Well it has been a long time since I have posted from the woodland garden . This has been a very hectic year and  things have gotten a bit out of control. I have attempted to do way to much and some things have suffered for it. The woodland garden I am afraid became a neglected place and it is now showing the signs. I took a trip out there yesterday in order to blow out the water lines and winterize the cabin. I was only able to spend about five days out there this year and it really is a shame as it is such a beautiful place. Family obligations as well as the Landscape Renovation Business has gotten in the way. Well there is no use worrying about things that have passed so it is time to look forward to next year.

Fall and the leaves are starting to accumulate another year is coming to a close at the woodland garden as the cabin sits waiting for next year and hopefully much more time to be spent enjoying the beauty and quiet of this woodland garden .

There are some new construction projects planned for next year at the woodland garden. I have accuired a screen room that will be installed next spring right where you see the sliding glass doors allowing for an 8′x10′ screened area on the deck for bug free dinning and of course napping. This will be nice for those that don’t like bugs. Of course they have really never bothered me all that much so it is really not something I worry too much about.

The other project that is planned is a room addition at the north end of the cabin. This will be a major project as it will entail the construction of a 3 season room 10′x20′ . The real challenge is that because of the slope of the land the floor will be  6′ up in the air on a raised deck. This will be a major undertaking but will be like a great room when finished with window walls on three sides.

You can see the height as the land drops off in right side of picture click for larger veiw

So as you can see these are pretty good sized projects. The rest of the projects for next year of course will center on the landscape I hope to include an irrigation system in the plans because one of the really big challenges is the sandy soil . I will detail over the winter my plans and please feel free to leave any suggestions in the comments sections.

Well here we are it is the end of July and I have only been out to the woodland garden a very few times this year. It has been a very hectic and stressful year and even though I probably could have used a few more doses of the woodland garden everything else has gotten in the way.

I know that I really do miss the peace and tranquility that time at the woodland garden brings but having not spent time there doing maintenance I am sure I will  feel a sense of wanting to put everything in order. I have resolved however not to spend the whole weekend working. I am thinking to move from a more formal state to a more natural state. Of course sitting here in the office that is easy to say. When I get there and see all the hard work that I have invested through the years not looking up to par I may have a whole different view.

I will be bring the camera with so I will be recording the whole thing the good the bad and the ugly and will report next week on the current state of affairs at the woodland garden. In the means time you have a Great Weekend and get out and enjoy some time in your gardens.

The only drawback to having the woodland garden is the weather. Being it is a place where I can only get to on the weekends I have to hope for good weather to get my gardening done. This week was not a good week for that the rain on Thursday and Friday made it impossible for any work to be done this weekend. I was however able to get several estimates done fot the landscape business and that made things a little better.

I have a couple of ponds that will require spring cleanup this week and a small landscape job. That should pretty much tie up the week but I should be able to get to the woodland garden this up coming weekend and finish my cleanup.

Gardening is a lot of the times weather dependent. You can not get to some tasks because the weather just won’t cooperate. It s not the end of the world but it does make you feel a little remorse for not getting the tasks done sooner. All things can not be accomplished so it is better to take pride and joy in what you have accomplished than to fret over that which you have no control of.

Gardening should be a labor of love and not one of drudgery. There are tasks which I do not like to do but I have found that if i disperse them among tasks I really enjoy it makes them much more palatable and easier. I also feel as if my time in the garden was well spent and that my work was invigorating.

I will get out to the woodland garden this weekend and will be posting some pictures. I hope you all have a great week. Get out and enjoy a little time in your gardens.

Yesterday I went out to the woodland garden for the first time this year to really take a look around and to pickup some tools that I needed for an upcoming project. There are a lot of leaves this spring as a result of my slackness last fall. I was tempted to spend the afternoon burning and raking but opted instead to blow the leaves out of the perennial beds and into a pile for burning latter. This was a quick job that only took about 45 minutes. While my angst over the ton of leaves that were everywhere was not resolved I felt that I had made an attempt to get things a bit under control. I have this almost anal compulsion when it comes getting things looking good . I even find myself looking at other peoples gardens and think this or that should be done to make things look right. So it was a tiny victory.

What gives me hope that Spring is here is that after removing the leaves from the beds I got to see the first shoots of the early perennials starting to poke up and start there quest for the spring sunshine . That is the best part of spring I think , seeing the barren earth starting to pop with hints of the new plants and flowers that will adorn our environment for the upcoming months .

I know that in the next two weeks or so I will be back at the woodland garden battling all those leaves because now that I seen them they will be on my mind. It was a good trip and even though I did not leave with everything in order I did leave with the positive outlook that spring has actually arrived.

During the summer of 2007 we made a major improvement out at the woodland garden. It was in fact a huge undertaking and one that literally changed the whole place. We had purchased this used trailer during our first year at the woodland garden and it was originally built back in 1986. It was not the best looking thing in the world but it had a lot of charm. It was built by the Park Trailer Manufacturing Company and was one of their original models. Here is what it looked like before we decided to renovate instead of purchase a newer model.

