New Plantings and Features at The Preserve at Orkney Park!
There’s been a lot happening this past spring and summer at The Preserve! The stone pathways and bench are new features we hope are enjoyed by all. We’ve installed two large trees; one is a Nellie R. Stevens Holly which is a great cultivar of Ilex opaca that thrives in shade. Since it was planted, it has produced flowers and berries, which will eventually turn red. The Nellie R. Stevens Holly loses about a third of its leaves every year, and then pushes out new growth in the Spring. The second tree is known as a Musclewood Tree (Carpinus Caroliniana) which is named for its smooth, sinewy steel-gray bark and muscle-like look of its maturing trunk and large branches. The Musclewood provides wonderful winter interest when it drops its leaves in the fall.
Shrubs create safe havens and food sources for birds, as well as year-round interest for us humans.
Our friends at Fine Garden Creations donated two beautiful blue atlas cedars and four arborvitae which perfectly screen the back corner of the park! Thank you, Fine Garden Creations!!! There are several new shrubs plantings as well; three azaleas from Heartwood Nursery, and an elderberry and an oak leaf hydrangea which were propagated from plantings at Liberty Lands. There are several straight species native shrubs that were planted on September 3rd including Virginia Sweetspire, Ninebark, American Euonymous, Spicebush, Eastern Sweetshrub, Inkberry holly, Winterberry, two varieties of viburnums, Arrowwood, and Mapleleaf, along with Rhododendrons, a Smooth Hydrangea, and a Mountain Laurel. These shrubs will act as border edging along the northern side of The Preserve to create safe havens and food sources for birds, as well as year-round interest for us humans.
We almost forgot to tell you about the small oak tree we are lucky to have sourced! It’s a dwarf Chinkopin Oak (Quercus Prinoides) and it will top out at around 10-15 feet. We can’t wait till it grows those little acorns!
All the new ground cover needs to be protected from footsteps and the salts in dog urine, which is why we’ve put up fencing to help protect them.
Lastly, we’ve been creating the ground cover layer with perennials, some of which will be green year-round, and most of which will renew themselves each spring. You may have noticed the Appalachian Sedge, the ‘Silver Gem’ Violet, the Meehan’s Mint, the Creeping Phlox, or the Wood Poppy. Right now, the Wild Geraniums are dormant, but we look forward to seeing them shine in late spring to early summer. All the new ground cover needs to be protected from footsteps and the salts in dog urine, which is why we’ve put up fencing to help protect them.