I have a beautiful woodland behind my house. It’s a couple of acres that runs along the West Aspetuck River in New Milford. We’ve spent a lot of time over the years trying to clean up and improve the space. First, we removed hundreds of fallen Red Pine and brought in a tub grinder to reduce those logs to wood chips. This allowed me to get in there with equipment to start working on eradicating the invasive plants that had previously occupied the space. Multiflora Rose, Bittersweet, Barberry and Honeysuckle were the largest offenders back then. Because of my own experience, I often tell potential landscape clients, once you have invasive plants, you’ll always have invasive plants. We have been managing our invasive plants in this woodland for close to 30 years and will always need to do so. It’s all about control vs eradication. Of course, over the decades we have new invasives that have added themselves to the mix, namely Privet, Japanese Stilt Grass and Garlic Mustard. Luckily, no Knotweed yet!
While we still control invasive plants, I feel like we’re finally at a point that I can start planting new natives rather than just encouraging what naturally pops up. A couple of years ago, at the entrance to our property, I planted Virginia Bluebells which are expanding nicely and 5 Cinnamon Fern that have grown into an impressive mass of approximately 20’x40′. Last fall, behind our house, I planted Columbine, Anenome, Jacobs Ladder and Woodland Phlox. Below is a video of the newly planted liners that I flagged so I can keep track of the immature plants and protect them from invasive plant encroachment while they await management.
Small natives flagged for tracking.
Virginia Bluebell, Cinnamon Fern and Mayapple were added to the woodland adjacent to my driveway. Notice the new Virginia Bluebell in front of the Mayapple. It’s a new seedling 15 or so feet from the original planting. That is exciting! The next phase for this space is to start working on removing the ever expanding Pachysandra that we inherited from the previous owner that is visible in the background.
Fallen logs removed from the woodland
