‘horticultural how-to and woo-woo’
the source for organic gardening inspiration
margaret roach, head gardener
T ODAY IS OPEN DAY AT A WAY TO GARDEN, THE FIRST THIS SEASON. It’s been a little hectic (understatement), but I’m as ready as I can get. In case you can’t make it, here’s a small peek at some of the goings-on. Enjoy your “walk” around.
Click on the first thumbnail to start your tour, then navigate from slide to slide using the arrows beside each caption.
Welcome! I’m Margaret Roach, a leading garden writer for 25 years—at "Martha Stewart Living," "Newsday," and in 3 books. I host a public-radio show; lecture and hold tours, and always say no to chemicals and yes to great plants.
Wow! I really enjoyed “walking” through your garden. Beautiful! Would love to see it for real. So many questions! How deep + wide are your frog ponds? Do they attract critters like raccoons? What do you do with your Japanese Maples in pots over the winter? You have a lot of clay pots. (I love them) As they dry out really quickly, are you just really good at watering, or do you line them?
When I saw Caramel at the garden centre I thought it odd looking and wondered how it could look good in the landscape. Now you’ve shown me!
Your rhododendrons – wow! Just overall, a lovely space your garden is. Love your house + the colour it is painted too.
Beautiful tour – would have loved to take the walk ‘in person’.
Catherine
beautiful, really beautiful :)
Absolutely beautiful! Hoping to be there in a couple hours!
Wow! Your garden is AMAZING…everything is so lush! It is obvious that you love gardening and have spent years cultivating and nurturing it…Your home’s architectural style and color is a wonderful backdrop to the gardens and I especially like that you included a ribster as a closing view, as we know how the frog boys and newby’s are such a part of your world. I hope Jack the Demon Cat is also enjoying the garden! You are truly a MASTER gardener in the fullest sense. I SO enjoy and appreciate A Way to Garden! It reflects your generosity and creativity. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much for the tour. I really enjoyed it. I love that you caption each photo; it adds so much. It’s as if we were both in your garden.
Welcome Sarah, Catherine, Kassy….rushing out but wanted to say a fast hello and thanks for “visiting.”
Fast answers: Japanese maple pots go in barn (unheated) all winter. Clay pots are unlined but pretty large, and I water religiously. Pools are 12×10 by 3 deep and 8 round-ish by 1-1/2 deep. Yes, critters galore…weasels, skunks, raccoons, everybody drinks from the pool (of course birds, snakes, frogs, insects as well do).
More later.
Wow! Your garden is AMAZING…everything is so lush! It is obvious that you love gardening and have spent years cultivating and nurturing it…Your home’s architectural style and color is a wonderful backdrop to the gardens and I especially like that you included a ribster as a closing view, as we know how the frog boys and newby’s are such a part of your world. I hope Jack the Demon Cat is also enjoying the garden! You are truly a MASTER gardener in the fullest sense. I SO enjoy and appreciate A Way to Garden! It reflects your generosity and creativity. Thanks for sharing! BTW – I don’t know how you EVER were able to leave this slice of heaven to go into the City all those years! You *had* to be homesick all the time! Arrrrggggh!
Yes, amazing! You have done a great job. I’m exhausted just thinking of all the work. My garden is about the size of your frog pond and it’s a lot of work. (Okay, maybe a little bigger.) Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the tour…!! So much to dream of after you so kindly shared a sneak peak.
Margaret…now, I am in heaven!! Where do I start to “ohh” and “ahh” over the beautiful refuge you have created for friends and critters! I will linger a bit longer amongst your lush garden beds on my tour, if you don’t mind!
Thank you for sharing your gifts and talents!
Debbykay at Rose Cottage Gardens and Farms
Margaret, it’s all so lovely and inspiring. We just picked up a load of stone and I made Pete look at your gravel terrace and ponds. What is growing between your stones around the large pond? We’re going to add a firepit area, but there may be enough for a small pond, too.
