A new wooden ramp is underway for the Bird’s Nest. Soon, little feet will flutter up the ramp, bringing worms to waiting birdies. Lark, the music fairy, will be very pleased.

The Faerie Cottage is due for some upgrades, too, in preparation for Enchanted Woods’ 10th Birthday in 2011. Here’s the stack of supplies awaiting the project’s start.  Won’t it be fun to play in Enchanted Woods this spring?

For me, there is always a jockeying between American beech and white oak as a favored specimen tree. When grown alone, they each fill the space in its own unique way; the oak with its strong, 90 degree angled limbs and the beech with a bounty of delicate grey branches; both vying, in my mind, for first place.    The beech that I speak of is one that welcomed visitors into Enchanted Woods near the Lower Sundial Garden.  This beech had a wide spreading canopy that in places was low enough that you could not walk underneath it and it shared this space with no one; just the small amount of lawn that was able to withstand the conditions.  To say that this tree had presence is an understatement.  It was the focal point—no matter the season—as one climbed the hill on Garden Lane from the Reflecting Pool toward the turnaround.  It was the punctuation point at the end of the horticultural sentence. 

This was a tree that I have long admired.  The above picture was taken in spring several years ago in an attempt to capture the expanse of its canopy and it began its slow decline soon thereafter.  The massive trunk once cut and on its side, revealed no rot; it just suffered from an ever increasing canopy failure with the final collapse occurring over the summer.  After that it was not only disfigured but deemed no longer safe. As the leaves were mulch mowed and collected this fall it was for the last time.  The plants near by that stretched for light will now have more abundant sunshine.  Understudies now take its place, like the dawn redwood off in the distance or the saucer magnolias when they will flower unobscured for the first time this April.

This is a common cycle in historic gardens where focal points and views and vistas come in and out of focus with the successive growth of plants.  In the spring we will plant a young tree, an American elm cultivar that will bring, in time, a magnificent arching presence back to the space.  I know that it is a sight that I will not witness but in my mind’s eye I can already see it.  It’s part of the beauty of planting a garden.

A touch of the old world visited Winterthur on Friday, November 5th.  William Cahill, originally from County Galway, Ireland returned to Enchanted Woods to check the thatching on the Tulip Tree House and the Faerie Cottage.  A master thatcher who apprenticed for five years in Ireland, Mr. Cahill thatched our Tulip Tree House in the fall of 2007 and the Faerie Cottage in 2008. He  returns to Winterthur annually to monitor their condition and to do any repairs. Enjoy these photos of his work and come inspect on your own!

(By the way, some of Enchanted Woods’ water features are turned off for the season to prevent frozen water lines. The misting mushrooms will mist again in the spring!)

Members free. $5 per nonmember child with adult.

Terrific Tuesdays

 
August 10, 2010 -Going to Market with the Ox-Cart Man”
On Tuesdays in July and August, kids can learn about life long ago through fun, hands-on programs at 11:30 am and again at 1:30 pm. Other activities will be offered in the museum and garden from 10 am to 3 pm each day. Special Programs last 30 minutes.This week’s program is “Going to Market with the Ox-Cart Man.”

August 17, 2010 – “Nursery Rhymes”
On Tuesdays in July and August, kids can learn about life long ago through fun, hands-on programs at 11:30 am and again at 1:30 pm. Other activities will be offered in the museum and garden from 10 am to 3 pm each day. Special Programs last 30 minutes.This week’s program is “Nursery Rhymes.”

August 24, 2010 – “Soup’s On!”
On Tuesdays in July and August, kids can learn about life long ago through fun, hands-on programs at 11:30 am and again at 1:30 pm. Other activities will be offered in the museum and garden from 10 am to 3 pm each day. Special Programs last 30 minutes.This week’s program is “Soup’s On!”

August 31, 2010 - “Going to Market with the Ox-Cart Man”
On Tuesdays in July and August, kids can learn about life long ago through fun, hands-on programs at 11:30 am and again at 1:30 pm. Other activities will be offered in the museum and garden from 10 am to 3 pm each day. Special Programs last 30 minutes.This week’s program is “Going to Market with the Ox-Cart Man.”

Quercus, our elf friend who helped create Enchanted Woods, has been busy at work preparing the new Upside-down Tree for the garden. In February, starting at the top of the tree, he removed the bark and the dead wood, notice the color differences.

By mid-March he had removed all the bark. This week Quercus has been chiseling a texture into the surface. See close-up photo. Glimmer, our magician fairy, is working on the design for the door that will go in the long cavity and the window that will be in the circular one.

Join us on June 20th for Enchanted Summer Day when the tree will be officially unveiled.

Building on this excitement, the team developed a plan to install the tree in Enchanted Woods. After several planning sessions and meetings with an engineer, the tree has been lowered and moved to a temporary shelter. Our former arborist, Randy Fisher will be removing the old bark and any dead wood to prepare it for Enchanted Woods (Randy was the creative talent behind the mushrooms in Enchanted Woods). We are pleased to be collaborating with Construct Con, Inc, our original contractors for Enchanted Woods, to prepare a home for the tree in the garden among the azaleas. When the project is done, the upside down tree will look as though it just appeared in Enchanted Woods and will, we hope, delight the children (and parents) who discover it. Look for the tree to appear in the garden late this spring.

I am pleased to announce that the Faerie Cottage in Enchanted Woods has been re-thatched. Our thatcher, William Cahill, spent several weeks replacing the mossy and worn roof on the cottage with fresh thatch. In the spirit of recycling and conservation, our new thatch roof uses phragmites, a common wetland grass found throughout the area that is considered by many to be a nuisance. Our phragmites roof should last much longer than a traditional reed thatch and uses a local weed that many consider fit only for the landfill.