What Is Natural Landscaping?
It’s the use of mainly native plants in a landscape design that either leaves the original topography unchanged or alters the environment such that it imitates local surroundings that have been changed only by nature (not humans).
One of the benefits of natural landscaping is that diverse native flora (and fauna) will succeed with little to no human effort. I don’t have any more time to devote to property maintenance so I’ll gladly accept nature’s assistance in creating a thriving, lush environment!
My property was once part of a 600-acre farm so the human touch is evident in the buildings, the hayfields, and the gardens, along with the stone walls that delineate key areas. However, I’m a native New Englander so not seeing all those stone walls here would look unnatural!
I’m very lucky in that the prior owners of the main house (there have been only five before me since the 1700s) favored this natural aesthetic. One of the wisest decisions they made was to select then clear around several maple trees that border many of those stone walls. A century (or more) later, they’re magnificent and give the old homestead a stately ambience.
I’m not going to alter that natural landscaping as I reclaim the overgrown areas. However, some non-native plants that were introduced in the last few decades, such as bamboo, will be removed.
Reclaiming Natural Landscaping
One of my primary missions for spring 2019 is to clear the trees and brush that obscure the “fire pond” for most of the year. During the summer, its beautiful water lilies are hard to see. Even after the foliage drops in autumn, a thick web of branches and vines still makes it difficult to see the little gem.
To complicate matters, several 15-20 foot trees rooted at the pond’s edge and have grown horizontally so that they skim the water’s surface. Cutting and removing them will definitely be a two-person job.
The featured image for this post shows how the pond appeared several weeks ago, after I’d done some clearing using just hand clippers. It looks quite ragged with all the grasses and floating “litter,” but I don’t have an easy answer for how to manage this – yet.
I still feel really lucky to own this body of water, and I’m still surprised that it’s actually manmade.
The Fire Pond’s Origins
A vernal (seasonal) stream runs from the top of a wooded hill behind the main house. It passes through the westerly edge of my property and ends in a vernal pool in the woods of my neighbor’s property to the south. Depending on the amount of rain and snowfall in any given year the stream can gush for weeks at a time beginning in the spring, creating several mini waterfalls as it travels between my two hayfields. It can also decrease to a trickle or even run dry for long stretches.
Prior owners of the main house altered the landscape to create this “fire pond,” likely in the 1930s or 1940s. There was no fire department in town then so they probably reasoned that they should at least have a nearby source of water for much of the year (again, depending on rain and snowfall amounts) and be able to assemble a “bucket brigade” of volunteers to douse a house fire.
I don’t know how they slowed the current to create a sizeable pond or if they had to re-grade the property, but the plan was so well executed that I found out only after I bought the main house that the pond was manmade – when the seller informed me. I grew up about a quarter mile away on the same road so I passed by there often over the years and used to play there with the seller’s daughter; it never occurred to me that the pond wasn’t natural.
As I’ve started cutting the thick vegetation surrounding it, I’ve learned a few things.
Vernal Ponds Are Unique Habitats
Manmade or not, they’re sometimes the exclusive home to various animals such as wood frogs, peepers, and spotted salamanders. Consequently, it’s critical to maintain water quality and to not disturb them. I’ve seen and heard dozens and dozens of chatty wood frogs and peepers, such wonderful harbingers of spring. I’ve also seen caddisflies with their ingenious little casings made of organic matter.
Some might think the grasses, twigs, and rotting leaves blanketing the pond bottom are unsightly (and I don’t disagree), but I’m worried that removing them could disturb amphibian eggs or their young. The tall grasses that grow each year in a corner of the pond can be killed with an herbicide, but I’m also concerned that it could harm the animals or other plants that I’d like to keep.
I wonder how other people who own bodies of water keep the edges so enviably clean – is there a way to achieve this other than using chemicals? I have to research this.
The Ducks
Although recent rains have slowed my progress, I was on track to clear the entire perimeter by mid-May so that it resembled its original appearance – until my sister spotted a pair of mallard ducks in the pond on Easter Sunday. Both were dabbling (bottoms up!), and the male (the drake) had that stunning iridescent-green head.
After researching mallards a bit, I deduced that this was a mating couple and that the female (the hen) was close to laying a clutch of approximately a dozen eggs since the male was still with her. The incubation period is about a month.
I could soon have a dozen ducklings in my pond!
Mallards are abundant, and I’ve seen many different kinds of ducks in my travels but never on my own property. My sister has since seen the duo several times, dabbling for food, landing on water, and hiding on the northern end of the pond where the brush is the thickest and borders the woods behind the stone wall. I still haven’t been lucky enough to get even a glimpse of them, but I don’t want to remove the sheltering vegetation.
American Goldfinch Hang Out There Too
No disrespect to blue jays, scarlet tanagers, chickadees, etc., but these bright yellow dynamos are acrobatic flyers and awesome to watch. Cutting down all the trees and weeds may make this a less desirable habitat for them and other birds. I don’t want to do anything that encourages any birds to leave or possibly poisons some of the seeds or insects that they eat.
New Plan Meets Old Thinking
My sister’s duck sighting made me take a more restrained approach around the fire pond, which coincidentally aligns with my philosophy of using the least invasive and toxic landscaping methods. Hand clippers, a chainsaw, a brush hog, and a rake should be all the tools that I need for the initial clean up, followed by a push mower for maintenance. Fingers crossed that I’m right about this.
We don’t know if mallards or other water fowl have always visited the fire pond, hidden behind the dense greenery, but we’re seeing water landings and takeoffs by various birds that we never noticed before. I’ve also spotted deer prints at the water’s edge so I’d like to think that the clearing thus far has actually been beneficial to wildlife.
The northern edge of the pond where the stream empties into it from the woods will now remain untouched. The brush and trees growing there will continue to provide shelter for the ducks and their offspring (if the hen chooses to lead the ducklings there). I’ll remove dead and fallen branches and the smaller trees that, if left unchecked, will impede the growth of the larger specimens.
It’ll still look like a natural pond, with a mostly manicured border that makes it easily accessible by various animals. And it’ll be clearly visible to me from several vantage points which makes me happy too.
Conclusion
So, what’s the downside to this approach?
Leaving the grasses and some of the protective growth is not the most aesthetically pleasing option.
Since the pond will be left a bit wild near where I’d intended to set up my outdoor dining table, I’ll likely need a new location for it.
I won’t see a 15-20 foot stretch of stone wall at the base of which the stream runs and feeds the pond.
All pretty insignificant.
As for the ducks, one other interesting tidbit that I learned: the female mallard often lays her eggs near where she herself was hatched.
It seems only appropriate that one local girl look out for another.