Stunning, stunning, stunning. Not only your garden, but the photos as well. I’m in awe.
Fabulous! Looove your garden and the gravel terrace looks so nice. Now I want one too! And the red honeysuckel(?) a beauty. Thanks for a really inspiring tour.
A beautiful slide show! And I agree that the color of your house is ideal. So ideal, that I’d like to know what it is. We have an unpainted/unstained cedar-sided house in Columbia County and we would love to appropriate your color. Do you recall the color/manufacturer?
Here in Central TX we are over our spring and everything in the garden is hunkering down for the onslaught of another drought- ridden summer.Your lovely pictures have taken me back to my years in Columbia County and I’m flooded with memories of how lovely,lush and full of anticipation this time of year is in upstate NY. Thank you for the tour of your stunning garden. So sad about the froggies…
I loved walking around your garden, I sat for a while up on the hill just day dreaming.
Just lovely. Thank you so much for sharing so much. I was hoping to make it to the open day today but couldn’t figure out the logistics so I’m very grateful for the photo tour. What a place you’ve created – bravo!
Your garden always inspires me – this time with the Japanese Maples planted in big pots. I have two I’m planting up in pots this summer as my new backyard is completely enclosed in a cement pool surround, so it’s pots, pots, pots. What do you do with the Japanese maples in the winter? Do they need to go inside a shed or even an unheated porch?
Margaret, how generous of you to post the tour for those of us too far away to visit! I admit to checking in yesterday, seeing Andre’s doodle and thinking “well, she has too much on her plate this weekend, wish I could be there..” Then voila, I am! Thanks so much for sharing.
Thank you so much for sharing! Your garden tour is stunning. I am so inspired!
Margaret, Thank you so much for this tour. I was a lucky visitor today. Having this tour is an added bonus because now my friends and I can learn about so many of the plants we admired in your garden.
What I want to know is where you find the time to do it all? Tending the garden would be more than most could handle, and yet you also find time to give the rest of us this wonderful blog with all the information, and wisdom you share. Thank you so much for all that you do.
Oh wow, what a beautiful garden. Thank you so much for the virtual tour, for those of who can’t come for a real one. You must work so hard to get it looking so good prior to one of your “open garden” days. It’s all worth it!
I’m sure you’re busy but I’d love to know what sedum (I presume that’s what it is) is growing between the fieldstones. What a lovely chartreuse!
margaret,
thanks for opening up your garden today. i had a great time walking around. i liked the new area you put in up the hill & to the left toward the fence. thanks for the tip about cardboard to start beds, i’m going to try it this year.
denden
ps, i hope i’m not “spoiling” jack with the treats…lol
Welcome, Shelly. We had a great day…which I will post an update about as soon as I eat lunch (now that it’s suppertime) and maybe have a glass of wine. :) Come see us soon again.
Welcome, Robin…ex-neighbor, it seems, and now a Texan! Nice of you to “come visit.” Hope that I see you here (digitally or really) soon again.
@Erin: Re: the groundcover sedum, it’s a very common kind called Sedum lineare ‘Golden Teardrop’.
@Denden: Jack is passed out; I think it was the treats you brought him. :)
What a beautiful garden you’ve created, Margaret. Like Sarah, I’d love to have been able to see it in real life — but your photos are inspiring. Thanks for sharing with us.
Beautiful. It was a really cool weekend here in Southern Ontario but still got out and went to a local open garden. So nice to get ideas from other like minds.
Margaret, I’ve added so many plants to my wish list today. Martagon lilies are going in somewhere definitely! Hmm…and the Samobor? geraniums too! Thanks again, the gardens were gorgeous and you were so gracious and patient with everyone and their questions. A beautiful day!
Hoping you, Jack and the frogboys get a few days rest!
Margaret, even after pouring over your site for months, I was unprepared for the beauty of the garden in person. Absolutely breathtaking!!
Some questions for you: Do you store all your clay pots inside during the winter? How do you overwinter your abutilon?
