A Working Dossier · Compiled from the Record
One property, three zones, and the slow rebuilding of a Wisconsin woodland — every plant in the ground, every cutting taken, and the soil it all sits on.
01 · Foundation
Everything on this property traces back to one soil polygon. The dominant unit is Manawa silt loam, 1–3% slopes (MaA) — a somewhat poorly drained Aquollic Hapludalfs formed in reddish-brown glacial till, capped with a thin layer of silt. Read the soil first; it decides which zone a plant belongs in.
The lower layers are clayey, and runoff is slow. As a result, the nearly level areas are slow to dry in spring and water is likely to stand in ponds on them in spring or after a heavy rain. Soil Survey of Ozaukee County, p. 24
Heavy clay that waterlogs in spring then bakes in summer, leaning alkaline. That combination is why acid-loving, loose-soil plants (Jack-in-the-Pulpit, blueberry) want a container with controlled pH, and why the sun-loving prairie species belong anywhere but the shaded slope.
02 · Landscape Position
An MaA polygon almost always sits in the wet middle band of a three-zone slope sequence — the Kewaunee–Manawa–Poygan catena. The 1970 survey is precise: Kewaunee soils make up about 70 percent of the association; Manawa about 15 percent; Poygan about 5 percent. Match the plant to the band.
Well-drained till on the rises. Dry-foot soil. Oak, hickory, hazelnut, serviceberry, plum — and the sunny prairie crest.
Where you are. Water perches 1–3 ft down in spring; dries by summer. Tolerant-but-not-aquatic species, plus the shaded north-slope woodland layer.
Very poorly drained, near-surface water much of the year. Tamarack, swamp white oak, buttonbush, red-osier dogwood, willow.
03 · The Inventory
Everything below is confirmed planted or potted across the record — not shopped, not evaluated. Color of the card edge marks where it lives: green = shaded slope, gold = container, clay = sun / dry, blue = wet zone.
The rhizome-spreading soil binder — the structural base layer that knits the hill and crowds early-season niches against garlic mustard. Cultivar, but it does the job.
Slope · foundation layer
Understory anchor and the mid-storey between herbaceous layer and canopy. Self-fruitful — no second tree needed. Native hybrid-origin, toughest of the serviceberries on clay.
Slope · understory tree
Texture layer for the damp shade pockets. Clay's moisture retention works in its favor here — no amendments needed.
Slope · moist shade
Spring accent and hummingbird magnet. Handles the slope better than Jack-in-the-Pulpit; self-seeds into crevices.
Slope · spring accent
Sun-lover sited mid-to-upper hill; a watch-item in shade, but holds where it catches light at the crest.
Mid-upper hill
Mid-hill. The trickiest of the sun-lovers on a shaded slope — flag for legginess as the signal it wants more light.
Mid-hill · watch-item
At the sunny crest. Forgiving; the two color forms can be seed-crossed freely given yarrow's self-compatibility.
Crest · good sun
An 8-gallon pot is the clay/pH workaround. Wants consistently moist — never bone-dry, never standing water. Treat as an experiment, not a backbone plant.
Container · slope-adjacent
Full-to-part sun, well-drained. Kept separate from the slope's moisture and root competition. One dormant-season fungicide pass before bud break for plum pocket.
Front yard · sun
Bought for the slope, correctly relocated here. Full sun, sharp drainage — exactly its niche, and entirely separate from the shaded restoration.
Driveway · its own thing
Sited in the open middle yard for full sun, outside the dead boxelders' fall radius — the snags stay for wildlife.
Middle yard · full sun
| Plant | Notes |
|---|---|
| Swamp Milkweed Asclepias incarnata | Wetland/swamp zone; clumping, monarch host. |
| Butterfly Weed Asclepias tuberosa | Dry/upland, orange, drought-tolerant once established. |
| Great Blue Lobelia Lobelia siphilitica | Moist ground, late-season bloom. |
| Compass Plant Silphium laciniatum | Deep-rooted prairie; finch and pollinator draw. |
| Prairie Dock Silphium terebinthinaceum | Tall prairie Silphium, sun. |
| Foxglove Beardtongue Penstemon digitalis | Adaptable; clay-tolerant. |
| Creeping Jacob's Ladder Polemonium reptans | Shaded slope spring layer. |
| Plant | Role |
|---|---|
| Sedge (Carex) | Holding layer. |
| Golden Groundsel Packera aurea | Moist-edge groundcover, spring bloom. |
| Blue Flag Iris Iris versicolor | Wet zone native. |
| Willow | Wet-zone frame / living structure. |
| Elderberry Sambucus canadensis | Moist-soil shrub layer. |
| Clematis | Planted at the base of the mature pine. |
04 · The Propagation Bench
Material collected on your stick-days and from family property, taken for direct-stick or rooted propagation. (The neighbor's "Woods of Your Own" build is deliberately excluded here.)
