Eklund Native Species Garden

Spring Clean-Up 2011

2011-03-20T09:05:00.000-07:00

We had a great turnout for our annual spring clean-up at Eklund Garden! That means more leaves were cleared out than last year, and some odd jobs were done as well. Volunteers included several members of Boy Scout Troop 28, some trail volunteers, and a few others (listed at the bottom of the post). We've learned to move the leaves starting from the top and moving down, as you can see the Scouts doing in the photo above.

This is the delicate part - getting leaves out of the cactii. BBQ tongs help! By the way, the cacti always look like this is the spring. They will perk up.

There were a LOT of oak leaves. And acorns. Tons of acorns. Perhaps because the deer can't get in there to eat them?

One of our Scouts worked at removing the little dagger sapling stumps left over from when the slope was cleared out a few years ago. They keep tripping people and catching on the tarp.

Several Trails Committee members stopped by to lend a hand. Richard was cutting the scraggly mountain laurel out front so it will regenerate and look much more attractive. He also blew leaves and repaired the deer fence.

The Scouts worked hard all day. Five full hours!

All the hard work paid off. Eklund Garden looks wonderful! (Click the photo to enlarge).

Our volunteers were:
Boy Scout Troop 28 (Brett Butler, Billings White, Christian Garaa, Gabriel Aponte, Alex Merdinger), Teresa Gallagher, Richard Skudlarek, Nancy Aponte, Kelly Walsh, Bridget Kelly, Lynn Reid, Terrance Gallagher, and Emma Gallagher. Thank you everyone!

Late Summer Blooms

2010-09-04T12:01:00.000-07:00

This was the hottest summer on record for Bridgeport, and it was also very, very dry. We had no water source and the plants struggled to survive. This Hardy Ageratum, though, not only survived, but thrived.

The New England Asters are just starting to open up. Their native blooms are a vivid deep purple. They went to seed last year and popped up all over the garden this spring.

The Garden no longer has that masses of blooms it had earlier in the year. But if you look around, you'll see blooms here and there. Above is a Harebell, still blooming after months of drought.

The Sneezeweed is just starting to bloom. It was cut back early because it was getting too tall.

Ahhh, that's really just a weed. Goldenrod.

The Jerusalem Artichoke is also still blooming, although the blooms are so high up they're hard to see (about 7 feet high).

One of the Black-Eyed Susans, Rudbeckia fulgida.

I think this is Purple Giant Hyssop, a hitchhiker on some purchased natives. Whatever it is, it went to seed and popped up in various places this year.

Here's a cluster of immature Large Milkweed Bugs. That's their real name. They were on the Butterfly Weed, which is related to Milkweed.

Purple Coneflower, still hanging on.

Blanket Flower. After a deep rain about two weeds ago, it put out a handful of new blooms.

The other Black-Eyed Susan, Rudbeckia hirta.

White Wood Asters, although not very flashy, can be counted on in those super-dry shady areas.

Here's a Monarch Caterpillar on the Butterfly Weed, bypassing the Milkweed which is right behind it.

The Drought

2010-07-13T13:51:00.001-07:00

Some years are drier than others, so we had a plan in case of a drought. A gas-powered pump was purchased to transfer water from this old well in a low spot up to the garden beds above. Alas, the well is dry. Last year it was full of clear water. On to Plan B...

Pumping water up from the pond. I'm afraid that, too, is nearly dry. Barely enough water in there for the tadpoles and salamanders. On to Plan C...

...filling up jugs of water from home. This gets old very fast. Yesterday I made 3 trips, taking about 4 hours, applying 25 gallons per trip. The day before was 2 trips, and there were other trips as needed when plants began wilting and losing their leaves.

It doesn't work very well, but has saved most of the plants so far. We added organic material to the soil last year, which stores lots of moisture. Unfortunately, once it's bone dry, it also takes a lot more water to penetrate the soil. It seemed like I watered this area really well, but just scratch the surface and it's still bone dry. This can perk up a wilted plant, but it's wilting again the next day.

Watering efforts have focused on the Butterfly Bed and certain plants along the slope. This one hasn't had any help, and it shows. Earlier in the year the slope was always moist, even if it had been weeks since the last rain, due to water seeping from the hillside. No more seepage these days!
Or this one.

The Sensitive Fern is usually pretty tough to kill (this fern was growing here naturally), but this dry spell has been tough.

We're working on Plan D: Dropping off a holding tank up above the garden along the old drive that once serviced the swimming pool. In the meantime, everyone do a rain dance please!

Monarch Caterpillars; Swallowtail

2010-07-13T12:50:00.000-07:00

This is what it's all about: Landscaping as an integral part of the ecosystem, not just something pretty (but sterile) to look at. Here is some leaf damage at Eklund that a person might be tempted to fight with pesticides. But look more closely... the insect eating the leaf is also something good...

...a Monarch Butterfly caterpillar, escaping the midday sun by eating from the bottom of the leaf (you have a better chance of seeing the caterpillars in the evening when it's cooled down). This caterpillar can ONLY eat one of the native milkweed species. It cannot eat any of the foreign plants from Europe or Asia or Africa that are used for landscaping, or which have invaded vacant lots and the sides of roads. There are many other native insects like the Monarch that rely on native plant species.

Common Milkweed is a rather coarse plant for a flower garden or along the house, so it's a good one in a special patch out back. If you have a sunny spot, mix it with Butterfly Weed and Bee Balm for a butterfly patch that is beautiful, deer resistant, native, and very hardy.

Here's a Tiger Swallowtail on the Bee Balm. This flower patch was full of bees, and we get visits from hummingbirds as well. A great addition to the yard. It's native status is unclear - some sources say the midwest, while the USDA says it is native to CT. It's also called Oswego Tea because the Oswego Indians made a drink from it.

What are Weeds Part I

2010-06-26T12:43:00.000-07:00

I have trouble finding help to weed this garden because what are weeds in normal gardens might be plants here, and what are plants in normal gardens might be weeds here. So I think it might be easier just to show people some of the "weeds" and hope that some volunteers out there would be willing to learn these and help remove them.

Here's a type of sedum that the Eklunds undoubtedly planted. Not native, so it's got to go. It comes back really quick.

This is Canadian Clearweed and even though it looks like nettles and is in the nettle family, it doesn't sting (thank you thank you thank you). It grows like crazy in the shady terraces off to the right. Hmm. Maybe we should find a place for it to grow and make it part of the garden. It's native after all. Although here's a funny like from Wikipedia: "It is sometimes grown as a ground cover or for attracting deer." Oh, I just found this interesting video on the weed. The more I think of it, the more I think we should incorporate this one into the garden.

Red Clover, found along the walk near the Brown Eyed Susans.

A dense cluster of young Black Swallowwort. This is a vine with leaves that are opposite, shiny, and pointy. Phlox also has opposite leaves, but not pointy.

Here's the Black Swallowwort when it's more developed, including seed pods.

