Photography: Forest Layers

My forest garden is leaning more towards "forest" than "garden" these days, since we can't get a lawnmower into it.  However, parts of it are doing well and I'm pleased with the development of its layers.  Obviously I didn't plant the uppermost ones, but I've put some serious effort into cultivating the lower ones.  Here is a picture looking south through the heart of the forest garden.  The photos were taken while walking around  it.


Emergent Layer:  Normally listed as part of a rainforest rather than a temperate forest, "emergent" means that a few of the trees stick way up above the canopy.  This big old sycamore (center) towers above even the third story of our house (of which you can glimpse part in the lower left).  The shorter tree (right) is Home Base, a very old mulberry and part of the canopy.


Canopy Layer:  Most of the trees in the forest stand at this height, so that their crowns form a relatively consistent layer of leaves and branches.  Our canopy consists of mulberry, hackberry, black walnut, maple, oak, and various other trees.  This picture looks up through the canopy.
 

Understory Layer:  Short trees capture light that passes through the upper layers.  Unlike the canopy, the understory tends to consist of scattered trees rather than a dense mass.  Many fruiting trees are this size, and so are some flowering trees.  Our understory includes redbud, crabapple, serviceberry, and cornelian cherry dogwood.  Here you can see the cornelian cherry dogwood, which is just starting to leave the "shrub" size and really enter the "small tree" size.


Shrub Layer:  Small to large bushes, shrubs, and other woody plants fill the next layer.  These may appear alone, or in thickets within a forest and especially along its edges.  Ours include lilac, honeysuckle, forsythia, and rose.  Technically the gooseberries and black raspberries belong to the shrub layer, as woody plants, although their size is more in keeping with the herb layer.  This is a gooseberry bush.


Vine Layer:  Many forests have vines that grow from the ground high up into the trees.  I've tried growing morning glories but they were not happy in the forest.  So right now, our forest garden doesn't have a vine layer.  Illinois does have some wild grape and other vines, but I haven't found anything that I really like well enough to plant here.

Herb Layer:  Not necessarily edible herbs, the "herb layer" actually refers to non-woody plants growing on the forest floor.  Here we have an assortment of grasses, daylilies, asparagus, and one trillium.  The daylilies have a big bed at one corner of the forest.


Ground Layer:  This layer is right at the surface of the forest floor.  It includes mosses, lichens, fungi, fallen branches, leaf litter, and other detritus.  The ground layer holds moisture and helps the forest to recycle nutrients.  Right now the patches of moss are thick and green due to all the rain we've been getting.


Root Layer:  Beneath the ground lie the plant roots and fungi webs.  Of course all the trees and other plants have their roots.  In a forest garden, though, the root layer usually refers to edible or otherwise useful roots that are harvested.  I don't have any of those.  Digging is hard for me, so I'm disinclined to plant things that will require a lot of work to harvest.  Some that appear in other forests include licorice, barberry, and sassafras.  I would actually love to have some sassafras, but haven't been able to find it at a reasonable price and refuse to pay premium price for a plant so common.