My long and winding pergola is putting on such a colorful and gorgeous display - all the spring flowers are just spectacular this time of year.
Soon after I bought my farm, I built a long pergola along the carriage road leading up to my home specifically for clematis. 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 purple and blue - it's just stunning.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
It’s amazing what a difference a few weeks make in a spring garden. This is the pergola garden in late April – lush green with new foliage filling the beds.
Here’s Pasang checking and cleaning the beds a few days later.
And now the garden is filled with varying hues of purple and blue – it’s breathtaking.
My pergola garden is located across from my stately bald cypress trees. 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 last year using my own designs.
The most prominent plant right now is the Camassia – it’s blooming profusely and so beautifully. Camassia is also known as camas, wild hyacinth, Indian hyacinth, and quamash. The bulbs are winter hardy in zones 4 to 8 and both the plant and the bulbs are resistant to deer and rodents.
Camassia leichtlinii caerulea forms clusters of linear strappy foliage around upright racemes.
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. The flower stalks stand 24 to 30 inches tall and display dozens of florets that open from the bottom up.
Camassia also comes in this lighter shade of blue. Both the lighter and darker shades look so good growing together in this garden. One can see the six-petaled, two-inch, star-shaped flowers.
In the garden, Camassia blooms in late spring, after the daffodils and just before the peonies and other early summer perennials. Camassia is incredibly valuable since it naturalizes well when left undisturbed in a good spot.
Alliums are often overlooked as one of the best bulbs for constant color throughout the seasons. 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.
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-purple.
This is lady’s mantle, Alchemilla mollis. It’s a clumping perennial which typically forms a basal foliage mound of long-stalked, circular, scallop-edged, toothed, pleated, soft-hairy, light green leaves and sprays of chartreuse, star-shaped flowers. Lady’s mantle is used here along the footpath.
Growing low to the ground is Ornithogalum. It features spear-like flower stems with multiple star-shaped white blooms.
Nepeta is such a hardy, low-maintenance perennial that can be added to many gardens.
Both sides of the pergola are bordered by boxwood. There are more than 300 boxwood shrubs planted here. These boxwood shrubs were grown from small saplings nurtured in one area of my vegetable garden next to my chicken coops. They’ve grown so much since we planted them eight years ago.
On one side of the pergola is this giant weeping copper beech tree – I love these trees with their gorgeous forms and rich color. I have several large specimens on the property. The deep red to copper leaves grow densely on cascading pendulous branches.
And behind the pergola 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.
I am so proud of the spring gardens. My pergola garden 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. The palette of colors is a big favorite – it grows more colorful and vibrant every year. In a few weeks, it shall transform once again and feature lovely shades of orange.
My Winter House terraces are looking so lush and beautiful.
This time of year, I always display a variety of specimens around my home - potted plants, small evergreens, and even some trailing ground covers that work well as underplantings in ornamental vessels. They all look wonderful next to the terrace parterres, or formal geometric gardens - some planted with herbs and flowering plants, and some planted in tiers of bold green boxwood and golden barberry. This week, my gardeners and outdoor grounds crew spruced the terraces up with fresh plants and amended the beds with soil and food.
Here are some photos.
When well-maintained, terrace parterres are so stunning. I am proud of how well these have developed through the years. Parterres are designed as geometric symmetrical beds bordered by low, groomed hedges. In the center is one of my giant sugar pots now used as a fire pit.
It’s always fun to visit local nurseries and select plants for one’s own gardens and terrace containers. Neighborhood shops sell what grows best in the area and experts on staff are there to answer any questions. I enjoy bringing home different plants for my spring and summer displays. These are all small Japanese holly shrubs.
Planting the urns outside my Winter House is already underway. Every urn has a drainage hole at the bottom. Matthew places a layer of weed cloth first 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 for the cold season. The container is filled two-thirds of the way up with a good quality potting soil.
This year, I am planting three of this interesting plant – Abies koreana ‘Kohout’s Ice Breaker.’ This is a dwarf, evergreen conifer that develops into a small, broadly pyramidal tree.
It has short, stubby branches with flat, curved silvery blue and white needles and an incredibly slow growth rate.
I use Miracle-Gro Organic Outdoor Potting Mix. It contains a quick-release natural fertilizer that feeds plants for up to two months.
It looks great planted in this vessel, but it would look even better underplanted with trailing ground covers. Don’t be afraid to mix and match plants in a single container.
Matthew adds Helichrysum and Dichondra, both of which have trailing growth habits that I often use as underplantings for potted specimens.
These plants are located at the bottom of my stairs where I can see them every day. They will grow wonderfully through the season.
I also have pairs of stone planters on the steps and landings of the terrace parterres. Here is another one being prepped for planting.
I brought home several small Japanese holly shrubs, Ilex crenata, that are just perfect for these urns.
Ilex crenata is an evergreen shrub or small tree prized for its soft, glossy, dark green foliage.
The lower parterres are planted with herbs. The crew added some thyme and rosemary to fill in any bare spots.
