Baptisia x 'Purple Smoke'and just gathered salt marsh hay :)
DISCLAIMER: This has been a VERY VERY STRESSFUL spring for me so please forgive the colorful language that may be not so liberally sprinkled throughout this post.
Before I get started I'd like to wish a MASSIVE, GIANT, FLYING, F#@K YOU!!!!! to spring. All I wanted was just a month, just one little month of cool moderate temperatures and consistent rainfall. You know, kinda like the typical weather we get almost every spring... but apparently not this one. I was even a really good boy and got most of my seeding done before mid April. And just when I got most of my flats hardened off and ready to go we went from March temperatures in the 30s and 40s to July temps in 70s and 80s (apparently April and May got together and collectively decided they really needed a break this season). Oh, and not one spot of rain for almost 2 months (okay maybe there were a few spots, but not much more than that). Anywho, F@#$@@@#@@@@K YOU SPRING. F @ # $ @ @ @ # @ @ @ @ K!!! Y O U!!!.
Ok, now that that's out of the way, back to business. For the 2 people and my mom who actually read this blog, you may have noticed that for someone who is totally obsessed with plants, there is an alarming lack of my own garden pics sprinkled around here. Aside from being extremely insecure, this is mostly 'cause the last few years have been a bit of transition for me. Letting go of the place I gardened growing up (mainly cause there is simply nothing left to save at this point) and embracing my newly, officially adopted (as of now) garden home. In addition to developing a larger master plan for the property (which is currently mostly still all in my head) the last few years have consisted of dealing with the aftermath of a grant my family and I were lucky/"lucky" enough to receive from the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge that our property abuts. In all seriousness though... very happy we got it... I think.
This past weekend (of many, many weekends) spent weeding, planting, and watering was the first I can remember in a long time when my excitement about the future wasn't completely crushed by the life sucking vortex of anxiety born from being completely and utterly overwhelmed by the shear number of things to do. So it seemed like a good time to start sharing... at least before the vortex started swirling again. Also, if I'm being completely honest... I'm feeling just too damn lazy this week to search for inspiration and figured I'd go with what was right in front of me.
Just a little bit of background, part of my strategy for turning this property from a messy mosaic of mostly invasives and a few sporadic natives to a (at least partially) cultivated and at least mostly self-sustaining "native" landscape is identifying as many of the native trees and wildflowers that are already on site and not only encouraging and propagating these species, but using them as a means of understanding the properties past and getting a sense of where its headed. Considering there's about 6 acres to work with (+ adjacent conservation land) the list is pretty substantial. Here are some of the highlights as well as a few species I might be able to integrate into the various niches I'm both creating and attempting to enhance.
Cornus alternifolia - Pagoda Dogwood
Zones 3-8
Purchase from: American Beauties, A Nearly Native Nursery, Cold Stream Farm, Forestfarm, Lazy S'S Farm & Nursery, New England Wetland Plants, Prairie Moon Nursery, Tree Seeds, White Oak Nursery
This is perhaps the most distinctive species on the property, and you can spot it from a mile a way (okay maybe a few hundred feet, but still quite an impact). The distinctive, symmetrical, tiered branching is unlike any other tree found in our region. Aside from the most recent incident of my dad accidentally burning a 15 foot specimen (yes Dad, I noticed....and you will be lectured thoroughly...), I plan to use the seedlings sprouting up around existing established trees throughout the property as much as I can. A truly magnificent small tree.
Sabal minor 'McCurtain' - McCurtain Dwarf Palmetto
Zones 5b-10 (possibly solid zone 5 once established)
Purchase from: Brian's Botanicals, Plant Delights Nursery, Alligator Alley
After seeing images of this palm throughout swamps in the south, coupled with the availability of a seed strain from the northern most known population I couldn't resist. Maybe I'll have myself my own little population of Dwarf Palmetto in a few years... or not. We'll see.
Amelanchier canadensis - Canada Serviceberry
Zones 4-8
Purchase from: Accents for Home and Garden, Cold Stream Farm, Greenwood Nursery, New England Wetland PLants, Prairie Moon Nursery, Shooting Star Nursery
This guy has been a bit ubiquitous in landscape trade as of late (although its mostly A. arborea and its hybrids, A. x grandiflora). I "discovered" aka finally stopped overlooking a large specimen on the property a couple of years ago that had been pretty much slapping me in the face every time I got out of the car. Only after researching how to make cuttings of this species did I find a massive treasure trove of seedlings littering the understory (along with a few other older specimens sprinkled around the edges of the property). These little guys will never make it in the midst of established trees, so I'm gonna relocate a few to sunnier areas where they can prosper. Clay/shade tolerant, and unlike most of the cultivars you'll find at your local nursery, this local genotype seems to be almost entirely cedar rust resistant. I actually bought A. x grandiflora 'Robin Hill' several years back only to have it be completely decimated by cedar rust.
Maianthemum canadense - Canada Mayflower
Zones 3-8
Purchase from: Nasami Farms, Sunshine Farms and Gardens
I still feel REALLY shitty about where my family ended up having to put our leach field, which was basically smack-dab in the middle of an existing grove of established red maples, and a lush monolithic carpet of Cinnamon Fern (Osmunda cinnamomea) and Canada Mayflower (Maianthemum canadense). The later is a diminutive and and unassuming wildflower that goes largely unnoticed, but is deserving of much wider use in the industry. In addition to doing my best to encourage and replace that which was lost, I thought I'd pay homage to this under-appreciated staple of the northeast woodland.
Penstemon hirsutus - Hairy Beardtongue
Zones 3-9
Purchase from: Diane's Flower Seeds, Everwilde Farms, Prairie Moon Nursery, Shooting Star Nursery, Sunlight Gardens
This plant definitely falls under the category of "happy accidents" and you gotta celebrate those when they happen. 99.99999% of my accidents are almost always unhappy. Anyway, I grew this penstemon species from seed on a whim planning on planting it out on a nearby exposed rocky hillside. Me, being who I am, ran out of time, and threw them in to some random corner of our meadow/garden because I refuse to let any plant die under my care. They were sad scrappy little seedlings that (I thought) had zero chance of making it. Especially when you consider that they were planted in heavy, like really heavy clay (everything I read about them said they preferred a lean, well-drained soil). Low and behold, not only did they survive, but they seem pretty damn content!! I'm officially done taking the word of gardening books and nurseries at face value. I find more and more often that my own experience directly contradicts most of what's out there in the literature.
Iris versicolor - Northern Blue Flag
Zones 4-9
Purchase from: Amanda's Garden, American Meadows, Companion Plants, Everwilde Farms, High Country Gardens, Morning Sky Greenery, New England Wetland Plants, Niche Gardens, Northcreek Nursery, Prairie Moon Nursery, Shooting Star Nursery, Sunlight Gardens, Toadshade Wildflower Farm, Yellow Springs Farm
By no means rare, I was excited to find one lonely individual growing on the edge of stand of phragmites, where the shade cast by a large red maple suppressed the growth of the phragmities just enough, while at the same time letting in just enough light for this one iris to hang on. I have since divided it and moved a few bits to a slightly sunnier area where it thanks me in late spring with a few flowers. I know of an existing colony a few towns over where I'll be collecting seeds this summer to try to give this lonely survivor a few friends. I imagine this lone individual is the last hold out of a pre-existing colony that was pushed out by what I not so affectionaely call "the devil's reed" (aka Phragmities australis). Since I can't really do justice to the cultural and ecological complexity/weight that comes along with this speices I thought I'd let this VERY local guy do it for me... and yes, he is awesome.
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