Grass. It comes up all over the Butterfly Bed.

Whatever this thing is called.

This stuff gets everywhere. I tend to call it 'clover' but it's actually Wood Sorrel.

That's right, Forsythia. Not native. There was tons of it growing along the slope, especially up top. We cut it back but of course it keeps coming back.

Summer in the Garden

2010-06-26T12:01:00.001-07:00

Beautiful day in the garden! The Butterfly Weed is beautiful and getting lots of visits by bees. Coreopsis is in the background.

The Brown Eyed Susans are coming in all over. We did not plant these, just weeded around them.

Here's a view from up above.

To our horror we found the invasive Black Swallowwort was going to seed. The seed pods are somewhat bean-like. So we stopped what we were doing, and filled two large plastic garbage bags with the stuff, mostly from a new patch discovered outside the deer fence up above the garden. These cannot go on the mulch pile!

Here's one of our native caterpillars enjoying the Sedum. This is a Yellow Bear caterpillar, aka Virginia Tiger Moth, a real generalist species and very widespread. It's important to recognize that our landscaping is not just ornamental, but part of the ecosystem. A certain amount of grazing on our plants should be welcomed.

In Bloom: Coreopsis, Ox Eye, Butterfly Weed, Lupine, Giallardia

2010-06-19T18:02:00.000-07:00

Yup, our common Coreopsis can be considered "native." It's natural range is actually a bit to the south (Maryland) but with a warming climate, Connecticut is probably pretty close to its adjusted range.

The Ox Eye (Heliopsis) or False Sunflower is lush and just getting started.

Here's a real favorite: Butterfly Weed. Last year it was pretty spindly, but is looking good this year. This is one that pops up occasionally in hayfields.

The Wild Blue Lupine is at it's peak.

Giallardia (Blanket Flower) is more of a midwestern plant, but looks great. I think this one went to seed last year, as we have a few seedlings.

The Milkweed is also doing better this year.

Weed me! Yes, there's lots to do at the garden. This Maidenhair Fern is competing with a nice crop of weeds.

American Lady Caterpillars

2010-06-10T17:25:00.000-07:00

These American Lady caterpillars were picked off the Pussytoes, which they completely defoliated. This native caterpillar feeds only on a few plants, including the Pussytoes, and one of our goals is to provide food for caterpillars. But this is too much of a good thing!

This is what the Pussytoes looked like before the caterpillars...

And this is what they look like now. If you look close you can see some of the caterpillars.

Wild Blue Lupine

2010-06-08T14:10:00.001-07:00

Our Wild Blue Lupine is just starting to bloom. This plant is native to Connecticut and is not to be mistaken with the non-native Lupines that Maine is famous for. It's natural habitat is pine barrens, oak savannas, and areas that have been burned over.

The Karner Blue Butterfly is dependent on Wild Blue Lupine for survival. According to the US Fish & Wildlife, the population of Karners has dropped 99 percent, mostly in the last 15 years.

In Bloom

2010-06-06T17:26:00.000-07:00

The summer flowers are just starting to bloom at Eklund, and they are much fuller this year than last year. This is Gallardia, or Blanket Flower, a popular native perennial for the garden or pots.

A real favorite has been the Sundrops, a type of evening primrose that doesn't take over (and the deer don't prefer). That's the one in yellow in the photo above. You can also see the Penstemmon blooming in the back, behind the Wild Blue Lupine, which is just starting to bloom.

Here's a surviving Harebell. We lost most of our Harebell, and this one was nearly unearthed by a chipmunk who decided he needed a new tunnel entrance and nearly buried the poor thing.

These Penstemmon blooms are shaped just perfect for this bee to enter into the tube. One reason we like to avoid cultivars is that the man-made version of the plant might no longer be the perfect fit for whatever insect is relying on it.

Here's a close-up of our Sundrops Oenothera 'Cold Crik', a natural evening primrose hybrid that does not set seed or take over the garden.

New Plants from Earth Tones

2010-05-21T15:34:00.000-07:00

Planted some new plants from Earth Tones nursery today, thanks to a gift certificate from Jones Family Farm & the Olde Ripton Garden Club, as well as a balance carried over from last year.

New Species:
3 Blue Curls
3 Hardy Ageratum
5 Canada Anemone
5 Wild Bergamot
5 New York Aster
2 Wild Red Columbine

Adding to existing collection:
1 Dwarf Crested Iris
2 Virginia Strawberry
1 Wild Stonecrop

I couldn't resist tasting one of the Virginia Strawberries. The flavor was amazing!

Here's one of the new Columbine. This is the color scheme that is found in nature. They were blooming earlier this year at the very top of Sleeping Giant, right out of a rock.

A pair of Barred Owls is nest just outside the gate and they are heard frequently. Last year we had the Ravens nearby, but they are gone this year.

In Bloom; Mulch Pile

2010-05-02T14:20:00.000-07:00

This is a Pinxter Flower, a native azalea that is often seen blooming in the middle of the woods, even right here at Shelton Lakes.

Wild Geraniums are also a common wildflower in Shelton. Widespread, possibly at the edge of your lawn.

This is the unexpected flower of Wild Ginger, a plant that I have never seen growing in the wild, possibly due to over harvesting (it does smell exactly like the ginger you buy at the store).

This solitary Pink Lady Slipper looks like it's going to bloom again this year. This flower just coincidentally happened to be growing on our garden site. We did not plant it (never, ever, ever, try to transplant a Pink Lady Slipper - they are guaranteed to die over the next few years rather than live for up to 50 years in the wild).

Here are some Spring Beauties and Dwarf Ginseng. These grow along the Far Mill River and many other low, cool places.

Merrybells. I don't remember seeing these in the wild.

Woodland or Wild Blue Phlox, another one I've never seen growing wild, probably because it is so very tasty. Some of our Phlox were chewed down this spring, possibly by chipmunks.

Mayapple can form huge patches in the wild. I don't see it very often in the wild but it is said to grow at Sleeping Giant State Park.

We built a mulch pile today, which was much more work than expected. The ground was full of rock and it was hot and muggy out. For the mulch pile walls, we used leftover deer netting, so it is nearly invisible, as you can see below.

Now we don't have to dump our leaves and garden waste over the bank, but can mulch it and reuse as compost.

While working, we kept hearing the call of Gray Treefrogs. And the vernal pool down below was just seething with life.

Spring Blooms

2010-04-29T10:57:00.000-07:00

This Foam Flower is blooming very nicely along the top of the big retaining wall. Foam Flower will take some shade and is an alternative to non-native Astilbe.

The Bluets that went to seed (lower clump) are more white than their parents (upper clump).

The Virginia Strawberries planted along the bank are doing well. Our domestic strawberries are crosses between this native strawberry, which had tasty but tiny berries, and European strawberries, which had large but bland-tasting berries.

This Red Trillium is just about done.

Jack-in-the-Pulpit.

