Troutbirder II

Troutbirder II
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Saturday, August 20, 2016

Oak Hill Bank

Our now sixteen  year old home sits on "Oak Hill." Here, surrounded by magnificent white and burr oaks, I had to give up my sunny gardens. We had divided our property, selling our old house in the open, and building a new one in the adjacent woods. The wooded areas have been gradually converted to shady wildflower gardens. They are now my gardening pride and joy. Still, there was one area I wasn't quite sure what to do with. It was a six foot, east facing bank, on the edge of the woods. Leading down to the ditch along the road, it was a maze of gooseberry bushes, burdock&uncounted weeds. It couldn't be mowed, yet offered a half a day of sunshine. What to do?
I decided to try and give it a "prairie look" and hoped the morning sunshine would be adequate. In the fall of 2007, I cut back the gooseberries and prickly ash.. Then, that fall, the bank got burned. I had already purchased some native wildflower seeds from Prairie Moon, a local wildflower specialist. Raking the ground, then scattering and tamping the seeds, I hoped the spring melt wouldn't wash them all into the ditch. There was no way for me to tell that spring as to what came up. I couldn't identify the weeds from the flowers. So I waited till the maze reached about 6-8 inches in June and then weed whacked everything down to about 3 inches. Now my precious wildflowers would have a fighting chance. The bulbs I had planted, of course, bloomed that first spring. The rest would have to wait at least another year before blooming.... if they survived!












Two years later, the summer of 2009, purple coneflowers, and woodland phlox made their first appearance.












August 2010: the brown eyed Susan's showed up  in a great numbers.

































 
At the top of the bank some native sunflowers (cup plants) more than 7 feet tall. In October, I expect to see the bank turn blue, when the New England asters put on the final show of the season. What fun!
 

18 comments:

  1. Takes a lot of time , but somehow that beauty creeps in.I like the asters, a few small blossomed ones have started down here.

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  2. How beautiful! You are very talented!

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  3. I feel your every word... We have a mostly shady yard ---and believe me, it's hard to find spots to grow roses in this shady yard... Hubby built a flowerbed out by the road (next to the ditch)... Then he was able to build a couple more smaller beds on either side of the driveway --and finally, he has added container roses up and down both sides of the driveway... Takes work and YEARS to get what you want. BUT---we did it and things are doing well.... Yours looks GREAT... Such an improvement with each passing year.

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  4. That was a good idea that worked very well.

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  5. So lovely, Trout! I admire and appreciate your talent!

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  6. I like it! Our property in NC used to have a bank, but once the new road was put in, the bank is almost nonexistent. Plus, they covered up the rock wall in front of the little house. I loved that wall. The price of progress. *sigh

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  7. Wondering if you'd like to take over my garden...smiles. I am envious of your home surroundings. The bottom end of my garden was turned over to wildlife because we were unable to control it. There are some unusual wildflowers but it's all very unruly. I wish I had your expertise.

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  8. Delightful landscape solution. I approve!!!

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  9. Wow, did that plan succeed. I have a similar spot. Wonder if it would work for me.

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  10. Great solution for a difficult area! :)

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  11. What a marvelous use of that space!! I'm sure the pollinators are loving it!

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  12. The progression was quite something.

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  13. Hi Troutbirder, Wow, very nice work. I love wildflowers! Very neat to see the progression over the years in your photos. I hope you will share some pics of the New England asters this fall.

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  14. Well worth waiting for. I wish I had the patience and foresight to do something like that ....Lovely.

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  15. Gorgeous! I love it when a garden plan works out successfully.

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  16. I'm impressed with your gardening skills! Your plan worked beautifully and looks like it will continue to bloom year after year.

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