Updated May 20, 2022
The Augusta Creek Permaculture forest garden was a project I co-founded with my friend, Matt, back in 2015 in a little countryside town in Southwest Michigan. The site has since been sold, but the beautiful moments & the lessons I learned during my time there live on in my heart to this day.
Spring is a truly lovely season in the forest garden. Today was an especially beautiful, sunny spring day here at the Augusta Creek Permaculture site. There’s lots popping up right now and so many things I’m excited about. Below are some of my favorite springtime features of our site.
Perennial Flowers
Perennial flowers are a great way to add so much beauty to your yard or garden with very little effort. You simply plant bulbs once and the flowers come back year after year. It’s magic. This past fall I planted tons of flower bulbs so this spring has been an especially colorful one. We had lots of snowdrops, then crocus and daffodils, but now those have died back and the tulips are stealing the show. They are all assorted colors — yellow, pink, red, purple, orange and many multi-color blooms — and are popping up all over the forest garden. It’s wonderful.
Fruit Trees & Bushes
We incorporated many types of fruiting trees and bushes into the forest garden. Many of them are leafing out or flowering right now, including:
- Honey berries
- Blueberries
- Raspberries
- Strawberries
- Blackberries
- Wild black raspberries
- Asian pears
- Cherries
- Persimmons
- Plums
- Paw Paws
The great thing about fruiting trees (besides the fruit) are their lovely flowers. I love the delicate blossoms on our Asian pears and cherries!
Herbs
As an herbalist, growing my own herbs is very important to me. It’s a great way to control quality and to ensure the herbs I’m using in my food, medicine, and Wild Blossom products are grown sustainably, organically, and with love. A few of the herbs that are coming up in the forest garden right now are:
- Hops
- Red clover
- Dandelion
- Cleaver
- Chickweed
- Plantain
- Yellow dock
- Burdock
- Violets
- Yarrow
- Purple sage
- Sage
- Oregano
- Catnip
- Mint
- Purple dead nettle
- Comfrey
- Mullein
Other Edibles
We have many other plants with edible berries, bulbs, roots, and leaves incorporated into the forest garden. Many of these plants are perennial and self-seeding, making for a low maintenance edible landscape. While our perennial crops get well established (some things need to grow for a few years before they can be harvested or produce fruit), we are also incorporating some annuals for a more immediate food source. Some of the things coming up, leafing out, and blooming on site now are:
- Kale
- Garlic
- Arugula
- Asparagus
- Strawberries
- Horseradish
Ornamental Bushes/Trees
These lovely bushes and trees provide beauty and diversity to the forest garden and are useful in many ways, including providing habitat for birds, insects, and other animals. I also enjoy using branches in unique bouquets. Some of my favorite ornamental trees/shrubs we have are a red bud — which has lovely pink blooms in the spring — and the red leafed maple that grows in front of our home.
These photos were taken during a stroll through the Augusta Creek Permaculture site on a beautiful sunny spring day. Hope you enjoyed your mini virtual tour of our forest garden!
mama libélula 