Woodland Phlox are just starting to open up. Deer love these!

Early Spring Blooms

2010-04-08T14:08:00.000-07:00

Last year we planted and planted. This year we get to see what comes back and what dies off. So far, the biggest treat is this big patch of Bloodroot. Quite frankly, I forget we ever even planted it, because this spring wildflower dies off in the summer. The roots must have really spread, however, because it was just a couple little sprigs a year ago.

These Pussytoes are in the rock garden and seem to be spreading rapidly this spring. A nice groundcover.

Some of the Bluets went to seed and we are finding them popping up around the main Butterfly Garden bed. I'm seeing a lot of wild Bluets along the roadsides and in parks the last couple days as well. Those tend to be pretty white in hue.

There are a lot of Pulmonaria blooming at Eklund right now, but they are not native and we certainly didn't plant them. They have escaped and naturalized from the original flower beds, as have Foxglove, a sedum groundcover, and Black Swallowwort. These are all considered "weeds" at Eklund. Volunteers are allowed to dig them up and take them home as a reward for working in the garden.

Spring Frog Migration

2010-03-12T17:36:00.000-08:00

This Wood Frog was on Oak Valley Road heading for the Eklund vernal pool to breed. She's fat with eggs. If you visit the garden in the spring you may hear lots of "quacking" from these frogs. They lay their eggs in the pool below the garden, along with the big Spotted Salamanders. Wood Frogs will only lay their eggs in special Vernal Pools like the one at Eklund. After the breeding season they return to the forest where they live. We find them hopping around in the garden.

The frogs and salamanders migrate on rainy nights as early in the spring as possible. If the snow melt is followed by a prolonged warm, dry spell, there will be a very busy migration as soon as rain and darkness coincide. Those were the conditions in 2010. In the photo above you can see three Wood Frogs on Oak Valley Road. There were actually about 15 frogs total along a stretch of road maybe 150 feet long.

Signs of Spring

2010-03-06T17:54:00.000-08:00

It's just early March, yet the Jacob's Ladder looks ready to take off.

The Bearberry looks great! Last year we lost most of our Bearberry due to the deer.

Here's part of the Eagle Scout project by Thomas Keegan and company last fall: newly repaired steps.

And here's the new kiosk they built. People will be able to reference the kiosk to find out more about the plants they see.

Timber!!

2010-01-19T13:16:00.000-08:00

Volunteers Terry Gallagher, Rich Skudlarek, and Bill Dyer joined forces to drop the second half of an oak tree today. The trunk that was leaning over the deer fence so care needed to be taken so as not to destroy the fence.

Richard rigged up a rope to pull it away from the fence while Terry worked the chain saw. Bill was maintaining a safe distance and getting pictures.

After dropping the tree they sawed it up and stacked the logs. Looks like the double trunk was somewhat hollow...maybe it would make a good planter.

Tracks Around the Deer Fence

2010-01-16T14:15:00.000-08:00

The snow cover provides ready evidence that the deer fence is working. The deer -- as well as other assorted creatures -- are walking up to the fence, milling about, then going around.

Besides deer tracks, we have raccoon:

and what may be a weasel:

and squirrels:

A post from the "In the Field" blog last year, before the fence was installed, showed a highway of deer and coyote going right through the garden.

Creating More Sunlight

2010-01-10T13:55:00.000-08:00

Last summer a twin-oak on the hill above Eklund Garden shaded out the butterfly bed in the morning, so today Terry and Ryan Gallagher headed out to cut it down. The frozen garden and blanket of snow served to protect the flower beds from the falling tree.

They were only able to remove half of the tree, since the other half was hanging over the deer fence. The other half and a few of the smaller trees nearby still need to be removed. This will give the butterfly garden another hour or so of sun.

Ryan didn't actually get to use the chain saw.

White Wood Asters

2009-09-19T15:31:00.000-07:00

You can see White Wood Asters growing all over the place, particularly where lawns meets woods. Individually, these are not a very stunning flower, but en mass they can be very attractive. The picture below shows them growing along the edge of my driveway. I didn't plant them. They were a byproduct of my efforts to reduce brushy growth that might scratch our cars, and the fact that not much else is well adapted to dry, shady conditions.

At Eklund Garden you are greeted with a line of asters as soon as you open the gate. I assume the lack of asters on the other side of the gate is due to deer browsing (we often see deer on the outside of the gate...it seems to be a route they follow).

And there are plenty blooming where the house was once located. These all came on their own. I did actually transplant some up above and now am kicking myself for wasting my time. This is one you just don't need to transplant. It will come all on its own! Note that White Wood Aster is extremely tolerant and can withstand very dry, shady areas. The leaves can be a little rough and weedy looking, so it makes a good border for natural areas.

"Garden in the Woods" Visit

2009-09-05T20:04:00.000-07:00

Recently I had the pleasure of visiting the largest native species garden that I know of in the region: "The Garden in the Woods" by the New England Wildflower Society in Framingham, Mass. (just west of Boston). It was much larger than I expected. The board below is a neat idea: Removable picture cards of each plant are posted when the plant is in bloom.

Here's an invasive plant jail, with various species of invasives behind bars. Brilliant.

This is a floating island. It looks like rock but the thing was moving through the water a bit from the breeze. You can see some pitcher plants on it. This might be an interesting thing to do in the vernal pool down below, because only the center gets any real sun.

They had some little white 'tents' protecting caterpillars. This one I believe is a cecropia moth, which I just read has been in decline due to parasitism from an organism that was brought in to parasitize gypsy moths. For more pictures see here.

American Pennyroyal

2009-07-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

Bonus today! The aromatic groundcover I figured was some non-native herb/weed planted by the Eklunds is actually native, and it's functioning nicely as a "lawn." All year I have wondered what was giving off such an aroma while we worked on the rock garden.

I finally took the time to track down which plant was the cause of the smell and discovered there was lots of it, especially up towards the top. In the picture below you can see it growing in front of the rock bench, looking pretty much like mowed grass from a distance. It's been cropped with a string trimmer a few times. It's in the mint family and is not toxic as the name might otherwise suggest (it's also called American False Pennyroyal).

Garden Views

2009-07-29T10:46:00.000-07:00

I needed some pictures to submit Eklund Garden in the "Adopt-A-Garden" program at City Hall, so I stopped by to take a few on a nice cloudy day (no shadow patterns to mess up the photos). Here are the photos I submitted:

Garden Work

2009-07-24T14:35:00.000-07:00

Emma and Biscuit joined me for an afternoon of gardening today. While Emma weeded, I applied 200 lbs of dolomite to the various beds, deadheaded, and staked some of the flowers. Here's Emma weeding below:

And Biscuit standing guard or something...

When I threw down lime on the area where the house used to be, a bunch of these tiny frogs started jumping around. I think they are pickerel frogs that just morphed from tadpoles in the vernal pool below the garden. I also saw some more red eft newts.

