Brutal Choices

One day all the energy that goes into building a cabin and a place to lay my head will be directed towards having a real garden. Without much choice I have taken the proverbial advice of getting to know a place through the seasons before making choices about what to plant and where.

In the winter my thoughts turn easily to garden design, not because I am stuck inside, because the once verdant forest and meadow is reduced to a blank slate and a private sanctuary becomes a roadside spectacle.

The cozy cabin is farther away from the road than many houses in these hills. There are some where it would not be the least bit difficult for a big ol' truck to come to rest in the barcalounger in someone's living room. For me being this exposed is disconcerting.

The forested half of the garden to be follows from left to right.



Right now the center section looks very open with plenty of space between the trees. Despite that open appearance it is still full shade. During the summer only glimpses of the road and passing traffic are visible. The rest of the year it doesn't even amount to a good twig fence. Half a year of privacy just won't be enough.



The bottom of the property is center right where the half fallen tree is caught up in another just below the road. I do not want to create a solid evergreen hedgerow. Instead I would prefer strategically placed groups of mixed evergreens with open spaces between that can act as the backdrop to the interior gardens and the backbone of the garden in the winter.



As you head towards the sunny utility meadow and the cabin from the road the lower property line runs along the line of the double trunks on the ground at the edge of the forest and the big hairball looking pile in the lower right.



There is just one problem with conifers and many evergreens. They need sun to grow. The forest that creates my privacy in the summer is going to have to be thinned in order to get enough sun to have more privacy in the winter. There will be a period of double exposure while a garden grows.

Now go back through these pictures and decide which trees have to go. The Black Locust are definitely on the hit list. They are not very attractive trees. Some are quite large though and present a challenge. The thorny Hawthorns have a strike against them. The misshapen and badly located will be sacrificed. The many trees that stay can be limbed up and given light corrective haircuts. In my quest for more sun and replanting I hope there will be room to add some other nice deciduous trees like dogwood, sourwood, silverbell and Nyssa for diversity and seasonal interest.

Before I crank up the chainsaw there are some tough decisions to make.