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Reading the Landscapesat Write On, Door CountyNovember 2020Landscapes of PlaceNancy Aten & Dan Collins

© e Kubala Washatko Architects

Welcome to Write On, Door Countyese lands that surround Write On were once forest, then logged, farmed, pastured, and now are a classic Door County old-eld on a slow, multi-patterned journey back to forest.is guidebook is meant to introduce you to the story of these wild landscapes, and to an approach to help the Writing Center gracefully emerge from and connect to its natural setting.e visitor or writer is welcomed with nearly transparent beginnings of trails and spaces that unfold from the Center. Aer that comes possibilities for individual discovery and revelation. Layers of history – successional change, emergence, decay, bustle and nibble – show themselves to anyone observant, whether moving or sitting still. Half-hidden details are open to interpretation – unexplained artifacts, unexpected sightings, partial glimpses, light and shadow around bends. e process of integrating the Center with the land is a journey of ecological restoration, too. Getting to know the way nature works – and the way we all work to assist in healing the land – is a nurturing framework. We are all glad stewards in the next chapter of the well-being of this place.e landscapes at Write On can be thought of in ve parts. Near the Center, introductions take place. Plant friends appear in dris, beckoning the explorer to what will be found in the other four parts: the meadow, the successional old-eld, the new woods, and the hardwood forest.e path awaits. 1

A Door County MeadowDoor County does not have re-dependent ecosystems, so true prairies do not develop. Our meadows are openings, created naturally by windfall, tree fall, exposed bedrock or happenstance of topography, or unnaturally because of past land use history, including timber cutting and agriculture.ese openings are the beginnings of a patterned successional process. Quintessential at Write On are bracken fern, yellow coreopsis and the petite pussy-toes, along with a joyous complement of familiar plant friends like several species of white, blue, lavender and violet asters; brown-eyed Susans and thimbleweed; grasses and sedges. In places, there is a surprising amount of starry false Solomon’s seal, with strawberries, bee balm and milkweed. When old-eld junipers begin to arrive, a story is being written again in a familiar Door County pattern ... 3

Old-Field on a 100-Year Meander to Becoming Foreste path through the old-eld is evident. Landscape architects use the term “legibility” to describe the degree of intuitive comfort one has in nding one’s way in the landscape. Despite the complexity in an old-eld, the patterning and familiarity of junipers leads the way forward. at sea of old-eld junipers is an ecological facilitator, giving safe harbor to young upstart conifers and pioneer hardwoods, protecting them from nibbling mammals and too much drying sun. In Door County it can take one hundred years to transition from eld to young forest. A perceptive eye can still nd remnant old-eld junipers in the forest, relics of past transitions. Little bluestem grass glows in the sunnier openings. Underfoot is the wiry-bladed sedge Carex eburnea and the friendly path rush. White pine, cedar, aspens, and black cherry emerge from the junipers, drawing the eye upward. ese are the early beginnings of the new forest. 3

5A New Woods Nipping at the EdgesIn the old-eld, wildowers and grasses – yellow-hooked dyer’s-weed, purple New England aster, needle grass, little bluestem – soak up sun in all the places they can. But the aspens and cherries have another plan. e earliest ones spring up through the junipers and make the rst shade. While the aspens, birches, cherries and pines are growing (quickly! like early-successional trees do), some plants thrive in the transitional conditions, in the partial light. ese include Pennsylvania sedge, zig-zag goldenrod and the eye-catching columbine. As the decaying leaves of the trees increase the soil’s organic layer, long-dormant seeds might germinate, recognizing that now is their time.e aspen clones serve as guideposts, bringing coherence to the developing landscape that is still working out the details.

Hardwood Forest: Canopy and Understory e old forest canopy is dominated by beech, sugar maple, birch and oak, which consume and lter the light. Some trees with wide-spread branches arrived early to this forested spot and stayed. Others grew once the shade had developed. Understory trees and shrubs like ironwood, chokecherry and leatherwood (slow-growing and a symbol of forest health) have evolved to optimize the scant light available below the canopy.Forest forbs (owering plants) and grasses worked out an arrangement long ago. Spring ephemerals – like trillium, wild leek, bellwort – emerge, ower, set seed and store their energy for the next year in thick roots before the overstory trees leaf out. All of this happens in an urgent explosion of growth and color during April and May. In summer, the species that can economize on light will catch your eye, like baneberry and sarsaparilla. 5

