Wildlife Sanctuary Help!

Here's a bunch of stepping stones that have been set, you can see how they currently appear to be floating above grade even though some of the soil has been brushed back around them. That will be taken care of next year-

Last but not least I have to share this photo. It is what's left of a Bradford Pear that my husband claimed he wanted to keep because it kept his bald spot from burning when he barbecued on the grill. Long story but it's the last of around 10 Calleryana pears planted here when the house was originally built and it's gone now. I took it down when I was taking down buckthorns out back. I took the chainsaw and created a place to nestle a birdbath created by our 12 year old son earlier this year. He's very proud of that birdbath and now it has a prominent place in our yard.

I have several other bird baths up high on chain sawed ickies throughout the woodland area. When life gives you lemons, make some lemonade. Birds love water.

We are just now beginning to work around the house. We'll ultimately go with some pretty interesting products up in tight by the house as it was my goal to eliminate almost all of the lawn. More on that if you are interested but the final decision on which product to go with for walkways hasn't been determined yet.

There are two other main areas on this property that currently have paths. One is the area that runs the entire length of a wetlands so only approved materials can be used for a path in that area. That path is not as attractive as the one will be above but it is functional. The other area runs through a lowland area. We've done a lot of work on that but have decided to pull it all up and start over. These things happen. It won't be all that labor intensive as we'll get in with some sort of equipment and scrape down 4" where the path will run. We'll place that 30 year landscape fabric down that is permeable and then will fill up the excavated path with slate chips that will be flush with the ground. We did a test spot and like the look so that's what we'll go with in that area. I'm afraid the area by the wetlands can only have woodchips which should fade to a dull gray with time although it doesn't look all that attractive when you first lay down the chips. There are lots of options for paths from which to view demonstration gardens or natural areas. These three options worked for me but may not work for you. Personally, I would have preferred to have tied it all in and gone with the stepping stones everywhere however that material was not approved for use near a wetlands and the stepping stones would have sunk in the lowlands area hence I chose a material that I can easily add to over the years. When the slate chips settle and sink in the next few years, we'll just add more slate chips. Slate chips are slate chips are slate chips and they all come from the same quarry out east so no worries about matching materials down the road.

I'm in jaw-dropping amazement! Your natural trail project is awe-inspiring, Equil. Clearing out 1,000's of buckthorns! whew! Bet you were one bad machete-wielding mama in those woods! Or should I say, chain-saw wielding. Such a back-breaking labor of love for what will become a beautiful nature paradise. I can't wait until Donna reads your post. She'll flip out!
Did you pour those stepping stones? I love'em! I also love the slate chip path in the wetland area too. I wonder why concrete steps couldn't be used? Lime in the concrete maybe? Hum. I laid a path using those $1.00 1' square brick stones. Digging out the little trench just about did me in. I can't imagine excavating through a wooded area. But I can visualize the finished product. A tranquil place to meander through on a cool misty morning. What a nice thought. A Thomas Kincade painting in real life. ((Sigh))
Ok, hold your horses.....tell us more about the buttermilk moss concoction. I was thinking about Thymus around my path but moss may be even better.
The habitat brushpile sounds like something even I could do. Flowering vines to cover it! Yes! of course! I never would have thought of that. Who says vines have to go strickly vertical! I'm getting visions of a little winnie the poohville or hobbit village running through my head!
Love the bird bath pedistal! I knew a Bradford Pear tree was good for something. Now I know! I'll remember your son's bird bath when my two trees are ready for the axe. Your stump hardscape reminds me of the stump design I saw in my Doctor's garden. He had a fat stump that he chiseled out the inside and used as a planter/container. Sedums and ice plant were growing in it.

More on your progress. I'm pumped!

No, not a A Thomas Kincade painting quite yet but maybe in about 10 years as the landscape evolves.

I'm sort of a teaser and I must admit I wanted to leave up a portion of the Calleryana Pear just because of how my husband was hugging it in front of friends of ours one year talking about how his wife wanted to take it down just because it was invasive. The crotches of the tree worked with me this time and I was able to wedge that little birdbath in it. Now in the years to come, I can offer to spray some suntan lotion on his bald spot. I am loving having that tree gone with just enough left to let him know that I won the great tree debate. It was an embarrassment to me and he made a joke out of it. Sort of like when he wanted me to keep the two Chinese Wisteria that were sold to me as Kentucky Wisteria for out front. Those went to plant heaven too.