Emma took a break on the rock garden.

We should get a lot more blooms next year.

Purple Coneflower, Bee Balm, Butterfly Weed, Giant Hyssop

2009-07-24T14:25:00.000-07:00

Some new bloomers today, all favored by butterflies and bees:

Purple Coneflower.

Bee Balm (Monarda didyma)

Butterfly Weed.

This plant came in as a hitchhiker with some Milkweed from Earth Tones. I believe it is the Purple Giant Hyssop (Agastache scrophulariaefolia - and they wonder why people don't like to use the botanical names), a native plant in Connecticut. It's in the mint family and is aromatic. I have no way of separating from the milkweed, however.

Soil Analyses

2009-07-21T08:23:00.000-07:00

The soil results are back from the CT Agricultural Experiment Station. For price of postage ($8) they analyzed 5 composite samples from the various beds around the garden (note: anyone can do this). I was particularly curious about the fill that had been brought in where the house once stood. In the picture below, that's the soil to the right, compared to the nice dark soil on the left from the Butterfly bed.

Of particular interest was pH. I have been working under the assumption that the pH is particularly low here since we have pines and oak all around and because of all the heath species growing. On the other hand, we were adding Sweet Peat to the soil, which has some limestone added. So I wasn't sure how the pH would test out.

The results ranged from 4.6 to 5.6, all acidic as expected, even with the Sweet Peat added. Many native species like acidic soil. But how acidic? I once had a sick rhododendron and sent in some soil for testing. The reply was that the soil was too acidic even for rhododendrons, a species well known for requiring acidic soil. The pH was 3.8 or something ridiculous like that, and I had to add limestone.

I found the chart at right of pH indicator plants in "A Sierra Club Naturalist's Guide to Southern New England" (click to enlarge). Listed plants growing at Eklund prior to planting included Mountain Laurel, Blueberries, Pink Lady Slipper, Canada Mayflower, Partridgeberry, and Interrupted Fern. All but the last one are listed as preferring a pH of 4 to 4.5. Some of the plants we've just recently added, such as Red Trillium, Maidenhair Fern, Asters, Wild Geranium, Baneberry, Columbine, and Sharp-Lobed Hepatica are all listed as prefering a pH of either 5 to 6 or 6 to 8. Therefore our goal will be to bring most of the garden beds up to a pH of 6. The exception will be the heath walk up the stairs and through the pine trees, which will remain very acidic.

As for the fill that was brought in, I'm somewhat suspicious of the reported results, which listed the soil as "sandy loam" even though this soil clumps tightly if you squeeze it and turns into concrete blocks when dry. All the soils were reported to be sandy loam. It is listed as having low-medium organic matter, so a priority would be to add some type of compost.

I'll be calling the Ag Station for clarification about recommended rates of limestone application since they don't specify what pH they are aiming for. The results are shown below (click to enlarge).

Self-Closing Gates

2009-07-19T08:37:00.000-07:00

Richard Skudlarek has been working on the gates to make them self-closing, since people keep leaving them wide open (I twice saw high school runners doing this). This spring pulls the door towards the inside while a couple of stops keep it from swinging in past the post. In combination they hold the gate shut even if it isn't latched. Hurray!

Donations, In Bloom

2009-07-18T16:39:00.000-07:00

Pat and Rudy Gajdosik donated some natives from their gardens today including Wild Ginger, Bloodroot, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, and Columbine. We already had some of the first three, but not much. The aroma while cutting into the mass of ginger was in fact just like ginger.

Above is one of the cinquefoils, Dwarf Cinquefoil I think. It arrived at the rock garden all on its own, so we'll nuture that and let it form a nice groundcover.

Here's the second plant we have called "Black Eyed Susan." This one is Rudbeckia Fulgida and it's from my garden. I had a big patch of this at home for years but this year deer or woodchucks ate it all. All that's left is what I transplanted as a rescue at Eklund.

Here's an adorable little Spotted Pipsissewa in bloom.

New Purchases

2009-07-17T17:49:00.000-07:00

That's the last of the Iroquois grant money - $316 worth. I took a trip up to Earth Tones in Woodbury yesterday and spent probably and hour picking everything out. It's a fun nursery to walk through because everything is native.

Here's one of my picks: Virginia Strawberry. The farm strawberries everyone eats are a cross between this strawberry, which has tiny but very tasty berries, and a European strawberry, which has larges berries with little flavor.

This is a groundcover for the rock garden called Pussytoes. Hopefully it will take off and help hold the soil on the slope.

This is wintergreen. I do sometimes see this hiking, most recently near Birchbank Trail. I used to see this a lot in the sand hills of northern Wisconsin.

I skipped the heat and planted just before nightfall tonight. We're supposed to have rain tonight and cooler temps tomorrow. Here are the plants:

Bearberry - Arctostaphylos uva-ursi
Steeplebush - Spiraea tomentosa
Wild Stone Crop - Sedum ternatum
Field Pussytoes - Antennaria neglecta
Pinxter Azalea - Rhododendron nudiflorum
Wild Live Forever - Sedum telephioides
Virgina Strawberry - Fragaria virginiana
Creeping Phlox - Phlox subulata
Wintergreen - Gaultheria procumbens
Wood Iris - Iris cristata
Blanket Flower - Gaillardia arististata
Leucothoe - Leucothoe axillaris

Garden Phlox, Ox Eye

2009-07-17T17:40:00.000-07:00

The Garden Phlox is just starting to bloom.

The Oxeye, or False Sunflower (heliopsis) is in full bloom.

You can see both in bloom here, along with the coreopsis.

Unexpected Visitor

2009-07-12T17:58:00.000-07:00

Visitors to Eklund Garden today were greeted by this mushroom growing near the base of the first retaining wall. I believe it is a species of Amanita, possibly Amanita muscarius, or Poison Fly Mushroom. So don't eat it!

Pipsissewa, Prairie Phlox & Coreopsis

2009-07-06T16:14:00.000-07:00

I love the Spotted Pipsissewa, although it is truly impossible to spell. It's native to Connecticut and is growing wild all over the Eklund site. I often see it hiking, especially in the winter since it's one of our few evergreen plants. In the picture above it's growing attractively between some Oak tree roots near the entryway. It's know by many names, including spotted wintergreen, ratsbane, dragon's tongue, rheumatism root, and wild arsenic.

Above is Prairie Phlox, which is native to Connecticut.

The Coreopsis above originated from Allison's garden last fall. We think it's Coreopsis verticillata (Whorled Tickseed), which is native from Maryland to South Carolina along wood edges and pine savanahs. However, it quite possibly WOULD be native to Connecticut if our currently warming climate was the climate in 1492. This is a very common garden plant. We don't know if it's a cultivare or not, but the price was right :-).

And here's our throne. This bench was built (by Herman Eklund we think) into the upper rock wall overlooking the garden. Have a seat and relax!