(click to enlarge)

It was a very unique design and had a certain appeal. My thought was to upgrade the wife said renovate. She did not want to lose the charm so we renovated. It turned out to be a complete rebuild almost.

As You can see we really took it down to the studs.The vinyl siding was removed and the underlying wood siding as well. We also replaced all the insulation. It turned out pretty good and the new color combination was much more pleasing to the eye.

Having the new siding and roof was inspiring. Also it made the project a wee bit more expensive and expansive. You see after the outside was done it was obvious that the old warn out inside could not stay so we redid that as well and changed it to meet our needs.

The water heater was in the bathroom area which was rather tiny and their was a storage closet across from the bathroom where the 2×4 was. This view was from the entrance. The window on the left was the first room you walked into and was the small bedroom.

The bedroom became a large shower room and storage area. The bathroom was expanded. The kitchen remodeled a bed put into the front bump out and pretty much all the electrical and lighting was changed . New flooring you name it we did it. So finally we finished and it now meets are needs.

The new shower on the right really made the whole place a lot more comfortable to stay in. No more trips down to the comfort station . A nice big steamy shower!

Now for the kitchen it was always so dark and dreary not to mention a tiny sink and no counter space.

The fan is sitting on the old refrigerator just a little bit larger than a small dorm size refrigerator. Looking in the right upper corner you can see the paneling in the bump out that use to adorn the whole inside of the trailer. I believe it was the cheapest paneling on the face of the earth!

In with the new kitchen. Much nicer and certainly more inviting and brighter.

All the old walls where replaced the new flooring and cabinets gave us organized storage and an easy to clean kitchen.

A sink where you could wash dishes and the draws would not fall apart when you opened them . Not to mention the brighter room.

The last area is the living room and bump out just like the rest of the trailer a new floor was installed and then the old wall covering would get ripped off and new walls installed.

You can see a good picture of the bump out where the bed was going here. The whole trailer got new oak flooring so that it would last a long time and be sturdy!

Finally a shot of the new living room after all the work and time I believe we now have a nice little camping tent out there in the woodland garden. All the comforts of home and now rain on your forhead when you sleep at night.

I fought hard for this last change but in the end I lost the battle. I wanted to have a nice outdoors feel to the bathroom and be able to feel like I was out in the woods but this was one of the changes that was not allowed. I’m still not sure I should of fought harder but I guess it would have still came out the same.

My outdoor plumbing idea go nixed.

Well today is the first of March. There is snow every wheres  and it is not an early spring this year. I am hoping the weather will be good enough to get out to the woodland garden in two weeks. There is a lot of winter cleanup to be done and I really do want to get out and see the early spring flowers.

There are a couple of projects I want to finish up from last year and then I think I will take a while and not do anything else new for a while. Overall I am very pleased with the layout and I do not want to get too crazy and formal. I am even thinking of get some of the areas back to a more natural state.

But hopefully in about two week s I will resume regular posts about the woodland garden.

Tradescantia virginiana

Commonly called Virginia Spiderwort grows in part shade to full shade, tolerates full sun. It is hardy in all zones. Tradescantia virginiana’s blue to violet-blue, rarely rose or white, flowers appear from from late spring to mid-summer.

Virginia Spiderwort

The flowers open only in morning, the petals then wilt and turn to a jelly-like fluid. The common name comes from angular leaf arrangement which suggests a squatting spider. It does well in both woodlands and prairies

Sanguinaria canadensis

Also known as Blood Root,Red Puccoob,Red Turmeric a low perennial plant. flowers are produced from March to May, with 8-12 delicate white petals and yellow reproductive parts that appear to be clasped by the leaf.

Blood Root

Sanguinaria canadensis will grow in sun to full deciduous shade. The roots and stems have a dark red sap.

*  Bloodroot is one of many plants whose seeds are spread by ants, a process called myrmecochory. The seeds have a fleshy organ called an elaiosome that attracts ants. The ants take the seeds to their nest, where they eat the elaiosomes, and put the seeds in their nest debris, where they are protected until they germinate. They also get the added bonus of growing in a medium made richer by the ant nest debris.

* Information from A Wikimanual of Gardening

Dicentra canadensis

Also known as Squirrel Corn with beautiful white, sometimes tinted pink heart shaped flowers blooms in late April early May. Dicentra canadensis grows in rich woodlands in shade to deep shade.

Squirrel Corn

The roots have yellow tubers resembling corn hence the name. I do not have much more information on this plant other than it grows in the Smoky Mountains. If you have more information please feel free to leave a comment.

Tiarella

Also known as Foamflowers or coolwort are small plants that make a welcome addition to the woodland garden. Foamflowers add color in terms of foliage and flowers to a shady site. Small white flowers. The white or pink flowers appear in mid to late spring.

Foamflower

Foamflower grows easily in thicker, moist woodland soils and makes an attractive ground cover with tiny white blooms in mid to late spring.

They prefer moist, humusy soil the type found on the forest floor beneath the canopy of deciduous trees. If you give them these conditions plus mulch, you be will rewarded  in no time with a lush, care-free groundcover.

Hardy zones 3-8