Another Return To Irma's Woods

Once again the written words of John Burroughs introduced me to a must have plant.  He described a frequently taken detour into the woods while walking to school.  His goal was to harvest some Toothwort planning to eat it with his lunch.  By his own account, the plant parts were usually gone by lunch time.  This plant lives happily in Irma's woods and we aspire to create a natural setting similar to this one.

We know of two different forms of Toothwort and subtle differences in both flower structure and leaf shape are clearly visible.  We would like to use Toothwort as a background plant with some of our more showy plants.  We have yet to find extensive numbers of this plant in local markets but now that we understand its gentle growth habit, we plan to buy in large numbers should we run across it.  One of its characteristics that would make it an excellent companion plant is its close to the surface long root.  That is the source of the other popular name Crinkleroot.

Whole fallen leaves mark these plants as growing in Irma's woods.  On this day, we also had two white Trilliums with open flowers.  It seems that the solar advantage of her land that slopes to the south east is less of an impact at this point in the season.

There are two dead giveaways to these being cultivated plants.  Finely chopped fallen tree leaves clearly reveal the gardener's hand here.  He does not have ten thousand years to build natural woodland soil so some shortcuts must be taken.  Also, there are no rusty wire protective cages in a natural forest.  The companion plant is Winter Aconite, a moderately well behaved nonnative plant.  Some thinning of it will likely be needed to allow sunlight to strike the Trillium leaves.

These days there aren't many places where wild native plants cover the ground in large numbers.  Irma's Woods is one of those locations.  Choose any small spot like this photo.  You can see beautiful violets, spring beauty leaves, a single trout lily leaf, foam flower leaves, moss and maybe even Hepatica.  Over the years we have tried to be careful sharing Irma's woods only with those who will appreciate it and take away only photographs snapped from the road.  I have a friend I plan to invite as soon as the white trilliums add their flowers to the green sea of ramps extending up the hill.

Fantastic May Day

The long ago lesson encountered while reading Johnny Tremain focused on working on the Sabbath was not totally ignored today.  It is possible to view being among plants while maintaining a respectful attitude as an acceptable use of Sunday.  Rain was forecast but the morning was beautiful so we took advantage of what was offered.  Bagged tree leaves hold a central part in our attempts to grow native plants.  Our supply of reground leaves was nearly exhausted so opening somewhat intact aged bags of leaves was necessary.  Two piles like the one shown were created this morning intending to use this fine natural mulch to cover recently weeded ground or newly planted areas.  Native ferns are planned for this ground on the western edge of our land.  Since it is nearly impossible to dig planting holes in the tangled fabric of soil surrounded by trees, we will introduce our custom mix of forest soil deep enough to cover the root mass of new plants.  Then a top dressing of ground leaves will finish the job.

We are trying to find a combination of native or woodland plants that can grow next to each other without one destroying the other.  Wild Geraniums seemed like a positive choice.  Their flat deeply incised leaves and bright flowers were both attractive but the root mass was huge so now the task of removing them without harming the nearby desired plants is underway.  The pictured ground was intended to grow Wood Anemones.  Carefully removing many geraniums revealed this leaf that is likely a from seed Bloodroot.  Bloodroot seeds are encased in a coating, elaiosome, that lures ants into carrying off the seeds but discarding them when the coating is eaten.  This plant is close enough to the ground where we have tried for years to grow Bloodroot so it may well turn out to be a naturally planted specimen.  That is the type of action that we would hope to see more of in what is intended to be a natural garden. 

Sharp eyes may see tiny green new leaf growth that may prove to be first year plants from seed.  The larger leaf is part of a new Bloodroot planted last year.  Deer have a steady record of destroying these plants so they are now covered with a wire cage.  That is far from the natural look desired but we must find a way to keep these prized plants alive.

Our weeding out interlopers brought into sharp focus this beautiful purchased violet.  Unfortunately its name was lost but the new growth visible under the leaf to the left of the blossom would indicate that this treasure is here to stay if help is provided.  It seems that our resident herd of deer highly prize eating violets.  Violets are super tough and usually survive the attack but nearby plants are either trampled or eaten so once again wire cages are in widespread use both to discourage the deer and protect nearby plants.  This morning was by far the best time spent near our plants this year.  We are merely days away from Trillium blossoms above recently weeded and mulched fake woodland soil.  Pictures are guaranteed to follow.  We simply love time spent near our plants when the rewards for our efforts are so close at hand.