The redbud front and center has evolved on the windy slope as a large shrub. To the right is an ash I’ve kept small by pruning. To the left is a burgundy-colored ninebark. Behind that, staghorn sumac and willow. In front is a row of globemaster alliums that I scored at Costco one year. Rocks and lambs’ ears serve as edging.
A large willow branch blew down and I’m leaving it there for now, because it might look interesting to have the red hot poker flowers grow up in between its branches. Behind it is a red maple kept smallish via pruning; it grows up from the rocky rip rap and helps stabilize everything.
A “split polar vortex” is evidently the weather phenomena responsible for the recent spate of storms.
Asclepias purpurascens is listed as endangered in Massachusetts. I found this one in a different area than our other common milkweed – it seemed perfectly at home down next to the pond.
The Hakuro-Nishiki Willow put on a growth spurt this year.
As an aside – I’ve learned that when you see a ripe blueberry, eat it right then and there! Otherwise they disappear. We’ve caught chipmunks eating them. So far, the grapes, still green, have survived; it’ll be interesting to see how long they last.
Little bluestem is a beautiful, native grass that turns many colors, not just blue. When I found out that its roots can go down as much as six feet, I started planting them on the slope, to help with erosion. The only place I’ve been able to find them around here is the Garden in the Woods. Here’s one of the first batch, newly planted, by the highbush blueberries.
Wondering why I didn’t seem to have a ton of photos and videos on our landscape restoration project for 2010, I finally realized, that was the summer we scraped our basement and built an entire apartment from scratch!
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