If you own a fine piece of woodland, you have three choices before you: to leave it a tangle of virgin growth, to “pretty it up” artificially, or to tame it gently to accent its natural beauty. We chose the last.
Before making any plans, it is wise to learn exactly what you have.
What Our Woods Contain
Our woods contain white pine, hemlock, a few enormous oaks, swamp maple, black alder, Rhododendron canadense (often called Rhodora), and several varieties of ferns.
Some preliminary clearing out of dense growth—a job to be spread over several years that requires great caution—disclosed groundcovers and tiny evergreens.
These seedlings are your trees of the future. Treat them tenderly. Give them a year or two of growth, and then begin feeding lightly in spring. As they grow, prune carefully.
As we cleared a 100-foot ridge along the lake, we uncovered a stand of both low and high blueberries, sparked with colorful sheep laurel.
Persistent Cuttings For Handsome Spread
Persistent cutting out of oak, maple, and hazel seedlings and the coarse Eastern bracken has given us a handsome spread of blueberry plants.
Although the chipmunks beat us to most of the berries, I think that we appreciate the view more than they do.
When only lightly cleared, the waterfront itself revealed the graceful thrust of many royal ferns, which, with competition eliminated, are now increasing.
Panning Of Woodland
Since our cabin is our center of operations, we panned our woodland around it. Occasionally we had to be ruthless.
We hated sacrificing some of our noble pines, but it was necessary to let in plenty of air and sun. Areas left bare after the building is an opportunity to bring flowers near the house.
Planting Along The Terrace
In one such spot, along the terrace, we planted ferns, native lilies, meadow-rue, and cardinal flowers (Lobelia cardinalis).
Except for the cardinal flower, which I had started in a flat at home, the flowers and ferns grew wild.
The bank is very showy against a group of transplanted evergreens. Stick to one or two varieties to get the most pleasing effect in such a fern bed.
Another bare strip, a huge gash where the road had been cut through, we planted with hundreds of Christmas ferns and a backdrop of young hemlocks and balsams.
Out of the woods and into this half-sunny area have crept pyrola, pipsissewa, and wintergreen, to join the groundcover we planted—shining leaved gold thread (coptis).
Close to the cabin itself, under the trees, we built an “intimate garden” in a triangle left bare by the builder.
Transplanting Plants To The Intimate Garden
To this spot, we transplanted painted trillium, moccasin orchid, clintonia, partridge-berry, pyrola, dalibarda repens, bunchberry, and goldthread.
Half schoolroom where grandchildren can learn to call plants by their proper names, a half haven for nature lovers, often too lazy to tramp the woods—this little garden has become a favorite corner.
As our plants grew and thrived, we turned our thoughts to more ambitious projects: vistas—a planned view of the distance with some focal point in mind.
Our first will be a glen vista: the stately white birch beyond the rocks, cupped in a miniature glen moist with groundcovers. All that we really must do is more clearing.
Woods: Source Of Delight
Our woods are a constant source of delight.
Yours will be, too, if you remember a few things:
- Transplant large growth in autumn
- Water faithfully
- Prune and thin carefully
- Use your imagination in all transplanting and discarding
But most importantly, don’t shame your woods by bringing in unsuitable, foreign material.
44659 by Marian C. Walker