Yes, thousands of buckthorns but most of the larger fruiting ones are going to plant heaven as fast as I can take them to the ground. That still leaves me with quite a few. I hand pull seedlings from areas where I work, use the weed wrench on the saplings (this is back-breaking), and go for the chain saw on the larger ones followed up with some happy juice to kill them. No "machete-wielding mama" here but I will be when I start moving into working in the wetlands where there are towering Phragmites and Narrowleaf Cattail. I've even considered buying a hydro saw to get in there after the ground freezes to try to kill off those plants. We'll see what I do when I get to that area. Who knows what controls will be available then.

Slate chip path is not in the wetlands area but in a mesic woodland area that is lower than the upland woodland area you see photographed above. You really need to know your property to be able to work with it not against it. Most important when selecting plants.

Yes, the flowering vines are awesome and you should see the birds those brush piles attract! Holy cow! I would have never believed it if I hadn't seen for myself.

I have to run but I'll get back to you on the buttermilk/moss connection later. It works. It works well.

Here are a couple links that describe the process-
http://www.mossacres.com/acc_retention_gel.asp
Have to laugh about the one above because you don't need to purchase their powdered slurry based on my personal experiences.

http://gardensoyvey.com/moss.html

http://www.madison.com/communities/wisconsinhardyplantsociety/library/files/Moss%20Gardening%201-2005.pdf

This link seems more practical-
http://www.walterreeves.com/landscaping/article.phtml?cat=15&id=389
After I blend it to smitherines, I literally paint it where I want it to grow.

Now mind you, this doesn't work for all species of moss but it will work for most, at least all the ones I have tried it on were able to be propagated using this method. Supposedly, for those hard to propagate mosses... you can use this method-
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/gl_plants_other/article/0,1785,HGTV_3609_1371669,00.html

Forgot to mention that plain yogurt works as well as buttermilk and you can "acidify" soil with Miracid at half strength.

http://www.wisegeek.com/how-can-i-grow-moss.htm

New ideas using moss are spinning around in my brain. Wouldn't concrete statuary covered in moss be goreous! Thank you for these links!

I'm particularly fond of native fungi and mosses. Not that these mosses are all native at this site but have you ever stumbled across some of the photography at Moss Acres?
http://www.mossacres.com/
Now that should really get your brain a twirlin and a whirlin.

Concrete statuary covered in moss positioned in the shade would be way cool. I've got an urn in the shade that I plan on slathering up with a mossygoopconcoction and I'm most curious to see how it will look a few years from now.

I keep forgetting to answer your question as to whether I poured those stepping stones myself or not. The answer is no. I bought them. Then they went on sale and I bought more. Then they went on clearance and I bought even more. For those who want to pour their own, I saw a way to do it that would be assembly line style that utilized 2 x 4's as forms. The stepping stones weren't round but they were equally as nice as the ones I bought and they ended up with a wood grain too because of the wood forms that were used.

Equil went nuts when she saw those steps on sale. She could hear jaws dropping when she told us about it. lol

Bet you all didn't think I'd get so many set in the ground starting so late in the season now didja! I cheated though and hired those rental husbands to dig holes and they were digging holes at a rate of about 50 a day. They dug more holes than I could have done, that's for sure. Next year I'll pick up digging where they left off. My arm is in pretty darn good shape lately. I can barely even tell that I broke it unless I stress it by doing something with it that I shouldn't be doing. By next spring it should be good as new. I don't know if I mentioned it or not but I got my very first visitor. I lifted up one of the stepping stones because I saw what appeared to be an entrance hole around the edge. I was wondering what was under there and found a tiger salamander. I was thrilled. I started lifting up one after the next and found little blue spotted salamanders under others. Sure did make my day when I realized that the base of sand was working as I had intended it to work. Still haven't found any toads battening down the hatches for the winter but then again I stopped lifting up the stepping stones to take peeks. Figured it was best to let them settle in.

At the bottom of each hole is a base of about 3 - 4" of pea gravel mixed with coarse sand. The sawdust would have decomposed too fast to be effective. Atop that mix is the 3 - 4" of sand. They seem to be settling nicely and aren't rocking. I think they will become even more stable once I bring in dirt around them to make them flush with the ground. I wanted to give them one season of freeze thaw to settle but I will go and backfill every stepping stone that has an entrance hole to better protect whatever crawled in underneath it to hibernate for the winter.

Hey Yall,
I'm still around just BUSY, I see I have lots of read to do!
E & Cdawg yall keep it going! I'll check in later when time permits!

Look above sweetie. I tried my best to start adding common names for you. Will do more as time allows.

