woodland Archives - Wild Roots

Ice Age Sand Dunes: Hidden Gems In the Pines

Walking down a dirt road through the pine barrens in Brendan Byrne State Forest, all of a sudden, the woods open up, and we’re standing in a sandy open area with virtually no vegetation.? People lucky enough to be familiar with the area know that “pine barrens” is a bit of a misnomer given the vibrant plant and animal communities that thrive there.? But my first impression of this clearing is that it’s, well, pretty barren.

A small group of participants in the Rutgers Environmental Stewards Program is touring the pine barrens, and Emile DeVito, ecologist and Manager of Science and Stewardship for the New Jersey Conservation Foundation is our guide.? And we couldn’t ask for a more knowledgeable one.

What we’re standing on, Dr. DeVito informs us, is a paleolithic sand dune, a remnant of the forces that shaped the landscape during the last ice age.? While the ice sheets themselves never reached this far south, the spot where we were standing was only about 70 miles from a wall of ice thousands of feet high.? Hurricane-force winds regularly scoured the sandy former sea floor that makes up southern New Jersey’s coastal plain.? Sand from wetlands was piled up into nearby dunes, many of which persist today.

And sure enough, just a couple hundred yards from the dune area is a vernal pool.? Inundated in the winter and spring but mostly dry in the summer, it has no outlet or connection to nearby waterways, and therefore no fish.? So it makes an ideal breeding ground for frogs and toads.? I made a mental note to bring Mae to this spot in the spring to hear the frog symphony.

Though it looks like a regular meadow now, this vernal pool is saturated in the springtime and is teeming with amphibian life.

As for the dune itself, despite appearances, it’s far from barren – in fact it’s a haven for several rare species.? In this particualr area, Dr. DeVito points out a population of Pickering’s Morning Glory (Stylisma pickeringii), one of the many rare species of plants that can be found in the pines.? There are only a handful of populations left, and off-road vehicles are a particular threat.? The plants were going dormant now, but we did see a number of seedpods, which will hopefully lead to new seedlings in the spring.

These Pickering’s morning glory vines don’t look like much as they’ve entered dormancy. But they’re a very special plant that needs to be protected.? Here they’re growing across a carpet of mint-green reindeer lichen.

Dr. DeVito also pointed out the den of a northern pine snake, another threatened species and an excellent burrower.? Growing up to five feet long, their coloring allows them to blend easily with the forest floor.? Off-road vehicles are a threat to the snakes as well, as are poachers (they’re prized as pets for their docility and long life span).? The New Jersey Conservation Foundation is using radio transmitters to track a number of female pine snakes to identify and protect their winter dens, where up to 30 individuals will pass the colder months.? On our dune, we can see that a female had laid eggs this year and the young had shed their skins upon emergence.? Didn’t spot any actual snakes though.

The entrance to an egg chamber of a northern pine snake. If you look closely in the vegetation, you can see some of the skins shed by the baby snakes.

Later that day, at another spot a few miles away, we did get a chance to radio track a female snake.? After tromping through the woods for about 20 minutes listening for the beeps of the transponder, we were able to locate the snake.? Since it was warm, Dr. DeVito was hoping it would be out and about, but she was below ground in her burrow.? This particular snake was living very close to a popular area for off-roading spot, so we hoped it could stay safe as it moved about in search of food and a winter den.

Other ancient dunes are scattered around the pine barrens, and they’re yet another great reminder of the surprises these landscapes always seem to have in store.

How can you tell where the dune ends? Just look at where the vegetation starts back up again.

I looked down and thought, “Cool, the mist looks neat on those spiderwebs.” Dr. DeVito, on the other hand, pointed out that today would be a great day to study the spiders’ territoriality.

Mountain Laurelpalooza at Black Run Preserve

mountain laurel flower kalmia latifolia bloom

There’s a lot to love about Black Run Preserve, but maybe the best thing in my mind is how close it is to home. Most other Pine Barrens hikes are a 45-minute to an hour drive for us, but we can get to Black Run in under 25 minutes. (When you have a 2-year-old in the car, that extra 20 minutes can seem like an hour.)