Attack of the Slugs

2009-07-06T12:14:00.000-07:00

That's right SLUGS! Hundreds of slimey, sticky, nasty slugs decended on the garden in the last couple weeks. Allison and I picked off as many as 200. The first round were hiding at the base of the plants and under the stepping stones. Like the one above. Then we discovered that in the evening vast numbers were crawling out of the retaining wall and devouring the plants closest to the wall (blanket flower and lupines).

Here's some of their damage. In the photo above (a lupine) you can even see some of their dried slime.

I also picked up a bag of iron phosphate slug killer and spread that along the top of the wall and a few other places. Hope that helps!

In Bloom

2009-07-05T18:48:00.000-07:00

Blanket Flower (Gaillardia) is native to the Midwest.

We have two species of Black-Eyed Susan in the garden. This one is Rudbeckia Hirta, and it came all on its own. This is the one with fuzzy leaves. There is conflicted information about where this plant originated. Some sources say the Midwest, and others say there is more evidence that it grew as far east as Maryland, where it is the state flower. It has naturalized pretty much everywhere.

This large flower is the Prickly Pear Cactus bloom. Prickly Pear are definitely native to Connecticut and I have seen them growing wild at Milford Point.

This one is Black Cohosh, a very tall shade plant similar to astilbe. Black Cohosh is native to Connecticut and is currently marketed as an herbal treatment for symptoms of menopause.

Lupine, Harebell, Beardtongue

2009-06-27T21:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a bee enjoying a Wild Blue Lupine.

This is a Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia).

And this is Beardtongue (Penstemon Digitalis).

Fern Inventory

2009-06-27T21:22:00.000-07:00

Lynn Reid and Allison Menendez joined me today for some garden work. I started out by pulling out my Peterson Field Guide to the Ferns to figure out what a few of the mystery ferns were. Fern identification is based on whether the leaves are "once cut, twice cut, or thrice cut" and what the spores or sori look like. I had the toughest time figuring out if our thrice cut fern was a Lady Fern or Spinulose Wood Fern and finally just took some close-up shots of the soris to figure out at home. Alas, we appear to have both. The photo on top appears to be a Lady Fern, while the one below is a Spinulose Wood Fern.

The Spinulose sori are round and at the end of the veins, while the Lady Fern sori look like eyebrows.

The picture above is of the marginal woodfern, which is twice cut and the sori are dotted along the margins of the leaves (hence the name "marginal"). At Eklund these are the fern growing beautifully out of the stone walls.

The small fern above is a polypody growing over some rocks at the top of the Eklund upper terrace, which is what polypodys do.

We're very lucky to have so many fern species at Eklund. Here's an inventory of our ferns:

Christmas Fern (evergreen)
Polypody (up high in the wall on a rock)
Maidenhair Fern (purchased, in lower bed)
Royal Fern (purchased,- in the goldfish pond)
Interrupted Fern (large patch down by the trail, also in lower bed)
Ostrich Fern (purchased, in goldfish pond and lower bed)
Spinulose Wood Fern (in woodland fern patch near sidewalk)
Lady Fern (was growing where the cabin once stood, transplated to lower bed)
Marginal Wood Fern (growing in the walls)
Hayscented Fern (spread atop the upper terrace and through much of the site, along the pond)

Escaped Garden Plants

2009-06-15T14:16:00.000-07:00

One thing we're running into at Eklund is the naturalization of species that were previously planted in the garden. Sedum, foxglove, pulmonaria, lilac, forsythia, andromeda, lily of the valley, and wisteria come to mind. In a normal garden these plants might be great, but not in a native species garden, because they are all from Europe or Asia. The other day I ran into this unfamiliar plant scattered about the site and transplanted some of it in the hopes it might be something worthwhile.

Alas, it turns out to be a British orchid called Helleborne, and not a very showy one at that.

Public Wildflower Gardens

2009-06-14T17:18:00.000-07:00

I'm having a look at any other public native species or "wildflower" gardens in the area I can find, which today included one at the New Canaan Nature Center and another behind the Hurlbutt Street School in Wilton.

For the most part, the "wildflower garden" at the New Canaan Nature Center appears to be a wet meadow that is mowed once a year, and so it is actually appropriate to call these "wildflowers." They say that 90% are native. I was attracted to the Canada Anemone that formed a very attractive border. That's one of the plants on my "must get" list.

I then found the tiny garden behind the Hurlbutt Street School, which is an old one-room schoolhouse from the 1800's. According to a blurb I found on the internet, the plants were rescued when Route 7 when in quite awhile ago, and the Wilton Conservation Commission is working on restoring the garden and getting some labels. In the picture below, that's pretty much the entire garden.

I'm going to keep looking , but so far I haven't found anything in the area quite like what we're doing in Shelton.

New Sign

2009-06-14T16:18:00.000-07:00

I was working in the garden recently when a man with two kids outside the gate asked, "Can we come in and see your garden?" When hikers come through they looked mystified and say, "Um...What IS this place?" Hopefully the new header sign at the main gate will help with that problem. My husband Terry did the woodworking and I painted the letters. After a couple mountain laurel are trimmed along the path people will be able to see it from the road.

The proper name for the garden is actually just "Eklund Garden." I was hoping to have "native species" underneath in smaller letters, but that just was not going to work. So we opted for "Eklund Native Species Garden" just so people would know right off the bat what type of garden it is.

By the way, "Eklund Wildflower Garden" might sound nicer, but it wouldn't at all be accurate. Wildflowers are very, very often not native. By definition, a wildflower is just any flower growing wild, without cultivation or help from people. Dandelions and daisies are wildflowers, but they are not native. Our plants (which often aren't even flowers) are not growing "wild". Most were propagated in a nursery, and they are cared for carefully. So they are not wildflowers.

Rain Can Be Good

2009-06-13T13:11:00.000-07:00

It's been cloudy and raining for a full week now. Everybody is complaining about the disappearance of the bright round orb that usually appears in the sky during the day. BUT, the new plants loved it! They've been growing and settling in and a few were even in bloom today, including the Sun Drops, Beardtongue and Prairie Phlox.

Carol Jacobson, Lynn Reid, Kelly Walsh (above) and myself worked in the garden today, digging out Black Swallowwort, weeding, raking and transplanting. I moved the last of the 2007 Girl Scout plants from the front of the front wall, where they were not doing well, to the back "low slope" garden, where they will get more shade and moisture. I also planted some Jerusalem Artichoke donated by Allison Menendez. It had been bare-rooted and did not look very happy when we left, but we'll see.

The Mountain Laurel were in full bloom. Here's Carol finishing up for the day. She dug out a ton of Black Swallowwort, which was in bloom (and soon to be setting seeds!)

Here's Lynn weeding out the front bed where the Girl Scout plants used to be. We're not sure what we'll put there. The soil is nice and black, but a bit bony, with part sun.