Hey E,
Well today was a WONDERFUL day, my dear gardening buddy Cordeledawg, came down for a visit. And I show her very inch of my garden and then some!! lol!! All our treasure's (junk). I think now she understand all that I have to look after. I'm hoping she'll beable to sum up what I have hear and what I'm trying to do!

Can wait for "Cordeledawg" to comment! I'm not really good with words, like she is.
It was truly a Great Day and I'm sure we'll be having many more visit's!
Now I'm gonna kick back in my BIG chair and take a rest!

Hey g,
Will wait for C then ;)

Ugh, you reminded me that I have to add more common names for you!

not to worry I've got most of them in the post above. Just for the future will be helpful!

Yea, C took home a BUNCH of BBQ from the BBQ festival, she just might pig out and go to bed!! LOL!!! We were munching on some sauage as we were driving through the farm as we followed our DH around! (lookin for Deer!)

gonna go eat, check in later!

I had already added more common names for you. Which ones do you already have?

Food, you dare mention food. Now I'm hungry... again.

Equil, it was finger licking Good! We are still feasting on yesterday's ribs, sausage and chili that Mr. gapeahen got for us at the National BBQ festival held in downtown Douglas. Donna, we enjoyed our visit so much! It's been the topic of our conversation trying to describe your beautiful place to our son and his girlfriend.

I want to go into a little more detail later. My kids are home and the washing machine is running steadily.
Until I get more time, let me say that Equil's information and advice will be needed for you to develop your front acres into a wildlife sanctuary. Use your live oak trees as a foundation and the cleared area to the left of those trees for a butterfly and hummer meadow. I can close my eyes and see it. I just don't know what native plants to use. That's were Equl's expertise is most valuable. Take baby steps and you won't get overwhelmed.
You've got a wonderful panorama from the side of your house as the pond wraps around that side. There's nothing more calming to me than a Cypress fishing pond, complete with islands and peninsulas that feed into small creeks winding throughout your property. You already have an ideal ecosystem for water fowl and small mammals. Your peacocks and flock of guinea fowl add so much to the view along with your barns and pot bellied pig! What a beautiful menagerie! Donna, you are not only a generous and experienced Master Gardener but you are a wonderful sheppard for God's creatures. I didn't want to leave and I will be back!

You're lucky I just ate or I would have been so jealous of you talking about smacking your lips and licking your fingers. I may like native plants but I love eating.

LOL. Same here. Just ate dinner. Not hungry for anything now except banana cream pie. :~p

Great, you had to metion a cream pie. Now I've got a taste for one of those Baker's Square chocolate cream pies and you might as well toss in a key lime pie too.

Ooooohhhh.......

You know something, I've never made a key lime pie. I don't even think I have a recipe for that and I love them. You don't have a good key lime pie recipe per chance do you? I've been in a bake mode these last few months.

It has been years since I made one. Go to allrecipes.com or thefoodchannel.com to find one. Or to our recipe forum.

I have better luck with our own people here at DG. I'll go on over to the recipe forum and search to see if one hasn't already been posted.

Hmmm, didn't know the thefoodchannel.com was out there.

Key Lime pie, Oh my! No baking! The lime cooks the eggs.

Gimme your recipe woman! Gimme gimme gimme!

I use the receipe on the label of the Eagle Brand Condensed Milk can. I don't happen to have one in the pantry, but I think this is all there is to it:
NO BAKE KEY LIME PIE

1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
4 egg yolks
4 oz. Lime Juice (hand squeeze on a juicer, don't use an electric juicer it)
Lime zest
optional: (my kids always liked me to add a drop of green food coloring to the mix)

Combine milk and eggs. Slowly add juice, mix thoroughly and add zest sprinkles. Pour into 9 inch graham cracker pie shell. Refrigerate overnight. Top with whipped cream and very thinly sliced lime rind twisted for decoration.

That's on a label? How cool is that! How does it taste compared to what they serve at fancy restaurants? Probably better.

It's delicious to me. Take the label off the milk can and there are receipes on the back side. I'm actually a New York cream cheese cake junkie when I'm reading a menu at a restaurant. Just can't seem to pass it up for anything else. LOL I just remebered my aunt's speciality is Key Lime pie. I'll call her tomorrow and ask her for her recipe. She's a Key West Florida native and always brings hers to family outings along with her famous Cuban Pork Loin. Yum-Yum!

Hey, I normally buy condensed milk around the holidays but I never checked the underside of the label. I will this year! Yes, I'll take your aunt's Key Lime recipe! Thank you!