Visiting Black Run feels almost like you’re being transported.? You’re driving in the worst kind of Jersey suburban sprawl, then all of a sudden, right around Route 73, you cross from the inner to the outer coastal plain, and everything changes. The sandy, acidic soils give rise to a completely distinct plant community. Far from being barren, these woods are teeming with life?though it’s limited to a relatively small number of species that have co-evolved to thrive in these infertile landscapes.

We’d never been to Black Run in the spring before, but after seeing the many mountain laurels (Kalmia latifolia) scattered throughout, we made a note to try to get back at the right time to see them in bloom. This past weekend was just about the peak.

Warning: If you get bored easily by pictures of flowers, this may not be the post for you.

Everywhere we looked we spotted?Mountain Laurel in bloom.

Practicing more naturalistic, ecological landscaping at home makes any walk out into nature more interesting, because inspiration is everywhere. Though we haven’t had much success (any success) growing mountain laurel yet, seeing the way the shrubs mix with ferns and high bush blueberry helps give us a nice reference point when thinking about how to incorporate different types of plants in a (slightly more composed) way that mimics natural plant communities.

Here’s some intermingling with Ostrich Fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), another common Black Run sight.

Again, it’s amazing how different the landscape is from our own for how close it is.? Note the classic Pine Barrens sand.

Mae rolled in ready for action, having insisted on wearing both her new pants and new skirt at once. She also managed to find the perfect walking stick.

One highlight of our walk was getting to meet this Fowler’s toad.?A family was hiking a few hundred yards ahead of us, and their son very thoughtfully decided to bring the toad he caught back to show Mae.?She was very pleased, but a little nervous about touching it. There were also a lot of what looked like Spicebush Swallowtails (Papilio troilus) and other butterflies flitting about, but none of them stayed still long enough to get a picture.

A Fowler’s toad, attempting to demonstrate how not to be seen

There are only about twenty species of tree that are native to the inhospitable soils of the pine barrens.?Aside from the pines, of course, you’ll see a lot of oaks (mostly swamp oaks) and sweetgum in Black Run, as well as the occasional sassafrass.

A young sassafrass tree (Sassafras albidum), which is a host plant for the Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly

Black Run is fairly heavily wooded, with most of the open, sunny areas being grassy wetlands.? But we did spot a big colony of sweet fern in a bright opening in the upland woods.? It’s actually a small shrub, not a true fern.? And it loves sunny spots with crappy soil, so it’s a good one to try in any problem spots in your yard.? The leaves also smell great when you rub or crush them.

Comptonia peregrina

Ok, to wrap things up, here’s one more flower shot, this time with some cool lichen that Lindsay spotted.

Black Run is well worth a visit, and if you get there in the next week or so, you’ll still be able to catch the big show.

Trail Map

We parked at the main lot on the east side of Kettle Run Road.? For our hike, we mostly followed the wide trail marked in blue on the map, turning around when it started getting perilously close to naptime for the youngest member of our party, though there are lots of side trails to head out on as well.? The lot was packed with cars, but with all the side trails it didn’t feel crowded.? Despite the bogs, it didn’t seem buggy, but we did find one tick (luckily unattached), so use appropriate caution.

Spring Blooms at Mt. Cuba Center

When we last made the trip to Mt. Cuba Center, northern Delaware’s native plant showcase, fall bloomers were making their last stand, and trees were shedding their leaves.

It looked pretty different this time around; their woodland-dominated landscape was still bright and sunny in the last weeks before the trees leafed out.? So while most plants were just breaking their winter dormancy, it was a great time to see the spring ephemerals put on a show.? These are the plants that take advantage of the brief window in woodland areas between when the weather and soil warm up and the trees fully leaf out and cast shade over the ground.

