Among the chaos of the busy plant nursery spring season, a well-awaited status update on my flagship reforestation project is long overdue. Honestly, I did not anticipate any expansion or new plantings, due to more priority being placed on growth of my still-infant plant nursery business this spring. I only planned on the maintenance and monitoring of plants I already had in the ground.

Plans often do not unfold as anticipated, and luckily in this case, the surprise was a positive one.

*A Black Swallowtail butterfly spotted only a couple yards outside the reforestation project*

Fourteen trees and shrubs were planted this spring into their new home at New Leaf Forest, with those being made up of 12 different native tree and shrub species (diversity is a big deal on this project!). Additionally, 9 of these 12 species are native species that have not yet been planted on this project, bringing the total number of native tree & shrub species planted on this project to 25 so far.

So far, 8 of the planted tree & shrub species on this project are Keystone Species (according to this list from Homegrownnationalpark.org).

On the main section of the reforestation project (which I sometimes call “The Dump”) my progress was slower, only planting a Black Cherry (Prunus serotina), an Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus), a Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum), and an Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis) so far. This was due to the heightened time requirement to remove trash and debris from the site before anything can be planted, and due to my focus being relocated to the other parts of the project discussed below.

*The most popular tree on the project so far, Eastern White Pine*

While not technically part of the New Leaf Project, many other native plants were also planted by me this spring, just mere yards from the project on other parts of the property.

A Common Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) was planted in a small wet depression right next to where I keep my potted plants for the nursery business, along with a couple of Red-Twig Dogwood cuttings (Cornus sericea) that did not survive.

Under what I like to call “The One Tree Forest”, a small overgrown corner of my childhood backyard consisting of a massive multi-trunk Basswood tree (Tilia americana) with numerous saplings growing under its dominating canopy, more work was done this spring. I removed some invasive White Mulberry trees growing here, and reintroduced some Toadshade (Trillium sessile) and native Gooseberry (Ribes hirtellum) under the canopy. Along the sunnier southern edge of the One Tree Forest, I put in a couple Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) for evergreen winter color, and a Red Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis).

Miyawaki method section extended

Before you spend too much time confused as to what the title above means, I should probably point out that I never elaborated on this small section of the overall New Leaf Forest project. This section and reforestation subject deserves a blog post in its own right, but the synopsis is that I devoted a small area on the site to experiment with an ingenious reforestation technique that is making rounds on the internet and spreading in popularity around the world.

*Native Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) spreading throughout the project on its own. These were identified by their miniature front leaf tooths and their fuzzy stalks.*

The Miyawaki afforestation method was invented by and named after a Japanese botanist who discovered a method of greatly accelerating the growth of newly-planted forest projects. The foundational tenets of this method are the use of native (especially locally-sourced) plants, soil optimization, plant species diversity, and dense plantings. The ultimate goal is for the native plants, planted very close to each other, to enter a heightened state of competition with each other, which ultimately results in the acceleration of their growth rate. Around the world it seems that Miyawaki Forests, as these projects are called, tend to occur on very small tracts of land often integrated into dense urban or suburban areas. These Miyawaki projects happening around the world are often summarized as rapidly-growing micro-forests, but the method can be implemented on any size of land.

The Miyawaki section of New Leaf Forest was actually the first part of the project I planned and worked on, going back to the spring of 2022. Once consisting of a small space about the size of 3 or 4 parking spaces, this spring I have just extended this section by about 33%, now resulting in a triangular-shaped microforest that so far has 23 different species of native trees & shrubs.

*Yesterday’s forgotten fence project is today’s mulch. The old cedar picket pile moved to make way for new plantings*

*Fast-growing native Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) planted at the extension site.*

The new extension lies on what used to be a pile of cedar picket boards for a privacy fence that I never made, after I was gifted them 10 years ago when I was working at a fence-installing company. The pickets, now half-rotten, were moved and piled over on the edge of the main reforestation project section, to serve as a large compost pile that will harbor wildlife and enrich the soil for years to come. The fortunate result of this pile resting here for a decade was a big bare stretch of land devoid of weeds that used to be covered by the cedar pile. I made quick work of densely planting native trees & shrubs where this pile used to be, fully reforesting it with 8 different species of native woody plants, with all but 1 being new species not yet planted on the Miyawaki project.

Meadow section at new leaf forest

*Sand Coreopsis starting to bloom less than a month after being planted*

Lastly, here’s a project update that probably deserves its own post also. I’ve added a little “micro-meadow” to the reforestation project! Maybe it will expand, and I will designate it as the not-so-original name “New Leaf Meadow”, but we’ll see what happens. More to be explained later, but I made this addition to the project due to the desire to include more native full-sun perennials that won’t fit into a forest project, and for the calling to support a higher and more diverse population of native pollinators by constructing a small midwestern prairie environment. Like the Miyawaki section discussed above, this meadow (so far) is a small section, only being equivalent to a few parking spaces in size.

*Highbush Blueberry in bloom. A chickenwire cage was installed to protect it against hungry rabbits and groundhogs.*

So far, it’s been challenging fighting against the already well-established sea of invasive grasses, clovers, and thistles in an effort to establish native prairie plants. It’s gotten to the point where I’m even tempted to transplant in the native but notorious species such as Ragweeds, Horseweed, and Pokeweed, since at least native wildlife populations will expand due to them. I started by hacking away at patches of ground in the early spring/late winter to till away the roots of the invasive plants, where I then sowed various native forb seeds. As of writing this post, the most prolific of these seed starts has been the Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta). I also planted two Highbush Blueberry shrubs (Vaccinium corymbosum) close to each other on the site, hoping they will tolerate the moderately clay soil.

Beyond the seed sowing of perennials, I also planted a handful of plug-sized perennial plants into the meadow this spring. These include Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa), Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), Sand Coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata), Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans), Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum), and Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginiana).

This week I also transplanted in a number of popular Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) into a patch on the northern edge of the meadow. All of these Common Milkweed were dug up by me from only a few dozen yards away, in an area of land at risk of being trampled by farm equipment or chopped up by a brush hog mower. These were the same Milkweeds that I discovered a Monarch Butterfly caterpillar on last year, so it’s deeply satisfying knowing they have a new home inside a protected sanctuary. Notorious for being difficult to transplant, almost all of the many Common Milkweeds I transplanted were drooping over in deep shock for the first day or so after planting, but I’m thrilled to announce that almost all are upright and alive after a couple days!

*Common Milkweed recovering from transplant shock after being relocated to the project*

more to come

That’s a wrap for my big Spring 2025 update! There’s a lot more that I can go into detail about, and I plan to do some separate in-depth posts discussing the discoveries, victories, and failures of these unique sections of the New Leaf Forest project. Stay in the loop by checking in here at the website or at New Leaf Nursery’s Social Media accounts below!

Sean Nunemaker with New Leaf Nursery

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