Native plants for a Cape Cod garden

For years I have been trying to find a copy of “Shrubs of the Northern New England Forest”, by Michael L. Cline. It was recommended by a plant enthusiast I met at Wells Reserve at Laudholm, some 8 or 9 years ago. I looked for it at the usual online vendors such as Amazon and eBay, knowing that it was likely out of print. Going through some old paperwork I found the original note, reminding me to give this another go. I was sad to find out that the author had passed a few years back – https://www.tinmountain.org/wp-content/uploads/Michael-L-Cline.pdf – he seemed like quite the tree guy, and I wish I could have had a chance to meet him. While he is gone, his legacy lives on in the Tin Mountain Conservation Center in New Hampshire. Hats off to you, sir.

OK, I am 9 days into prepping the straw bales, on track to start planting in early May. This is my second year of doing this, adding 2 more bales to a total of eight this time around. There is a bit more planning involved, but the benefits are a higher yield, and not having to contend with the soil which seems to be 50% rock. Great for native plants, not so much for tomatoes and cucumber plants. I am hoping the lessons learned from last year will get even better results. I packed in plants too tightly, did not provide enough support wires and did not anticipate the bales deteriorating and shrinking, leading to structural collapse. All to be addressed this time around!

While I am anticipating some visitors for the fruits later in the season, I was not ready to host friends looking for a hot bale

OK, Sanguinaria canadensis might not be the shortest blooming plant in my woodland garden, but it is probably a very close second to Jeffersonia diphylla (twinleaf) – whose blooms often don’t make it to the end of the day. The bloodroot flowers bloom for a few days, tops. The petals drop with the slightest rain or wind. But often that is all that is necessary to get the job done – bees are already out this time of year to assist with pollination. The stem and flower are the first to emerge, and often the leaves are still unfurling (like in the picture below) when the flowers are starting to go.

I have had these for almost a decade now, and they are doing well, although I might have to rethink that vision of expansive beds of bloodroot. The singular plants from a decade ago are now small clusters, confirming that this plant spreads by rhizomes. And I have found plants in random places in the yard, indicating that some seeds germinated as well. But nature does not care much for the human clock and bloodroot will do its thing at its own pace.

Original post: http://www.capecodwoodlandgarden.com/2013/04/22/sanguinaria-canadensis-bloodroot/

I’ve had these in the yard for a year or two now, and I am happy I added them as they are quite versatile, doing well in all sorts of woodland conditions as long as there is some dappled shade. While they seem to be quite dainty, they showed some resilience when an eager delivery man decided to take a shortcut through this part of the yard and was walking all over them. I was surprised to see the stems bend and bounce back almost immediately.

At this time of year they are one of the earlier blooming plants but you would not know it unless you get up close. The flowers of the buttercup family plant are small and grouped in follicles. The leaves are light green and quite attractive. What I like best are the leggy one to two feet stems that are a light tan color.

The common name refers to the bright colored roots, which have been used in dyes and have antibiotic, immuno-stimulant, anticonvulsant, sedative, hypotensive, uterotonic, and choleretic properties. Berberine is the main alkaloid found in the plant and it has medicinal and supplement properties. In large quantities it can be toxic however. Either way, I won’t be digging up these beautiful open-structured shrubs any time soon – I expect them to gain some height up to 2-3 feet and spread from suckers. This plant plays well with others and the leaves provide a great accent with other groundcovers like foamflower.

You can never start early enough. I am finding that I am always running out of time, or coming up against other constraints. I have some garden additions and changes that have been in the works for some time, or that I have started and abandoned due to other priorities. My latest interest is adding a straw bale garden. I have always had a smallish vegetable garden for some tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and beans, but this has generally fallen below expectations. I have much more luck with native plants and would be ok with just doing that if not for having a fresh vegetable loving spouse, who loves to see some ROI from me spending countless hours outdoors. The straw bale concept has some immediate potential benefits, such as allowing a slightly earlier start to the growing season, and not having to prep the soil. Soils around here at the spit end of the ancient glaciers are mostly rock with some more rock in between. I have been digging those out of the same 10 square yard for years now and there is no end to it. They keep coming, seemingly pushed up from the deep on some conveyor belt. Anyway, the straw bale idea seems an ideal solution, even though getting the bales plus the 3 weeks of bale prep will likely be a painful and frustrating endeavor all of its own.

What else am I behind on? Let me check.

1. I am building out a few walking paths – that is about a quarter done – I am waiting for slightly warmer days to clear out some prickly underbrush
2. I have some 20 young trees (less than 2 feet tall) that need to be planted. They are overwintering in a leaf pile right now. I can’t get to the ideal locations until I extend the paths, and I can’t plant until I clear the brambles. There is a time constraint in that I want this done before the birds select their nesting area. And with the light expanding daily this is much sooner than you would think – I have already seen birds exploring the bird houses. I have until mid February at best
3. The bird houses (12 right now) need to be inspected for rot, rehung in some cases, or cleaned (again). since the fall cleanup rodents of all sorts have moved in. While they don’t bother me the first and foremost intent is to provide nesting locations to the feathered friends. There may be some evictions, but to date I have let the critters move out on their own time. I realize full well that removing the bird houses in the fall would be a better option, but have I done that? Of course not.
4. I have to move some Common wood aster plants. At a summer and fall height of 3-4 feet they are shading out some smaller blueberry bushes.
5. I need to re-harden some of the existing paths – adding some gravel and border stones – this is likely not going to happen until the temperature hits mid 40s or even 50s
6. I still have leaves everywhere, and I still need to bring down a few hundred square feet of perennial stalks. It should be first on this list, but I keep pushing it off into the future. I want this done before mid February as well…
7. I took some seeds from perennials I want to expand – American bellflower (biennial in this area) and Carolina lupine in particular. They are in cold (fridge) storage right now and I will need to put together a little temporary greenhouse in early April to grow some more seedlings. I used to do more of this in years past but I am running out of room in the garden, so I need to be picky about what I want to add
8. The wildlife pond is still a work in progress. I need to purchase the bedding material and some rocks. I am going to repurpose an ancient mini kettle pond that has been filled with building materials so many decades ago. I know I have peepers, frogs and toads already and my neighbor had some salamander sightings in his yard over the last couple of years. I just want to add a little wetland feature, but this has seemingly not been a real priority as I started this some 3 years ago.

If I can accomplish some of these tasks over the next month, things are looking up. The perennial woodland garden is mostly mature and needs very little attention during the growing season. I may even invest in a deck chair or two and enjoy it, or think about my list