Some designs can be realised within weeks from conception. These are satisfying because you can quickly see the results of your hard work.
These fast achievers are typical of urban sections with plenty of hard landscaping, but what of the slow achievers. Could be a case of the hare and tortoise?
Landscapes that mature over decades or longer do so slowly, but when they come of age they are well worth the wait. I am currently working on a rural property where we have planted more than 2000 trees to create a forest garden.
These trees are small but in time the plantings should replicate a wild woodland similar to those found in the eastern states of the USA. The deciduous plantings are a mixture of oaks, maples, birches, sweet gums (liquid ambers), beech, ash and a few others.
The concept behind this large scale design is to create shelter for the property. A number of more typical trees, like pines or gums, could have been used but where is the fun in that as perhaps more important than the shelter aspect is the way it looks.
The deciduous species listed above will provide a great mix of fall colours that can be viewed from above and below. This hillside planting should in due course be visible from the plains for all to enjoy from a distance but the longer term plan for this private forest is to put in tracks and huts as well as a babbling brook.
These large scale projects need more time than money and more love than skill and as such they can be initiated relatively quickly without the need for a large budget. As more and more trees get removed for vineyard it is good to see more permanent trees being planted to help offset this.
With this project being located on such an exposed and windy site I needed to specify some hardy pioneering species, like the oaks, that would provide some shelter for the less hardy species like the maples. The oaks are planted on the ridges and the maples and birches and sweet gums are on the sheltered lower slopes where they have a chance to get established.
The trees have all been planted in the very fertile topsoil and loess substrate that forms the dry Wither Hills. The trees have been dug into the slope with a lipped hole to catch any rain and to stop water running off down the hill. All the trees have been fertilised with a quality slow release fertiliser, mulched with thick bean straw, staked and enclosed with tree guards.
In a few years the trees will be worth looking at but for now it is the excitement of knowing what they will become as time passes.
Here is a example of what I hope they will look like further down the track when they bring immense joy to their owners. If you want to create an area of immense natural beauty then give this a thought.
– The Marlborough Express
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