The woodland garden requires an upper canopy of large shade trees, followed by a mid-canopy of understory trees like dogwoods or serviceberries above a layer of mid- and small-size shrubs followed by ground covers and groupings of perennials. 3) Include natural-looking garden art
Your fruit trees may work on the edge of the woodland CRed. I’m in a similar position, after 12 years of gardening on a dry south facing slope with no shelter, I have a quarter acre woodland. Shade and shelter all new to me.
I started with bark chip paths (from trees that had to come out). Once you have paths in, areas for planting shrubs become more obvious. I have a lot of bulbs already in (possibly too many), but I have added some wildlife friendly small trees, evergreen shrubs, lots of hostas and hellebores. It’s looking good. Oh and I did some dead hedges for wildlife.
I think a contemporary style works nicely with woodland, especially if you keep your woodland planting naturalistic rather than something that looks like a 'traditional garden'. For example:
I'll have a look at those plant and book recommendations.
I'll also pop out and take a couple of photos this week.
Just a quick question in the mean time. Can we plant trees in the wooded area, or will they struggle to grow in the reduced light?
We'd love to plant apple, cherry and damson for the kids and wildlife.
It depends on how close or densely planted the trees in the woodland are. Trees naturally regrow in a woodland setting keeping it regenerated over the long term but commercially planted forest has trees planted at the same time very close together to reduce competition and give better crops of straight long lengths of timber for quality construction material that is quite a different setting than a natural woodland where there are trees of all different ages including some that are falling over and clearing a space for other younger trees to replace them. If you are planting some of those fruit trees they may do better in parts of the woodland where there is less dense growth of the existing trees or you may need to thin out some of the existing growth to be able to get enough light to have useful crops from your fruit trees.
The woodland garden requires an upper canopy of large shade trees, followed by a mid-canopy of understory trees like dogwoods or serviceberries above a layer of mid- and small-size shrubs followed by ground covers and groupings of perennials. 3) Include natural-looking garden art
Thank you very much for your help. So it sounds like there are 4 layers: 1) Big trees - how do I know what a large shade tree is? Obviously I can look at one in the garden, but if I was buying one, how would I know from a name or a sapling? Is there a list online somewhere? 2) Smaller trees - again how would I identify these on online descriptions? Dogwood and Serviceberry look nice. How much should I be expecting to pay for a sapling to plant? Also how do I navigate the dozens of varieties there seem to be? Is the Latin name always reliable, or could there still be strange and wonderful variations within that? 3) Shrubs - I actually think I know almost nothing about shrubs. Hmm. 4) What I would call plants - I have a large gardening book of my Aunt's, but she's passed away, so do I just need to go through and find the ones that tolerate shade? How much shade is shade, when talking about plants?
This feels a lot like trying to learn engineering in French. Quite overwhelming!
Your fruit trees may work on the edge of the woodland CRed. I’m in a similar position, after 12 years of gardening on a dry south facing slope with no shelter, I have a quarter acre woodland. Shade and shelter all new to me.
I started with bark chip paths (from trees that had to come out). Once you have paths in, areas for planting shrubs become more obvious. I have a lot of bulbs already in (possibly too many), but I have added some wildlife friendly small trees, evergreen shrubs, lots of hostas and hellebores. It’s looking good. Oh and I did some dead hedges for wildlife.
Basic question: how did you decide where the paths should go?
Okay, loads of other questions too..
Is the idea that you create landmarks, like seating, a pond, a climbing frame, then you block the view between them with shrubs, then you wind your paths around between?
What are wildlife friendly small trees? What makes the wildlife friendly? Also what size did you buy them and why?
What are hostas and hellebores, and why did you choose them?
What's a dead hedge?
Thanks for your help. It sounds like you've really got stuck into your new woodland. I hope it all goes well.
I think a contemporary style works nicely with woodland, especially if you keep your woodland planting naturalistic rather than something that looks like a 'traditional garden'. For example:
I felt reassured by the nettles in the second one. Interesting that the paths became the feature. Nearly everything is currently dead in our wood, so it feels empty, but with some trees.
Also in the first one, the trees that make the feature for the green spaces between the paths, would they have been bought that size? Also how would one go about stopping them from becoming huge and blocking the whole view from the house?
Arslan was a spammer @CumbrianRed, advertising a site in Texas, so take no notice of any posts he/she makes
Get some photos on, and follow advice from UK members. It doesn't have to be a case of planting everything now either. Get a few basics and then take your time to see what will suit you
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Posts
Will Teare (@woodland.edge) • Instagram photos and videos
It would be great to see some pictures.
I think a contemporary style works nicely with woodland, especially if you keep your woodland planting naturalistic rather than something that looks like a 'traditional garden'. For example:
Boekel Tuin&Landschap on Instagram: "Courtyard garden doing well. We worked with shades of green and a contrasting and complementing choice of materials, both modern and…"
Andrew van Egmond on Instagram: "More and more its about letting go... Just see what happens and be humble in controlling nature. The right composition of lines and strong…"
1) Big trees - how do I know what a large shade tree is? Obviously I can look at one in the garden, but if I was buying one, how would I know from a name or a sapling? Is there a list online somewhere?
2) Smaller trees - again how would I identify these on online descriptions? Dogwood and Serviceberry look nice. How much should I be expecting to pay for a sapling to plant? Also how do I navigate the dozens of varieties there seem to be? Is the Latin name always reliable, or could there still be strange and wonderful variations within that?
3) Shrubs - I actually think I know almost nothing about shrubs. Hmm.
4) What I would call plants - I have a large gardening book of my Aunt's, but she's passed away, so do I just need to go through and find the ones that tolerate shade? How much shade is shade, when talking about plants?
This feels a lot like trying to learn engineering in French. Quite overwhelming!
Okay, loads of other questions too..
Is the idea that you create landmarks, like seating, a pond, a climbing frame, then you block the view between them with shrubs, then you wind your paths around between?
What are wildlife friendly small trees? What makes the wildlife friendly? Also what size did you buy them and why?
What are hostas and hellebores, and why did you choose them?
What's a dead hedge?
Thanks for your help. It sounds like you've really got stuck into your new woodland. I hope it all goes well.
I felt reassured by the nettles in the second one. Interesting that the paths became the feature. Nearly everything is currently dead in our wood, so it feels empty, but with some trees.
Also in the first one, the trees that make the feature for the green spaces between the paths, would they have been bought that size? Also how would one go about stopping them from becoming huge and blocking the whole view from the house?
Get some photos on, and follow advice from UK members. It doesn't have to be a case of planting everything now either. Get a few basics and then take your time to see what will suit you
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
This is the view from the house looking towards the woodland:
This is the view from the top of the wall down the hill into the woodland (tree down):
As the tree blocks most of the view, this is again facing down hill, but from the other side of the fallen tree:
This is the view from the bottom next to the bigger pond, back up the hill into the wooded area (towards the fallen tree):
Finally, this is the bottom, with the pond and bench (slightly boggy):
Overall, long and thin, running downhill from the wall to the bench in a northerly direction. Field on the East, neighbouring garden to the West.
The main features are the pond at the bottom and septic tank quarter of the way down on the left (facing down).
I've absolutely no idea where to start really.