I was a little surprised not to see a greenhouse tucked in one corner. Did I just miss it?
Thank you so much for a glorious, beautiful day!!
Dear Margaret, You must be “fried” after being bombarded with so many questions today! I had some, but thought I would spare you! Thank you for opening your beautiful garden to the public. I knew that it would be gorgeous from all of the photos that I’ve seen, but in person, it was even better than I had expected – more inviting in a strange way. I was delighted to find that I have many of the same plants in many of the same combinations. I was patting myself on the back a bit, but also even more inspired! Thanks again! Phillip (Rodgersia envy guy!)
Welcome, Phillip, and thank you so much for visiting, and for your kind words. Always glad to meet a kindred spirit in the realm of plants. It was quite the day…more than 350 signed in (not including all the kids and those who just skip the sign-in). Hope to “see you” soon again, “here” (or Aug. 22 here in person again).
@Bobster: I was so glad to meet…and so sorry how hectic it was. No time for a proper chat! Glad you enjoyed yourself, though; hope you had an easier trip back.
@Amy: Yes, all the clay pots go inside in winter (on the back porch, in the sheds or in the barn). Perennials get lifted from them and stashed in the vegetable garden; “houseplants” like fancy-leaf begonias and bromeliads come inside with me (in lighter pots, not the big clay ones); many things that prefer to go dormant (cannas, tuberous begonias, etc.) sleep in the basement; the Japanese maples in their huge pots get wheeled into the barn (unheated). So the pots don’t stay out, and most of them get emptied.
What a gorgeous garden you have in June – awesome slide show! I hope your Open Day was fun. I’m sure it was a roaring success and you are now lounging with a glass of wine, or comatose on the couch.
Wow…
Margaret, there is so much to admire in your garden. Like others I am so appreciative of the virtual tour. You make wonderful use of the natural attributes of your area (the rocks and water), but the choice of plantings takes my breath away. And inspires me to search out many of those plants. Please tell me that you have a staff of twenty to keep everything looking so beautiful… — john
Margaret, Thank you for posting photos of the OPen Day. I wanted so much to visit the garden LIVE! The day here in CT dawned so lovely and I thought about how wonderful it must have been!!! The gorgeous photos are second best but I am grateful to see your paradise in 2D..
wow, wonderful photos. very inspiring!
Margaret,
Thank you so much for opening your gardens to fellow gardeners! Seeing your garden in person is such a treat, now when I look back at your photo gallery it is easier to put it all in context. I was feeling major plant lust, and was delighted that Loomis Creek had set up a little stand at the end of your driveway. I now have my very own astilboides to grow, as well as tons of images floating in my head from the visit. The best part? All the lush underplanting that you do so beautifully. I will have to read back and see how you do it all. I also want to find out if you feed all your beauties,
or have some magic serum to make everything grow so lushly. I suspect all the good karma that you have from being so generous to all the wildlife (with the major exception of deer – what a fence!!!) must affect the plants as well.
A real treat. Many thanks, and I can’t wait for another visit. It was all I could do not to offer myself up as an indentured servant so that I could spend more time in your garden…. are you taking applications?
any tips for planting my new astilboides?
thanks again,
Molly
Loved the tour! No wonder you’re tired!! Really loved the gravel terrace. Can you give some details on it’s construction, later, when you’ve nothing to do…small joke.
thanks. I LOVE YOUR BLOG!! I check it every day. It makes me feel good that I’m not crazy because I like to work outside.
David and I had a wonderful time touring the garden yesterday and snapping a zillion pictures. I left with so many ideas. Just being in your garden space is inspiration for any home gardener. It was an afternoon to meet new friends, fill up the memory stick in the camera and leave inspired to do so much more here at home. Between Beekman and your gardens, I have inspiration to last the rest of the season. It was wonderful to meet you and I’m so impressed how you managed to handle all those people!
I hope you’re resting today.
