A walk in the woodland
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
A small woodland waterfalls was just one of the treasures I found on my weekly walks in the woodland around my home.
Join me for my walk in the woodland
Part 1 of a multi-part series
I went for a walk in the spring woods and emerged with a deeper understanding of the natural garden, respect for nature, and love for its simple beauty.
It wasn’t a single experience. In fact, I’ve been visiting the woodlot around our home many times this spring watching as the sun broke through, warmed the earth and welcomed spring to the barren woodland.
A lovely group of trilliums emerge from the mist of the woodland. This grouping greeted me many mornings as I entered into the woodlands and dropped down into the deep ravine. On this morning, mist hung in the air from the previous night’s rains.
The sun’s warmth first welcomed the mosses, then the vibrant colours of skunk cabbage emerged from the marshy ground followed by mayapples, violets, trilliums, dog-toothed violets and marsh marigolds as far as the eye could see.
This is not new. It happens each year in woodlands everywhere. Unfortunately, so few of us get to experience it in all its glory.
A walk in the woods with your best friend is an honour that should not be taken lightly. As we get older, we realize that a simple walk with our dog at our side can be one of the great joys in our life. When our best friend leaves us, many, myself included, wish we could just do it one more time.
Life simply gets in the way for most of us. Family commitments, worklife, worries, time constraints, all work to keep us away from the simple act of taking a walk in the woods.
They are, of course, just excuses. We tell ourselves we are much too busy, too tired, too important to take time to walk in nature.
But many know that the walk might be exactly what we need.
There are so many who need it, so many more who may have changed their life goals and experiences if they had simply taken a walk in the woods. I’m thinking of average people who struggle with depression and health concerns, but also those decision makers who think only of money and greed who have never truly experienced the healing qualities or the real meaning of a walk in the woods.
Click the link to explore some of the the native plants in our woodland walk.
Three goals behind my walk in the woodland
My reason for my forest walks this spring were threefold: I needed to get out and experience nature after a long winter; I planned to use the walk as part of an exercise regime to get in at least 10,000 steps a day and, most importantly, to document the emergence of spring in the woodland for readers of this website, Ferns and Feathers.
In the end, the walks have become so much more than I imagined. The walk in the woods has helped me rediscover how the simple things in life can bring so much joy. The crystal clear stream running through our woodland is both a visual and audible reminder that I’m truly in a magical place.
A wood fern caught in the fading light of day. I overexposed the image by more than two stops to catch the proper exposure of the fern, leaving the background around it to maintain the shadow detail. It captures the late afternoon experience we often see just as the sun begins to set.
But, enough of this flowery prose and inspiration-poster talk. It’s time to get serious about what I am able to take from these walks in the woodland.
(This is part one of a series of articles I am working on to cover my months’ long exploration of the woodland. I plan to write separate articles on my photographic approach, design cues I took from the natural woodlands and a Photogallery that includes more of the hundreds of images I made, including underwater photographs. I will provide links when the other posts are completed.)
You might not have to travel far to capture memorable wildlife images. This image was shot in our woodland/wildlife garden. The intensification of food sources and the fact that we are in our gardens more often make capturing wildlife images in our gardens often easier than searching them out in the vast woodland. If you live in an area without deer or other wildlife, the woodland is an excellent place to work on capturing great wildlife images.
Wildlife in the spring woodlands
I find it fascinating that throughout my long walks in the spring woods I have seen very little wildlife. A few chipmunks, red squirrels, a couple of elusive wild turkeys and a host of common birds. I know the deer are present, the foxes and coyotes, but they are not often seen in the vast woodland.
View my photo Gallery of “A Walk in the Woods”
I do hear the wild turkeys call out and it’s a welcoming sound as I drop into the ravine in the early morning.
In my woodland/wildlife garden (just steps from this large woodlot) the air is filled with birds. The squirrels and chipmunks rule every corner of the garden during the day, while the raccoons, skunks and deer are almost nightly visitors. It’s not hard to see where they’ve been and what trouble they’ve been up to.
My first butterfly of spring – Nymphalis vaualbum (a Compton tortoiseshell or False Comma). These butterflies are among the first to appear because they overwinter in the forest duff and leaves. Another reminder why we MUST leave our leaves over the winter and not clean up our gardens until late spring.
