The calendar says spring starts in just nine days, but the recent snow and nighttime temperatures below freezing in the Northeast remind us just how unpredictable Mother Nature can be.
Yesterday, I shared photos from this week's snow storm at my Bedford, New York farm. Because of the erratic weather, a lot of that snow has already melted. And temperatures today are expected to hit 43-degrees Fahrenheit before dropping to the 30s this weekend. There are similar conditions up in Seal Harbor, Maine - a day of rain followed by a blizzard that dropped more than five inches of white powder over Skylands last week. Sunny skies are expected there today before a cold front moves in tomorrow.
Cheryl DuLong, who helps me care for Skylands when I am not there, took these photos after the last snow fall. Enjoy.
This is one of our favorite views – it’s taken from my kitchen window and is a reflection in the dining room storm window – so amazing. Cheryl took this snapshot early in the morning, when the skies were still gray.
This view is through a leaded window in the dining room looking out onto the high tops of the spruce trees.
Area residents were only expecting flurries on this day, but woke up to several inches of white. Local forecasters called this weather system an “over achiever snow flurry.” To protect the large urns on the terrace from the winter elements, they are covered with these plywood boxes – the urns are three to four hundred pounds each, so it is much easier to cover them during the cold season.
These are the doors in living room going out to the West Terrace. In the summer, I usually keep a table out on the terrace where we can enjoy shaded brunches.
There are many original kiwi vines that continue to grow and thrive at Skylands. These vines are growing on the posts over the West Terrace. They have survived many snow storms over the years.
Here’s a photo taken from a second floor window looking out onto the Counsel Circle. On the right are the hoof prints of deer that have strolled through underneath the spruce and hemlock trees.
Many of you probably recognize the Counsel Circle even when covered in snow. The fire pit is in the center. The void around it is the circular sitting area.
Here is one of the tall spruce trees that can be seen off the terrace. I love how it towers over the others.
This post holds a hose during warmer months. It is also covered with snow.
Thrumcap Island, or wool cap, as French sailors in the 1600s called it, can be seen from this vantage point. The rocky island is on nearly 15 acres and supports the nesting of many birds each year.
A doe rests beneath the evergreen boughs – she doesn’t seem to mind the cold one bit.
By 10am, the clouds disappeared and the gray skies turned sunny. Here, one can see some of Rockefeller’s Teeth guarding the edge’s ledge.
Snow on the branches weighed them down, but luckily there was no damage to any of the trees on the property.
A view out my back door to the porch where lush, bold green Boston ferns hang during summer.
Here’s the same kitchen window Cheryl looks through to see the reflections on the dining room storm window. It looks so sunny out there, but still quite cold.
Through the trees is Sutton Island in the distance. The views of Seal Harbor are always breathtaking. It looks very different in summer when it’s filled with boats.
These steps go down to a footpath leading to my guest house and playhouse from my large “cracked ice” terrace.
These are the bottom of those steps. Despite all the beauty, it’s a lot of snow to shovel around the house. Fortunately, the warmer day temperatures helped to melt it.
Outside the front door is my circular driveway and these large boulders covered in snow.
And don’t worry – Aristide Maillol’s ‘La Riviere’ is safe and all tucked away for the remainder of winter.
Daylight Saving Time begins this coming Sunday, March 13th - that’s just three days away, when we all advance our clocks one-hour in order to make better use of natural daylight in the warmer months.
This season’s winter weather has been extremely erratic. Last weekend, we had a day of beautiful warm weather with temperatures nearing 70-degrees Fahrenheit. And then yesterday, our area was hit with snow and rain. This particular snow was wet, heavy, and only accumulated a couple of inches, but still really quite beautiful.
Enjoy these photos.
The snow started falling by 10am. It came down fast and strong, but because the temperatures were hovering around 35-degrees Fahrenheit, there wasn’t much accumulation – only a couple of inches by day’s end. Here are three of my five donkeys keeping watch from their run-in shed. Billie, Jude “JJ” Junior, and Truman “TJ” Junior. Clive and Rufus are out grazing underneath the falling snow.
Majestic trees stand tall in the middle field with smaller saplings growing below.
A little further down the carriage road, one can see a bit of color in this grove of golden yellow weeping willows. Look closely and see the visiting geese – geese love to gather here at Cantitoe Corners.
This is a picture of my field of Christmas trees – they have all grown so much! They were all just little saplings when I planted them 13-years ago. I planted a total of 640 Christmas trees in this field – White Pine, Frasier Fir, Canaan Fir, Norway Spruce, and Blue Spruce.
In the back hayfield is this mighty sycamore – the symbol of my farm.
Here’s a stand of dawn redwoods, Metasequoia, with their straight trunks – impressive trees by any standard, and beautiful in any season. Thankfully, the wind was not very strong, so none of the trees lost any branches.
The streams in the woodland were all full.
Here’s a view looking at my Summer House from the footpath of the sunken garden. The boxwood hedges are still well protected under their burlap covers.
The pachysandra is almost unrecognizable under this thin coating of white.
This is my herbaceous peony bed at rest – I cannot wait to see it overflowing with white and pink peony blooms this year. One can still see the outline of the beds through the snow.
One one side of my long and winding pergola is a lone weeping copper beech with its interesting branches. When leafed out it shows off rich, dark purple foliage.
This corn crib has been here since I purchased the farm. Located near my Winter House and long pergola, it’s become a favorite photo for guests who visit. The allee of lindens runs perpendicular to the Boxwood Allee that leads to my stable. This view is between the paddocks looking north.
Across from the clematis pergola is a stand of bald cypress trees, Taxodium distichum, surrounding my Basket House.
