This spring after pruning the dead branches, I found the 2009 planting area to be almost at the point where I can easily walk under the trees. Almost like it is becoming a real forest. However, while the trees have filled in and in many areas have shaded out the grass, the ground looks nothing like a proper forest floor. There is too much dry bare earth. I don't know if it is normal for it to take this long for humus to develop but digging into the soil isn't anything like digging into a real forest floor. It is mostly heavy clay while a forest floor soil should be mostly organic matter.
To aid the diversity of plants on the forest floor I planted a variety of native plants that I identified as likely understory plants appropriate for a mixed deciduous forest floor. I planted:
- Hop Hornbeam
- Pagoda dogwood
- Liverwort
- Trilliums
- Canada Mayflower
- Purple-Flowered Raspberry
- Prickly Gooseberry
- Dog-toothed Violet
- Ostrich fern
- Virginia Waterleaf
- Chokecherry
Now to see how they take to their new home. Some of them naturally die back in the summer so I'll have to wait until next spring to see if they come back up.
