Tag Archives: woodland garden

A peaceful woodland garden

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There is always music amongst the trees in the garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~Minnie Aumonier

It was only last year that I created my woodland garden yet it is the first place where Pixie and I walk at dawn . . .and the last place where we linger at dusk. The quiet green heart of it draws us in many times a day to meander and explore. The cool shade of the woods has become a refreshing place to escape the intense heat of the sun at midday.Woodland walk after rain

There are so many details to notice, like the red croziers of a lady fern

and the green and black pinwheels of the maidenhair ferns.

Weeks of heavy rains and hot weather triggered lush growth in this young garden, making it look mature beyond its years.

A sturdy copper birdbath added in June has become a centerpiece to the ferns and sedges that flow around it while its water reflects the trees above. All of the plants in this woodland garden are native to our southwest Pennsylvania area, giving me a challenge and an opportunity to play with form, texture and multiple shades of green in an eco-friendly setting.

We moved here over twenty years ago because of the tall trees that surrounded the house – creating a garden at their feet has made them even more treasured. This short video is an effort to capture the atmosphere and beauty that this little woodland garden offers.

I wish you a peaceful place in which to relax and reflect in quiet moments, and if you are a gardener, encouragement to plant a tree and play in its shade.

Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. ~John Muir

All text, images, and videos ©2025 Lynn Purse, All Rights Reserved except where noted.

 

The green deep woods

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It has been a year for green so far – weekly wild storms have brought incessant rain, turning the garden and woods lush and green.
Earlier this spring, we were having a tree trimmed away from the roof of the house when the arborists found that it was completely hollow – “like a straw” they said – and needed to come down. They did a magnificent job of bringing down the trunk and refitting it together so that I could make it a garden feature as part of the new woodland walk.

They leveled the stump, which was ready-filled with soft compost, and I used it as a fern planter.

The smaller branches were chipped and then used to line the path. Although the trunk landed where the mayapples grow, they found their way around it. You can see the hollow where the rain came in and disintegrated the inside of the tree over time.

I’ve continued filling the new beds along then fence with plants native to our area and it is beginning to resemble a garden. Now the woodland walk is a lush green place for Pixie and I to wander each morning, rain or shine.

Come to the woods, for here is rest. There is no repose like that of the green deep woods. ~John Muir

Here’s the story of the woodland walk in video as a part of the Garden Dreams series that I’m sharing with 4 other collaborators.

Days of rain alternating with very hot sunny days spurred plant growth and spawned violent thunderstorms and tornados more typical of July than May. Last weekend, after days of rain and very warm weather, everything changed. The temperatures cooled and the rain turned to mist. I filmed the mist outside the door that night and the next day I rose before dawn to film what I was sure would be fog. Here’s a short film of that magical misty morning in the garden.

I hope you enjoyed walking through my garden with me; I wish you beautiful days now and to come.

 

Here I wander in April

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Here I wander in April
Cold, grey-headed; and still to my heart
Spring comes with a bound, Spring the deliverer,
Spring, song-leader in woods, chorally resonant . . . ~Robert Louis Stevenson

True, it is the last day of April as I write this, but in my wanderings I have watched spring come with a bound to lead the garden in song.

In March, there was little hint of what was to come.

Spring drew on…and a greenness grew over those brown beds, which, freshening daily, suggested the thought that Hope traversed them at night, and left each morning brighter traces of her steps. ~Charlotte Bronte

Hello, sun in my face. Hello you who made the morning and spread it over the fields…Watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness. ~Mary Oliver

First the hellebores

and the native bloodroot bloomed . . .

followed by daffodils of every color. (click on any photo to see a full-size image)

Daffodil mix
Daffodil ‘Pipit’
Daffodil ‘Sentinel’
Daffodil ‘Blushing Lady’
Daffodil ‘La Traviata’
Daffodil ‘Bella Coola’

The native Ostrich ferns unfurled (Matteuccia struthiopteris), showing off their fractal geometry

Looking in the center
fern unfurling
fern reaching out

as well as creating a textured backdrop for the summer snowflakes.

Pixie is joyously exploring the new smells and sounds of the woods and guards her domain with diligence and grace.

A dog can never tell you what she knows from the smells of the world, but you know, watching her, that you know almost nothing. ~Mary Oliver

I planted tulips last fall, for the first time in years, and am reveling in their color along with the thousands of our native wild violets that run through the garden beds.

Tulip ‘Paul Scherer’
Tulips ‘Paul Scherer’ and ‘Apricot Beauty’ – Kokopelli planter
Tulip ‘Princess Irene’
Viola sororia
Tulip ‘Princess Irene’

but the biggest show is in the “Grape and Lemonade” bed – full of tulips, daffodils, and forget-me-nots.

I’m continuing to explore making garden videos – I want to share how it feels to move through the garden rather than merely look at it.  

Wherever you are in the world, I hope you are enjoying the unfolding of the new season as color and light change and make magic in the world.

Come with me into the woods where spring is
advancing, as it does, no matter what,
not being singular or particular, but one
of the forever gifts, and certainly visible.  ~Mary Oliver

All photos, text, and video ©2023 by Lynn Emberg Purse, All Rights Reserved except where noted.