Oak Insights

We moved to Amissville, Virginia, on April 22nd and left my Nottingham Street gardens behind. Craig’s mowing service (we recommend them highly) took care of the grass until renters took over.

Over the summer and fall, I moved some of my plants to our new place:
Herbs – anise hyssop (Butterfly Delight), sage, catnip, lamb’s ears, angelica
Perennials – golden yarrow, German iris, Royal Heritage hellebore, Jupiter’s Beard, daylilies (many kinds), hardy begonia, lily of the valley, spiderwort, nicotiana, Korean mums
Berries – blackberry (thornless)
Ferns – Japanese and native

…and others I have momentarily forgotten.

Woods and Gardens. Dennis and I spent many days thinning out the woods that encroach on the house. Smaller trees got shredded and used for mulch over bare areas. Some long straight trunks we saved for garden poles, and the largest hardwoods and semi-hardwoods Dennis cut and split for firewood in case the power goes out.

We inherited some gardens that had been built up somewhat through hard work and the addition of organic material. Thirty years ago this land was left as spent farmland. There are myriad bulbs, ferns, perennials, and shrubs planted by previous owners.

The north side of the pole barn.

Re-shaping the border lands. But the garden area was very strongly delineated from the woods. The border area of woods was impassable in almost all directions due to felled trees, piles of branches, discarded shrubs, and the menagerie of vines which had taken over that “no man”s land”: honeysuckle, poison ivy, grapevines, and greenbrier covered the ground and climbed high into many of the trees. We spent many days over the months clearing the woods adjacent to the house of brush piles and other junk. I had poison ivy rashes for a large part of my time here! One of the worst piles of tree wreckage hid a rock outcropping to the east of the house. We worked very hard to clear those rocks and begin to restore the beauty of that hillside. But there is still much to do in that arena.

I am working to connect the grounds right around the house to the woods by designing garden beds and pathways that introduce a middle “parkland” band between the cultivated gardens and the forest. In this band I have planted shrubs that I moved from over-planted areas (e.g.., azaleas that were planted 12 to 15 inches apart) and we have thinned out the trees a bit.

Fire control. Additionally, I “de-ladder” the trees in the woods so that there are no dead branches on the trunks from the ground up to where I can reach with a bow saw. This helps open up the forest, while at the same time providing a deterrent to the spread of fire. In that vein, I also have been getting as many of the leaning and half-fallen dead trees to the forest floor. This is good fire-prevention practice as well as making it easier to navigate the woods.

New plants. Early in the fall, I dug up impatiens which had sprouted in the gravel and brought them in for the winter. I transplant them as they need space and as more sprout. I have about seven flats of impatien plants now, waiting for spring. I did not remember seeing crocuses when we came to see the house last winter, so I planted a few on the north side of the house.

October

November

Dennis clearing the walkways with a torch… The moon behind the canopy.