to only use healthy stems with no insect damage or discoloration. These are in excellent condition.
Phurba plants each specimen in a hole – keeping them all in a straight line.
Then, each hole is back filled, and lightly tapped to ensure good contact with the soil.
These two to three year old seedlings are only a few inches tall, but they will grow quickly.
This variety is called Buxus ‘Green Mountain’. It is a vigorous evergreen shrub with bright green foliage that retains good color throughout winter. The upright, naturally cone-shaped habit makes it an excellent candidate for planting free-form or for a sculpted hedge. The leaves on boxwood branches are arranged opposite from each other, making pairs.
These plants are placed about a foot apart – enough room for them to grow before moving to more permanent locations.
These boxwoods were planted just last year – slightly taller and more dense. These young boxwoods will remain here for a couple years before they are transplanted into the garden beds.
And these specimens are about three and a half years old. These are growing very well in this “nursery.” These have also already been pruned to give them their round shapes.
Some of the exisiting boxwood in this area is Buxus ‘Green Velvet’. This variety is a full-bodied boxwood well-suited for dense, low hedges. Its foliage also retains its rich green color throughout winter and develops a vigorous form.
In 2017, I decided to line both sides of my clematis pergola with boxwood. These started off as small cuttings and developed in the “nursery” before being transplanted here. There are more than 300-shrubs planted under the pergola, and they continue to thrive.
I have scores of mature boxwood growing around the farm. These boxwood shrubs surround my herbaceous peony garden bed.
This is my sunken Summer House Garden – a more formal garden with both English and American boxwood. Boxwood, a popular evergreen shrub in garden landscape, is a very ancient plant. Its ornamental use can be traced back to 4000 BC Egypt. The early Romans favored it in their courtyards. The wood itself is harder than oak and its foliage is dense and compact. Because of its growing habit, boxwood can be sculpted into formal hedges, topiaries, and other fanciful shapes.
I also have boxwood hedges on the terraces outside my Winter House.
This is a section of my long 450-foot Boxwood Allée. It runs from my stable all the way to the carriage road that leads to my hayfields and woodlands. It is so lush and green and healthy – so healthy, we had to move an entire side of fence to accommodate its growth a couple of years ago. I am so proud of the boxwood here at my farm. Growing boxwood for the garden… it’s a good thing.
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