The Secret Garden has many plants native to our area, but it doesn’t have some spring ephemerals that grew at our old house, and it’s even lacking some that grow in a wild area further down the street from where we live now. This year, inspired by a sale, I decided to start rectifying that and placed an order with Amanda’s Garden. The plants arrived in beautiful condition and I planted them last Friday.
My goal for the Secret Garden is that it look natural. Of course, as soon as it became a garden, it was no longer 100% natural. I created paths and continue to maintain them by pruning branches and digging up choice plants (trilliums and Jacks-in-the-pulpit) that sprout in the path. That seems natural to visitors because they’re not expecting branches to slap them in the face anyway. They don’t realize that me pruning the pathway is what makes it easy to walk. I’m slowly but surely removing invasive shrubs and plants. I’ve also added benches to view the waterfall and a bird-watching frog because he amuses me and causes visitors to look twice.
For the most part, I’ve only added plants that are native to eastern North America–even if I’ve never seen them grow around here. The two exceptions are snowdrops and Primula japonica. Most visitors wouldn’t be able to tell which flowers were planted and which grew there naturally. Of course I try to plant my acquisitions where they will grow well, but I also try to place them where they are easily viewed from the path or a bench–that’s not natural either, but it’s also something no one would think twice about. I keep adding more to increase the diversity and my pleasure in the garden. Let’s take a stroll and admire the latest additions, shall we? The flower is a much brighter yellow than what was growing in the woods where we used to live: I planted my bright bellwort on a slight slope visible from the lower bench. Fun fact: Bellwort is in the Colchicum family. In my picture above, you can see the flower stem extending horizontally to the right. It was upright when I planted it, but it’s been pretty windy. Squirrel corn grows in a wild area further down our road. Here’s what it looked like last Friday: After that I planted Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria), but I can’t find it. I think an animal already ate it. The leaves look very similar to Squirrel Corn, but the flowers are earlier and look like upside down pants (sorta). Both of these plants have corms that rodents find tasty, and when you plant native flora, you always run the risk that the native fauna will enjoy it just as much as you do. There’s a reason Squirrel Corn is called corn, and Dutchman’s Breeches is no different. Yes, five! I had planted one hepatica (also called liverwort) here a couple of years ago as a test, and it hasn’t died. I’ve always wanted a patch of it because it blooms so early, so I got myself a patch. Some of the plants had seed heads, which the arrow is pointing to. With all the plants in my order, I hope they will seed around and make themselves at home, but this is the year of the liverwort and I really wanted to encourage it. Down the road from us, hepaticas bloom in a range of colors. I hope my five represent a range of colors. Decades ago, I saw a pink shooting star on a walk through a rural area near the mobile home we lived in before our first house. They are enchanting and we’ll just have to see if it likes it here. I tried this one at our old house and it got eaten. Maybe I will have better luck this time! It would be lovely to see a clump of them from the bench that’s nearby.I hope you’ve enjoyed our virtual stroll. The time when these woodland beauties bloom is quite fleeting and not everyone gets a chance to see them.
Inspired by the words of Elizabeth Lawrence, “We can have flowers nearly every month of the year,” Carol of May Dreams Gardens started Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. On the 15th of every month, garden bloggers from all over the world publish what is currently blooming in their gardens. Check it out at May Dreams Gardens.
I love your woodland garden. Once again I have a mostly sunny garden, but I do have some shade and I’m trying to add some of those delicate natives.
Pat, I think amending the soil with leaf mold makes the biggest difference when trying to grow woodland plants.
This is a beautiful woodland garden thanks for sharing!
What a transformation! What you did in this woodland garden is really impressive. I have been gardening with my husband and you gave us an idea that we can turn woodlands into another garden. Thanks. You can also check our website @ https://www.gardenloka.com/ 🙂
Great plant selection. Hepaticas are so beautiful and great foliage. Really enjoyed reading this and your thought/design process. Most garden visitors don’t realize in a garden like you describe that the gardener has had a hand in it.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.I think you theses long time about Gardening.
You are doing such a nice thoughtful job of developing this garden!
I have enjoyed seeing your woodland garden – very pretty!
And wow, what a frog! I love it!
I love, love, love it all! I think I am a woodland garden girl at heart. I am also a fan of Amanda’s Garden and hope to visit it one day in person, but I’ve mail ordered quite a few natives for the Violet Fern Garden. This year I ordered white wood aster, anemone virginiana, and stiff goldenrod. All the plants I’ve ordered from Amanda’s have done very well. Now you have me wondering if I planted squirrel corn or dutchman’s breeches. I dug it up from the lake as it was growing in the drive. It has come up in the Violet Fern Garden but has yet to bloom. It may take another year. I love shooting star. Mine survived! I hope to see its blooms soon. I look forward to the day I can plant drifts of native woodland plants at the lake and possibly have a maintained path such as you, maybe even a cute bird watching frog, too! I also look forward to seeing this secret garden again. It was a wonderful morning stroll, thank you.
What fun to have land enough to build a wild garden. In Mpls,Mn. We have one that is now run by the park system. It was started by school teachers a long time ago. If you are ever in this are you should check it out. Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden http://www.friendsofthewildflowergarden.org/
Joanne, I feel very grateful to be able to have this woodland garden. There is a wildflower garden at Cornell, too.
Plants look like in the wild. I think no one can think that these plants are planted in a special way. Great work!
It was really nice to see what you are doing in a very different climate.
Your secret garden is so lush and natural looking and I enjoyed your anemone and liverwort. Thank you for sharing!