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Re-planting at the Writing CenterTo help visitors and writers meet this wild place, the re-planted landscapes around the Center are arranged to tell stories. At le: some of the plants used in restoration around the Center.Sunny meadows were planted with dris to create pattern and movement, emphasizing little bluestem grass, yellow coreopsis, bracken fern, brown-eyed Susan, bee balm. Most of the meadows were seeded and will take three or more years to establish. Over time, patterns will adjust to perfect their natural aliations.North of the building a shady respite allows details of small plants, many of them sedges, to delight the eye. Shade from the Center acts as a substitute for the shade of a large maple tree.Near the road, a hint of orchard alludes to past homesteaders. A sweep of shrubs – fragrant sumac, chokecherry and meadowsweet – provides lovely color and structure year-round. A bit of fanciness on arrival is oered by juneberry trees, our rst species to bloom in spring before the leaves open, along with the pasture rose. ese echo their appearance in the wild landscapes as occasional surprises.e young woods on the west are introduced with aspens and staghorn sumacs closer to the Center. e sugar maples, birches, rs, cedars, and hemlocks emerging from the old-eld in front of the Center hint at the hardwood forest to the east. And sometimes trees touch, just like in a mature forest.A Guide to Plants at Write On, Door Countye following pages introduce you to some of the plant friends you may encounter, welcoming your arrival and greeting you along your walk. ey are arranged, here, from sunny meadow to forested habitats. 7

StrawberryFragaria virginiana“When we look about us, we see the berries are still here, providing us with delicious foods. e leader of the berries is the strawberry, the rst to ripen in the spring. Can we agree that we are grateful that the berries are with us in the world and send our thanksgiving, love, and respect to the berries? Now our minds are one.”(Robin Wall Kimmerer, from Allegiance to Gratitude)Path RushJuncus tenuisFound on almost every trailCommon MilkweedAsclepias syriacaIllinoisWildowers.info 9Unless otherwise noted, all photographs, text and artwork: © Landscapes of Place

imbleweedAnemone cylindricaTall imbleweedAnemone virginianaLance-leaved CoreopsisCoreopsis lanceolataBee BalmMonarda stulosaLady Bird Johnson Wildower CenterLady Bird Johnson Wildower Center 9

Whorled MilkweedAsclepias verticillataBlack-eyed SusanRudbeckia hirtaBranched ConeowerRudbeckia trilobaA favored late-fall bloom

Little BluestemSchizachyrium scopariumere are two types of people in the world: those that love little bluestem and those that don’t yet know little bluestem.e leaf blades form at-stemmed clusters of purple, pink and peach known for catching aernoon light. Seeds have glistening white hairs.Bracken FernPteridium aquilinumForms colonies mostly from rhizomes. e same ancient species is known worldwide. It is said to have “walked around the world.”Wood BetonyPedicularis canadensisEmerging spring leaves are magenta! 11

Pussy ToesAntennaria neglectaSmooth Blue AsterSymphyotrichum laeveNew England AsterSymphyotrichumnovae-angliaeIllinoisWildowers.infoIllinoisWildowers.info

Starry False Solomon’s SealMaianthemum stellatumIn Door County meadows, this plant tends to angle its leaves vertically to reduce evapotranspiration. When it grows in shadier areas, its leaves will reach out sideways.Curly-styled Wood SedgeCarex roseaWild ColumbineAquilegia canadensispheasantbranch.org, Flora of the Pheasant Branch Conservancy 13

Bristle-leaf SedgeCarex eburneaCommon Wood SedgeCarex blandaNorthern Heart-leaved AsterSymphyotrichum ciliolatumOnline Virtual Flora of Wisconsin. 2020. http//:wisora.herbarium.wisc.edupheasantbranch.org, Flora of the Pheasant Branch Conservancy

Dyer’s-weed GoldenrodSolidago nemoralisNeedle GrassHesperostipa sparteaDaisy FleabaneErigeron strigosusIllinoisWildowers.infollinoisWildowers.infoLady Bird Johnson Wildower Center 15

Pasture RoseRosa carolinaFragrant SumacRhus aromaticaWild PlumPrunus americanaNew York Flora AtlasNew York Flora Atlas

