Woodland Twist to A Front Entrance Garden

The inspiration for this garden arose from the needs of the location (a shady, fairly moist courtyard surrounded on three sides by building and the drive) and nearby woods. We created a fern and moss garden sprinkled with woodland ephemerals and plants for textural intrigue. A wide brick walkway separates the rectangular space into a thin strip of bed to its right and a larger space to its left, in which a stone wall was built around to provide more intimacy walking along the entrance walkway. The wall was deliberately made to have aged and deteriorated, allowing plantings to take over and soften its hardness, much as if a stacked stone wall would be overran in an abandoned woodland. We placed found rocks, stumps, and fallen, decaying logs charactered with moss and native seedlings to accent the plantings as focal points and delicate touches. We configured the stumps almost as 'containers' in the garden, each planted with an assortment of different species. The soil, especially around the walkway, was shaped to have small undulations to mimic the imperfections of the forest floor. Photos taken by Laura Kicey.