Creating a woodland in Ontario

17 years ago

I am currently working on turning what is a scrub brush into hopefully a natural woodland focusing on native Ontario shrubs and trees.

I've added a link of what I am currently working with. At the end is a wish list of trees and shrubs.

As I have never done anything on this scale before, does anyone have any suggestions. I am going to work on trees and shrubs this summer then undergrowth and perennials next year. Any and all suggestions heartily welcomed.

Sharon

Here is a link that might be useful: building my woodland

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Comments (7)

Judy_B_ON
17 years ago
Most of the shrubs and all of the roses you listed on your "want list" are not native to Ontario. Some of them also need full sun so not suitable for woodland understory. Flowering dogwood is borderline hardy in Ontario and will either die or not bloom. You can save some money by buying species instead of named cultivars. Where in Ontario are you? There are many small native plant nurseries that will be able to help you plan your woodland.

Little Otter is a well respected Ontaro native tree nursery with healthy stock and good prices. Check their list for plants that are actually native to Ontario.

Here is a link that might be useful: Little Otter
knottyceltic
17 years ago
Ya, I noticed too that there are a lot of non-native species there on your list. Not sure if you meant "focusing on native" as "all native" or just "mostly native".

Serviceberry, Spicebush, Redbud, Ninebark, Highbush Cran, Blue Beech, Pumpkin Ash, Winterberry, Red Oak, Bur Oak, Nannyberry, Arrowood Viburnum and Ash have all done well for me in full shade.

You might also consider Elderberry for the edges of your woods/paths as well as Grey Dogwood, Red Osier Dogwood and Bladdernut.

We bought property that is built inside an old farm woodlot and I've removed all alien invasive plants and vines and am now at the point of just keeping the weeds and re-growth of non-natives from taking hold again.

I think I've planted around 50 new southern Ontario native species and have kept away from cultivars chosing the species plants instead.

One shrub that's a must have is WitchHazel...I don't recognize the one you have listed but our native one is called "Hamamelis virginica".

Dogwoods are iffy inside the woods but will do fine at your path edges and edges of your clearings. The one I do have that does well in full shade is Cornus alternifolia. I also have "silky dogwood" and "red osier" in the shade but they don't do as well as if they had even partial sun.

Anything with the name "japonica" is highly unlikely to be native to anywhere in Canada.

You can find native roses if that's what you are going for and aside from Little Otter Tree Farm, a few others are:

Acorus Restoration (Walsingham)

Golden Bough Tree Farm (N/W of Kingston)

Sweet Grass Gardens (Brantford, on the reserve)

Your photos show you've done a ton of work so far... keep it up, you will be very happy with your results.

Barb
southern Ontario, CANADA
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Hi. What a coincidence: I just joined GardenWeb because I'm making a shade garden myself at the back of my yard, due to start this weekend. It's not quite as big as yours - 60' x 200' is A LOT of garden! With ash, hickory, walnut? Sounds wonderful. I have a large lot myself, but the shady area is only a small portion of land at the back that has several large ash and maple trees that make some very deep shade in the summer. We've been in the house since January before last, and our previous owner wasn't a gardener either. I've already done some research on shade gardens, and here's what I've come up with. First of all, do some planning. Are you interested in flowers, or leaf textures? Most shade plants don't flower nearly as well as full sun plants. Overall, I'm going with differnt textures myself, trying for a calm, quiet, cool place to relax, very natural, almost wild, away from the summer sun. 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hoyess
Original Author
17 years ago
thanks all. I'll check out the Little Otter website and Sweet Grass Gardens (which is near where I am). Re the sun issue I will actually have some spots that will get full sun in the border between the "woodland" I hope to create and my more cultivated yard for lack of a better term. I'll investigate some sun options from the Little Otter website so hopefully I have a good transition between the two.

Thanks again

Sharon
nyssaman
17 years ago
Work with what you have already - try not disrupt the natural order of things - 1st remove rhamnus cathartica or european buckthorn - if you are on sand they may not be as plentiful and you are lucky then. 2nd add to what you have and expand on it - more black,pin,choke cherry - American & Canadian plum . Service berries - stick with natives stay away from the exotics. Depending on how much you want to expand the wood lot - you can stake in an area that you want to expand then don't mow it - then add the odd species here and there - this will similate 2nd generation forest succession very attractive to wildlife - add the occasional oak - red maple [tulip tree(needs mega space)]- fragrant sumac - dogwoods (stay away from exotics) use grey,silky,red osier - flowering

There are 2 native plant nurseries in walsingham and they are very affordable and they have more species than anyone else over 300 native grasses wildflowers and trees

Acorus nursery
pterophylla native plants

for bare root go to
little otter they have a very large sections of bare root trees on hand

Another nursery is the former garden of eden in eden now called Van Den Nest - A neat nursery in the woods specializing in natives

Myself I think sweetgrass is a little expensive

Also you could also talk to your local conservation authority for what would best route to take would be regarding your woodlot

cheers

Jeff
knottyceltic
17 years ago
Hey Jeff! Great to see you back posting again...I thought you fell off the edge of the earth ;o)

Sharon, Jeff's suggestion of talking to the Conservation Authority is good but just be forwarned...they were very negative with me and told me that building an understory when the canopy is already is present is IMPOSSIBLE. Luckiily for me I am stubborn and didn't listen to them and so far (coming up on our 4th season here) we've been extremely successful. We've had a few trial and error experiences but not very many. Only 2 that I can think of out of 50 some-0dd species that I've introduced. The two that don't take here are Maidenhair Fern and Bunchberry. So not too significant and not too bad statistics considering.

Just keep plugging away and keep yourself a photo diary of your work. It's SOOOOO gratifying to watch your work grow by keeping a photo diary.

Barb
southern Ontario, CANADA
hoyess
Original Author
17 years ago
OK I'll go back to the research board. I had picked what you call exotics as being new to this I thought that would help with diseases resistance. For example I read that for amelanchier the named cultivars and in particular Autumn Brilliance were stronger when it came to diseases? Right now there is mostly raspberry cane and a few good trees so I have a lot of repopulating. Would it be OK to put smaller 'understory' trees like dogwoods in now or should I let the taller bigger trees get established first to provide some shade. This may take too long!

Sharon
Judy_B_ON
17 years ago
I've been building my woodland garden for ten years; started with a overgrown, buckthorn and honeysuckle invested hedgerow and it is coming along nicely.

I add understory and canopy trees at the same time as the affordable and easy to plant canopy trees are very small. If the budget is limited, do the canopy trees first as they will take longer to get to full size. Be sure to plan for the ultimate size of the plants.

Do you have good reference books? I would recommend Laird's "Trees in Canada", Soper's Shrubs of Ontario and William Cullina's "Growing and Propagating Native Trees, Shrubs and vines". Check them out of your public library.

If you are close to Branford, then also check out Grand Moraine Growers north of Guelph and the University of Guelph Arboretum. The Arboretum has a great plant sale including native trees and shrubs every September. During the year they have courses on native plants, planning a woodland garden and identifying trees.

Here is a link that might be useful: U of G Arboretum

Creating a woodland in Ontario

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Creating a woodland in Ontario

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