2 min readIt doesn’t matter how impressive your blooms are. If Martha Stewart spots black mulch in your flower beds, it’s an instant vibe killer.
The trendsetter, homemaker, and media mogul recently sat down with House Beautiful to chat about her best gardening tips, her work with Scotts Miracle-Gro as the brand’s Chief Gardening Officer, and her most-hated gardening trends. If you’re hoping to plant a yard that could impress the gardening pro, read on to see exactly what you shouldn’t do.
“I don't hate anything. If people want to garden, they can garden whichever way they want,” Stewart clarified. “I don't like fakery in a garden. I don't like plastic in a garden. I don't like black or red mulch in a garden.”
Stewart’s homes are just as famous and recognizable as her multiple eponymous home lines. A triple threat, she owns a posh postwar apartment in New York City’s Upper West Side, a farm in Bedford, New York, and, when she feels like getting away from New York altogether, Stewart heads up the coast to Skylands, her Maine estate just outside Acadia National Park in Seal Harbor. Each property offers its own charm, impressive in its own right. In fact—between the farm and her coastal escape, Stewart says it’s impossible to play favorites. She frequently shares snaps from both home gardens on her Instagram, tracking their progress and transformations between seasons.
Amongst a rolling cabbage patch, rows of Japanese maples, and lush rose beds, blooming with her own brand of hybrid tea roses, Bedford functions as a personal animal sanctuary for Stewart’s beloved horses, sheep, and donkeys, and is home to her iconic, cluttercore kitchen. Up north, Skylands features a more refined gardenscape with patches of lilies blooming to the brim, rudbeckias reaching for the sun, and snapdragons springing up in flower beds. But no matter the function, Stewart always opts for a no-fuss garden design.
“I like natural, beautiful, wonderful plants. That's what I like,” says Stewart. It really is that simple: when it comes to impressing Martha, skip the fluff and focus on the flora.
