A wild garden in New York City
In Connecticut, of course, the area was almost completely overgrown, mostly by poison ivy. After that was cleared away, undesirable undergrowth was removed, leaving a rock here, a dogwood or azalea there. Baring the ground let us see more clearly what we had to work with.
A wild flower grows in New York City: bloodroot
When the ground is cleared, the designer makes a final decision about permanent features such as steps, path, pool, bog, bench. You might make a mental note of the place where an old tree stump might be artfully installed, when you find one, or where a dead branch might fall and make a background for some small plants. Of course, these are all kept carefully in scale and harmony. A path should be narrow and not sharply defined, perhaps just a series of barely matched flat stones. Steps are not conspicuous, but made to look as natural as possible.
SOIL
The next is the most laborious but most vitally important part of the procedure—supplying suitable soil. Woods plants grow naturally in soil so rich in humus that it will hold many times its weight in water. Season after season the trees drop leaves, needles, twigs, and branches that decay and maintain the high level of humus, which contains micro-organisms that help sustain the plants. In our area and in most other woodsy sections, forest soil is very acid. But the loam in a cleared area adjoining the forest may contain little or no humus, and may not be nearly acid enough for the native plants growing a hundred feet away.
When a miniature woodland garden is planted in a wild, woodsy spot, the soil is probably suitable, and the trees will probably keep it that way. Then, you simply use plants that thrive naturally where the amount of available light, and the composition of the soil, are the same or similar. Otherwise, you need to prepare the soil thoroughly and deeply—a minimum of eight inches, and up to eighteen inches for small native shrubs.
You’ll need incredible quantities of leaf mold, very old manure, or composted leaves and grass. Over humus-poor soil, spread a layer of at least six inches, and mix it in by digging the soil and turning it over several times. At the same time, remove matted roots, stones, and other unwanted obstructions to planting. For a very small garden, you may find it simpler to remove all the soil to a depth of twelve to eighteen inches, and replace it completely with humus and leaf mold brought in from the woods or purchased for the purpose. Leaf mold, by the way, is the layer of partially decayed leaves immediately under the top layer of whole leaves; humus, in the next layer down, is more completely decayed. Don’t buy humus from door-to-door salesmen offering “big bargains.” This is a racket the police and Better Business Bureau are trying to extinguish. Buy only from a nurseryman you can trust.