We’ve always been enthusiastic about our brook. In fact, it was because of its clear rippling water that we bought our property.
A sheer delight during the summer, beautiful frozen in winter, our little stream we discovered goes on a rampage each spring and floods over its banks inundating an area 50 feet wide on each side. We had hopes of landscaping our stream, but, when we saw it in spring action they vanished and we concentrated our efforts for several years on the higher ground about the house, putting in flower beds, a vegetable garden and perfecting a planting of evergreens and flowering shrubs to screen the house from the road.
Refreshing Cool Area
But all the time we kept wondering what we could do to enhance the area beside the brook. Everyone gravitated to it, our boys and guests alike. There was heavy growth on either side – unnamed tangles of weird grass and brush. The area was so refreshing and cool in summer but it was just not a place to entertain guests.
Then we hit on an idea. Why not make a simple clearing? Make a grass panel of native grasses for lawn chairs and tables. Cut out the dead trees and shrubs. Cut a path through the undergrowth to that large patch of dogtooth violets to which only the bravest woodsman dare go. Thin out the forest growth on the opposite side of the brook to increase the vista from our clearing into the deep woodland beyond. It took days and weeks with a brush hook, lots of poison ivy killer, hours of laborious raking and burning, but suddenly the area began to take shape. It developed in character, character, which was always present but which we could not easily see before.
We discovered a large group of elderberries that was left undisturbed. A young sycamore tree beside the brook was found to have a perfect shape. We cleared out the growth under it so that it became a feature of the clearing and we carefully thinned out scrub trees and growth so that a more distant old white barked sycamore came prominently into sight in the distance. We have found pleasure in seeing the large in the small and the young in the old. Who knows but what that ancient sycamore was the parent of the young one giving shade close at hand?
Respecting Nature
With respect for nature we have helped her allow us to see her beauty. Our naturally landscaped clearing has cost us hardly anything but effort. We have used stones from the brook to construct a simple fireplace in keeping with its surroundings. Two felled trees make a bridge to connect the banks of the stream. They really belong to the scene.
We have come to respect our brook site. At first saddened because we could not introduce cultivated species or more interesting native material in this area, nature has let us see fragile wild geraniums blooming only a few weeks after the ruthless flood waters subside. The formal cultivated areas around the house are a direct contrast to the wild clearing, but each in turn helps us appreciate the other more.
by W Parsil – 64342
