Story of a backyard open oak woodland: part 2

This is Part 2 of the saga of how we turned our small backyard from scrawny lawn to lush open oak woodland. Access Part 1 with this link.

Kathie and I live in the Village of Shorewood Hills and the word “wood” in the name is apropos. According to the early history of the village, there were open areas and then there were patches of woods that went back to presettlement times. The native trees are all oaks, mostly white (Quercus alba), although there are also some mature bur oaks (Q. macrocarpa). It’s a great area to live in, and although we have large branches hanging over the roof, so far we haven’t had any roof damage.

I think most gardeners would agree that you can’t get a good lawn if its too shady. After 36 years of mowing a scrawny lawn, and with lots of experience doing restoration work at Pleasant Valley Conservancy, we decided to turn our backyard into an open oak woodland.

Kathie started the conversion in the fall of 2011, so this is now the sixth growing season. The species list below shows 48 species, including 5 State-listed species. Pretty good, considering that the area is about 40 X 66 feet.

The original lawn was killed in the summer of 2011 with glyphosate and by late fall the ground was bare. It was planted with oak woodlands seed mix, and then hand-weeded the following summer. Each year a few new species have been added, and hand weeding continues.

Early summer 2012

Late summer 2017

The table gives the current flora. The only species on the list that might be questioned is the lily, whose identity is uncertain. This came from a former next-door neighbor, who did not like the color!

	Latin name	Common name	State-listed
1	Actaea alba	White baneberry
2	Actaea rubra	Red baneberry
3	Adiantum pedatum	Maidenhair fern
4	Agastache nepetoides	Yellow giant hyssop	****
5	Agastache scrophulariaefolia	Purple giant hyssop
6	Anemone virginiana	Woodland thimbleweed
7	Apios americana	Hot peanut
8	Aquilegia canadensis	Wild columbine
9	Arisaema triphyllum	Jack-in-the-pulpit
10	Asarum canadense	Wild ginger
11	Asclepias purpurascens	Purple milkweed	****
12	Aster lateriflorus	Calico aster
13	Aster novae-angliae	New England aster
14	Aster sagittifolius	Arrow-leaved aster
15	Bromus latiglumis	Ear-leaved brome
16	Campanula americana	Tall bellflower
17	Cimicifuga racemosa	Black cohosh
18	Cryptotaenia canadensis	Honewort
19	Elymus riparius	Woodland wild rye
20	Erigeron strigosus	Daisy fleabane
21	Eupatorium purpureum	Purple joe-pye weed
22	Eupatorium sessilifolium	Upland boneset	****
23	Geranium maculatum	Wild geranium
24	Hackelia virginiana	Stickseed
25	Hasteola suaveolens	Sweet Indian plantain	****
26	Hydrophyllum virginianum	Water leaf
27	Impatiens sp.	Jewel weed
28	Lilium spp	Trumpet lily
29	Mertensia virginica	Bluebells
30	Monarda fistulosa	Wild bergamot
31	Napaea dioica	Glade mallow	****
32	Osmorhiza longistylis	Smooth sweet cicely
33	Phlox divericata	Woodland phlox
34	Podophyllum peltatum	May-apple
35	Polygonatum biflorum	Smooth Solomon's seal
36	Prenanthes alba	Lion's foot
37	Ratibida pinnata	Yellow coneflower
38	Rudbeckia hirta	Black-eyed Susan
39	Smilacina racemosa	False Solomon's seal
40	Solidago flexicaulis	Zig-zag goldenrod
41	Solidago speciosa	Showy goldenrod
42	Solidago ulmifolia	Elm-leaved goldenrod
43	Tradescantia ohiensis	Common spiderwort
44	Trillium grandiflorum	Large-flowered trillium
45	Uvularia grandiflora	Bellwort
46	Veronicastrum virginicum	Culver's root
47	Viola soraria	Door-yard violet
48	Zizia aurea	Golden Alexanders