The Sun Drops are doing great and I think I'll pick up some of those for my garden. For one thing, they are deer resistant. And they are a naturally-occurring Evening Primrose hybrid that does not spread all over your garden. Yay!

Plant Labels

2009-06-05T06:19:00.000-07:00

I've just received a big box of blank copper plant labels. The steel frame is spanned with removable copper foil. I'm printing out all the plant names using MSWord (Tempest Sans ITC font 18 to 22 pt), taping the name onto the copper, using a ballpoint pen to inscribe the writing through the paper onto the copper, then removing the paper and rescribing with the pen. After that I just go over it with an extra-fine Sharpie. The ink will fade, but the inscription should remain, so I can always go back over it with the Sharpie if needed. The shiny copper will also weather. Finally I reattach the copper foil and put a bend in the steel frame so the labels face upward.

The labels came from www.mountainvalleygrowers.com and were about $100 for a box of 250. Very economical! Another option would be professional inscribed labels at a cost of about $5 per label. But I expect some vandalism and these copper labels will be easy enough to replace.

3 Good Reasons for the Deer Fence

2009-06-01T17:18:00.000-07:00

Reason number one: The Brown-Eyed Susans (Rudbeckia fulgida) that have been growing in my garden for years look like they were hit with a mower this year. I salvaged what I could today by transplanting them at Eklund (photo above), which is protected by a deer fence. Not sure how many will make it - some are mostly just stems.

Reason number two: My native Woodland Phlox at home had most of the blooms neatly nipped off (photo). Phlox spread each year, so I cut away the excess and transplanted that at Eklund today.

Reason number three: The Purple Coneflower in my garden has been nipped off repeatedly the past few years. I took the pathetic remains and transplanted them next to the healthy Purple Coneflower from Earth Tones that was just planted this year at Eklund. Compare the two in the above photo. The one from my garden is the sad thing on the right. It's supposed to look just like the one on the left. Actually it should be bigger since it wasn't a new plant in a pot, but well established in a garden.

Prickly Pear Cactus

2009-05-26T11:58:00.000-07:00

The cactus bed is complete - six native Prickly Pear, all from Twombly Nursery in Monroe. I learned that the nearly-invisible thorns will go right through a leather glove. I don't know how, since they look so fragile, but they do. I pulled my glove off, and there they were sticking out of my thumb, and really hard to pull out. Lacking tweezers, I had to use my teeth. After that, to remove the cacti from the pots I just turned them upside down and shook them until they plopped on the ground.

They have two types of barbs: the 1 inch-long dangerous-looking ones, and the nearly-invisible slivers. The big ones tend to fall out, leaving the truly hazardous ones to attack you.

Prickly Pear grows naturally in Connecticut along the coast. You can see it at the Milford Point Coastal Audubon Center along the boardwalk.

Hayscented Fern

2009-05-23T19:02:00.000-07:00

Hayscented Fern is spreading rapidly across the upper terrace this spring since the brush was cut and the terrace raked. That's good, because we have nothing planned for that terrace at the moment. This particular fern is known as a native invasive species in areas with high deer population (like Shelton) because the deer tend to eat everything but the fern, allowing it to spread. It's also unusual in that it spreads by runners. More and more you can find large swaths of forest blanketed with hayscented fern.

Well, anyways, it IS native, so we'll just let it take over the terrace for now. There's some Black Swallowwort coming in as well -- that has to go!

Before & After Photos

2009-05-22T18:24:00.000-07:00

Here's a "before" shot of the garden hillside in 2007 covered with invasive Black Swallowwort vine.

And here's the same location today, newly planted with blueberry, harebell, stiff aster, bear berry, and prickly pear cactus. Click HERE to see more "before" and "after" pictures.

Planting Day!!

2009-05-19T18:56:00.000-07:00

Most of the plants are in the ground! All that's left are some shade plants for the far bed (on the right). Yesterday I faked myself out thinking the sun conditions were different than what I had planned for and quickly revised my planting plan. I laid out the plant and then kept changing things around based on where the sun was coming up and where I thought there would be shade during the day. After all, there is a really big oak tree over much of the Butterfly Garden.

Every hour I took video and pictures of all the beds to document what was in sun or shade. Then suddenly around lunchtime the sun slid to an opening in the trees and the entire garden was in full sun. This prompted rearranging of the plants I had already rearranged.

Biscuit didn't care about me planting - she preferred to eat a pine tree. About 2:00 the trees to the west began to shade out part of the garden and by 4:00 all of it was in dappled shade.

There it is! Anyone need any plastic plant containers?

Earth Tones Delivery

2009-05-18T18:42:00.000-07:00

The big day has arrived! A pick-up truck bursting with perennials dropped off the above load from Earth Tones in Woodbury. We now have most of the plants purchased with the Iroquois grant (a few hundred dollars was reserved for filling in any holes).

Here's Foamflower, an attractive shade plant.

And here are some Woodland Phlox in bloom. Native to Connecticut, although I don't think I've ever seen it in the wild. Deer are known to love phlox, so perhaps that's why.

Yesterday I repaired some of the fallen rock work on either side of the steps on the left side of the hill, giving more places to plant, and scraped off the end of the sidewalk, which was covered in a creeping non-native sedum.

Final Bed Preparation

2009-05-16T18:33:00.000-07:00

Back-breaking work today spreading the Sweet Peat over the Butterfly Garden and mixing it into the soil by shovel. Richard didn't have access to his rototiller, or at least he thought he didn't until he got home and found a voice mail message saying he could pick up his rototiller!

Notice the raised bed behind Richard in the picture above -- the rocks have fallen over. After we finished with the Butterfly Garden we repaired the rockwork - it took Richard and Ryan together to move the larger rocks into place. The picture below shows the bed ready for planting.

Twombly Purchases

2009-05-15T18:25:00.000-07:00

Picked up my first load of perennials using the Iroquois grant today from Twombly. Pictured above are Wild Blue Lupine, which are not the same as the ones you see a lot in Maine (those are from Europe I believe).

I just happened to walk by some cactus and asked if they had the native Prickly Pear and YES they did! WhooHoo! I took one and plan to go back and get more, after I complete my raised sandbed. I've seen these growing in the wild along the shore and at the top of some of the traprock ridges in central Connecticut.

Here's some Bloodroot, a spring woodland wildflower, one of the ones you really treasure hiking because it's so early in the spring when it blooms and the woods are still bare.

