Handmade Gifts Keep Your Loved one Cozy

Locally hand knit socks and hats are the perfect gifts for that special someone once the weather outside is frightful!

We will be featuring locally made crafts and gifts all through the holiday season.

Intricate Wooden Snowflakes

These stunning wooden ornaments can be purchased individually or as a set. Sold as singles they are only $1.60!

You can call us to check for availability (845) 658-9007.

Unique Filimant Garland For Your Table And Your Tree

We are in love right now with this new filament garland. It almost looks like metal lace, delicate in appearance, but sturdy enough to use year after year. We love it as a tabletop decoration for Thanksgiving and then move it over to your tree for Christmas.

Happy Halloween

Happy hallween to all our friends

~ from all of us at

Victoria Gardens

Deer Resistant bulbs: 'Shubertii' and 'Ivory Queen' Allium

There are many varieties of deer-resistant bulbs: daffodil, muscari, fritillaria, and allium. The most common allium is the tall 'purple sensation' which we love, but here are two lesser known varieties of allium: 'Schubertii' and 'Ivory Queen.'

In the spring everyone asks about these two varieties when they see them in our display gardens. The 'Ivory Queen' in particular is hard to identify as an allium, because of its unusual (and beautiful) foliage and its very short stature. Before 'Ivory Queen' blossoms, it looks like an exotic ground cover, and after it blooms, it still only reaches a height of about six inches. The flowers are small white spheres, and 'Ivory Queen' is best planted at the front of the bed in full sun.

'Ivory Queen' has subtle beauty, whereas 'Schubertii' looks like small fireworks in your garden.

Growing to a height of twelve to eighteen inches, 'Schubertii' is a striking pink shock in late spring, and these unusual flowers dry well and can be used for arrangements. Plant in a group of five or seven in full sun or partial shade for a dramatic effect.

In addition to being beautiful, long lasting, low-maintenance, and deer-resistant, allium are also rabbit and squirrel resistant. Amazing! Come in and see all the great deer-resistant varieties we have in stock.

Planting Bulbs Video Tutorial

We realized after we filmed this that we went a little fast, so forgive us. Next time we'll slow it down. The basics covered here are: Make sure the bulbs are nice and firm. Squeeze them, if they feel soft at all, they are bad bulbs and will not flower for you in the spring. The top of most spring-blooming bulbs are points and the bottoms will be rounded, sometimes with roots, although the Anemone bulbs look almost like buttons (you have to look for the tiny roots in one of the dimpled sides). The next bulb basic is that you want to plant the bulbs at a depth three times their height, so if the daffodil bulb is two inches high, your hole should be six inches deep. The final basic we cover in the video is: firm those bulbs in! Padding down the soil around the bulbs will discourage squirrels and chipmunks from digging up your newly planted bulbs.

A couple things we didn't cover: You want to wait until after the first frost to plant bulbs. Many times they are available in September, but wait to plant them until there has been a frost.

Also, you can sprinkle in some bulb tone into the hole if you are planting somewhere other than a nice fertilized garden. When we plant bulbs that will naturalize (spread) at the edge of a wooded area and a lawn, we alway use bulb-tone in the hole as we plant, to feed the bulbs in the first year, and then we sprinkle the ground with bulb-tone each fall after that. If you are planting bulbs in a garden that you fertilize with organic material (fish emulsion, aged manure, compost) than no extra fertilization is necessary for your bulbs.

Peacock Planter at Old Westbury Gardens

This very cool Peacock planter was another treasure that Victoria discovered while visiting the grounds of Old Westbury Gardens in Long Island, NY. The yew is planted in the ground behind the planter, while the body of the peacock is planted with trifolium, ferns, ivy, and the top plant we couldn't identify.