Introduction Anthropologists have linked humanity's biological ancestry to the woodland, and psychologists blame many modern urban ills on our alienation from this heritage. Perhaps in reaction, gardeners are turning increasingly to a natural style of landscape. They find deep satisfaction in the subtle play of dappled light on the varied textures of woodland plants or in the soft feel of moss underfoot. The woodland garden style suits those gardeners whose bent is gentle trial and error, calm observation and a love of natural systems -- those same qualities the frenetic conventional gardener would call laziness! However, in the early stages of site preparation, some hard work is always necessary Undesirable plants must be grubbed out, weeds removed and trees pruned or thinned in a skillful way to enhance their naturalism -- not neatly trimmed as in more formal gardens. A woodland garden style is not easy to define, because woodlands, on which the idea is based, are found from the tropics to the far north, from sea level to timberline, and these woodlands vary vastly. For the purpose of this book, the woodland garden can be defined as a relatively sheltered place where there is an upper canopy of large or small trees, beneath which there is a second layer of shrubs, the understory , and a third level of herbaceous plants and other low-growing species, the woodland floor . Because of the tree canopy, the lower levels receive a controlled amount of sunshine. This means the woodland garden is the ideal habitat for plants that need various degrees of protection given by shade. It also means that solar energy and the three-dimensional garden space are used to the fullest potential that nature can provide. A woodland garden does not necessarily need large trees as the upper canopy. Quite small trees up to 25 feet (7.6 m) in height can provide the necessary shade in small urban or suburban gardens. The trees can be deciduous or evergreen, broadleaved or coniferous or any desired mixture of these, depending on the amount of shade required. The woodland garden is inspired by a poetic vision of infinite balance and perfect harmony among all the forest components. The foliage canopy contains and defines the landscape, focussing attention on the immediate environment -- fallen mossy trees, lichen-covered rocks and the living matrix of the forest floor itself take on a special significance. The woodland is all the more charming because it is a composition of form and texture without much reliance on color except for tonal variations of green. These impressions are the raw material in the process of making woodland gardens. The emotions stimulated by the woodland garden may be unwelcome to those whose perception of a garden is limited to structural orderliness. The wildness may intimidate those who feel that the outdoors is something to be tamed and ordered. But for those who appreciate and respond to the special ambience of the woodland garden, we hope that our knowledge of and experience in creating and maintaining woodland gardens will inspire and guide you. Some woodland gardens are made with existing woodland, some are made on raw land and some on land reclaimed from conventional gardens. Owners of land partially or completely wooded will find information on thinning out unwanted vegetation while preserving what is valuable. Raw sites, small or large, are a special challenge, but help can be found in choosing the best trees to start the canopy. Adapting an older conventional garden to a woodland theme comes between these two extremes. This book will be useful to property owners gardening under many differing site conditions. The richest North American woodland gardens are to be found in the temperate climate zones. This includes the forested coastal areas of the Pacific Northwest and the Carolinean zone of eastern North America, from the mountains of the southeastern United States to the southern and eastern parts of Canada. in most areas of North America, temperatures cover fairly extreme seasonal differences. Here the woodland garden is valuable for the softening effects of the microclimate created by suitable trees. Such a microclimate may make it possible to cultivate plants that are otherwise tender, either to summer heat or winter cold. In this book we emphasize the more densely populated, temperate parts of the northern United States and Canada. Gardeners in the more climatically challenged continental interior or in the South, or those gardening on alkaline soils, will find sections of this book useful, if only to encourage further search for information. This book concentrates on those plant materials hardy from Zone 5 through Zone 9, according to the hardiness zone system devised by the United States Department of Agriculture. (See p. 159-60 for a further discussion of plant hardiness.) The Origins of the Woodland Garden Woodland gardens are a relatively recent development in garden history. They represent, in every way, a departure from conventional structured gardens. Through many centuries of horticulture, the modern flower garden has derived some of its essential elements from more formal forerunners, such as monastery gardens. The woodland garden, however, has as its precursor what were perhaps the earliest gardens of Europe and Asia: the woodland hunting reserves of ancient rulers. Before the systematic use of land for growing