Finishing the Wetland

Finished Wetland without Mulch

Mulched Finished Wetland
 Yesterday, I found the time I needed to finish planting my created backyard wetland. For weeks, I have been making a mental plan as to what I would add and where and on Monday (March 11) I made the trip up to the Tallahassee area to make the purchases I needed to plant my landscape - including this small wetland area. My road trip to north Florida was a whole day adventure - about 550 total miles, but purchasing the right plants from the right vendor is extremely important. Over the years, I have found too many people that settle on second or third choices because their local plant nurseries do not carry what they really wanted. I have sometimes waited a decade to locate a specimen of what I wanted or ended up growing my own from seed collected from an expedition to the plant's location at the right time of the year. Life is too short to settle - especially when it comes to plants for a living landscape.
Based on my many hiking trips to north Florida, I wanted native pink azaleas (Rhododendron canescens) to frame my wetland edge - the one opposite the large cypress log. Native azaleas are stunning in the spring. Their fragrance attracts a wide diversity of pollinators, including hummingbirds and they signal the arrival of spring in a way few other plants can. Here in the South where so many landscape their yards with azaleas from the Orient, a show of color is all that results. The fragrance which I love so well is only present in the natives.
I am outside the natural range of this species, but I have grown it successfully at my former home for more than a decade. Pink azalea prefers a moist fertile soil and some amount of direct sunlight if it is to bloom. The right amount of sunlight is critical here. Several hours in the early morning or late afternoon is required for it to set its flower buds. Our native azaleas in Florida, occur in the understory of deciduous woodlands where they are in direct sunlight during the winter and early spring. Folks that plant them in shade will find that they decline over the years and set fewer and fewer flowers.
I have planted eight of these pink azaleas above the pond liner. Their narrow crowns and sparse foliage will not throw an undue amount of shade on the wetland itself - at least that's the plan. I have mulched the entire area outside the liner with leaves raked from a property I have been doing some landscape maintenance on. They wanted the leaves removed from their turf and I was happy to have them pay me to rake them up, bag them, and haul them back to my home for use in my landscape. I should have plenty left over to mulch the small woodland I will be planting next.
Fiddleheads of my Christmas fern are finally emerging

Pink azaleas - Timed it just right to get flowers this year
With the completion of my planting plan, it is time to focus on the other parts of my landscape. I will be posting about this as well in the days ahead. I now have nearly all of the plants I've planned to use. I just need time now to rid the area of its turf grass and get to planting.

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