I lived in the wild woods for 40 years, it was fun and I always had lots of projects that I felt improved the property and enhanced the natural beauty. Brings back memories, thanks for posting. :-)

Thanks for the wonderful post!

Beautiful!

Far more 'garden' atmosphere to live in than the typical suburban overly composed 'look at me' gardens.

when you define YOUR garden ... how can it be improper.. if its built to your vision ...

and pshaw on all the naysayers... if any ...

come back often.. and give us more pix.. and wisdom ...

ken

ps: according to your pic.. you are awful young to have so much wisdom and experience.. lol .... ...

I too left cuttings to rot on the meadow this year...but worried that adding to its fertility would doom the desirables. What has your experience been in this regard?

Christopher, you of course know that I have followed your 'dream' for many years here on GW. The cabin designed and built by you. We disagreed on several points as I remember. But, you did it your way and it is a great accomplishment!. And from your very first posting it was obvious that Mother Nature was your designer. Together you two have worked well together. Good job! Through the years you will tweak 'this and that'. Always learning. Always listening to your designer.

One suggestion that I have been having fun doing. Making and installing barn owl boxes about the property. Directions on line. Their habitat is declining and they need help.

Ken I am older than I look and will be lucky to get the 40 years in the wild that Bill in Minn had. Still 40 years up here will have me younger than my mother currently is and when she gets back in the spring with her second new knee, I expect her to get back in the garden a bit more. I do have her gene line. Some bad habits may do me in sooner though.

Kitasei, over the course of the winter I do a chop and drop on three acres of ground that are allowed to be the natural sun to shade herbaceous meadow type plants that will grow here. The overall planted garden is growing directly in this mix. Basically I am just following what nature does with crushing winter snow and wind. I'm just more anal about it and want a nice flat surface when the thousands and thousands of bulbs and native spring ephemerals wake up in the spring. On the rest of the property I let winter do most of the work, then cut down what is left standing starting in late January. By the first of May the fresh green growth has hidden most of the brown debris. By the end of June it is pretty well gone and you can see the surface of the dirt again. I don't think added fertility is an issue, but come spring as we walk the gardens it is normal to just brush aside any debris, including leaves that is sitting on top of a preferred plant to help it come up with less effort.

Nandina it is an ongoing process of learning for sure. One of my current projects is the Turnip Fields. I'm having a nice big chunk of the back forty logged, (firewood for my deer hunter) to have sun for growing more fine produce and perennial food crops for when the Sisters retire and spend more time up here. I'm hoping they will cook some of it and invite me over for supper now and again. I do have two kind owls up here. probably Barn and Screech. Making nesting boxes could be a fine idea to get more of them. There is no shortage of vermin for them to dine on. Meadows are prime habitat for vermin.

Nice, as always. Although I still think THIS is your best shot.

tj

That was certainly a scene to capture tsugajunkie. Winter is coming. I never know what will show up. One of things I love about this place is that it is constantly changing.

Another unusual aspect of my garden is that is mostly viewed from above, from the front porch and from inside the house, from the scenic byway up top and from many locations in the garden. Essentially it is planted in a bowl. The house and the highway sit on the rim.

There is no flat plane and the plants can be viewed from all sides. That changes the dynamic of how the plants are arranged. The idea of taller in the back to short in front looses its grip on things. It opens new possibilities.

Entering the bowl completely changes the perspective. The conifers and evergreens were chosen first for their ability to live up here and just as important, the contrasting colors and textures. This is a closer view of the actual plants involved in the bigger picture.

There was no need to confine my thinking to a standard foundation planting layout. I was using color and texture on a much bigger canvas that was largely viewed from above. The intent was to make a garden for the barren time of winter.

Ever so slowly the conifers grow.

Nice pictures as always. You don't have Rhododendron and Kalmia down there?

I have planted about ten rhododendron, along with fargesia bamboo, Bosnian Pine, oak leaf hydrangea, viburnum, deciduous azalea and sumac in the sweep of the forested section of the garden closer to the highway. I can't waste my sunniest spaces on rhodies. Some of the rhododendron in my mom's garden next door are 25' high and 20' around.

Kalmia certainly grows wild here. In gardens it tends to be fussy and rather leggy and sparse so I am not fond of it. It always looks best growing in the crack of a rock.