PS: I will never, ever complain about mowing the grass or edging my gardens now that I’ve seen yours! Whew! I was exhausted just thinking about it! Best to you always…
Margaret you should be very proud of your gardens. They are absolutely beautiful. I wish I could see them in person. What do you use for path material in your vegetable garden? I hope you have a wonderful gardening season.
Oh Margaret, it is beautiful. I so wish I could be there to amble around and see everything in it’s perfect place. The pictures are wonderful but it would be a treat to actually see how it all relates. What a treasure you are sharing. Thank you for giving us a glimpse.
Margaret,
I’ve been viewing your website throughout the winter and love your garden and advice. I can appreciate the amount of work you have put into your property. I too have been working frantically all spring, only to become completely overwhelmed and exhausted. I keep reminding myself it will take years to get our peviously un-loved property into showcase-shape.
I have a burning question: I have been coveting for years the “two big ceramic water troughs by the door” as shown in your slide show. I first saw them in Martha Stewart many years ago (probably from an article you wrote) and have been searching the earth for them ever since. Can you tell me the name, place, brand, or anything about them, so I can find them?
Thank you. Lisa
Welcome, Lisa. The troughs came to me via Loomis Creek Nursery near here; I do not know the vendor (wholesaler) they got them from, but know that there were none to be had this year from that source. Loomis wanted to order more but there were none to be had. Maybe next year. You could ask them for their source perhaps?
Margaret,
Thank you for the virtual tour. Your garden is absolutely beautiful! Hope to see it in person next year. 350+ WOW!
Thank you for sharing these images! Your mini-tour was wonderful (and I must admit, made me a bit green with envy…you have such a lush and tranquil looking space)! The stacked stone patio that opens the tour, reminds me how much I adore classic craftspersonship and the aesthetic that it offers. I have always enjoyed walks (and drives), where you come upon an old stacked stone wall or pillar, standing strong against (or being taken over by), the natural environment. Is this an original aspect of your property…or a new edition?
Welcome, Lee. The patio was my idea…like an old foundation perpendicular to the house…but I can’t stack stone like my very old friend Jim and his brother Larry, who built it. I love good dry-stack stone that doesn’t resort to using perfect cut material (and therefore looks like the walls of under my house from 125 years ago or so). Jim is about the only person whose walls I like…he’s been at it for like 35 or more years.
There are various such walls and abandoned foundations in the woods around here, but not so many showy old walls intact anymore as in the more affluent areas adjacent just to the southeast and northeast of me (Litchfield County, CT, and Berkshire County, MA), where there are many finer historic homes that had them (and still do!). But yes, in the extended local vernacular, definitely. Thanks for visiting; do come again soon.
PS to all, you can also read the “aftermath” report here, in this newer post, once you finish your tour. :)
Do I need mulch around my tomatoes and other veggies?
This is my first time. I see my vegetable garden only once a week.
Welcome, Sophia. Yes, mulch them with straw or something like that. I am doing so but ran out and got hectic w/the tours. (Always an excuse, right?) So yes, an inch and a half or two thick, not matted down so water is kept out, but something like chopped straw would be easy (you can buy it bagged at garden supplies/farm stores…not sure where you are located). Congratulations on making your first veggie garden. Wonderful.
Hi Margaret,
I’m in awe of the “pools” and read the measurements you generously offered. Wondering if they’re lined, or just a scooped out dirt bottom? Will that alone attract frogs on a property that has not had them before? Do you have to keep them filled manually or does the rain take care of that? Your garden and home are gorgeous! Thanks for the v-tour. BTW – couldn’t spot a driveway or garage…do you walk a long distance from where you park your house? Just curious. Thanks so much…and Jack is a cutie!
OK, *meant* to ask…do you walk a long distance from where you park *to* your house….obviously your house is permanently parked. LOL at myself, you crazy girl.
totally fabulous and an inspiration. Do you give the Primula special treatment. Ulster County seems tough for them.