Talked to my Aunt today about her famous recipe for Key Lime Pie. She uses the recipe on the underside of the EagleBrand condensed milk can too. She does use regular pie shells which she pre-cooks then cools, and she tops the pie with meringue made from the leftover egg whites.
Here's her tips, Off the top of her head, she makes two pies using 3 cans of condensed milk, 1 1/2 cups from the juice of key limes (Walmart now carries Key Limes in the bag) 4 egg yokes and a drop of green food coloring. Be sure to mix the eggs up good or else the lime juice will cook the yolks in tidbits.

Ah, the mysteries of the undersides of Eagle brand condensed milk labels unfolded!

If you make two key lime pies, could one be frozen for use later? The only reason why I ask is that I'm making a sweet potato pie, a pecan pie, and now this key lime pie for Thanksgiving. One of my SILs makes a different type of pecan to bring as well as a pumpkin pie. Two other SILs bring other fruit type pies and traditionally one brings "fully leaded" cherry, apple, and blueberry while the other one brings a sugar free cherry and apple for the two diabetics in our family. Now add to this my MILs carmalized flan, her bread pudding with raisins, her tapioca topped with strawberries and those homemade chocolate eclairs my girlfriend brings then there's the lemon tarts, almond crescent cookies, and spritz cookies brought by another friend and we're sort of on a sugary circuitry overload. Truth be known most of us are suffering from stuffing stupor by the time we even get to the pie phase of the meal because we all overeat so it would be nice to make up two key limes at once but even nicer to freeze one for later use.

I'm going into sugar DT's reading your family desert list! Oh my sweet tooth just started to ache! What in the world is your main course?
Yes, you can freeze the other pie just leave off the meringue. Individual tart pie shells are cute too to put the filling inside.

Two 20 # + turkeys, a large leg of lamb, and sometimes a decent chunk of corned beef so that we have meat to make sandwiches out of at night. We generally have well over 30 people here each year plus oodles more stopping in for desert and we like to be able to send home left overs with the grandpas and grandmas.

The lamb and corned beef would be different meat choices for me. Love fried turkey breasts but I'm tired of ham. I may try baking something different. Never cooked lamb. Do you boil your corned beef with cabbage or Sauerkraut?

The brisket is boiled. The sealed pack normally comes with a packet of spices that you open up and add to the water. We don't add anything else to it because we're only using it for sandwich meat with swiss cheese and rye later on after the 1pm gorge fest. We don't do pork over here. I think you'd really like the lamb if it was prepared properly. I make it with apples, cranberries, and onions. This family and our friends can really pack it away when it comes to food so really all you have to do is keep your arms and fingers away from people eating and you'll do just fine. One good thing about Thanksgiving is that the weather is normally cold so we can shut off the heaters in the garage and use folding tables we set up out there as cold storage so people can walk out with plates and grab seconds and thirds throughout the whole day.

I'm so hungry now! Yep, corned beef brisket and lamb will also be on my menu. I've never seen lamb at the grocery store so I'll ask the butcher about it.

ok gals what about the wildlife??? lol! I see we've got some great recipes going here!

Went to my home town (daddy's) to check on the cow's & pay the taxes!!! Not much time to chat tonight gotta call sister. Althou I'm think of my wild flower meadow and have a list of Ga. natives to choice from that are use by the DOT. Which are some of the ones our garden club sow in 1996 in front of the General Coffee State Park for the Ga. Olympic.
Also have a copy list from UGA but can't find that link now!

http://www.dot.state.ga.us/operations/maintenance/wildflower/wildflower-list.shtml

http://www.dot.state.ga.us/operations/maintenance/wildflower/photogallery.shtml

I'll chat with you gal's soon!

See there, Donna, while the cat's away, the mice will play. We've been wondering where you were and what you're doing. We just decided to think of things to eat until you get back. HaHaHa
I saw for myself exactly what you are up to. My stars! You just roll up your sleeves and tackle Men-size jobs. Y'all should see what Donna can do! The first thing that knocked me over was the fact she poured a concrete patio complete with a curved driveway that serves as a bunker for her raised bed border.... built a green house (the woman has two ghs, a shade house and a potting shed, drip and misting systems throughout her ghs and gardens, all made and installed by her little hands. A waterfall and creek bed she designed. I thought the tool and wood working room was her DH's. Wrong! All hers....Black and Decker ain't got nuffing on you, girl. She has built fences, dog pens, has a craft room to die for. gourd crafts, sewing room, tile art, painted her own faux old world tile floors, Did I mention she has a green thumb? If there's a leaf on a stick, she can root it.
No wonder she wants her front acres into a wild life sanctuary and butterfly meadow, the woman does all the grass mowing for all of her property!

Equil, we gotta give this woman some relief and help the critters out too!