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keilamarie_gw

What makes a woodland garden?

keilamarie
18 years ago

Hello,

What consitutes a woodland garden? I've checked the FAQ section and although there are plenty of plant suggestions I am looking for a more overall explaination. Is it just planting native plants in the woods? I have a path that goes through my woods and planning to plant alot of shade plants in there. The area where the woods meets my backyard is still woody.

Thanks from a newbie!

Comments (10)

  • arcy_gw
    18 years ago

    Your plans sound like my garden. I would not call it a woodland garden because my main attraction are hosta. I read these threads to get plant ideas. I have enjoyed hunting plants in the woods for transplant in my garden. The true "woodland natives" make great companion plants in a shady garden. Just this week on a walk I found a plant that has beautiful yellow orchid like flowers on it. It is not on my property, and is growing wild. I would love to have a slip for transplant. I no nothing about it so wouldn't even attempt it at this point. I think you will hear about many kids of woodland gardens. My bet is it the type of garden you grow into.

  • Trilliophile
    18 years ago

    Woodland gardening is quite simply gardening in a wooded area. You can use native or non-native plants. It is different from open area gardening because of sunlight, moisture, and drainage. Have fun.
    t

  • paalexan
    18 years ago

    Woodland gardening-->gardening in woodland. Could be anything from nice well-managed forest to a few hostas under a maple tree, really.

    Patrick Alexander

  • waplummer
    18 years ago

    I distinguish between a "woodland" garden which strives to emulate, in my case, a northeastern woodland as opposed to a woodland "garden" which is growing Hostas and other shade plants undet the trees in a wood.You pays your money and you takes your choice.

  • Flowerkitty
    18 years ago

    I like Waplummer's "woodland" garden as meaning like what you find in a natural woods. For instance, if a branch falls, you let it lay as in an untouched setting unless it blocks a path. The branch isn't litter but gives shelter, a place for insects and mushrooms, and eventually rots back to improve the soil. At least don't through it away on trash day but break it up and put it somewhere on the ground. You don't rake up leaves and pine needles, but leave them be. Fallen leaves soften the undersoil, hold moisture, recreate the environment woodland natives need.

    It was a big step for me to realize I didnt have to plant grass under trees. The natural leaf mulch that replaced grass was easier to maintain and favored the natives. Every now and then I walk through and pull up nightshade or other invaders that poke through the mulch. They come up easy beacause the soil is softer and moister under the leaves. Some wood has already rotted to fluff, and fern patches do better the more I leave be. Old leaves and pine needles smell so sweet.

    I don't pull down plants in the fall after blooming as I was taught to do in traditional gardens. I leave them alone. By spring, most of the dry stalks have crumbled to add to the soil. When I used to cultivate around plants in spring, I had to battle weeds all summer in the cultivated areas. Instead, I monitor plants as they pop through the mulch, and remove them if I am sure they are unwelcome. This way I am slowly acquiring free natives that would have been yanked in my traditional garden.

    It must be working because this year I actually got complements mostly for these more natural areas. THey are the prettiest part of my property

  • cydonia33
    18 years ago

    Hi.
    I actually converted a completely bare and non-landscaped area on my small city lot into a woodland garden. I planted a river birch, a white dogwood "Cherokee Princess", serviceberry rhodies, mountain laurel, and viburnums, and now I have a woodland garden in my yard! I plan to fill in between these large plantings with native grasses, perennials, and wildflowers this fall and next spring. Happy gardening!

    Jenny

  • well_drained
    18 years ago

    The American Woodland Garden, by Rick Darke, is a thoughtful, detailed and inspiring examination of the idea of a woodland garden as well as full of practical ideas and tips. Partly on his advice, I've been spending a lot of time in local woods and nature preserves while I make decisions about my garden -- I want to find out what makes woodlands beautiful and dramatic and serene, both to give my brain an aesthetic model other than traditional suburban landscaping, and to get specific ideas about how I can translate some of those elements into my own property. My guess is that there are more ways to do this effectively than any of us could imagine.

  • kwoods
    18 years ago

    My woodland garden started out approximating a "natural" woods one would have found on Long Island several hundred yrs ago and then started to evolve into something much more eclectic. I now have species woodland plants from many parts of North America and the rest of the world and I'm trying to make them all "work" with all the locals. I'm going for "why is that jack in the pulpit so different from those ones over there I'm used to?". I don't think a woodland garden neccesarily has to be all natives since there are woodlands all over the world.

    Because of the game I am trying to play my definition of woodland garden may be more broad than other's. Just like most woodlands my garden consists of three layers with some gray areas in between, herbaceous/shrub, understory/shrub, canopy. That's pretty much what a woodland garden is to me.

  • myloki
    18 years ago

    My definition of a woodland garden would be one where natives are featured but non-natives, as long as they are not invasive and fit in with a natural setting, are not necessarily exluded. It IS a garden, after all. There is a certain amount of art & artifice to it when we go against what just appears on its own.

  • nwnatural
    18 years ago

    I've read that when designing a garden, you should average 1 tree to 3 shrubs and 7-10 perennials or groundcover. When desiging a woodland garden, omit the shrubs.

    That seems to occur here in our Northwest forests, although there are some shrubs, the trees and native groundcovers out number the shrubs by far.

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