Seagulls on Northport Bay
(Click on photo to see a larger image)
My husband, Steve, and I are lucky to live in the Village of Asharoken, New York (pop. ~654), which is located on picturesque Northport Harbor. While my husband single-handedly built our home, I started planting our first gardens. That was 40 years ago! At the time my parents lived next door (very handy when our son, Jaron wanted to visit). Eventually, we bought that house, giving my husband office space and me more room to garden. The beachfront is 200’ wide, yet the property is over 1500’ in depth (a portion of the property is actually under the bay). Along the driveway, native plants such as prickly pear cactus, beach plum, bayberry, black pine, poison ivy, Eastern red cedar and oaks grow in the sand.
Closer to the house, the cultivated gardens begin. The soil is sandy and needs constant amending with dehydrated manure (cow and chicken), compost, and mulch. Pesticides are avoided, but I use herbicides sporadically to eliminate tenacious weeds! I leave brush piles, provide fresh water, plant host and nectar foods for insects, hang bird feeders and birdhouses, and grow plants with seeds, nuts and berries in order to encourage wildlife. This past fall, deer have been spotted in the garden, yikes!
More than 600 varieties of daylilies share beds with a menagerie of perennials, grasses, bulbs, trees, and shrubs. These plants, including collections of way too many named hosta and lilium, are for the most part marked with plant labels. The markers, my camera and my computer are invaluable when my brain fails me!
Many beds have themes such as the “Hot Red Bed” or “The Birdhouse Garden”. The newest garden is a long hedgerow featuring viburnums, hydrangeas, aucubas, hosta, astilbe, epimedium, primroses, and ligularias. Elsewhere, there’s a small pond, a white garden, and a raised Spider/Unusual Forms daylily bed. Scattered around the garden are containers where I experiment with unusual annuals, tropical plants, tomatoes and herbs.
The garden is never perfect, as I am getting lazier in my old age. Someday I’ll find someone to help on a regular basis! Periodic flooding wreaks havoc on the plantings, but after my initial dismay, I am resigned to doing more shopping!
I garden, but nature provides the crowning jewel of the landscape with its expansive view of the harbor, blue skies, sailboats, visiting waterfowl, jingle shells, and hopefully a glorious sea breeze!
More photos of “Hidden Harbor” (AHS Display Garden) can be seen at:
https://www.facebook.com/chrispnpt
Closer to the house, the cultivated gardens begin. The soil is sandy and needs constant amending with dehydrated manure (cow and chicken), compost, and mulch. Pesticides are avoided, but I use herbicides sporadically to eliminate tenacious weeds! I leave brush piles, provide fresh water, plant host and nectar foods for insects, hang bird feeders and birdhouses, and grow plants with seeds, nuts and berries in order to encourage wildlife. This past fall, deer have been spotted in the garden, yikes!
More than 600 varieties of daylilies share beds with a menagerie of perennials, grasses, bulbs, trees, and shrubs. These plants, including collections of way too many named hosta and lilium, are for the most part marked with plant labels. The markers, my camera and my computer are invaluable when my brain fails me!
Many beds have themes such as the “Hot Red Bed” or “The Birdhouse Garden”. The newest garden is a long hedgerow featuring viburnums, hydrangeas, aucubas, hosta, astilbe, epimedium, primroses, and ligularias. Elsewhere, there’s a small pond, a white garden, and a raised Spider/Unusual Forms daylily bed. Scattered around the garden are containers where I experiment with unusual annuals, tropical plants, tomatoes and herbs.
The garden is never perfect, as I am getting lazier in my old age. Someday I’ll find someone to help on a regular basis! Periodic flooding wreaks havoc on the plantings, but after my initial dismay, I am resigned to doing more shopping!
I garden, but nature provides the crowning jewel of the landscape with its expansive view of the harbor, blue skies, sailboats, visiting waterfowl, jingle shells, and hopefully a glorious sea breeze!
More photos of “Hidden Harbor” (AHS Display Garden) can be seen at:
https://www.facebook.com/chrispnpt