Toad Trillium – Trillium cuneatum

Trilliums (a.k.a. wake-robins or toadshades) are the classic example.? They appear in early spring on the forest floor, rapidly complete their full flowering cycle, and enter dormancy as their leaves, stems, and flowers wither away, leaving no trace by early summer.

White Trillium – Trillium grandiflorum

Mt. Cuba has a great selection of ephemerals.? Virginia bluebells, Quaker ladies (houstonia), bloodroots, and other species carpet the forest floors.

Other spring flowering plants, like the woodland phlox species, foamflowers, and celandine poppies which were blooming in abundance this weekend, stick around after flowering, and their foliage provides a nice groundcover throughout the summer.

It was also a great time to see other parts of the landscape waking up.? Fern fiddleheads were unrolling everywhere you looked, trees and shrubs were beginning to flower, and leaf buds were opening up.

Bloodroot, foamflower, and trillium

Ferns unfurl as a small woodland creature darts in the background

Ferns unfurl as a small woodland creature darts by in the background.

False rue-anemone (Enemion biternatum) and celandine poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum) blanket the ground.

Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) fronds manage to stick around and stay green through the winter, then finally die back just as their replacements emerge.

Newly emerged foliage of an oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia).? First described by Philadelphia’s own William Bartram, this southeast native is at home in mid-Atlantic gardens.

Mt. Cuba Center‘s gardens are open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 am ? 4 pm, April-November 19. We recommend bringing a picnic lunch if you’re headed out on a nice day. Mt. Cuba also offers classes year-round in ecological gardening, conservation, art and more.

Winter Interest: Native Evergreen Plants for the Inner Coastal Plain

As I look outside our back window at the birds flocking to our feeder and bath and the never-ending construction site behind us, one thing is clear: We’re in dire need of more native evergreen plants that provide privacy and beauty for us, and food and shelter for wildlife that lasts through winter.

The rhododendrons we planted a couple of years ago should eventually reach a point where they cover the fence in the corner (and more!), but there are only two of them toward one corner and lots of space leftover for a shrub and understory layers. We also planted some Christmas ferns, which seem happy back there. You’re probably thinking, “Arborvitae! Duh!,” but Tim seems to have been scarred for life after a long, hot summer spent planting arborvitaes along the perimeters shopping centers and people’s expansive lawns while landscaping in his 20s.

Anyway, this isn’t a particularly wet area, so I’ll stick to evergreens that are more drought-tolerant for this post and save other great plants like inkberry (Ilex glabra) for a future rain garden post.

My favorite resources for finding new plants? are JerseyYards.org and Wildflower.org, and this research required both because the Barnegat Bay Partnership’s database doesn’t include filtering by leaf retention? and Lady Bird Johnson WildFlower Center’s database doesn’t have more localized info.

The area I’m focusing on now is a mostly shady spot when the oak tree has leaves, and sunny during all other months, so I kept those conditions in mind.

Terry Glase, Wildflower.org

Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi)

I want to plant some of this trailing shrub as a sort of groundcover border. We spotted some bearberry our in the wild recently, and both really liked it even though without its flowers or berries. I’d love to get some rocks to border the meadow, separating it from the evergreen area, and plant the bearberry so that it grows similarly to the photo.

Birds and native bees love it, and it’s a host plant for butterfly and moth larvae, including Rocky Mountain Clearwing (Hemaris senta), Hoary Elfin (Callophrys polios), Freija Fritillary (Boloria freija), Brown Elfin (Callophrys augustinus), and Elf (Microtia elva).

While it’s common in the Pine Barrens’ sandy soil, it also grows in loam and in rock gardens, so it should do well. Also, here’s a little fun fact for you: People smoked bearberry before tobacco was available.