More recently, our modestly-sized woodland garden has been home to a screech owl and a group of male wild turkeys. This spring we’ve been inundated with migratory birds such as warblers, grosbeaks, indigo buntings as well as the usual cast of characters, the woodpeckers, chickadees, cardinals, blue jays…
Lesson One: The natural woodland gives these animals the room to live more private lives. Our gardens intensify the resources and bring them together in a more unnatural way. For the most part they live in harmony, but the intensification of wildlife also bring in predators – a fox, maybe a coyote, cooper hawks, owls, snakes, bats and, of course, birds that take advantage of our native, and even-non-native plants to feast on the insects and caterpillars they need to raise their offspring.
In the natural woodland, all of this occurs over a much larger territory. In our gardens, the intensification brings it to us in full force on a daily and nightly experience.
A large bird-feeding station in our garden is the perfect example of this unnatural intensification.
This is not a comment on the pros and cons of bird feeders or a woodland/wildlife garden for that matter, just a vivid example of the difference between the food resources provided artificially or in a smaller area, compared to a more natural food source in a large woodland.
I used to be a regular visitor to Algonquin Park in Ontario’s north. Bears, moose, wolves and every animal imaginable as well as birds, reptiles and amphibians were present in the park. But, they were not easily seen because they had the vast acres of the park to spread their wings.
Mosses and Pine cone
The pinecone nestles in among the soft moss and pine needles in the early spring woodland.
It’s much the same in a simple woodland. The fauna is there, probably in greater variety and numbers than we can imagine, but they are more weary of humans, have more areas to hide or disappear into and a vast area to spread out.
Lesson Two: If you want to photograph birds and other fauna, there’s a good chance you will have better luck in an intensively planted and narrated woodland/wildlife garden than in a natural woodland.
One thing worth noting however, hearing the gobbler, the owl or coyote call out or even the birds sing in the woodland is – to me anyway – so much more satisfying than hearing them in our own gardens. There is just something more exhilarating about hearing the calls in the wild. (That’s not to say I don’t still love hearing them in the garden.)
But, enough of this wildlife talk. Let’s get back to our spring walk.
This image shows the emergence of skunk cabbage in very early spring on the forest floor, with it’s soon-to-be massive green leaf beginning to unfurl.
Flora in the spring woodlands
It really started with the Skunk cabbage. By late April, even as the snow had barely left the deep ravine, the skunk cabbage began to emerge. At first it was the chartreuse and deep maroon stalks that began to poke out of the marshy forest floor. Before long, they began to unfurl their massive leaves and spread over the forest floor shading it from the harsh sun that shone through the still-leafless trees.
All around me, fallen trees were being covered in moss. This late afternoon image caught the light nicely.
Skunk cabbage gets its name from the pungent, skunk-like odour it emits, especially when its leaves are crushed or when it's in flower. This scent is a way for the plant to attract pollinators, like flies and beetles, that are attracted to rotting meat. I have always admired the massive almost hosta-like leaves that are the first flora to dominate the wood and wetland landscapes in early spring. That admiration never really inspired me to photograph the emerging leaves until this year, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with the results. (See image above).
Lesson 3: You probably don’t want or have the room for skunk cabbage in your garden, but using a large-leaved plant that emerges early – such as hosta or even better mayapple will create a similar effect and help to shade the woodland floor.
It wasn’t long before sheets of skunk cabbage spread out over damp and wet parts of the woodland. They were a stark reminder that spring had come to the woodland garden.
Skunk Cabbage and stream
It wasn’t long before the skunk cabbage unfurled their massive leaves and began to add swaths of green to the woodland..
Once the skunk cabbage leaves were out in full force, other spring ephemerals emerged, most notably the Mayapples. Large drifts of this lovely woodland ground cover began to spread over the forest floor.
In our woodland garden, a few Mayapple plants have quickly spread to create a large drift. These are great native plants to take the place of hostas in spring and early summer, but don’t expect them to stick around looking lush and beautiful like hosts well into the fall. They do, however, age beautifully in the woodland garden.
Ants are actually their beneficial sidekicks. Not only do ants use the seeds of mayapple for food, they actually plant the seeds deep in their burrows to reward us with more plants. for my complete post on Mayapple go here.
Mayapple begins to cover the forest floor in large drifts. The flower grows off the stalk just under the umbrella-type leaves. It later turns into a fruit and the seeds are distributed primarily by ants.
Large, lovely swaths of Mayapple fill the forest floor where the Skunk cabbage does not live, another major step in the eventual greening of our natural woodland.
Lesson 4: Let the Mayapple do their thing and create lovely drifts along a path or in a quiet area of the woodland garden.
In another part of the woodland, Marsh Marigolds begin to sprout up here and there in marsh wetlands. I stop to photograph these sunny yellow wetland groundcovers up close only to walk a little farther along the path and come across a massive and very impressive river of Marsh Marigolds.
