"Scaping" the Land

One of the things we shared was how much our landscaping skills have been challenged since we started. Our acre is in alfalfa hay, and was cut periodically by a neighboring farmer. Many people in our area have lawns, but we just couldn't see ourselves living on  what would amount to a golf fairway. Trees provide shade and windbreaks, as well as homes for songbirds. Letting grasses grow, cultivating wildflowers, and planting hedgerows also provide similar benefits, as well as create a diverse ecology that resists disease spread.

We're amateurs at this, and in talking to people, we learned a lot about native plants, plants that have been subject to diseases, and those that are invasive. And on the latter point: after 18 years of trimming yew and privet hedge, we've had enough. So we made the decision to "wildscape"--let the land return to its natural state. Well, more or less.

But we can't just let it go. So my wife's sister and brother-in-law kindly gave us a "landwarming" gift of a consultation with Ann Bodling, whose specialty is helping people to guide their land back to a more natural state. She told us about native plants, about plant species such as silver maple, that are invasive, and those like kousa dogwood, which are currently subject to disease. Lawn? Well, we'll have a patch. Lawn is nice, but as a feature, not a focus. The county conservation district had a plant sale, and we got over 35 trees for less than $30.

Now some of those seedlings are struggling, but that's what happens in nature. We'll add a few select larger saplings shortly. Pines & spruces to the north and northwest as wind screen. Poplar in the future hedgerows for some southwest shade in the summer. Silky dogwoods in the front yard for their pretty blooms, and some screening from the lane, as well as shade. The hedgerows will include berry bushes, and draw birds, as well as afford us some additional privacy. To the southeast, wildflowers and grasses opening toward the view.

We like the rolling, grassy-hedgey-forested look of The Shire in The Lord of the Rings, and we're on our way to restoring some of that to what was once an open field.