Characteristics:

?6-12 inches in height, spreads up to 15 feet
Adorable little white/pink bell-shaped flowers come out in April/May, and berries follow
Low water use/ very drought tolerant
Dry/Moist Soil
Sun, part shade and shade

Thomas Muller, Wildflower.org

Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia)

Mountain laurel can be found in the pine barrens and in many parks, but it’ll always remind me of trips to the Poconos, where they make a regular old roadside beautiful when they bloom. Full disclosure: We already tried to plant these in the exact area I’m talking about, and they died. Though we’ll never know the reason for sure, we assume the death was due to a combination of planting them too close to a black walnut tree and not giving them enough water during that first year. (Our daughter was born in July that year, and we were just a little bit distracted!)? This time I’m going to try to plant one further away from that toxic tree and give it more TLC, and hope that improved conditions will make a difference.

Mountain laurels are one of the prettiest shrubs due to the white and pink clusters of bell-shaped flowers that bloom in June and July, and the fact that they stay green all through the winter.

Characteristics:

?12-20 foot shrub
White/pink bell-shaped flowers in July and July
Drought tolerant
Moist Soil
Part shade

American holly (Ilex opaca)

Slow-growing trees bring out my impatient side, but beneficial trees like this are always worth the time investment. And really, it’s not about me. American holly trees can grow up to 100 feet (though are typically much smaller), producing berries for at least 18 species of birds, including songbirds and mourning doves, as well as deer, squirrels, and other small animals.

Plant characteristics:

Medium drought tolerance
Medium- to well-drained soil
Grows an avg. of 50 feet
Likes full sun, but tolerates shade and part-shade

Fan Clubmoss / Running Cedar? (Lycopodium digitatum)

It looks kind of like Christmas decor, pine or cedar sprigs, thrown all over the ground, but this neat plant is actually a relative of ferns. It tolerates moisture but likes dry ground, spreads quickly, and could a really nice complement to the bearberry.

New Jersey naturalist Edna Greig described clubmoss as “an ancient forest at chipmunk height,” which is pretty awesome description. I’m hoping that planting some in our yard will bring more critters like chipmunks and while I’d love for it to serve its purpose for ground-nesting birds, we have too many roaming cats for that to be possible.

Characteristics:

High drought tolerance
5-10 in. high
Spreads quickly
Cover for smaller animals, protection for ground-nesting birds

Eastern Red Cedar? (Juniperus virginiana)

This little tree makes a screen from things like, say, never-ending construction or the “pool cabana” a lengthy zoning notice said that never-ending construction would result in. It’s an aromatic, dense conifer that stays a shrub forever in poor soil but can grow to 50 feet tall and 20 feet wide if placed in better conditions.

The light blue juniper berries that stick around during the winter are a great source of food for birds, and add a little extra color to the dreary winter landscape. You know who doesn’t like an eastern red cedar, though? Moths. That’s why the wood is often used for cedar closets. Here’s another fun fact for ya: The oil extracted from the wood is used to flavor gin.

Characteristics:

High drought tolerance
Likes full sun, but will settle for part-shade and maybe even shade
16 – 66 feet tall, depending on conditions and age
Slow grower

Whitesbog Village: Blueberries, Beauty and Feminism

It’s going to be a cold week with Christmas festivities at the tail end, so I wanted to get outside yesterday despite the rain. We drove about 50 minutes to Whitesbog Village, and it was well-worth the distance and eventual “OMG we’re missing our toddler’s nap window! Now she’s literally pulling her hair out!” moment on the way home.

Whitesbog, a registered national and state historic site, is part of Brendan T. Byrne State Forest. It features a “village” of beautiful old buildings and 3,000 acres of cranberry bogs, blueberry fields, reservoirs, sandy roads, woodlands, streams and trails. Not only that, it’s a site on New Jersey’s Women Heritage Trail due to the work of “Blueberry Queen” Elizabeth Coleman White. She’s the one who brought Jersey blueberries to the masses after extensive research for growth habits, taste, scent and texture.

According to the Whitebog website, White also focused her research on the American holly (ilex opaca). “She even founded her own nursery business?Holly Haven, Inc.?and is credited with having helped to rescue the American holly from obscurity. She was even one of the first members of the Holly Society of America, founded in 1947.”

