Create a Nature Trail on Your Property
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By Michael Brown – Growing up, I frequently hung out at a friend’s house down the block. They lived on a typical quarter-acre suburban lot. While most of the neighbors focused on immaculate lawns and perfect specimen trees, this neighbor decided to do something else. In his backyard, where he’d planted a number of trees and shrubs, he planned a small walking trail — not more than a five-minute walk. I still remember walking that small trail and the wonder of the constantly changing world before me.
You, too, can create a nature trail for yourself, your children, or your grandchildren. You don’t need a lot of acreage, just a desire to go a bit outside the norms of suburbia’s perfect lawn and tree fascination.
To start, take a good look at the area you want to use for your trail. Are there any prominent features you want to highlight? What’s a good start and end point? Lay out the course with some string or twine so you can more easily picture the path. I found it useful to put down a layer of wood chips along the proposed path. This has the benefit of keeping down weeds (or smothering grass) and giving a clean walking surface after a rain.
Now comes the fun part — creating your own magical space! Use all your senses. Make your trail a full sensory experience with taste, touch, smell, sight, and even sound.
Touch
The opportunities for adding this to your trail are extensive, from different types of bark, “slimy” mushrooms, to soft new growth of ferns. Don’t forget inanimate objects, such as smooth rocks, perhaps with scratchy lichen, crumpled dead leaves, and soft pine needles.
Taste
Walking your nature trail can also be an exercise in healthy and interesting eating. However, always emphasize to children that they should only eat from plants along the nature trail that an adult has told them are safe to eat or come up with some kind of sign indicating the plant has edible parts. Of course, remove all poisonous look-alikes from the area. Conveniently create your nature trail close to edible plants or add them at suitable locations. For the most authentic experience, focus on native species. Many of these plants produce flowers and food that are attractive to pollinators, birds, and other wildlife, and, therefore, add an additional item of interest to the trail.
Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) — A beautiful understory tree that does well in full sun or partial shade, growing about 15 to 20 feet tall. You’ll need to plant two pawpaws so they can cross-pollinate to produce fruit that will ripen in late summer into fall.
Serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea) — These large shrubs or small trees grow well in partial shade or full sun and produce tasty berries that are also attractive to birds. Plant either Amelanchier laevis or A. canadensis.
Lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) — A low-growing bush with tasty berries and good fall foliage. Does well in sun or partial shade but needs acidic soil to thrive. It benefits from cross-pollination with additional plants for maximum berry production.
Wild plum (Prunus americana) — These small trees produce an abundant crop of little plums that can be eaten fresh but are at their best when made into jam. They also offer a stunning display of white flowers in spring. Unlike cultivated plums, they don’t suffer from many diseases. Two or more trees need to be planted for fruit production.
Smell
Most parts of the trail will require some active intervention to experience the fragrances around them. Bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica), spicebush (Lindera benzoin), and bee balm (Monarda didyma) are all native species with very fragrant leaves. Enjoy the fragrance by picking a leaf and crumbling it in your hand.
Sight
When you create a nature trail, you should consider that there should always be something new to see. With a little bit of planning, this shouldn’t be hard to do.
Ephemerals — These are plants that emerge early in spring to take advantage of sunlight before deciduous trees’ leaves fully develop. They do well in partial and even moderate shade. By mid- summer, they disappear, ready to emerge again the following season. Some plants to consider are: Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica), mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum), and Dutchman’s Breeches (Dicentra cucularilla).
Flowering perennials — Plant native flowering perennials throughout the trail so you always have some color. For flowering plants, consider fringed bleeding heart (Dicentra eximia), Eastern red columbine (Aquilegia canadensis), coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), and bee balm (Monarda didyma). In addition to these, many of the fruiting shrubs and trees have impressive displays of flowers.
Fall foliage — Most of us are familiar with the maple (sugar or red) and oak (pin, red, scarlet) trees that showcase beautiful fall colors. However, these are all large trees, and you can fit only so many along a nature trail. Consider also some of the smaller perennial natives, such as Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica), which also has showy flowers in spring, and winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata). Winterberry holly plants are either male or female. The female trees produce beautiful red berries that hang on the branches throughout much of the winter, adding vibrant color to an otherwise drab winter landscape.
If you have enough space, play with light intensity also as a visual, allowing the participant to traverse heavy shade, as well as open sunlit areas.
Sound
The audio component of your nature path will encompass the wildlife that calls this area home. Encourage a variety of birds by planting food they need, as well as shelter from predators and the elements.
Lastly, give your nature trail a chance to grow and develop. Plants that seem small when you plant them might eventually grow to a substantial size. Stagger your plantings over a period of a few years. As you get to know the trail and understand the seasonal changes, you’ll be able to add new plants.
Originally published in the May/June 2026 issue of Countryside and Small Stock Journal and regularly vetted for accuracy.
