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Thursday, March 29, 2012

Warfare in the garden

It may look rough, it may look bare, but this is the time of the year to see what's happening at soil level. It's easy to see which plants are competing with their neighbors, which plants may be getting the upper hand, where the problems are. Here is a sweeping view of the garden from the hydrangea "bower" (well, bower-in-progress) on the far side of the garden.


The area I'm headed for is the inside of the curve in the path, on the right side of the next photo.


Here ... though this may look a mess, gets to the heart of the kind of gardening I'm doing at Federal Twist. There isn't much open ground in my garden; I've planted to try to prevent that, using plants as a living mulch to limit undesirable self-seeding, to suppress weeds, to control how the garden grows and how the planted areas interact, to the extent that's possible.


But here I created a small piece of open ground--originally to raise the soil level so I could grow Eryngium yuccafolium (Rattlesnake master). I also wanted to try using Bergenia and a European bunch grass, Sesleria autumnalis, as groundcover. I can't say that was successful, not yet anyway, so I decided to see what I could do with seeding. I like the early umbelliferous flowers of Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) that grows along the roadsides nearby so I collected seed and scattered it here. It's the plant with lacy, carrot-like foliage, in its third year now. (Yes, this is the same plant used to put Socrates to death, so it's of alien origin.) Then Ironweed started to self-seed. And thistles, and other interlopers.

Not wanting to replace this natural mechanism entirely, wipe it out and put in some plant combination that I know will dominate and rule the area (though that option remains open), I'm letting the self-seeding continue, but managing the process by weeding out plants I find pernicious or otherwise undesirable.


Unstable and subject to continuing change as this area is, it requires management throughout the growing season. The Poison hemlock, for example, grows rapidly and blossoms in June, then promptly dies and becomes a rather unattractive, brown skeleton. I cut and remove it, and let the later blooming Eryngium and Vernonia take over the space. I'll eventually want to find a stable condition, but don't yet know what that will be. The goal will be to cover the ground with only desirable plants.


So it goes on the larger scale, though the garden as a whole is much more stable because it's full of large, dominant plants. The apparent empty spaces around the red logs isn't empty at all. I've planted several clumps of Miscanthus giganteus to screen the view of the deer fence behind and to provide a visual boundary to the garden, as well as other kinds of miscanthus, and on this side, Panicum 'Dallas Blues' and Petasites japonicus for variety of texture and color, and for the practical purpose of covering ground.


Above are the early flower spikes of a hybrid Petasites I use massed in two large areas. Not much can compete successfully with Petasites. Below are the flowers of Petasites japonicus, similar to the hybrid, but with round rather than angular leaves.



These willows, Salix sachalinensis 'Sekko', through shading and root competition, also dominate their ground.



Some other plants seem to dwell undisturbed above the competitive fray, peacefully apart from a kind of warfare that exists at ground level. Lindera benzoin (Spice bush) is one such plant. It fills the woods around here, and now as you drive along the roads or walk, you see clouds of Lindera blossoming, almost like yellow flurries of snow.




It's another kind of actor, seemingly able to adapt successfully to just about any kind of competition. If you follow the rule that there are three kinds of plants--ruderals (pioneer plants that quickly cover bare ground), competitors, and stress tolerators--this must be a stress tolerator.

Here, the field of battle.


15 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. Hi Jim,

      Excellent post! The Conium maculatum is quite interesting and I love the foliage. Too bad its staying power doesn't get you through the summer, but the Eryngium taking over after the Conium must be quite a lovely sight. I also love your use of the red logs as an architectural element in the garden. There something primal about the structure that puts me in mind of Stonehenge.

      Happy gardening and have a great weekend!
      Michael

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    2. The logs came from a Walnut tree that fell over five years ago. I cut it up, painted the logs, then moved them around until this circle "spoke to me." I love the red against the greens of summer. I was hoping they would evoke the native people who once lived in these hills, but that doesn't seem to occur to anyone. Perhaps I need to add a marked stone.

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  2. I see so many signs of Spring in your garden! Such a change since the naked and burned photos just a couple of weeks ago. And I hadn't noticed before the Goldsworthy-esque serpentine wall--nice.

    Emily

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    1. Hi, Emily - Good to hear from you. Things are beginning to just break the surface, which is good. They're still low and less likely to be damaged by the freezes we've been having the last couple of weeks. I'm thinking of adding another Goldsworthy-esque serpentine wall directly across from the house, in a shaded area where I've not been successful in getting a community of large ferns established. They just languish, and it's time to do something else. I'm trying to sifure out how the serpentine shape can be made visible looking at it frontally. Perhaps with greater exaggeration of the curves.

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  3. That inverted view of the sky, tells me you did climb into the water and cut back with revenge.

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    1. You're so right, Diana. It took about two hours, but I managed to stay dry in my waders. I used this neat Japanese knife with serrations on one side. Great for cutting under water. I still need to clean loose debris out with a net. Frogs are everywhere.

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  4. Always good to see how a garden works, James, not just how it looks as a finished product. Yours alters radically through the year.

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  5. Faisal, speaking of how a garden works, I discovered something new today. Many of the grasses I burned have piles of fine soil around them now. Looking more closely, I find something has been digging in them and piling soil around the crowns. I think these must be voles. Don't know if you have these in Australia. They're mouse-like creatures, well known for eating plants from the roots up. I'm hoping they don't do too much damage. A good four-inch rain would help return the soil to its proper place and undo some of their damage. So far, no hint of such a deluge.

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  6. Hi Jim. Just discovered your blog, you have an amazing collection of interesting plants.
    I've always had Petasites on my list of plants that I'd like to grow but I'm sure it will take over my garden.

    Paul

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    1. Right about Petasites. No one should consider allowing it in a garden without plenty of space to keep it within bounds. You need to be able to see where it's moving and have time to stop it.

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  7. James, your laissez faire approach (to the open ground) seems to pay dividends. The eryngium you grow is one I should of!

    Let the battle commence.

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    1. Rob, give it a try. I would think it would love your conditions.

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  8. Like you, I'm letting things compete and self sow as they will, taking out some seedlings and tossing or giving away. Still, in just 1,500 feet, I have to have the eye of a hawk this time of year. I'm sure you feel the same way even in your larger garden. And btw, your city place is looking fantastic. I also am sad about your cherry, so pretty, but as you say, out of place. And, now, out of time. Nature tooth and claw (and saw?).

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    1. I envy you because you have much better soil. Not that I'm unhappy with my lot (heavy, wet clay) but I see you can grow a greater variety of plants, and that opens up many opportunities for experimentation. Many plants I'd like to grow just die in my garden, so I tend to favor the highly competitive, large plants. I find the weed strimmer to be a favored tool for controlling excessive competition. Right now, I'm watching the Ligularias in the front seed about and cover a larger area. That's one "invasion" I'd like to encourage. Gardening in the city is going to be entirely different. I have to give much closer attention to exact placement and doubt I can allow much seeding about. And, of course, the formal, rather exacting layout, it a totally new approach to me.

      Too bad for the cherry. I wish it would just give up the ghost so I don't have to decide when to make the life and death decision and remove it. Maybe another year?

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