There's nothing like a tranquil woodland garden, with its verdant, low-lying plant life spreading at the base of trees and spilling around the ankles of everyone who walks through it. In White Bear Lake, Minnesota, Mary Stanley has created a natural woodland garden just by building on the established plants already on her property.
April and May are wonderful months in the woodland garden. Unlike other gardens that are at their best in summer, woodland gardens often peak in early spring, when they get the most sun exposure. The plants come up out of the soil, they flower, they set seed and die before the trees have even fully leafed out.
Dutchman's breeches (Dicentra cucullaria, Zones 4-8) is just one of the spring ephemerals that flowers then dies completely back to the ground within a matter of weeks.
Native plants such as starflower, wood anemones and jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum, Zones 4-9) do especially well in Stanley's woodland garden.
Stanley's garden has been about 10 years in the making because woodland plants spend a lot of time developing roots before you ever see anything above ground. Trillium (Zones 5-9), for instance, sometimes takes seven years to go from the seed stage to blooming plant.
Each autumn, Stanley gathers up leaves and shreds them before returning them to the soil as mulch. The recycled-leaf cover helps protect the delicate roots of wildflowers and adds nutrients back to the soil.
One plant pest in the woodland garden is an invasive shrubby plant called buckthorn. Birds love the berries produced by buckthorn, so it's easily spread and can completely overtake natural areas. Stanley pulls up seedlings as often as she can, sometimes revealing hidden treasures, such as blueberries (Vaccinium augustifolium, Zones 2-8).
Close to Stanley's house is a "boulder field" she created in a sunny spot, perfect for her collection of perennials, including a prized fernleaf peony (Paeonia tenuifolia, Zones 5-8).
Whether in shade or sun, says Stanley, the key to a natural-looking successful garden is making it appear as if nature has the upper hand when in reality it's the gardener who creates the illusion.
)
)
)
)
)
