Fall Planting Part One

[ellyssian]

Justin and I survived the first round of planting this season - the Forest Farm order arrived on Wednesday and that night I opened the boxes and set the plants out to stretch their roots as it were. They received a nice, gentle deluge, partially sheltered by the eaves, the kiwi trellis, and the juniper. We planted last night. Most of the ground was still damp, so after-planting watering was minimal; just enough to mix the top bit of soil together. Might have been some rain last night, and it's raining off and on today, so that should help them transition.

Last year we focused on the foundation area, this year the focus is on the meadow and Chestnut Grove, with all but one of the planting being in the grove or on the fringe of the meadow.

We had four 1 gallon plants: a Podophyllum pellatum (mayapple, mandrake) that is planted between an oak and the Stone Stream just below the island - I'm hoping the perennial spreads out and takes over the undergrowth of that area, along with the native blueberries, wintergreen, and azalea; a Clethra alnifolia (summersweet)is opposite that on the wet strip of lawn just before the meadow starts - it should turn into a 10-12'-in-all-directions sprawl that will help define the meadow border and drink up the extra moisture so it doesn't ruin the septic system; and two Miscanthus sinensis 'Zebrinus' (zebra grass) that are positioned on the meadow edge and, with the existing one, will form a trio to screen the view of the cement septic access from the front porch.

The six tubes also contained only three species: six Xerophyllum tenax (beargrass) were planted along the Chestnut Grove top corner of the sand mound (which is part of the meadow) - they'll blend with the seeded plants from the meadow, but I anticipate them dominating that one corner; three Asimina triloba (pawpaw) are in Chestnut Grove, they now outnumber the chestnuts in the grove - these are the first of a number of pawpaws I plan on having, as they're key components of the edible forest; finally, one Cercidiphyllum japonicum (katsura tree) was planted down on Bank Island, between the crabapple and the Washington hawthorn - I really like how the one we planted last spring looks, whereas that one will provide shade/color/Autumn caramel scent to the front porch and yard, this one is positioned so that people will be able to enjoy it while walking by.

Comments

[patrixa.livejournal.com]

FYI: a friend from our Baltimore days (named Ila Mae) came from so. Carolina and fondly recalled pawpaw trees from her youth. She said they were awfully messy trees and only the kids ate the fruit. She was so surprised to know that neither Dad nor I knew what a pawpaw was.

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

They're a native PA tree - I'm surprised Dad didn't know about them, but maybe they stick to eastern PA?

I've seen groves of them, and there didn't seem to be anything messy about them, but then, they had already harvested and enjoyed the fruit a few weeks (or more) before we were there.