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Landscaping by Subtraction:It was a gray day in February, and I'd been slaving away all day on my next gardening book. It had been raining all day, which made it easier to stay attached to the computer - the snow had been ruined for cross country skiing. Our dog Abigail, the intrepid explorer, had been sleeping in her basket by the stove all day, and had not once begged for an adventure. Then in the late afternoon the rain stopped, the sun came out, and we fled the indoors.
There is a logging road going into a forest not a mile from home that I'd skied down, but never walked up. Abby and I followed it. Soon I noticed a small stream near the logging road, and we pushed our way though brambles and elderberries into the forest to get a better look. Low and behold, we'd entered Narnia - or so it seemed.
I haven't seen the Narnia movie, but I read The Lion, The Witch in the Wardrobe when my boy, Josh, was little. The forest I'd entered was most certainly the Narnia of that book. But this was no accident: someone had transformed a small bit of forest into a magical place. It made me realize how easy it would be to transform a bit of my own forest into such place - or how you could transform yours.
This bit of Narnia is a narrow strip of dense evergreen forest that borders a small stream. It is only about 50 feet wide and as long as football field. It is dark inside, a sharp contrast to the bright open sky of the logging road, which immediately gives it the feeling of a cave, or perhaps a cathedral. Someone had cut off all the lower branches of the hemlocks and white pines up to a height of about 15 feet, opening up the space like a church. Not only that, someone had removed the clutter from the forest floor. By that I mean saplings and small trees, and dead branches that normally would have littered the forest floor. Someone had cut the small trees flush to the ground, which is nice, as I found myself wandering around looking UP at the big trees, and surely would have tripped if stumps had been left at the 4-6 inches height, as most people would have done. After my visit I called the landowners, who live elsewhere in town, to find out more about this secret space. Kathleen Maslan explained that she, her husband and two young sons have been using and improving this special place for a number of years, and that the previous owner had started the process of cleaning it up.
Several of the big trees have interesting above-ground roots and cavities, which the boys decided were perfect for fairies. They arranged twigs and bark to create little houses for them, and always brought cookies - some to eat, some to leave for the fairies. And when they returned, the cookies were always gone - proof of fairies.
The landowners were careful not to disturb native ferns and mosses, and their natural beauty was enhanced by the fact that they had not been planted, or arranged in any way. It felt like a forest primeval, even though someone had removed a fair amount of growth so that one could see the stream, the three "sisters" - ancient gnarly sugar maples - and the young yellow birch racing straight up for a bit of sunlight. This was landscaping by subtraction, not addition. Over a period of years a young family had cleared out the usual mess of the forest, grooming it, but in natural ways. They didn't leave brush piles in their special place; they lugged it off to the side. And they kept the place secret by only creating one small path as an entrance, a path I'd skied past in previous years and never noticed. According to garden designer Julie Messervy in her wonderful book, "The Inward Garden: Creating a Place of Beauty and Meaning", all of us react to the world outdoors differently, but there seem to be certain archetypal places that strike chords in most of us. One of those types of places is the cave. Not everyone needs to have a cave to retreat to, but many of us do. In fact, I'd counted myself as one of the people who needs a promontory. I love to look out on a landscape from above, and when I'd first read Messervy's book I'd lugged an overstuffed chair up our spiral staircase to place it where I can see most of our gardens. It satisfied some primal urge. But this cave, this bit of Narnia also made me feel relaxed, soothed, happy. The flowing water and stones brought a sparkle to this cave-like place, and I was mesmerized. So this winter I'll spend some time in our own woods to see if there is a special place that I can clean up and turn into my own little Narnia. Someplace to retreat to in the heat of summer. Someplace my grandson George can enjoy, and where we can bring cookies for the fairies. Henry Homeyer is the VT/NH associate editor of People, Places and Plants magazine. His website is www.gardening-guy.com. He may be contacted at gardening.guy@valley.net, or P.O. Box 364, Cornish Flat, NH 03746.
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Last update: Saturday, March 11, 2006 at 10:51:20 AM. |
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