This is the sort of photo I usually present of our garden. It shows you the south side of the main ornamental garden, with a few marigolds and tomatoes from the veggie gardens in the foreground. It was taken from along the fence in the back of the veggie garden. It’s a nice colorful photo full of plants that lets you see what this whole side of the garden looks like, tho I guess this one’s a bit impressionistic, isn’t it. Lots of colors, textures and forms all blended together. Getting nice wide shots like this generally means shooting them from outside the garden itself.
This time I’m going to show you photos that were taken looking out from inside of the small forest we’re creating here in the rich peaty soils of our intensely planted little Nature Sanctuary. It’s what we see when we venture off the lawn and onto the soft bark paths that wind thru the trees. It almost feels like you’re walking in an actual forest, and it smells like it too. Inside you’re enveloped within the lush scents of the trees and all the other amazing plants growing in here. Many of them are taller than we are so it all feels much bigger inside it than it ever looks like from the outside. It’s a bit different, as you’ll see.
This one was taken from a crossroads at the back of the path that leads into the south side I showed you in the last shot. The big Elegans Sugi is on your right, and it really feels big when you stand right next to it. The Red Pygmy maple is on the left, and standing in between them you feel enclosed in the trees’ energies. It feels deep, calm and peaceful.
This is taken from the same spot as the last one, only now we’re looking directly under the Elegans sugi. You can see how soft it looks. It is. It’s one of my main “pettable” trees because the needles won’t stick you like most other conifers will. Being next to it you can really pet it! It’s only been here 10 years and has grown from 18″ to over 25 feet tall in that time!
As you move back into the depths of the forest on the same path you can see the green, white and pink variegated leaves of the Ukigumo Japanese maple on the right, with the soft droopy Elegans Sugi in the back and the deciduous Japanese Larch “Diana” on your left. The Larch is all contorted and twists and turns around on itself. Very cool! The big “Blue Peter” Rhododendron in the middle has been here for well over 30 years! The ground is covered with Kinnickinnick.
This is what you see when you turn around and look back behind you, past the Larch and towards the edge of the garden. You can just see the Japanese Umbrella Pine on the left, with a big rhodie next to it that encloses the space nicely. The little Licorice Fern on the lower left gives the lush feel of the PNW rain forests. It dies back every year but returns even better.
If you stand in the same spot again and look towards the deck you’ll see our garden lamp and its wrought iron post. The Larch is on your left and the Red Pygmy Japanese maple is on your right, with the Alpine Yew Pine in the foreground.
As you move up onto our little deck under the Larch branch you can see the bench and the light, with the fountain in the middle at the back side of the bench. The Red Pygmy maple is right in front of you and the Bloodgood Japanese maple is the red tree on your left. And no, we didn’t kill the deer whose horns grace our bench. Consider it a “found” item….
This is taken from the same spot on the deck as the last shot, only looking to your left a bit. The huge fern at the bottom left is an Alaska fern that has gotten huge in its 10 years here. I cut it back to a foot high every spring and it grows back to this! You can see the Bloodgood maple more clearly here. On the left edge of the photo you can see the stairs to the house.
And finally, turning all the way to the left you can see the edge of the deck and the path leading back out of the forest to the outside again where the lawn is. On the edge of the lawn the large conifer on the left is a 30′ tall Weeping Giant Sequoia. It leans a bit to the neighbors – eek! The big tree on the left is a Radicans Sugi which is now at least 25 feet tall. You feel small next to it and can hardly see the top of it when you stand on the deck now. All this from a 5 foot tree planted in 2013!
So did you feel the difference being inside the forest? I hope so. It’s so hard to convey just how cool it is to wander around under these trees and in between the shrubs. Seeing them up close like this you get to admire all their unique foliages, forms, textures and growth habits. You get to touch and smell them. They become real creatures to you, not just colors and shapes you see from a distance. It changes you to be in there. It’s all pretty well kept and even semi formal, but it’s full of wildness too. The plants make it so. In just 10 years this has become a truly lovely little Nature Sanctuary and Forest. It’s all part of our efforts to save and enhance a vibrant little part of the Natural World! Combat Climate Change – Plant a Forest!!
Make your own little Nature Sanctuary!
Steve