crops (or for the making of gardens), wooded land was more highly valued because it provided fuel and building material. Above all, it gave cover to the many kinds of game animals prized for the hunt and the table. Such a productive woodland required thinning, not with the cataclysmic methods of modern logging, but in the rather random fashion of taking what was needed for immediate purposes. The open woodland fostered by these methods was both productive and beautiful. In a more highly developed form, with areas of pasture between forest tracts, the landscape evolved into parkland. Landscape of this sort became an integral part of the art and poetry of pastoral peoples and gave rise to the romantic, picturesque style of landscape gardening that changed the face of eighteenth-century England. Even today, it is an important influence in the design of large parks and gardens throughout the western world. The wonderful botanical treasures of North America, such as American magnolias, halesias, witch-hazels, rhododendrons and many other plants, provided the inspiration that gave rise to the "American," or wild, garden, the nineteenth-century precursor of the modern woodland garden. By the 1840s, the growing ranks of garden owners in the United States were demanding a wider range of plants and a more informal style of garden design. Nurserymen and landscape gardeners were there to meet the need with newly introduced plants. Andrew Jackson Downing, a leading landscape gardener of the day, was influenced by the naturalism of the English landscape movement that had begun a century before. The so-called English park style, a forerunner of the woodland garden, became popular in the United States. Central Park in New York was the most ambitious example of this style. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the park stands as an important milestone in the development of landscape style in North America. The Olmsted firm later designed the Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle, which contains some fine woodland groves. Plant Hunting and Woodland Gardens Many gardeners are caught up in the enthusiasm for plant exploration and preservation. This enthusiasm is not limited to interest in the plant species themselves, but includes a concern for habitat, ecology and the plant associations and communities of which these species are a part. When these associations influence garden design and the arrangement of garden plants, it is possible to evoke nature. It would be difficult to imagine the gardens of the southeastern United States without camellias and Asian azaleas, or the gardens of the Northeast and Pacific Northwest with no Asian magnolias and rhododendrons. However, long before the botanical treasures of Asia were discovered, a wide array of American woodland plants was introduced to the gardens of Europe and America. In prehistoric times, the Carolinean woods of the southern Appalachian Mountains were spared the destructive effects of the continental ice sheets that enveloped the northerly forest, and a rich heritage of plants survived in this protected habitat. As early as 1632, plant exploration had begun on an organized basis. John Tradescant the younger, English botanist and plant explorer, traveled in eastern North America in the years 1637, 1642 and 1654, and the flow of plants to England began. Tradescant's importations included spiderwort ( Tradescantia virginiana ), which is an excellent border plant suitable for planting in moist, sunny places on the woodland fringe. Mark Gatesby, another Englishman, collected in the years between 1712 and 1725. His efforts yielded many important plants, including Magnolia grandiflora , Nyssa sylvatica (tupelo) and Rhododendron maximum , all of which are widely planted in gardens. The greatest of the early American plant hunters was John Bartram. His contributions were recognized and further encouraged by wealthy British and American landowners and also by the botanist Linnaeus. Bartram began his botanic garden nursery in Philadelphia in i728. He traveled widely in the eastern United States, collecting plants for his patrons, one of whom was King George III of England. His greatest find was the legendary Franklinia alatamaha (Franklin tree) in Georgia. Franklinia apparently became extinct in the wild and has not been seen since 1803. Happily, it is well established in woodland gardens in climatically hospitable parts of the world. The British expedition of the 1790s under Captain George Vancouver brought the botanist Archibald Menzies to the Pacific Coast. His efforts are recognized in the genus Menziesia , a group of shrubs native to North America and Japan. Menzies found the coast redwood ( Sequoia sempervirens ) and the nootka cypress ( Chamaecyparis nootkatensis ). These and other western conifers, such as the giant sequoia ( Sequoiadendron giganteum ), became popular for planting the large estates then in vogue. The Scottish botanist David Douglas explored western North America in the first quarter of the nineteenth century In his short life he introduced many trees and shrubs that have since become of great economic importance in forestry and horticulture. Among these are Douglas fir ( Pseudotsuga menziesii ), grand fir ( Abies grandis ), Sitka spruce ( Picea sitchensis ), vine maple ( Acer circinatum ) and tassel bush ( Garrya elliptical ). President Thomas