Mirroring Goodness in a Forest Garden

For many of us , there ’s a certain amount of horticulture that feel a minute like a battle against impending bedlam . gardener Tim Boland and Laura Coit , however , seemed to embrace a more Zen - like approaching as they carve out their garden space from the surrounding wild environs . The resultant was a landscape that work with nature rather than against it . “ We had to have almost a pioneering liveliness with this garden , ” Tim says .

Garden at a glance

Size:0.79 acresLocation : West Tisbury , MassachusettsZone:7

Conditions : Full Dominicus to partial shade ; sandy , acidic soil

old age of the garden:17 years

Tim and Laura have toured the humans doing what they love : horticulture . From Michigan and upstate New York , to England , to the Delaware Valley , and now Massachusetts , they have work , explore , and been educated by some of the most beautiful gardens in the world and by some of the most renowned gardeners . Tim is now the executive music director atPolly Hill Arboretumin West Tisbury , a small townspeople located on idyllic Martha ’s Vineyard off the coast of Cape Cod . In increase to being a local librarian , Laura designed and still maintains the library garden in addition to the rest home landscape painting .

Laura points out that they never mean to create a show garden . “ We ’re really just trying to enjoy plants and grow what will turn — creating a place for our passion , ” she says . Tim refers to it as “ a forest garden that has a wild scenic look ” due to its propinquity to a large province forest . “ The garden really takes its personality from the timber , ” he say .

The area has add up with its challenges , from the bear — such asdeer — to the unexpected . When they started a foresighted perimeter year ago , Tim and Laura skip a site depth psychology and simply began digging . “ It ’s embarrassing , ” Laura says , “ but I dug a hollow and arrive at what was basically a Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin genus Pan . ” The couple discover that their garden was actually on a flat sand plain that was extremely acidulous ( pH around 4.5 to 4.8 ) . This reversal eventually help inform and strengthen their horticulture doctrine . “ We ’re not try on to be perfect , ” Laura says . “ You have to take that burden off yourself , and it ’s really freeing . You just have to attempt to not be discouraged , and work with what you have . ”

Though the special conditional challenges of their area have set what they can do , theyamend their soilwith leaf mold and rely heavily on plants aboriginal to Martha ’s Vineyard such as Pennsylvania sedge ( Carexpensylvanica , Zones 3–8 ) , butterfly green goddess ( Asclepiastuberosa , Zones 3–9 ) , and little blue stem ( Schizachyrium scoparium , Zones 3–9 ) . Their campaign to taste and restrict fragmentation of the timberland have backfired in some cases where aboriginal plant such as eastern blue - eyed grass ( Sisyrinchiumatlanticum , Zones 4–9 ) , northern ocean oats ( Chasmanthiumlatifolium , Zones 3–8 ) , and white wood aster ( Eurybia divaricata , Zones 3–8 ) have become strong-growing and tried to take over areas that Tim and Laura would rather stay on ecologically diverse . “ There are some native plants that are extremely weedy , ” Laura say . But the couple is trust to removing or editing when aggressive plants get out of spring .

Butterfly weed(Asclepias tuberosa , Zones 3–9 )

White wood aster(Eurybia divaricata , Zones 3–8 )

In this garden you will see put into practice the concept of “ mirror goodness , ” which encourages mass to pick out what they see as good and lovely in their surround ( or another person ) and reflect it back . Their human relationship with the surrounding timber has influence theirtree plantingwithin the landscape painting . And plant trees they have . Tim and Laura have add over 11 types of trees to their timberland garden , include a ‘ Legacy ’ sugar maple ( Acersaccharum‘Legacy ’ , Zones 4–8 ) , several American beech ( Fagusgrandifolia , Zones 4–9 ) , and a couple of stewartias ( Stewartiaspp . and cvs . , Zones 5–9 ) . Other favorite focal gunpoint include ‘ Betty Corning ’ clematis ( Clematis‘Betty Corning ’ , Zones 4–9 ) at the garden entry , as well as a seat country border with prairie dropseed ( Sporobolusheterolepis , Zones 3–9 ) . Plants take turns putting on a show through the seasons , from outflow to wintertime .

The duet has remove intake from their friends and their associates in the garden community , but also from leaders in the industry such as Mary Louise Butcher “ Polly ” Hill , who created the arboretum where Tim is the director . They also accredit Beth Chatto , another trailblazer of so - call barbarian horticulture , whose English garden the couple worked at for a meter . Tim enounce , “ I think you have to listen to the site and have it state you . I await at [ the surrounding ] works diversity and I think our garden should take cues from it , keep start the good of it , and sell with what ’s left . ”

— Christine Alexander is the digital editor program forFine Gardening .

Photos , except where noted : courtesy of Tim Boland

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forest garden

Where does the forest end and the garden start?For this naturalistic landscape, it was important to blur the lines between nature-made and man-made.Photo: courtesy of Laura Coit

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gardeners Tim Boland and Laura Coit

A savvy mix of natives and ornamentals.In the beds you’ll find an alluring and ecofriendly mix of plants such as orange butterfly weed and fluffy Mexican feather grass (Nassella tenuissima, Zones 7–11).

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