I use Miracle-Gro Organic Raised Bed & Garden Soil in all my raised beds at the farm. It is filled with nutrients.
Here, soil is added to all these beds. I also grow catmint, a perennial herb in the mint family, used for culinary and ornamental purposes.
Catmint forms compact, mounded clumps with gray-green foliage and lavender-blue flowers.
It is important to add organic soil mix to garden beds each year as a way to refresh and maintain the garden soil health. Over time, soil settles, compacts, and loses nutrients, especially after a busy growing season. I feed and amend the soil often and it always pays off!
The boxwood hedges and shrubs are freshly groomed. And don’t worry, as the weeks progress, the bold green of the boxwood will return.
On the upper parterres, I grow boxwood and golden barberry, Berberis thunbergii. It is a deciduous shrub that is compact, adaptable, very hardy and shows off striking small, golden yellow oblong leaves. Golden barberry takes on its brightest coloring in full sun.
These garden beds will mature beautifully during the season and provide a splendid and welcoming area for gathering.
It's always fun to plant a new garden - especially when it includes lots of beautiful, fragrant roses.
Over the last several weeks, I've been working on a new formal garden. The bed was previously planted with beautiful lilacs as well as roses, but it was in need of a complete overhaul to revitalize the space and add some new young plants. The roses are from Star Roses and Plants, a company of brands that focuses on breeding and introducing specimens offering longer-lasting, disease resistant blooms. I planted more than 140 new roses to add to the existing rose bushes and surrounded them all with a border of boxwood. I'm looking forward to seeing this garden mature and fill the area with gorgeous color, form, and fragrance.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
This garden was once my allée of lilacs, Syringa vulgaris. The garden was filled with sweet-smelling lilacs in white, lavender, and purple – with some shrubs reaching 15 to 20 feet tall. After 20 years, the garden needed to be refreshed, so I replanted it with young roses and a border of boxwood.
The roses were planted in two rows – each variety in groups of four all the way down. I shared the planting process in a previous blog.
After they were planted, I decided to put down industrial strength weed fabric to deter the pesky weeds. Wide strips were cut and secured with landscape staples.
This fabric is durable and long lasting.
Next is a layer of mulch. Small, manageable amounts are dropped in between the plants.
I make this mulch right here at the farm. Mulch is great to maintain moisture, suppress weeds, regulate soil temperature, and improve soil health.
Chhiring spreads the mulch to create a two to three inch layer across the entire bed.
In the end, both sides look so gorgeous. On the left are older rose bushes – some of which were transplanted from my previous home in East Hampton. I love roses and have been growing them for decades.
Every row is perfectly lined up. The boxwood that surrounds the garden will grow into a nice formal hedge.
Rose leaves are borne alternately on the stem. In most species, they are about two to five inches long, pinnate, with at least three leaflets and basal stipules. The leaflets also usually have a serrated margin. and remember, rose stems are often armed with sharp prickles, not thorns. A prickle can be easily broken off the plant because it is really a feature of the outer layers rather than part of the wood, like a thorn.
Among the varieties now planted here – Parfuma® Earth Angel™
‘KORgeowim’ – a beautiful, peony-shaped rose with blooms in cream and warm pink in the center. (Photo provided by Star Roses and Plants)
Bolero™ ‘Meidelweis’ is a compact Floribunda rose with a strong sweet fragrance. (Photo provided by Star Roses and Plants)
I also planted Raspberry Cupcake™
‘KORcarmsis’ which has a strong raspberry and lemon fragrance. Its blooms are medium to light pink with large, cup-like petals. (Photo provided by Star Roses and Plants)
Parfuma® Bliss ‘KORmarzau’ is a delicate, creamy pink blend rose with an apricot colored center. (Photo provided by Star Roses and Plants)
This is Michelangelo™ ‘Meitelov.’ It has a sweet, lemony scent with vibrantly saturated, golden yellow petals. (Photo provided by Star Roses and Plants)
Sunbelt® Savannah™ is a very hardy and disease-resistant pink Hybrid Tea Rose with an extraordinary fragrance. (Photo provided by Star Roses and Plants)
Romantica® Moonlight ‘Meikaquinz’ has large, light yellow flowers that are great for cutting. (Photo provided by Star Roses and Plants)
Princesse Charlene de Monaco®
‘Meidysouk’ is a charming Hybrid Tea Rose with double flowers in light apricot to shell pink in color. (Photo provided by Star Roses and Plants)
Dee-Lish® ‘Meiclusif’ is a tall Hybrid Tea Rose with a strong fragrance of verbena and citrus. It has large, deep pink, non-fading blooms. (Photo provided by Star Roses and Plants)
Top Cream™ ‘Meiroguste’ has large, old-fashioned blooms of creamy-white with light pink blush. All are very disease resistant and beautiful for use in arrangements. This garden is sure to bring years of fragrant beauty to my farm. (Photo provided by Star Roses and Plants)