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Tuesday, July 03, 2007

More Stokes Garden

As we said yesterday, here are additional photos of our garden, which is featured in the current issue of Birder's World Magazine. Some of you asked for more photos than was shown in the magazine, so here they are. If you get the magazine, you can see the map of the garden in the article. Above is the entry from the driveway. You pass up granite steps through the filigree wall of Amalenchier (Shadbush), "Autumn Brilliance" trees.

They look lovely in the spring when they are in full bloom, shown here. Right now, they are producing fruits which are being gobbled by Cedar Waxwings, Robins and thrushes.

You enter the garden by the barn and come to a central courtyard which features a cistern fountain.

We plant red Bee Balm in many areas of the garden and hummers love it!

Loking across from the entry garden courtyard, you can see the gazebo behind the barn.

The barn has a trellis and we grow Trumpet Honeysuckle vine (Lonicera brownii) up the trellis to attract hummers.

The gazebo was built by Don, I do all the design of the garden plantings, we both do the gardening. Here is the long border by the gazebo, in which we plant many perennials and annuals that attract birds.

Salvia, "Lady in Red", shown here, is candy for hummers.

And we leave up the seed heads to let the American Goldfinches feast on them.

Another plant we favor is Butterfly Bush, (Buddleia davidii). True to its name, it's a magnet for butterflies such as this Great Spangled Fritillary.

Sunflowers grow in the long border and bloom in late summer. We leave the seed heads for chickadees and other birds.

Next to the gazebo and the long border is a space under the pines, which has a large garden urn from lunaform in ME. Lots of birds nest in the pines, such as Pine Warblers and Yellow-rumped Warblers.

Exiting the entry garden, you come to some adirondack chairs where serious bird watching takes place. We sit with coffee in the morning and a glass of wine at the end of the day and watch, listen and record the birds. We keep a daily journal with our sightings. So far we have attracted 174 species to our property.

This is the view we see from the garden and adirondacks. These 45 acres, including the gardens, we have named Bobolink Farm after the nesting Bobolinks in the meadows you see. A farmer hays the fields at the end of August, after the Bobolinks, American Bitterns, Savannah Sparrows and, sometimes Meadowlarks, have finished nesting. We have found our pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It is Bobolink Farm and its gardens, and it is our great joy to manage it to attract the maximum number of birds. We hope the birds enjoy it as much as we do.

Photos © Lillian Stokes

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, beautiful, detailed and lots of color and room, makes our 1/2 acre lot look like a 0 lot line here in Florida. So perfect!!

CAA
PSL, Fl.

Anonymous said...

I do believe you have re-created Eden! Really, your garden is so beautiful and very inspiring to me. Thanks for sharing these photos.

Mary C said...

Oh, so beautiful. You must hate it when you have to leave on business trips, etc. Thank you for showing more photos of your farm. The Birders' World article was really nice, but you put the icing on the cake with your posts. :)

Lillian Stokes said...

Thank you all! Yes, we feel Bobolink Farm is our Eden. It's our pleasure to share it with you. We hope it inspires all of you to create your own Edens, whether large or small.

Lillian and Don

tai haku said...

I really enjoyed these photos guys. I feel what I liked about this post (and previous ones about your garden) is that you've clearly created a space that works for the wildlife but at the same time is an aesthetically working garden that looks good and works for you. I think a lot of people manage one or the other but few get both right.

Julie Zickefoose said...

Ravishing! Inspiring! And surprisingly, pleasingly formal. Seems to me you could charge for garden tours. Thank you so much for these pictures. They look as though most were taken in late summer, with the Pennisetum (purple fountain grass) in full flower. Ours is beloved by indigo buntings in fall.

RuthieJ said...

Awesome gardens...I am speechless!

Anonymous said...

What is the "secret" to your gorgeous gardens? I have had a perennial garden for several years now, and have focused to the extent possible on native/bird-friendly/drought-resistant species. I don't use pesticides either... but some of my flowers aren't blooming. Do you use any particular type of nutrients in your garden?

Anonymous said...

A lovely garden in a fabulous setting!

Dawn said...

Wow! Your garden is a bird's paradise and an an inspiration to anyone who wants to garden for wildlife. Well done!

Regards,
Dawn
Suburban Wildlife Garden

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed your pictures and commentary so much. I am a birder and learning rock gardening. I found your web site after googling "Amelanchier" to learn about it. I live in Colorado and transplanted one from our cabin in Western Colorado to Denver because it is supposed to have great flowers and fruits that attract birds. But the individual plant I got doesn't flower and I have to research the wild plants to see why. I am not a botanist.

Anyway I loved your site.

Anonymous said...

Wow, you have one amazing garden! It must be so relaxing to enjoy a day out in that garden. Beautiful!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful!
Would you remember the cultivar name of the Arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis) in your photos (those columnar shape ones)?
Thank you.

Lillian Stokes said...

The Arborvitae cultivar in the garden is "Emerald Green".