As Rosemary explains, land that is not ideally suited for a house can be the perfect location for a hemlock or two.
The rugged hemlock. (Courtesy: New Hampshire Natural Heritage Bureau)
My drive to Concord often takes me along a winding wooded road, shaded by tall trees. But I guess it’s not going to stay that way much longer, because pink flags denoting a forthcoming sub-divison have sprouted recently under “For Sale” signs. While I’m sad to see this unbroken forest succumb to suburbia, I also feel sorry for the people who might eventually live there. There’s a reason no one has built there before: just take a look at what’s growing: wall-to-wall hemlock.
Hemlocks are native evergreen trees that mostly grow on north-facing slopes, often with the accompanying thin soils and rocky terrain. They also like what soil scientists call “poorly drained” areas — again typically at the bottom of shady, mosquito-laden ravines. So I can’t imagine what it’d be like to live in a house in such a setting — except that it would have little sunlight — even if you cleared a lot of trees — and having a garden would be difficult. Unless you like growing mushrooms or mold.
There are, however, several wild things that do like hanging out in hemlocks. White-tailed deer, in particular, populate these conifer confines in winter. That’s because the hemlock’s dense evergreen branches keep the snow depth down, which makes it easier to move around. Many of our year-round birds also use hemlocks for winter cover. Being a long-lived tree, the many holes a hemlock develops as it ages also provides important places for many birds and mammals to nest and den.
So I guess you can live happily ever after in a hemlock forest — but it sure would help if you’re a porcupine or pine grosbeak.
