Woodland Restoration

For the past 6 years I have been restoring the woodland of our subdivision's common ground. Eight years ago I cleared the honeysuckle from the portion of my backyard that borders the common ground and made a shade garden of ferns, hostas, ornamentals and a few native shrubs. The common ground portion has been planted with native plants. Over 3,500 yard waste bags of honeysuckle were hauled out over the past 8 years. After the bush honeysuckle was removed, winter creeper and Japanese honeysuckle started to become problems. These have been very aggressively removed over the past 2 1/2 years.

Rob Emmett, the forester for the Department of Conservation, for the St. Louis area made a field visit in December 2007. He gave me helpful information on future maintenance and encouraged me to enter the project for the Missouri Arbor Award of Excellence. In January 2009 I was notified that the project won a Citation of Merit. In March I went to Columbia, Missouri to a conference sponsored by the Urban Forestry Council and the Department of Conservation, to receive the award.