Garden in the Woods

Yes, I’m still on July as far as my photos are concerned!

My youngest maternal aunt “L” lives way up in the hills around Ithaca, NY on steep partly dirt roads in a wild area which used to be part of a commune back in the day. I had never visited her place before so it was a real treat getting there driving along the Fingerlakes region roads and then to see her home. The original was constructed from ammunition crates!–but over the decades it was rebuilt to accommodate changing tastes and a love for color.

I have been to shade gardens in suburbia, but this is a different category as it is space carved out of the woods with perennials edging the wild, interspersed with flowering shrubs. All of this is gardening a slope and some areas have to be fenced off (veg garden, some lilies) from wild animal marauders who despoil the spot. Yes, woodchucks are even up in the woods. And bears, I heard.

Aunt L. loves her flowers and she grows them all over, planted in the high shade, around rocks, next to trees and in areas where there is more sun. She is tolerant of the creeping wild herbage (low weeds, one might say) that don’t overwhelm her plantings.  If there are keywords for her style it would be “Tucked In” and “Accommodating” because she maintains the woodsy feel while still planting the things she loves amongst it all. There has been no taming of the greater surroundings attempted.

She particularly collects daylilies of which she is quite proud and has lots of shade lovers like ligularia and ferns interspersed with beebalm and tall lilies here and there. She has multi-season interest in mind.

Here are some of the pictures I took of my garden tour that day. Click for slideshow enlargement.