Volunteers have worked hard for decades to restore and preserve Whitesbog Village, including White’s old house. It’s a gorgeous place to stroll along paths lined with mountain laurel and other native plants, view cranberry bogs, check out White’s original test garden and experience the beauty of the Pines.

The Whitesbog General Store was closed yesterday morning, which was a bit of a bummer, because I was looking forward to picking up a few last-minute Christmas gifts. It’s typically open Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 4pm February through December, and carries blueberry and cranberry preserves, honey, candy, books on the Pine Barrens, and items handcrafted by locals.

The store and other buildings within the village date back to the late 1800s and early 1900s. The largest building, which is basically rubble now, was the packing and storing facility that was damaged in two different fires. In the other adorable buildings, Whitesbog Preservation Trust tells the story of Whitesbog Village and holds events, such as art shows, festivals and a holiday craft fair.

We knew we were in a good place when we walked up to find this awesome banner of a Jersey Devil playing banjo. Whitesbog regularly holds a Blueberry Music Jam, an acoustic jam for local musicians, which I’m hoping Tim will attend, banjo in tow.

The trip was still fun without anything in particular going on and a tiny bit of rain. Speaking of that rain, inspired by a story in the Introduction of a book I’m reading, How to Raise a Wild Child, I let Mae try splashing her boots into the puddles. She’s a kid. She should be allowed to splash in that puddle to see what it’s all about, even if it means she gets a little dirty.

One highlight was meeting a landscaping volunteer who saw me taking pictures and led me to the most awesome looking fungus. He admittedly isn’t a “fungus guy” so wasn’t quite sure what it was, but he did then proceed to show us all kinds of plants, native and not. He’s most certainly a plant guy, a weekend botanist, as he says.

The volunteer showed us a small American climbing fern (lygodium palmatum), a rare native fern with S2 status, meaning there are only 6 to 20 known occurrences in the state due to habitat destruction.

Speaking of destruction, here’s a photo of the old packing and storing facility, or what’s left:

As I’ve mentioned in other posts, when the more showy flowers of spring, summer and fall die off, some of the other aspects of the landscape finally get time to shine. This evergreen moss, which popped up all over the grounds and trails, is a beautiful contrast to the greys and browns of winter. Seeing it here led me to, once again, look into native mosses that could work in our garden. We don’t live in the Pine Barrens — we don’t have that sandy soil — so while this one wouldn’t work, there are others. But that’s for a later post.

Looking out from the trails closer to Elizabeth’s old home, the scene is stunning even on the gloomiest day just before winter settles in. I can’t wait to return in different seasons to observe how it changes.

Part of the trails has a boardwalk, which Mae loves, and there is a real range of plant species. The forest of Whitesbog includes sweet gum, pitch pine, red maple, black gum, holly, and Atlantic white cedar.

We believe this next photo is of a really old American sweet gum, but would love to be corrected if we’re wrong. Identifying trees without leaves while wrangling a dog and toddler can present a challenge at times.

The grounds around White’s house have a mix of natives and non-natives, though as far as I understand, the Whitesbog Preservation Trust’s goal with maintenance is to keep her collection of friendly non-natives healthy, get rid of invasives and add only plants native to the Pine Barrens and this region in particular.

This low-growing shrub, bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), can be found close to White’s house, and is prettier than this photo suggests. It’s a great native groundcover for those of you with that signature Pine Barrens sandy soil. It’s a host plant for the Hoary Elfin, Brown Elfin and Freija Fritillary butterflies, and its bright berries are edible.

As always, we have lots of other plant photos to share, and will continue to do so on Instagram. But all in all, it was a great little family adventure. And again, we weren’t even there when one of the many events was happening!

A Late-November Trip to Rancocas Nature Center

A morning, or even just an hour, spent walking in a quiet, natural setting can do wonders to ease your mind, de-stress and keep things in perspective. That’s exactly what we did Sunday morning on the 3 miles of Rancocas Nature Center trails, which stretch across the wide range of habitats found within the 210-acre Rancocas State Park.