And on one side of this “soccer field” are six weeping hornbeams, Carpinus betulus Pendula. These are such graceful and shapely specimen trees, very densely branched and adaptable to various soil conditions.
My blueberry pergola is located between my hay barn and my flower cutting garden. These bushes are so prolific during summer – they produce lots and lots of delicious, juicy blueberries.
Here is a view of my large Equipment Barn. The finials on top are antique. I bought them years back. They are perfect for this structure, don’t you agree?
Here is a view from one of the main intersections of the farm – to the left is my long boxwood allee, and to the right is the path to the woodlands and straight ahead is this grove of American beech trees and the antique fencing surrounding one of the horse paddocks.
When putting up the burlap, we always make holes for the birds who wish to take refuge in inclement weather. I wonder if any are in there now.
The great eastern white pines from a distance. They can be seen from many vantage points at the farm.
Hundreds of young boxwood are growing in this garden. I order them as bare root cuttings and then nurture them for several years before transplanting them to their more permanent locations.
This layer of snow will fall or melt off the boxwood covered frames, but I am glad they are all still protected. The outdoor grounds crew did such a wonderful job constructing these protective tents this year. Today is expected to hit 50-degrees Fahrenheit, and more snow may come this weekend. Winter is not quite over yet, but spring does start in just 10-days.
It’s wonderful to see the gardens transform this time of year.
Here at my Bedford, New York farm the witch hazel shrubs are blooming. With their fragrant, butter yellow to orange and scarlet red flowers, witch hazels add a lovely spark of life to otherwise gray winter landscapes. Although witch hazel has many common names, its generic name means “together with fruit” - it is the only tree in North America to have flowers, ripe fruit, and next year’s leaf buds on its branches at the same time. Their diversity, beauty, and all-season appeal make them one of the most well-loved garden specimens.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Witch hazel grows as small trees or shrubs with numerous clusters of rich yellow to fiery orange-red flowers. Common names include Witch hazel, American Witch hazel, Common Witch hazel, Winterbloom, Snapping Hazelnut, Striped Alder, Spotted Alder, Tobacco-wood, and Water-witch.
The name witch hazel is a derivation from the Old English “wice” or “wiche” meaning pliant or bendable. Early settlers used the pliable branches to make bows for hunting. The same forked branches also became favorite witching sticks of dowsers, who used them to search for underground water. Nowadays, witch hazel is often used ornamentally as splashes of color during winter. They’re very hardy and are not prone to a lot of diseases.
I have a lot of witch hazel growing at the farm These smaller specimens were planted in September of 2019 and are doing very well. They perform best in full sun, or filtered shade. Witch hazels also possess shallow, slow-growing root systems, which do best in large planting areas. Fortunately, I have a lot of room to grow these pretty shrubs. I have several mature shrubs near my Summer House and more near my allee of lindens.
The leaves of witch hazel are oblong with large, wavy teeth, and uneven bases.
In autumn, the soft leaves turn a fine yellow before dropping.
Most species bloom from January to March and display beautiful spidery flowers that let off a slightly spicy fragrance. Some of the varieties I grow here at my farm include hybrids Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Feuerzauber’, ‘Diane’, ‘Jelena’, ‘Old Copper’, and Hamamelis japonica ‘Superba’.
Witch hazel is a genus of flowering plants in the family Hamamelidaceae. There are four types of witch hazel – Hamamelis virginiana, Hamamelis vernalis, Hamamelis japonica, and Hamamelis mollis. All of these produce flowers with strap-like crumpled petals. Hamamelis mollis, or Chinese witch hazel, is the most fragrant of all the species. Chinese witch hazel begins blooming as early as January and has buttery yellow petals and clear yellow fall foliage.
American Indians first discovered that the witch hazel bark, when boiled into a tea or mixed with animal fats into a poultice, had therapeutic qualities.
Witch hazel leaves, bark and twigs are used to make lotions and astringents for treating certain skin inflammations and other irritations. Japanese witch hazel, Hamamelis japonica, has showy yellow or red flowers.
Witch hazel works well as a natural remedy because it contains tannins, which when applied to the skin, can help decrease swelling and fight bacteria.
The flowers are able to curl inward to protect the inner structures from freezing during the winter. They unfurl again on milder days.
On this day, temperatures were in the mid-40s. One of my blue peacocks enjoyed the sun from the roof of my Polaris ATV.
Others rested on the other side of the stable on the burlap-covered bird baths.
Wildlife also appreciate witch hazel – leaves are an important food source for native insects and many native birds and animals eat the seeds that follow the flowers in the winter.
Witch hazels need a winter chill to achieve full flowering. For best results, temperatures should drop to at least 30-degrees Fahrenheit. Most of the species and cultivars are hardy down to negative 10-degrees Fahrenheit. Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Jelena’ is a popular cultivar with its coppery orange flowers that appear in early to mid-winter.
Each cluster has about 11 to 12 petals, four per flower. Most varieties reach 10 to 20 feet high and wide at maturity, witch hazels can be kept smaller with pruning once they are finished blooming.
The small, tan to gray, hard capsules go dormant throughout the winter and then develop over the next growing season.
Witch hazel will grow in one of six basic shapes – upright, vase-shaped, oval or rounded, spreading, horizontal or weeping.
Yesterday, we cut some branches and placed them in a vase in my servery. I love seeing the witch hazels in bloom.
And look what else is starting to bloom – the winter aconite, Eranthis hyemalis – a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native to calcareous woodland habitats in France, Italy and the Balkans, and widely naturalized elsewhere in Europe. Signs of spring are popping up everywhere, but winter is not over yet – we’re expecting an inch or two of snow today.
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