Marsh Marigold close-up
A close-up of a sunny marsh marigold along a woodland path.
A spectacular site in the early spring woodland. A virtual river of native marigolds as far as the eye can see drifting off into the misty background. It brings a smile to my face and, in this misty morning, I am able to capture the incredible blanket of flowers without the harsh sun reflecting back off the shiny leaves.
An incredible river of bright sunny marsh marigolds greeted me as I wandered the woodland pathway. The river of native marsh marigolds spilled over on both sides of the path and contributed to the feeling of standing in a river of flowers.
Lesson 5: Use large drifts of plants to form almost a river to make a real impact in the garden. I have done this with my creeping phlox that covers a large swath in a dry river bed at the front of our home. For my full story on creeping phlox and our dry river bed click here.
As the tree canopy slowly formed in glorious spring greens and flowering trees, trilliums, violets, and a host of other spring blooming plants and flowers –mostly native but certainly some non-natives that escaped from nearby gardens and were spread by birds and other wildlife – begin to emerge.
The morning walks led to more discoveries and perfect compositions in nature. Unlike so many manicured gardens, the woodland presented its brilliance in a gentle more subtle way that never screamed “look at me.”
Mother Nature makes her presence known when she needs to.
In our woodland/wildlife garden, Forget-me-nots appear in early spring about the time fawns begin to experience the world. This one was photographed in our garden, but I can imagine so many baby animals seeing these flowers up close for the first time.
In many areas, Forget-me-nots turned the forest floor into a blue mist.
Up close the tiny Forget-me-nots presented a lovely display in miniature, but from afar the drifts of blue mist caught the eye of only those who were in tune with the subtle effects nature offered. I turned my attention and camera on the gentle blue mist looking to capture the elusive scenes.
Mother Nature wasn’t always so subtle.
On another day, near another path through the woodland, a small grouping of Wake Robin bloomed. I caught the nodding red/maroon triliums a little ways off the path. Another walker who saw me photographing the flowers said she had walked by them almost daily but had never noticed them.
She was thrilled to see them growing in the wild and admitted she had never seen these trilliums in the wild.
The delicate blue of a drift of Forget me nots stands out in the misty woodlands after a spring rain.
Another example of Mother Nature’s way of hiding her most beautiful displays in a way that only the most attentive discover her offerings.
Lesson 6: Hide some of your favourite plants or garden art so they are not obvious to the casual viewer. Make them pleasant discoveries on a walk through your woodland.
The woman picked up a nodding trillium with one hand, grabbed a shot with her smartphone and left in a hurry. Another instagram post done.
A lovely Wake Robin lights up the forest floor just off a woodland path.
I stayed, got down low (despite my bad knees) and captured the lovely grouping as nature intended. Then explored various compositions that showed the plants in their best light.
(More images will be posted of these trilliums and other woodland images in my gallery of images as well as future posts from this projects.)
On another day, I captured groups of lovely white trilliums. (see earlier image)
On another path, a single white trillium stole the scene.
Lesson 7: Plant in groupings of three to 5, but don’t be afraid to plant a single wildflower in a lovely setting where it can shine in all its glory.
A single white trillium growing in a beautiful woodland setting says spring in the woodlands possibly better than any other image I can imagine.
The daily walks with my small point-and-shoot cameras tucked into my vest pocket continue. They will likely continue throughout summer and into the fall, when the woodlands take on spectacular colours of yellows, reds, burnt oranges, mauve and purple.
There are so many lessons we can take from being out in nature. They are not always obvious. At times, we may not be receptive to nature’s little design cues or garden hints. But getting out and experiencing nature with an open mind will go a long way to being receptive to the natural beauty rather than reactive to show gardens.
By opening our minds and hearts, we open ourselves up to new ideas in the garden and in our lives.
As the Trilliums fade from brilliant white to lovely shades of pink, we move closer to summer and a new variety of wildflowers, flowering trees, shrubs and ground covers.
I plan to be out in the woodland continuing to capture nature’s woodland garden, while I cultivate my own woodland/wildlife piece of heaven in my little corner of the world.
We can’t hope to replicate nature’s subtle style and touch of hand, but we can steal a few ideas. Our woodland gardens are different in so many ways, but we work to create our own version of a woodland, taking from Mother Nature’s wisdom, borrowing ideas from other gardeners and letting nature take the design to where it wants all the while trying desperately to capture the spirit of a natural woodland.
Please join me on my explorations throughout this journey of discovery.
