Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

homestead - Re: [Homestead] This and That

homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Homestead mailing list

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] This and That
  • Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 14:07:39 -0800

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




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page