Compromise - something intermediate between different things..So I have a dream of what things are supposed to look like in my gardens, I can see it in my head. If you are a gardener, or creative, or maybe just have a vivid imagination you know what I mean.
For me though, reality is a big brown mammal with a voracious appetite for a lot of the plants I want to grow. While I don’t mind sharing my home with all of the animals that live here with me (ok I could totally do without ticks, mosquitos, gnats and stinkbugs) I do find it very frustrating trying to bring my vision to life when someone keeps eating it. So if I can’t turn my entire property into that dream woodland escape, I’ll have to settle for a portion of it being done that way!
So you are looking at this going, what the heck does the pond have to do with a woodland. Well nothing and everything! See the pond makes for a nice break on this side of the yard, almost like a moat and behind that is a nice area of woods, with rich loamy soil, some native wildflowers like mayapples and jack-in-the-pulpits and some lovely native shrubs like maple leaf viburnum and redbuds.
I had intended all along on landscaping the area behind the pond heavily to make it a cool place on a hot summer day, but then it occurred to me that since it wasn’t practical to fence in the majority of the yard (and oh how I would LOVE to!) it would be practical to fence in a small section! So I walked off an area (and have done that three times now) that we are going to install deer fence around. There is an old cedar tree in the middle of this area, it needs some limbs pruned and there is a pine that needs to come down as it’s leaning into that cedar, but besides that, nothing major needs to be done. Well major as in something I can’t do, there is a MAJOR amount of bittersweet and wineberry that must be removed by hand.
I started that process last weekend. It’s tedious work for sure, but it comes up pretty easily, I just have to be careful so as not to rip out a wild trillium or any other natives. Sadly (and I am sad as I thought it was native at first) the evergreen shrubs that I was planning to leave are invasives from Japan so they must go. I’m keeping all the old logs that are in place and will use them as focal spots for ferns.
I love brush piles because they provide needed space and habitat for sooo many animals but this one is going to have to go or at least part of it is. We are going to chip it up and I’ll use those wood chips for the path in my woodland sanctuary. The problem is it got unruly and it’s more long and flat and spreads into the small space I want to utilize. Not to worry though we started another one around back and there are evergreens in the queue!
The list of plants that I’m transplanting to this area isn’t that big, the problem is that the plants are spread all over the yard. One step at a time though, pull out weeds, chip up brush, mulch up leaves, then plant, plant, plant. Wonder how long it’s going to take me???