It was a beautiful walk through meadows, wetlands, and pines, with lots of bridges and boardwalks for Mae to run on. (She’s got a thing with bridges.) We saw just one other person, a runner lucky and smart enough to opt for trails over pavement.

It was downright peaceful for the Sunday after Thanksgiving, a couple days after Black Friday with the holiday craze in full swing. Most of the plants had already died back or turned to seed, but the area had not lost its allure. Seeing a field of flowers after their peak season is a reminder that the outdoors should be enjoyed and appreciated year-round.

The browns, grays, and purples with pops of green is a palette I like, and somehow brings on an even deeper sense of calm than the colors of spring and summer.

Goldenrod Gone to Seed

When we started down the trail from the main building, Mae spotted a goldenrod that had turned brown and gone to seed and said, “Flower!” I was impressed, because it didn’t look like the flowers we see in most of her books. Kids, man. They’re awesome.

We got there before the building had opened, so we’ll have to return soon to check out the turtles and other wildlife on display. I guess it was about 10AM, and look at that light in the photo above. It was pretty much perfect, though I don’t doubt that an earlier or later walk would be just as good.

I could feel the temperature drop as we walked from the sunny meadow into the pines, which made me wish again that our neighborhood was full of trees (ahem, summer utility bills), but Mae didn’t agree. That was the exact moment she wanted to take off her coat and run around.

One of the other neat things about late-fall and winter hikes is that berries, evergreens, and mosses that might not be as visible at other times of the year burst through the many shades of brown.

For gardeners, getting out in natural settings this time of the year is also beneficial for strategizing. You can notice what leaves are still hanging on, where the interest remains, and add those plants to your little plot of land if the conditions are similar. I spotted a little eastern red cedar that stood out when it otherwise wouldn’t, and just seeing it there pretty and green proved Tim right that it could work nicely along our back fence.

It’s funny how both having a child and learning more about native plant gardening has changed my perspective. Together, they’ve made me walk slower, look for new things to discover (like, really look), and recognize the beauty in flowers not longer full of life and color.

I cannot wait to go back and take photos of the same scenes again as the seasons change. Mae will love the butterfly house, the bees, and the dragonfly pond that will come alive in the summer, and we hope to get some snow so that we can experience it there among the trees.

We didn’t spot any wildlife other than a turkey vulture and a woodpecker, but I’m sure we will during future visits at different times in different seasons.

Also, we weren’t exactly quiet, since we basically had the trails to ourselves and gave Mae the opportunity to run wild a bit. Next time we’ll practice our whisper in hopes of seeing a deer.

The Rancocas Nature Center offers events and educational programs for all ages. They have a summer camp and is just a couple of miles off 295 and a 25-minute drive from Collingswood. The nature center is open six days a week, Monday through Saturday, 10-4 PM, and Sunday 12-4 PM. The trails are open every day until dusk.

Oh, and I should say, because it is Giving Tuesday: It didn’t require more than one visit to Rancocas Nature Center for us to decide on membership. (Note: RNC requires you to apply via snail mail, so we’re not members yet!) All fees all go toward “the continued environmental education of our children,” a cause we can certainly get behind. After all, we should always have places like this to take our children and to escape for a few hours ourselves.

Native Landscaping: Designing a Jersey-Friendly Shade Garden

The goal: Plant a woodland shade garden that’s diverse, quick to spread, and well-suited to the sandy loam we have here in the Inner Coastal Plain.

We don’t have all that many full-sun spots in our yard, but the area just behind our house barely gets even the tiniest glimmer of sun throughout the day, so this winter I’ll be working on a plan for a fern-heavy woodland understory shade garden. It’ll be an experiment, as always. The area doesn’t seem to drain quite as well as other parts of our yard, and gets more runoff from the house than others, but I’m not sure if it’s wet enough for some of the plants we’re considering.