Here's the list of plants from Twombly:

10 Wild Blue Lupine (Lupinus perennis)
5 Wild Pine (Silene caroliniana)
7 Bellwort (Uvularia perfoliata)
5 Bloodroot (Sanguinaria Canadense)
3 Sharp-Lobed Hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba)
5 Eastern Blazing Star (Liatris scariosa)
5 Black Cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa)
3 Green Dragon (Arisaema dracontium)
1 Prickly Pear (Opuntia humifusa 'Lemon Form')
5 Doll's Eye or White Baneberry (Actaea Pachypoda)

Pink Lady Slipper, Hepatica

2009-05-15T13:29:00.000-07:00

This Pink Lady Slipper, just about ready to bloom, is located at the top of the garden under mountain laurel and pines. I knew Lady Slippers were in the area (there are some down by the reservoir and I found one up the hill a bit from the garden last year), but had no idea any were at Eklund Garden until someone helping me out at Twombly Nursery told me about it. I promptly went Lady Slipper hunting and found a couple, but this is the only one that looked like it would bloom this year (I seem to remember reading they take seven years to bloom). And they are notoriously difficult to transplant and picky about where they live (must be acidic ... under pines is a good bet).

While looking for the Lady Slipper I found these interesting plants. I think the taller ornate leave is a Tall Rattlesnake Root and the shorter one with 3 leaves is Sharp-Lobed Hepatica, which is ironic because I was at the garden dropping off Sharp-Loved Hepatica I had just purchased at Twombly.

Anyways, I've picked up my order from Twombly (and added a prickly pear cactus, which is native to Connecticut, believe it or not -- I've seen them growing wild at Milford Point), and will be getting a big delivery from Earth Tones on Monday. There's lots of work to do spreading the Sweet Peat (I think we'll mix the mulch into the soil rather than spread it on top), planting the new plants, and removing the noxious Black Swallowwort.

Butterfly Garden Plan

2009-05-12T14:37:00.000-07:00

Here's the plan for the main bed, also known as the Butterfly Garden. The goal is to fill this bed out as soon as possible, and gradually fill out the other beds over time. The plants will come from Earth Tones and Twombly nurseries. Here's the order from Earth Tones (I just have to obtain purchase orders and arrange for deliveries):

Main bed:

NE Aster
NY Aster
purple coneflower
wild bergomot
wild sweet william
butterfly weed
garden phlox
sneezeweed
Heliopsis
Jacob's Ladder
Bluets
Blanket Flower
Lurid Sedge - Carix
False Blue Indigo
Milkweed
Penstemon Digitalis

Other beds:
stiff leaved aster
Doll's Eye
Foam Flower
Wood Phlox
Wood Geranium
Low Bush Blueberry
Harebell
Maidenhair Fern
squirrel Corn

"Sweet Peat"

2009-05-07T14:00:00.000-07:00

Had five yards of Sweet Peat delivered today by "The Mulch Man" Lou Viglione. That's great stuff! Sweet Peat is aged compost from horse stables (bedding + manure) that has had lime added for pH adjustment. You can mix it into the soil if you need more organic matter, or use it as mulch over the top to keep the weeds down and retain moisture.

There is one consideration we'll have to deal with: Most native plants prefer acidic soils, and Sweet Peat has a lot of lime added. Will this make the soil to alkaline for some of our species? We'll have to take some soil samples from time to time and send them in for analysis.

I walked to the garden along the Rec Path (yellow trail) from Wesley Drive, and on the way home it started pouring. As soon as it started raining I began seeing red efts along the portion of the Rec Path we call "Lizard Lane." Four total. Well, they're not exactly lizards (they're amphibians), but I still think "Lizard Lane" is an appropriate name.

Dwarf Ginseng

2009-05-04T18:28:00.000-07:00

More cool, wet weather today, so I transplanted some Dwarf Ginseng and Spring Beauties from the Far Mill River floodplain off of Mill Street, where they were abundant, along with a Jack-in-the Pulpit. Some of them were growing in pure sand, and all were growing in an area that is completely flooded with a raging torrent about once a year.

I planted them interspersed in a clump (photo), because that is how they are growing along the Far Mill River. I likewise planted the Trillium and Dutchman's Breeches interspersed in a clump, since that is how they grow at Birchbank. The latter two looked pretty good this afternoon.

I think I goofed on transplanting celandine from my yard. According to some sources, including the USDA, Celandine Poppy is native to the south and west of Connecticut (Penns and Maryland). The CT Botanical Society says Celandine is from Europe. After some head scratching and web browsing I discovered there are several plants called celandine (ah, yes, that's why they want us to use only Latin names which no one can pronounce or remember). One is native, but it looks like the one I have (I think is it Greater Celandine) is not. Phooey.

I was disappointed to find both gates left wide open this evening, just after I placed signs asking people to keep them closed.

Native Species

2009-05-03T20:13:00.000-07:00

A reminder about what "native species" is all about - the plants and animals originally from this region, like this tiny red eft, which I uncovered in the pipsisswa.

And....the fence is done!!!!! Whoohoo!! Terry and Ryan worked in the rain for several hours to complete the job.

I spent much of this cool, rainy day transplanting and distributing the pile of leaf mulch that Richard dropped off. I took a few Dutchman's Breeches and Red Trillium from Birchbank. There are thousands of Dutchmans Breeches and hundreds of Trillium there, so they won't be missed. I did note that the soil at Birchbank, which was historically the Housatonic floodplain, is a very dark, rich silt. Quite different from the glacial soils at Eklund, so I don't know how they'll do. Transplanting was difficult because the silt just fell off of the roots and everything was essentially barerooted.

Gates & Bluets

2009-05-02T16:11:00.000-07:00

Terry, Ryan and Richard installed two gates today - one left to go!
The photo below is Ryan with our new puppy Biscuit, a fox terrier.

Allison purchased some bluets from Earth Tones last fall and they are in full bloom now. Of course now I see them growing wild all over the place, especially along Bridgeport Ave and in Riverview park next to the playground, although they seem smaller and whiter, which made me wonder if the Earth Tones version was a cultivar. But then I spotted the bluets below growing right in the middle of Nells Rock Trail. The photo got washed out, but they are actually just as blue as the ones above.

Deer Fence Gates

2009-04-26T12:28:00.000-07:00

What a job the deer fence has been! On Friday Richard, Jim and I installed two posts for the first gate, which was more difficult than I imagined because we need to line everything up just right. We started on the second gate but keep hitting rock on one of the holes and had to leave. I returned on Saturday morning to determine if it was boulders or bedrock we were hitting (definitely bedrock) and started a 3rd hole but gave up in the unseasonable heat.

Today, in record-breaking heat, Terry & Ryan were able to install the posts in the 2nd gate (after digging even more holes in an attempt to evade the bedrock), as well as a post along the old driveway. It was brutal working weather! But they did it.

After the posts set up they'll be ready to attach the remaining fencing and gates. And THEN I can order the plants. Whoohoo!

Hand-Dug Well

2009-04-17T16:17:00.000-07:00

Richard and Jim were out early today working on the deer fence, and Ryan and I joined them later on. The northern half of the deer fence is now complete, so all that's left are the three gateways. While Ryan and Richard were finishing up the fence I went looking for the old well that Dean Cawthra said he had found, covered by a piece of metal. And here it is (photo above) ...between the bypass trail and the pond, and marked by some rocks holding down a thin piece of metal. We lifted off the cover and found the well in great shape (photo below).

