Planning for Changes
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| Looking north into my woodland |
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| Looking east |
When I planted this small woodland, it too was by design and included this ability for the kind of expansion I knew I would need. The trees are on the north end and as they develop over the years, the shade they produce will still allow for the kinds of wildflowers I will add to my new space. I will someday be able to add more of the shade-requiring wildflowers beneath the canopy, but it is still many years ahead. Right now, and for the next several years, the amount of sun that would reach them would be simply too much. I added lyre-leaved sage (Salvia lyrata) early on because it can handle pretty much everything, but a few others that I would like to add would scorch if I added them now.
Too often we do not plan carefully enough for the future. It is a scenario that is played out daily in the social media groups I belong to and it has hamstrung me personally in the past. In my former home, I inherited a native plant landscape that was not very well thought out in much the way I see so many others do. Trees were purchased by my former wife because she liked them and she planted them where she had room. The trees themselves were quality native plants that I might have chosen myself, but they impeded nearly everything we wanted to do afterwards. For example, as they grew, they shaded the front and side yards to such an extent that it became virtually impossible to maintain our pollinator garden or the scrub planting that I installed right after our marriage. Each year, the plants declined in vigor and failed to flower properly. Some, simply died outright. The way the trees had been planted ensured that nearly all of our landscape would receive a lot of shade - year-round and that our desire to help bees, butterflies, and other pollinators would be severely curtailed.
There is always a lot of talk about "right plant/right place" among native plant gardeners, but not enough talk about how design influences the right place. I have been (kindly) critiqued during my time for curbing people's enthusiasm. Seemingly, I should not confuse those who, in their zeal to do good, want to start planting all the wonderful plants they read about in other people's social media posts. Such zeal has very little consequence when folks are planting wildflowers, for example, but it can have lifelong consequences if the new plants are trees and large shrubs. It takes planning more than zeal to compose a living landscape that will meet one's objectives. It takes objectives to begin with and it takes some patience to compose the landscape properly. It is not done by simply scattering seed that becomes available from somewhere or by planting cuttings given to you by a friend. If those plants are in your initial plan, it's great, but if they were not it is best to pass.
I prepared this area today with the plan to add some of the wildflowers that I am currently growing from seed; asters mostly. They are not yet large enough to plant, but I wouldn't plant them now even if they are ready. I need to wait a while to let the weed seeds in this now-bare soil germinate and then be removed. It is a temptation to simply bury this open soil with the leaf mulch I am using. The problem with this is that it will protect the weed seeds and they will sprout each time the leaf cover over them is reduced. I want to eliminate them completely as fast as possible. I have planned for a month to do that and hope that by that time, my desired wildflowers will be ready to plant.
I'll keep you posted on my progress.
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| I will add leaf mulch to the bare soil after I've given time for the weed seeds to germinate and be pulled |
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