LandRemedy Blog – Page 20 – How We're Restoring Our Landscape

Willows, Juniper and Little Bluestem

photo of slope — Taken from the middle of the slope, looking west. You can barely see the dark little groundcover juniperus horizontalis; it’s a young specimen.

Little Bluestem, the Slope’s Best Friend

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.

photo of little bluestem — Taken from the middle of the slope, looking east, little bluestem and highbush blueberries

You Can Never Have Too Many Wood Chips

Our first pile of wood chips went right into our front yard. A friend had given us some magnolias, redbuds and dogwoods. Still in their pots, I buried them in the wood chips, where they successfully overwintered.

The second big pile of wood chips we scored from a tree person was placed in the back acre, which we now owned. Now we had chips closer to where we needed them the most, where the ground was flatter. There are only a few little areas on the slope where wood chips work as mulch, without washing away in the rain.

photo of landscape — Wood chip pile in back acre was a great asset. This was the year we finished renovating our entryway, kitchen, great room, powder room and laundry room, so we still have the darn dumpster. It’s been there so long, it’s on Google earth!

Real Mulch for the Slope

I called around, trying to find the exact right kind of mulch for the slope. It couldn’t be wood chips, because they’d just wash away in the rain. It couldn’t be fine pieces, either. Instead, I found the biggest, most irregular pieces of bark, that would sort of hook onto each other, and stop from sliding down. It was hard to find mulch that hadn’t been treated with color, for a reasonable price.

We had an entire team of guys come over and help us plant all the plants we ordered, and also do some weeding and mulching.

It almost looked too manicured. I actually prefer a more naturalistic design. But at least the knotweed was being kept at bay (not to mention the bittersweet, multiflora, tartarian honeysuckle, autumn olive, grapevine and spurges).

photo of east slope — The largest shrub next to the terra cotta urn is a willow we left there; it likes that spot, because that’s where water goes down the slope. The other four larger shrub/trees are gray alders (alnus incana). I have many good things to say about them, one of which is, they fix nitrogen in the soil. (Our neighbors towed away their sunken backhoe soon thereafter!)

photo of west slope, mulched — This photo shows a couple of other willows taking advantage of a wonderful site. The infamous black tarp is still down (between the big white rock and the dumpster). I have no idea of what the other largish plants are. The landscape team probably felt sorry for us, and wanted to leave something standing. In the top left corner is a blue spruce I got for a great price at Costco. The bittersweet vines choking the trees have been cut as much as possible, however, large fragments of them are still left hanging in the trees. To their right, there are mulch circles for the 3 river birches, just whips at the time.

July 2012 – A Brush Pile Full of Phragmites

All of those phragmites really added up. This was one of many huge brushpiles of invasive plants that we had to burn over the years.

Removing Dead Phragmites from Pond West End

photo of tarp with phragmites — There were many tarpfuls just like this one!

Watering the Newly-Planted Silky Dogwoods

Cornus amomum (“silky dogwood”) has beautiful red twigs in the winter. This native forms thickets that are great for all kinds of wildlife. We bought ten 1-year-old specimens at a fantastic price.

pond W end photo — This photo also shows the density of the phragmites resprouts, in what used to be the densest stand, at the W end of the pond. I’ve gradually been clearing out the bittersweet vines from the quaking aspens; there were several layers of it, all mixed in with multiflora rose. I could not have done it without the Kioti tractor!

Bittersweet and Multiflora Rose, Pond West End

There were so many huge multiflora roses invading the west end of the pond, and so many old, huge bittersweet vines strangling the trees, one day I decided to have at them with the backhoe. I carefully positioned the tractor, not sideways, but up and down on the slope down to the pond, then dug in the teeth of the front end loader, to help stabilize it.

This:

stood no chance against this:

roots and all:

Bittersweet:

Now you can at least access the pond, from this side:

Removing More Dead Phragmites Stalks

Most of the phragmites we’ve encountered this summer are dead stalks. There are a few resprouts, such as these:

photo of phragmites — Taken from the east end of the pond, looking west

And these:

Here’s a closeup photo of pulled phragmites resprouts:

photo of resprouts — Re-sprouted phragmites, pulled, with their rhizomes attached. They are tough to dig! Thick, strong, and smelly. I can’t wait to get them all out of our pond!

As the summer progresses, the level of the pond diminishes, so it’s a good chance to easily reach even more dead phragmites stalks, and get as many as possible of them out of the pond. Here, Steve is working on the east end: