We listened carefully to the sage whisperings of the firs before we ventured into our woodland with saw and spade.
Two years passed before my husband, and I could bring ourselves to the actual operation of digging out some of the lush ground corers so that paths could be staked out.
Natives such as Vancouver and Oregon grape had to go, but trillion’s, ferns, and clintonia were transplanted to other areas.
Today, native plants still predominate in our woodland garden. But, with the forest giants’ consent, we’ve introduced modest plants from other lands.
Where The Woodland Begins
The path where our lawn ends and the woodland garden begins, we’ve edged with dwarf rhododendrons – hybrids of Rhododendron williamsianum. These dwarfs have intriguing oval leaves, and in late April and May, pink and yellow hanging hells.
This rhododendron walk leads to a favorite spot, the garden bench, where we’ve planted drifts of little bulbs and dainty evergreen flowering plants for year-round interest.
In early March, a colony of Snow Bunting crocus opens star-shaped blooms in defiance of cold winds.
Here, too, are snowdrops, followed by the lovely fringed pink hells of shorties and schizogonous. Both plants have shiny evergreen leaves that turn bright red in winter.
Mid-April coaxes out the ethereal pink bloom of the schlippenbachii azaleas. These plants appreciate the protection of a Douglas fir tree.
Garden Bench In June
In June, the low, spreading mounds of Gumpo azaleas tucked behind the garden bench are studded with large pink and white flowers. Their evergreen foliage is handsome all year long. Midsummer brings tall spires of foxgloves, which reseed among ferns.
Sitting on the garden bench out of the broiling sun in late August and listening to the rustle of the first falling leaves is pleasant. The hardy cyclamen hear it too and promptly come forth with a few bright blooms and numerous buds.
We take the hint and water their dry bed, and before many days watch a sheet of white blooms unfold. By mid-October, the pretty marbled leaves of these plants cover the ground.
Along the lower woodland path, the colchicums, too, heed the rustle of autumn leaves, and soon their delicately tinted mauve blooms are to be seen hovering near the edges of the walk like pale wraiths.
First to open are the soft lilac blooms of colchicums autumnale, followed by the rare and lovely white variety of the same species called album plenum.
The flowers of the latter are double with several rows of narrow petals. Finally, just across the path, a small colony of another variety, The Giant, closes the entire performance with large blooms of lilac-rose.
A little later on, on this same path, that color-spendthrift October paints the foliage of western dogwood and vine maple in rich, intense hues, which stand out sharply against the backdrop of first.
A third path leads up a gentle slope to the sunny edge of the woodland. Our latest project here was placing mossy rocks as a setting for dwarf species rhododendrons, but these fascinating small shrubs presented a problem.
Should we give in to our mania for collecting one-of-a-kind or plant fewer varieties to achieve eye-pleasing massed effects?
Rare Rhododendron Species
Limited supplies of some varieties settled the problem for us. In a Canadian nursery, we found one small plant of the rare, yellow-flowered Rhododendron hanceanum nanum.
We finally located a few specimens of Rhododendron crema strum with its plum-pink bells and Rhododendron sargentianum with its wee yellow blooms and tight growth habit.
Blue-flowered Rhododendron imperium and Rhododendron fastigiatum were easier to find, as well as our five plants of Rhododendron pemakoense, a delightful pygmy smothered in showy, lavender-pink blooms in early April.
We use these three varieties we grouped for massed effect, but it will take several more years to cover their allotted space.
Dwarf Rhododendrons Require Care
Since our woodland garden is large, the plants must be able to get along with minimum care.
Fortunately, the natives- clintonia, Oregon grape, diaspora, violets, and ferns – need no care. We leave all twigs and fallen leaves on the ground to provide moisture-holding humus.
Nature has been taking care of these wildlings thus for many years. Why interfere?
But the dwarf rhododendrons do need some care.
Because we want these plants to remain dwarf and compact, we’ve given them a spot exposed to several hours of the afternoon sun. As a result, they need frequent watering in summer and yearly mulch.
The mulch consists of dried bracken fronds and rotted wood from old tree stumps, which we gather in the woodland each full. We mulch all our rhododendrons and azaleas with this material.
We use no commercial fertilizers. Then, too, when the rhododendron blooms fade, the entire trusses are pinched- off to prevent seed formation.
As for planting lime for rhododendrons, we prefer fall since the younger plants establish well during our mild, rainy Oregon winters.
However, because dwarf species often vary in flower size and color, we selected and planted some of them while they bloomed. We especially sought clarity of color in the blue-flowered varieties.
The dainty shorties and schizogonous are happy with a mulch of fir needles, which drop from a nearby tree.
Although shaded by the hot sun, they still need several summer waterings. Planting of these was done in the fall.
Carefree Bulbous Plants
The hardy cyclamen, colchicum, and snowdrops are the most carefree of our bulbous plants. We planted our first cyclamen corms in full bloom, with their tops 2” inches below ground.
They continued to bloom and have increased in size and vigoRhododendron No special soil or fertilizer has been added.
As the corms do not multiply, the increase is from seed. This year, we have flats of seedlings of the Cyclamen neapolitanum album and the rose-colored variety of this charming cyclamen.
Colchicums thrive under the same culture as hardy cyclamens. These we planted in August while they were still in a dormant condition.
Like the colchicums and cyclamen, the snowdrops (Galanthus else) seem at home under woodland conditions. Enough afternoon sun reaches them to ripen the foliage in late spring.
The bulbs, planted five years ago, have multiplied readily and should be lifted and divided in a year or two so they will be safe.
Crocus, we’ve learned, are favorites of mice. Indeed, a few dry husks remained of our first planting.
So the following fall, we planted the corms in wire baskets. And now, we’ve enjoyed this small drift beside the bench for the last two springs.
On the other hand, Foxgloves send seeds far beyond their allotted space. Thus, we’ve had to pull up many of these plants to prevent the coarse leaves from smothering small neighbors. But other than this, they ask for no attention.
Successful Woodland Garden
How well we have succeeded in making our woodland garden a place of beauty, I do not know. But each year, the lofty firs hold baby robins in their limbs, and foxgloves beckon to the hummingbirds.
There’s the good smell of damp mold and the scent of the first trillium pushing through the fallen leaves.
Dogwood blossoms frame a distant snow-capped mountain peak, and a bright-eyed squirrel reports, “All is well.”
44659 by Jeanette Grossman