Spring is bursting out all over!

Welcome to Mother Oak’s Garden. As you can see, the woodland is alight in the lovely pastels of early spring. Ranging from the demure pink of the redbud, to the vibrant chartreuse of the distant Norway Maple, beyond the fence. What secrets do these trees hold close? What stories do they have to tell about life on a sandy, morainal hillside? Between nutrient, acidic poor soils, and the ever present wind, life can be difficult for plant life. But many have succeeded, and also thrived in an environment that most humans have decided is too challenging to deal with – the wooded hillside.

Where the lawn grass struggle, dandelions, violets and ajuga scamper their merry way across the open space where “lawn” is supposed to exist, in the suburban world. Here, no one need worry about the dog or cat nibbling on their favorite greens, as no herbicides or pesticides have been applied here in many years.

But what about ticks??? Those horrendous, bloodsucking creatures that leave us disabled by Lyme disease?Birds and mammals such as possums, actually love ticks. So “plant a row for the hungry”, plant native species that provide food, and habitat for all those tick eaters out there. Keep the eco-system in balance.

In the meantime, enjoy the bounty that Spring has brought forth. Enter this world in miniature.

A Redbud (Cercis canadensis) getting ready to bloom. It is one of the lovelier small trees that are typically found at the woodland’s edge.

 

Bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis)

 

Barrenwort (Epimedium sp.)

 

Violets (Viola sp.)

 

Dogwood flowers (Cornus florida)

 

Ladybells (Uvularia sp.)

 

Redbud branch, Violets and Dandelions.

 

Japanese Painted Fern (Athyrium sp.), Ajuga reptans

 

Dandelion

 

Barrenwort (Epimedium sp.)

 

European Ginger (Asarum europeum)