Harvest Woods
Purpose
To display edible and herbal native plants and provide animal habitat within a coastal Douglas-fir setting.
Habitat
Harvest Woods is one of several HCP gardens set within a second-growth Douglas-fir forest. These woodland gardens display a range of light exposures from full sun through glade to full shade. Unlike most of the other woodland gardens, this one has kept many of the native shrubs and some of the herbaceous plants in addition to the native trees. The soil is unmodified silty marine clay (Saanichton). Drainage varies from well-drained soils with pockets of sandy loam and pebbles in the northeast section of the garden to a poorly drained, heavy clay, bog-like area in the west. Coarse woody debris and wood chips are being added to the site to re-establish a forest floor habitat.Features
This garden is very much a work in progress. An initial, vigorous effort to rehabilitate the seriously degraded site has been completed, and we have entered into a long-term project where invasive exotic plants will be persistently removed and the small native plants that have been reintroduced will be allowed to mature. The paths allow visitors to observe the display plants along the path edges and to view the wetlands to the south. The plants in the areas between the paths are being allowed to form the dense understory that is typical of young Douglas-fir forests. This understory is home to a number of animal species including a covey of California quail (Lophortyx californicus).Plants
There are about 50 species of trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants and ferns in this garden, and about 20 of them have berries and fruits. Except for the single English oak in the centre, all plants are native to this part of British Columbia. There are some native herbaceous plants in the garden, but most of the herbaceous material consists of plants (mostly grasses) that have been introduced as the result of agricultural practices.
A number of the native plants in this garden have been used in gardens throughout the world for many years. The one with the longest known history is red-flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum). This plant was discovered by Europeans on Puget Sound and taken back to England. By the mid nineteenth century many cultivars had been developed. These were quite the fashion throughout Europe, and it is said that Josephine Bonaparte had the plant on her estate. Most of the red-flowering currants planted in British Columbia gardens up until the 1980's were cultivars reintroduced from Europe. Other plants native to this site that are commonly used in the landscape trades include salal (Gaultheria shallon), sword fern (Polystichum munitum), oceanspray (Holodiscus discolor) and Cascade Oregon grape (Mahonia nervosa).
Three native shrubs, not commonly used in landscaping, have re-established themselves naturally and vigorously in this garden. They are: common snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus), a small, deciduous shrub that displays small white berries throughout the winter; Indian plum (Oemleria cerasiformis), a harbinger of spring with new leaves and blossoms in February; and Nootka rose (Rosa nutkana), a mid-summer flowering plant suitable for poorly drained soil.
The Indian plum, Pacific crab apple (Malus fusca) and trailing blackberry (Rubus ursinus) had begun re-establishing themselves before we started this garden. All other plants with edible berries or fruits and all of the herbal plants have been introduced to the site. These plants include: Saskatoon berry (Amelanchier alnifolia), bog cranberry (Oxycoccus oxycoccos), bitter cherry (Prunus emarginata), choke cherry (Prunus virginiana), coastal black gooseberry (Ribes divaricatum), black gooseberry (Ribes lacustre), sticky gooseberry (Ribes lobbii), blackcap, (Rubus leucodermis); thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus),salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis), red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa), and seven species of Vaccinium.