Juneberry, ServiceberryAmelanchier laevise berries taste great but you have to get them before the birds!Pagoda DogwoodCornus alternifoliaA Pagoda Dogwood welcomes visitors at the front entrance to the Writing Center.ChokecherryPrunus virginianaWikimedia Commons 17Forestryimages.org - Image Number 5473422Rob Routledge, Sault College

Old-eld JuniperJuniperus communis“Juniperus comes from the Latin meaning ‘forever young’ ... e Common [Old-eld] Juniper is the source of the berries (technically the cones) that are used to give gin its distinctive avor.” (Roy Lukes)BualoberryShepherdia canadensisStaghorn SumacRhus typhinaIcon of the edgesNew York Flora AtlasOnline Virtual Flora of Wisconsin. 2020. http//:wisora.herbarium.wisc.edu

American White Cedaruja occidentalis“In a shaded and more agreeable situation, their boughs are multi-twigged … on branches which are spread in feathery, horizontal fans. But in [an] exposed situation the twigs, as if in self defense, have turned at right angles to the sun so that they are all presented edge-on rather than surface-on. ey are arranged like slats in a Venetian blind, and for the same purpose …” (Virginia Eifert, Journeys in Green Places)White PinePinus strobusFive letters in w-h-i-t-e,ve needles in a cluster makes this an easy identication.Virginia CreeperParthenocissus quinquefoliaOers glorious red colors in fallOnline Virtual Flora of Wisconsin. 2020. http//:wisora.herbarium.wisc.eduLady Bird Johnson Wildower CenterLady Bird Johnson Wildower Center 19

ToothwortCardamine concatenataBellwortUvularia grandioraTrillium Trillium grandiorumIconic spring ephemeral and possibly the rst ‘latin’ plant name you learnedLady Bird Johnson Wildower Center

Wood VioletViola sororia Downy Yellow VioletViola pubescensEarly Meadow Ruealictrum dioicumFilaments dangle like fringeLady Bird Johnson Wildower CenterLady Bird Johnson Wildower Center 21

False Solomon’s SealMaianthemum racemosumPennsylvania SedgeCarex pensylvanicaWild SarsaparillaAralia nudicaulis

White Baneberry, Doll’s-eyesActaea pachypoda Red BaneberryActaea rubraLarge-leaved AsterAster macrophyllus 23

Ziz-zag GoldenrodSolidago exicaulisA woodland goldenrod with a stem that goes zig-zagWild Leek, RampAllium tricoccumWood AnemoneAnemone quinquefoliaLady Bird Johnson Wildower CenterLady Bird Johnson Wildower Center

Quaking AspenPopulus tremuloides“e slim trees were like golden plumes whose disk leaves shook incessantly in the wind and splashed a dazzling yellow against an October sky.” (Virginia Eifert, Journeys in Green Places) Big-tooth AspenPopulus grandidentataBlack CherryPrunus serotina Lady Bird Johnson Wildower CenterOnline Virtual Flora of Wisconsin. 2020. http//:wisora.herbarium.wisc.eduLady Bird Johnson Wildower Center 25

NannyberryViburnum lentago Paper BirchBetula papyriferaBalsam FirAbies balsamea Lady Bird Johnson Wildower CenterOnline Virtual Flora of Wisconsin. 2020. http//:wisora.herbarium.wisc.eduLady Bird Johnson Wildower Center

Sugar MapleAcer saccharum“Standing around us we see all the Trees. e Earth has many families of Trees who each have their own instructions and uses. Some provide shelter and shade, others fruit and beauty and many useful gis. e Maple is the leader of the trees, to recognize its gis of sugar when the People need it most. Many peoples of the world recognize a Tree as a symbol of peace and strength. With one mind we greet and thank the Tree life. Now our minds are one.”(Robin Wall Kimmerer, from Allegiance to Gratitude)Red MapleAcer rubrumToothed leaf margins distinguish this readily from Sugar MapleLeatherwoodDirca palustrisAn uncommon treat, with leathery twigs and beautiful May owersMissouri Botanical GardenNew York Flora Atlas 27

Red OakQuercus rubraReally, it’s an acorn tree. Eastern HemlockTsuga canadensisAmerican BeechFagus grandifolia Lady Bird Johnson Wildower CenterNew York Flora AtlasMissouri Botanical GardenUnless otherwise noted, all photographs, text and artwork: © Landscapes of Placev2 / 12 November 2020