Here in Collingswood, we’re living in New Jersey’s Inner Coastal Plain region. One of the most awesome things about the great Garden State is that it’s both one of the smallest and the most ecologically diverse states. And though we typically choose to hike in or travel to regions other than our own, particularly the Pine Barrens within the Outer Coastal Plain, I feel pretty thankful for the nice soil we have here in the Inner Coastal Plain. What I don’t feel thankful for: It’s super built-out and our little part of the state has done pretty terribly when it comes to preserving the rare plants that once made it special.

As I start my search using the JerseyYards.org plant database, I select “Sandy” and “Loam” and “Coastal Plain” region. It doesn’t support the level of detail I’m considering just yet, so I’ll just have to do a little more research to narrow down my list later. I’m also cross-checking all of the plants I like with the Native Plant Society of New Jersey’s Camden County Plants list, just to be extra sure they’re well-suited for our region.

In order to avoid the common mistake of focusing on just one layer rather than the multi-layer approach that supports a healthy ecosystem, I’m going to look for some larger shrubs, flowers, ferns and groundcover. (Note: All of the descriptions in quotes below come from the JerseyYards.org database.)

Working List of Plants for our Shade Garden:

Summersweet, JerseyYards.org

Summersweet (clethra alnifolia) / Shrub

This will be the most upper layer given the proximity to our house and an existing small tree. I love that it’s a great shrub for birds, butterflies, hummingbirds and bees, but I am a little concerned that it won’t be quite wet enough for it to thrive. Tim collected a few seeds on a hike earlier this fall, but we may want to get a jump start by buying a plant that’s a year or more old.

“Summersweet is a multi-branched deciduous shrub with dark green, aromatic leaves. It is one of the few summer-flowering shrubs that will bloom in shade. The sweetly fragrant, white flowers bloom in upright clusters on the tips of stems, July-August.”

Wood Anemone, Photo from JerseyYards.org

Wood Anemone, Wood Windflower (Anemone quinquefolia) / Groundcover

This one is a little bit of a risk, because I’m not quite sure whether it’s wet enough in the area. It’s beautiful, though.

“Wood Anemone is a delicate, early-spring perennial. It features a whorl of deeply-cut, dark green leaves and a solitary white flower that blooms atop a 4 to 8-inch stalk, April-May. The graceful movement of the slender flower stalks in the wind led to its other common name, Wind Flower. Wood Anemone is a spring ephemeral ? the plants die back in mid-summer. This plant forms colonies and makes a good spring groundcover for shady areas.”

Strawberry Bush, Wildflowers.org

Strawberry Bush (Euonymus americanus)

Before I go any further, let me just tell you that the common names for this one are strawberry bush, bursting-heart, hearts-a-bustin and hearts-bustin’-with-love. Being able to tell people, “Oh that’s a ‘hearts-a-bustin'” is reason enough to plant this pretty shrub. Another reason: It seems well-suited for the part of our shade garden that gets a little bit more sun. To find this one, I used the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center’s plant finder, filtering for? the following characteristics: New Jersey, Shade and Part Shade, 3-12 feet, Perennial, Shrub. In other words, I’m looking for something for that woody understory layer.

Hay-Scented Fern, JerseyYards.org

Eastern Hay-Scented Fern (Dennstaedtia punctilobula) / Fern (Obviously)

This is the main groundcover that surrounds Tim’s parents’ house in the Poconos (it thrives there, because deer won’t eat it. It’s simple and beautiful. We brought one home and it’s been doing well in this area, so we’d love to plant more next year.

“Eastern Hayscented Fern is a deciduous fern with light-green, finely textured, lacy fronds. The fronds can be cut for use in flower arrangements. When crushed or dried, the fronds release a fragrance like freshly-mowed hay, inspiring its common name. This plant prefers moist, acidic, organically rich soils.” (Read: Add compost!)

