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Naturalization of my Property |
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Backyard - Woods
area
(Summer 2002) |
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The woods area is the first area that I
started work on. When I moved in, the only things growing in here were
trilliums and the buckthorns, as well as some serviceberry trees.
Since then, I have planted hundreds of various woodland native plants. The area
is now
jamb-packed with growth.
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Here what the woods area
looked like before I had done much with it. This is actually a view of
the neighbour's woods area (my apologies to the neighbours for using
their area as a negative example!).
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Jun/02:
Here is a view looking back
towards the rear of the house. It was taken from inside the woods
area.
I have removed many of the invasive small
European Buckthorn trees, but have left a few to continue
to provide shade while other shrubs grow up, such as dogwoods. Prior
to removal of the hedge, the house was not visible at all from here, and
very little light found its way into this little woods.
The small tree in the foreground is one
of the buckthorns that I have trimmed down to let light into the woods.
Notice the dogwoods that are growing up
in the foreground. They sprung up by themselves once the buckthorns
were removed.
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Jun/02: Here's a few photos of various sections of the
woods. The pond is visible in the background in the upper left photo.
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Quite a difference from the "before" picture, eh?!
From the beginning I always had small trails through the
woods area. At first I placed flat natural stones to step on. Their uneven
surfaces and erratic placement created a balancing act to walk along the
trails. When plants started to grow up between them, they became even more
difficult to negotiate, especially for visitors. Then I tried wood chips.
These washed away by the second summer. The photo at left above shows one of
these trails.
In Jun/02 I placed cedar rail borders along the
trails, and covered them with a few inches of mulch. Here's a couple of
photos of these new trails.
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