The Accidental Landscape

In the wilderness a garden could go on forever if you let it, but there must be limits if the gardener is to maintain his sanity.

Some where out there in the untouched tall flower meadow a line must be drawn, a place where the garden must end.

I started that line this spring when I dug, divided and transplanted some of the Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light' to the lower property line. I might have gone a little over the line.

Today I may have gone a little bit further over the line. I had a whole bunch of shrubs fall out of the ground this week and some of them followed me home. These new shrubs form a line with two Redtwig Dogwood, Cornus sericea, that are definitely over the line. They fell out of the ground and followed me home earlier this year and were planted down here at the bottom to help form the back wall of a garden becoming. On the other side of the Miscanthus, two lilacs and a Bottlebrush Buckeye will extend the garden's end to the forest edge.

Except for the Miscanthus, every one of these shrubs fell out of the ground at a client's garden and followed me home. I have a theme in my head for the garden becoming with no specific details. I just know when the right thing falls out of the ground exactly where it needs to go. My garden is being designed by accidental acquisition.

This time I got Dog-hobble, Leucothoe fontanesiana. I had actually considered this shrub as a good possibility for the dividing line of the garden. It will enjoy the wet soil here. It also has the common name Dog-hobble for a reason. That is a literal interpretation of what happens to dogs when they get in a thicket of this. I thought this would make a fine division between the wilderness and the garden in a place where there are hunters with hounds. I really will need more of it.

I have kept a path to the Miscanthus open all season and kept the Lush at bay directly around them, but you can see what I am fighting in the untouched tall flower meadow. To plant the Dog-hobble I had to cut a 10 foot wide swath out of the 6 foot tall tangle. One of the baby Redtwig Dogwoods got an accidental haircut in the process.

Look at the top two pictures again. This line in the tall flower meadow is not even visible from the cozy cabin above.

Over in the civilized section - ha - of the tall flower meadow you can see the difference my efforts make. There is more blooming and more elbow room.

Enjoy this now because it will be completely different next year as the garden keeps advancing.

It is a garden of accidental acquisition and spontaneous germination. It is a garden with a theme and no specific details.