| Species | Field note |
|---|---|
| Weeping Willow | Near-100% in wet/swamp soil; willow's own IBA + salicylic acid means hormone is optional. |
| Alder | Nitrogen-fixer, pioneer; improves soil for neighbors. Ideal for genuinely boggy ground. |
| Honey Locust | Drier transition zone; nitrogen-fixing. Thornless variety preferred. |
| Elder | Moderate moisture; berries safe for the dog, leaves/stems mildly cyanogenic. |
| White-bark Birch | Cuttings over seed — Wisconsin seed is notoriously unreliable; cuttings are how it's done. |
| Linden | 30–40% from softwood/hardwood cuttings with hormone + humidity. Soak the base 30–60 min first. |
| London Plane, Dawn Redwood, & others | Collected on park stick-runs. Dawn redwood prefers moist-but-drained over true swamp. |
| Native Sumac (Rhus) | The May stick-day cutting — staghorn or smooth, not poison sumac. |
Soak the bottom 1–2 in for 30–60 min · strip lower leaves · dip in IBA hormone · stick in moist (not wet) perlite or sand · humidity dome or bag · indirect light · 4–8 weeks. The humidity step roughly doubles success and is the cheapest upgrade you can make.
05 · The Numbers
Realistic success rates worked out for the harder species — hormone applied, stuck in appropriate medium, with humidity control. Higher figure assumes the full bag-and-perlite setup.
| Species | Hormone only | Hormone + humidity | Better path |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montmorency Cherry | 30–50% | 50–70% | Best bet. Needs well-drained — never swamp. |
| Crabapple | 25–40% | 40–60% | Softwood in June; hardware-store IBA is fine. |
| Tamarack | 15–25% | 25–40% | Layering beats cuttings dramatically. |
| Pear | 10–20% | 20–35% | Resists rooting — this is why pears are grafted. |
| Pine | 5–15% | 15–25% | Needs strong 0.8%+ IBA; seed is far easier. |
06 · Still Open
The slope's structural soil-binding layer is the live priority — the plants that actually hold the hill and suppress garlic mustard while the soil recovers.
The fibrous-mat companion to your geranium — shade-tolerant, soil-holding, garlic-mustard-suppressing. The single most important plant still missing. In stock at Johnson's (~$22.50/#1; $225 per 50-plug flat).
Slope · the next buy
| Layer | Candidates |
|---|---|
| North-slope ferns | Ostrich Fern (edible fiddleheads), Christmas Fern (winter erosion hold), Lady Fern. |
| Finch & monarch corridor | Late asters, goldenrods, Liatris ligulistylis. |
| Prairie matrix grass | Little Bluestem — clay-tolerant structure. |
| Edible native shrubs | American Hazelnut, native Viburnum, American Plum (have), American Hazelnut thickets. |
| Wet-edge accent | Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), buttonbush, red-osier dogwood. |
| Plant | Verdict |
|---|---|
| Maple-leaved Viburnum | Native; positive restoration sign (though prone to iron chlorosis on alkaline MaA). |
| Rough Avens | Native, moist woodland edge. |
| Broad-leaved Enchanter's Nightshade Circaea canadensis | Native; hooked fruit burrs relevant to the dog. |
| American Black Currant Ribes americanum | Native; keep separate from conifers (white pine blister rust). |
07 · Hold the Line
Evaluated and ruled out — either wrong for MaA, not Wisconsin native, or legally restricted. Worth keeping on the record so they don't sneak back into a cart.
| Plant | Reason |
|---|---|
| Swamp Chestnut Oak not WI | Southeastern US. Use chinkapin oak as the native analog. |
| White Mulberry restricted | Legally restricted invasive in Wisconsin. Red mulberry is the native — ID carefully. |
| White / Paper Birch climate | Climate-stressed in SE Wisconsin; use river birch instead. |
| Mapleleaf Viburnum (planted) | Native but gets iron chlorosis on alkaline MaA per UW Arboretum. |
| Aspen suckering | Aggressive suckering — incompatible with low-maintenance goals. |
| Corn Cleavers weed | European weed, not a planting species. |
| Black Walnut (on wet sites) | Juglone + wrong for wet soil. Selective toxicity, but not here. |
| Montmorency Cherry in swamp | Needs well-drained; standing water kills it via root rot. |
08 · Provenance
This dossier consolidates the working threads. The two canonical source files remain:
For the prairie/wetland batch, the record confirms purchase but not the final in-ground placement of every plant. Those cards are marked accordingly. Tell me which went in versus stayed potted and I'll lock the inventory down.