Big Plans

These pictures were taken yesterday before the return of more normal January weather.  The ridge above the transplanted Cardinal Flowers is widely strewn with broken chunks of bedrock.  This edge  exposed rock caught my eye because of its unusual orientation.  The last glacier pushed these rocks around  with their largest face commonly resting in contact with the ground.  This rock was pushed into the ground with its thin edge topmost.  In my attempts to create a garden that looks somewhat natural, it never occurred to place rocks in this manner.  Many large rocks have been unearthed by me that remain unused because of their ugly wrinkled and twisted large flat surfaces.  If placed in the garden in this manner their ugliness will remain hidden out of sight and there will be more rocks for me to plant.

Wintergreen growing naturally between moss covered Birch tree roots is what I would like to see in my developing woodland garden.  To date Wintergreen has defied my attempts to move it.  A linear stem grows just beneath the soil surface with small roots penetrating the soil beneath each leaf cluster.  If there is a large system of roots under the central part of the plant, I have yet to see it.  It would be best to enjoy these wild plants where they now grow.

These pieces of rotted tree trunk have been levered out of the ground and carried to the developing woodland garden.  When the ground is free of frost this wood will be replanted.  In addition to adding a possibly natural look to the area, dead wood may hold the secret to successful placement of Lady Slippers.  These plants native to this region have recently become available for purchase.  Their price is steep and the catalogs promise that growing instructions will be shipped with each plant.  It makes no sense to me that the instructions will arrive with the plant.  Having the area properly prepared ahead of the arrival of the plant sounds like a better idea.  I intend to place the stump in soil taken from the area where the former tree grew.  One year will be allowed to pass so that the dead stump can settle in.  Perhaps then we will be ready to part with just under one hundred dollars for one
precious plant.

Partridge Berry is another native plant that grows somewhat freely here.  Each red berry is formed from two blossoms that were fused at their base.  This plant has the reputation of being easy to move.  We intend to include it in our new shade garden.

This monster was just discovered.  Its size guarantees that it will remain where planted.  Several cracks show where a chisel and hammer could split this rock.  Those cracks also show where an unusually hard section directs them downward.  Any attempt to alter this rock will just make a mess.  It makes more sense to bring some native plants to this rock.  White Trilliums  would look really good here.  We shall see just what happens here when spring returns.