Healing Gardens

Body:

Summary of Site Materials

Write a summary of all the materials that exist for your site.

Include a list, a description of each, and assessment of the quality/usefulness of each

Item No. 1 (Alina)

Material: Site Notebook

Description: Notebook compiled by previous students on what was then called area 1.

Quality/usefulness: The notebook will potentially be helpful. It will only apply to Mixed Forest A, and the area's borders are different now.
The notebook has maps at the front, with all the plants identified. However, I am sure many of those plants are no longer. There is a brief explanation of the habititats, and divides Area 1 (our 'A'), into two parts
There is also a section on plants wanted for the areas and how they planned it.
In the back of the notebook there is a gardeners' handbook on how to ID non-native plants as well as various ways for propagation and removal.
The notebook should be useful for plant identification. It could also be inspiring for the group to look at.

Item No. 2 (Derek)

Material: Drupal Site Work and Presentations (Fall 2006)

Description: Fall quarter's Mixed Forest A documentation includes a list of plants identified, research into the types of habitat that exist in MFA (emergent, canopy, understory, forest floor), plans for the future of this area, description of work that has already been done, a description of the site, and a focused description of select plants, including their medicinal properties.

Quality/usefulness: List of plants identified appears to be fairly extensive, covering most of the species encountered in Mixed Forest A. Its accompanying feature is an artistically rendered description of select plants and their medicinal properties that could be useful for signage at some point or just for general public interest in the garden's medicinal capabilities.

The research into habitat types is a thorough breakdown of what is found in Mixed Forest A and would be a good starting point for a deeper look at these habitat types.

The plans for the future section is perhaps the most beneficial ingredient found in the MFA documentation. Listed are a number of viable projects that would benefit MFA's aesthetic presentation. This list will be a nice stepping stone for us into this quarter's hands on work. The list of work completed will also be beneficial in this manner, as it includes tasks that recur season to season.

The description of the site is a full account of the area which we will be able to add to as part of our quarter's work.

Item No. 3 (Suzanne)

Material: Book: The Ann Lovejoy Handbook of Northwest Gardening by Ann Lovejoy

Description: Book on garden types and techniques

Quality/usefulness: This book is a wonderful resource for those who are just beginning their gardening experience, and needs to learn the basics of garden design and maintence. This book focuses on gardening in the Pacific Northwest, working with native organic plants, and native soil. It includes details on compost building, mulch, lawn care, maintaining gardens, natural weed control, eliminating ivy, natural pest control, and garden designs using all types of plants. This book will assist us in many ways from controlling the ivy, to working with the dead tree stumps, to properly composting and mulching the forest understory.

Item No. 4 (Suzanne)

Material: Book: Life in an Old Growth Forest by Valerie Rapp

Description: A juvenile non-fiction book discussing the general terms and facts about old growth forest

Quality/usefulness: This book is roughly a child’s non-fiction book that spends just enough time discussing an old growth forest in general. There are great pictures and plenty of information to provide a general overview. It provides a brief description of certain trees within the forest, animals and insects living in this habitat, the forest understory components, and how forests evolve and change. Most importantly it includes how people have interacted with the forest, both native peoples and post-European settlers.

Item No. 5 (Suzanne)

Material: Book: Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest by Arthur R. Kruckeberg

Description: An encyclopedia of Pacific Northwest native plants

Quality/usefulness: Another wonderful Arthur Kruckeberg book that re-visits the Pacific Northwest forest. Here he discusses each plant in detail, creating more of an encyclopedia of Pacific Northwest native plants. Using colorful and playful language, Kruckeberg points out “distinguishing features”, “garden uses”, and “propagation” techniques of each native plant. The appendix features a section on “Lists of Native Plants for Particular Settings” that provides an interesting comparison to the Longhouse Garden forest site. This book could be very helpful to working within the garden, but not in the usefulness of medicine making or herbalist uses of each plant.

Item No. 6 (Lauren)

Material:

Article: Habitat Information for Specific Species

1. Salmonberry- http://www.nwplants.com/plants/shrubs/rosaceae/rubus_spectabilis/index.h...

Description: This site gives a brief description of the habitat and range, the propagation techniques, the plant and animal associates, historical and cultural uses, and the medicinal properties.

Quality/usefulness: It is quite useful for our group to know and understand the plants the salmonberry grows well with naturally as we have many in our site. This site mentioned that the swordfern, the elderberry, the Evergreen Huckleberry and the Fireweed are all natural allies with the salmonberry. This gives our group an idea of what to plant in the next couple of weeks.

2. The Red Elderberry- http://www.rook.org/earl/bwca/nature/shrubs/sambucuspub.html

Description: This site is a little bit more detailed than the last, giving a lot of information about its taxonomy, habitat, distribution, plant associations, and soil types.

Quality/Usefulness: I felt that this site is helpful because it does give us a list of plants that grow well with Red Elderberry. Including the Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides), the white pine (Pinus strobus). The Beak Hazel and the Winterberry. With this information we can hopefully plant some of these species around our dying elderberry shrubs.