Homestead mailing list

[Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>]

Lynda wrote:

> Too late, he just got home with the roll of fencing and he is outside 
> "playing" <g>
>
> Now, I'm thinking dogwood, redbud, a tulip tree, a magnolia.  Wild roses 
> (tons to be had for free around here <g>) and . . .
>
> come on guys and gals, some suggestions???
>
>  
Fear not.  Nothing leads to results like obsession.

On our property the wettest patches are marked by buttercups.  I wanted 
to find water-tolerant plants, so I went to the Plants For a Future 
website.  They have an advanced search that allows you to select the 
zone and water requirements, using the same 4-level standard used among 
nursery people: dry, medium, moist, and wet.  Here are some trees and 
shrubs I found:

Swamp oak  -- said to have sweet acorns
Ogeche lime -- used for its tart, small fruits, much like lemons
Oregon ash -- shade tree and wood source
Black hawthorn -- small edible fruits
Red alder -- this native tree fixes nitrogen in its roots
Bog sage -- attractive ornmental with edible leaves

Have you visited the pygmy forest in coastal Mendocino County?  They 
have much the same thing you describe, with terraces that are wet in the 
strips where you come to the bottom of the slope (as described at the 
visitor's center).  I forget what geologists call that.  Insect-eating 
plants like sundews thrive there, but they decline to tell the visitor 
where they are (like many parks I've visited).  You could try celery or 
celeriac in the wettest part.

There's probably a strip just uphill from the wet strip where it's 
ideal.  There's where I'd plant east Asian or N. American plants that 
appreciate summer water: Nanking cherry, kiwi fruit, peaches, etc.

Most of these are available from Forest Farm in Williams, OR, at very 
low prices for the "tube" size.

For pasture, reed canary grass and big trefoil (Lotus uliginosus) are 
recommended.

Bill
S. Oregon coast