Hard to see from the photo, but the entire well is about 8 feet deep and filled half way with crystal clear water - you can barely even tell where the water is in the photo because it's so clear. The dead leaves there got kicked in when we lifted the cover and are floating on the top of the water. The water level in the well is the same as in the pond. Now the question is: Is there any way we can use this for the garden? Jim suggested a battery could be used to pump water out, but I don't think he realized how far down the hill the well is. That would take a heavy duty pump to get it all the way up to the garden. Dean had said we should be able to hook up a hand pump to the well, but then we still would have to carry buckets of water up the hill. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if we had something on wheels to help haul the water up. Or can a hand pump be used to pump the water up the hill? No idea.

Deer Fence Progress

2009-04-11T04:55:00.000-07:00

Richard, Ryan, Lynn, Terry and myself worked on installation of the deer fence today, and it is about half way complete. Terry picked up some welded gate frames from Specialty Agricultural Supplies in Orange, and painted them black (photo)

Parks & Rec has removed the boulder and cable from the end of the driveway to allow deliveries up the driveway. A new chain will be installed for which we have the key.

I sent out a request for quotes to six nurseries for the purchase of natives species. White Flower Farms responded that don't give quotes. A few other nurseries sent me a list of a few available native species, but Earth Tones in Woodbury says they have most of what I listed in the natural form (not cultivares).

The bottom picture is Richard, Ryan and myself installing the deer fence, which is nearly invisible in the photo.

Plant Rescue

2009-03-29T12:34:00.000-07:00

We had spectacular planting weather today (cool and drizzly), so I took the opportunity to rescue four native evergreen species that were located in the new Eklund bypass trail that was raked out yesterday: Spotted Pipsisswa, Round-Leaved Pyrola, Partridgeberry, and Tree Clubmoss. I moved them all to a location in the garden that already had some pipsisswa naturally growing in it, hoping the pipsisswa indicated conditions in that part of the garden were right (shady and apparently pretty damp since everything is covered with moss). Only time will tell. The tree clubmoss is notoriously difficult to grow, but I had a patch of partridgeberry growing in my front yard for several years until one day the pachysandra devoured it. See some more pictures of what I transplanted.

Here's the new bypass trail, built on an old drive. It's a very attractive walk, and the pond is now filled with breeding wood frogs, spring peepers, and spotted salamanders.

Before & After

2009-03-28T12:18:00.000-07:00

We had an enormous crew out this morning thanks to the Trails Committee volunteers. In the photo left to right are Kelly, Ryan, Richard, Teresa, Lynn, Joe, Peter, Jim and Bill. Not shown are Terry, Bridget, Diane, and Sheri. Wow! The bypass trail is complete; the garden is raked out; the deer fence installation is partially complete (and looks great); a truckload of junk was hauled out of the garden; some rocks were moved; a compost station was begun; the drive and walks were blown free of leaves; and some logs and mountain laurel were removed with a chain saw. Holy Mackeral!! Thank you everyone who helped out!! Here are some more pictures of our work party.

Here's what the garden looks like now.

And here's the same view last summer. Trust me, it is in fact the same view (see the ledge walk in the foreground, with the step in the center of the photo? They're the same in both photos.

Things are getting frantic...

2009-03-23T06:37:00.000-07:00

The race is on! I'd like to get the $2500 worth of perennials planted in late April or early May so everything has to get done NOW. I'll be setting up an email list for work parties. If you would like be on that please email me at conservation@cityofshelton.org. Sunday afternoons at 1:00 pm look like they will be our normal work times, but over the next month I expect to be out there much more frequently.

Deerfence: I managed to get the funding arranged (out of Conservation's budget, miraculously approved by the Mayor) and picked up the materials for a deer fence last week. Unfortunately, the Boy Scout organization won't approve installation as an Eagle Scout project because it needs to be done so quickly. Looks like I may be installing most of the fence with the help of my teenage son. I'll still need help for the gates, however.

Bypass Trail: I cleared most of the bypass trail yesterday and have asked the Trails Committee for assistance in finishing that up. I wanted to clear that out before the fence went in so deer and bikers can get used to it being there. The pond looks like it's a vernal pool, and there were tons of wood frogs "quacking" away while I was working up in the garden.

Raking: I've also been raking. This is heavy raking, since I'm removing possibly decades of accumulated debris. Next year should be easier.

Brushpile: There's one heck of a brush pile that needs chipping! I'm thinking the chips could be spread on the trail from Oak Valley Road to the garden.

Driveway: The driveway into the site has also been cleared and I've spoken with Dean (Parks & Rec) about removing the boulder and cable blocking the entrance and replacing that with a chain and padlock. The driveway will allow access for a woodchipper and deliveries.

Existing Plants: Some of the plants suffered from frost heave and I replanted those. We may have already lost some to the deer. The bearberry and crowberry were definitely nibbled on.

New Plants: Per City charter, I need to receive 3 quotes for the plants. Not sure how that will work out for something like Native Species, but we shall find out.

Tree Removal

2009-03-07T13:08:00.000-08:00

Today my husband Terry and I worked on removing some small trees along the top of the garden, as well as this dead paper birch. It was so warm we got overheated! We'll have to go back to finish up due to chain saw troubles. I also cleared out the old driveway so it can be used for deliveries. Parks & Rec is planning to remove the boulder at the end of the driveway and install a chain with padlock, so we can remove it when necessary.

Deer Fence Plan

2009-03-04T05:59:00.000-08:00

Here's the design for installing a deer fence and creating a new bypass trail for people who don't want to have to enter the deer fence just to walk down the trail. The bypass trail is very nice and follows an old driveway down by the pond. The deer fence length is 850 to 900 ft, enclosing about one acre, and several gates will need to be installed. Why so big? I don't want the fence to obvious while you're viewing the garden, for starters. And the beds are really sprawled across the site. Finally, to kill two birds with one stone, I'd like this to double as a demonstration deer exclosure for educational purposes (so people can graphically see how much the deer eat) and to serve as an island of biodiversity while our deer population strips the forests. I've been told that the plastic c-flex fencing is what is commonly used, about 7 feet high, with wire running along the top and the bottom for strength.

Anyone know of a Scout looking for a good project?

A New Beginning

2009-03-03T14:31:00.000-08:00

In January we received a $2500 grant from the Iroquois Company to stock the garden. WhooHoo!! Before then I was wracking my brain trying to figure out how we were going to fill up all this space. The more we cleared, the bigger the gardens got. I had no idea there were so many beds when I started. You couldn't see them since they were covered with forsythia, grape vines, and that evil black swallowwort.

At any rate, we are definitely in business with this grant. I am now working on a plan to enclose the garden with deer fence BEFORE we do our planting in May. A recent DEP fly aerial survey showed 48 deer per square mile in our area. That's about five times more deer than there should be. As the deer denude the forest, they'll be eating our gardens more and more, so that fence is critical.