The other day I walked by this little island of English Ivy in the James River Parks System and dreamed about filling it with native plants.
Considering the size of the JRPS and the extent of the invasive species domain, these little slivers are exciting to me as a manageable place to start restoring the native undergrowth. I could easily dig up and replace this ivy in a weekend. It also feels strategic to start with these small protected areas deep in the forest – each established native plant will begin producing seeds and spores that will start to spread by the thousands.
These seeds and spores will build up in the forest seed bank so that any time the soil is disturbed (including when native plants are removed) the seeds will already be in the soil, ready for the chance to take over. It’s ultimately much cheaper than purchasing the seeds themselves and the sooner we get those plants in the ground the sooner they start to do that work.
The plants that I am envisioning for this space are: ferns (a variety of color, at least one semi-evergreen), wild hyacinth (early-season bloom) native heuchera/alumroot (mid-season bloom), and blue-stemmed goldenrod (late-season bloom).
I’ve already written some thoughts on this idea of rewilding the JRPS so I do have a grand vision for the area, but in general I am a piecemeal gardener. I usually prefer to work slowly, one section at at time, and whenever I see these little moments I can’t help but connect the dots and see the vision coming to life.
Highways and Hallowed Halls 