Jefferson was an avid gardener who recognized the importance of plant collection in geographic exploration. As a result, the transcontinental Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804-06 is remembered in the Western plants Lewisia and Clarkia . Before the middle of the nineteenth century, the flow of new plants was mainly from America to Europe. One of the most significant was Rhododendron catawbiense , found by Andre Michaux in 1785. Hybrids derived from this species and others produced a new race of hardy rhododendrons. The nursery firm Waterers of England was the leader in this early hybridization, and the new plants were a sensation in the horticultural world. Asia, with its temperate mixed mesophytic forest and large areas of varied habitat, offered plant explorers a treasure trove of new plants, many of similar character to their American relatives. In many cases, the same genera are represented, and their similarities have been frequently discussed by plant geographers and botanists. Introductions from Asia peaked in the first half of the twentieth century, thanks in large part to E.H. Wilson, the most famous of all plant explorers. In 1907 Wilson went to China under the aegis of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. Founded in 1872, the arboretum, under the direction of Charles Sprague Sargent, led the field in plant exploration and introduction. Wilson's plants play a major part in woodland gardens in America. In the early 1900s the U.S. Department of Agriculture became involved in plant exploration. The enigmatic Frank N. Meyer, one of the first government-sponsored plant explorers, led several expeditions between 1905 and 1916. He died in China under rather mysterious circumstances at the age of only 43 years. Meyer's major contribution was the introduction of many important crop plants, and he is remembered in a lilac ( Syringa meyeri ) and a juniper ( Juniperus squamata 'Meyeri'). Joseph Rock, another illustrious name in the annals of American plant exploration, is remembered for the large number of fine rhododendron species he collected in China. One of these is Rhododendron racemosum . Plant exploration continues at the present time, increasingly supported by private interests. Most modern expeditions retrace the steps of earlier plant explorers. The number of new species discovered is small, but there are good possibilities of finding new and perhaps better forms of species already in cultivation. If it were not for this vital activity, neither the economic nor the conservation and aesthetic sides of horticulture could make progress. Growing species of plants that were collected in the wild is in many ways more meaningful to gardeners than the cultivation of hybrids or plants of unknown origin. In a shrinking natural world, we must use our garden space effectively to grow plants that may need protection because of habitat destruction. In cultivating the rare and beautiful, we can experience the excitement felt by plant explorers when they discovered these plants in their wild habitat. The woodland garden is the ideal setting for these endeavors. The Woodland Garden Today The woodland garden style was originally an adaptation of the deciduous hardwood forest of Canada and the eastern mountain states. But many other kinds of natural woodlands occur in America: the pine woods and cypress glades of the South; the coniferous North; the dry ponderosa pine forests of the West; the oak parklands and cathedral-like redwood forests of California; the somber rain forest of the Pacific Northwest. Each could be the basis for a woodland garden, using appropriate companion plants to build landscape associations that are ornamental and at the same time in harmony with the native vegetation. The woodland garden is a response to the need for picturesque naturalism and romanticism, a revolt of the human spirit against rigid formalism. Since the woodland garden serves no utilitarian function, unlike the kitchen or vegetable garden, it comes close to being a work of art. Free of formal rules, such as those demanded by the Victorian-era carpet bedding schemes, the woodland garden gives the landscape artist free rein to create naturalistic garden spaces that evoke a sense of harmony and freedom. Today's woodland garden designer attempts to create an ecological balance among the various plant components by providing each plant or group of plants with a growing niche, taking into account a number of factors including exposure, light, soil type, moisture and space. Each group of plants influences and is influenced by the plants either above or below it in the hierarchy of the woodland. It would be naive to suppose that such a garden would be static and self-sustaining. Substantial intervention in the way of removing or pruning of plants is sometimes needed to maintain a balanced woodland. Some species are simply too aggressive to be left alone and others are too vulnerable. All the natural forces that lead toward the climax forest of the particular location will be at work. In a natural woodland, these conditions favor the survival of the fittest. In a woodland-style garden, some intervention is needed to help the desired plant associations become established. Excerpted from The Woodland Garden: Planting in Harmony with Nature by R. Roy Forster, Alex M. Downie All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