Northern Maidenhair, JerseyYards.org

Northern Maidenhair (Adiantum pedatum) / Fern and Groundcover

I’m looking forward to planting several different ferns, because observing them in our own yard will make it easier for me to identify them in the wild. I’m just not a see it once in a book and remember it always kind of learner. I can’t wait to observe as they begin emerging and then unfurling: As I’ve written before, appreciating the differentiating details and the way light hits certain parts of the yard is a worthy endeavor for sure.

“Northern Maidenhair is a fine-textured deciduous fern. Pink fiddleheads emerge in spring, turning green as they mature. Northern Maidenhair is a good plant for moist, shady sites. This attractive fern combines well with other perennials in shade, woodland, or rock gardens, and makes an excellent edging plant along shady pathways.”

Crested Woodfern, JerseyYards.org

Crested Woodfern (Dryopteris cristata) / Fern

Isn’t this one cool? Again, I hope that this area of our backyard is indeed wet enough for a fern like this. It’s a risk, but as long as we have some rain and I help the soil out a bit with some compost, I have faith that it’ll do well. I might just start with one to see how it does before investing in more.

“Crested Woodfern is an evergreen fern. The tall, fertile fronds die back in the winter, but the infertile fronds stay green throughout the winter months.”

Cinnamon Fern, JerseyYards.org

Cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea) / Fern

This fern is great for adding color to your woodland garden. We picked up a couple of them for my dad, who remembers planting them in the house we were in when my brothers and I were very young. Fingers crossed that they do as well in his yard as ours!

“Cinnamon Fern is a clumping deciduous fern. The fronds emerge as fiddleheads. Birds use the ?fuzz? covering the fiddleheads as nesting material. Green, sterile fronds bend outward, encircling fertile, erect, spore-bearing fronds, which quickly turn chestnut-brown, giving this plant its common name.”

Sweet Fern, JerseyYards.org

Sweet fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) / Fern

We first saw and smelled sweet fern while visiting Clemenson Farms, and I fell in love. It smells so great and looks cool too. This one does better with a bit of sun, so I think it’ll work in the area that comes closest to the back steps that lead to our kitchen. I’m going to take more time to observe the area where this garden will go to determine whether that’s the best place for it. If not, I’ll try it somewhere else in the yard.

“Sweet Fern is not a fern, but a multi-branched, mounded shrub with dark green, aromatic, fern-like leaves. Its inconspicuous, yellow-green catkins (elongated, drooping clusters of tiny flowers without petals) appear April-May, followed by small, burr-like nutlets. It is a host plant for butterfly and moth larvae (caterpillars), including Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus).”

White Wood Aster, JerseyYards.org

White Wood Aster, Eurybia divaricata / Flower

Because I’d like to mix in some flowers too, for the beauty and for the butterflies: “White Wood Aster has small, daisy-like flowers with white petals and yellow to red centers; it blooms August-September. The flowers are a nectar source for butterflies. This plant tolerates dry, shady conditions. Plant in masses in shady borders or wildflower gardens, or as an understory planting in woodland gardens.”

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The Fleeting Moments of a Woodland Garden

We’re currently most inspired by woodland gardens, and working on plans that will bring some of what we love about forests to our small suburban backyard. One of the books I’ve been really enjoying lately is Rick Darke’s The American Woodland Garden: Capturing the Spirit of the Deciduous Forest. Darke is downright poetic both in how he writes, thinks and photographs. More later on the book itself and what we’re planting and where, but for now,? this:

“To the uninitiated, the woodland garden might seem a place of darkness, but in truth, it can be among the most radiant landscapes on earth. One magical aspect of deciduous woodland plants is that their thin foliage is translucent, particularly in spring and fall, and capable of all manner of incandescent effects.

“Many of the most beautifully lit moments in the woodland garden are indeed fleeting, and to welcome this is essential to understanding the nature of the garden’s beauty. It is neither fixed nor static but rather dynamic and flowing, built upon the constant flux and innumerable luminous phenomena that characterize the woods.”

-Rick Darke in The American Woodland Garden