A Spring Walk Around Pandapas Pond

 Pandapas Pond is a lovely "day-use" area near Blacksburg, VA located in the mountains within Jefferson National Forest. The pond itself covers about 8 acres. An easy-access trail goes around it. Other trails nearby provide opportunities for hiking, mountain biking and horse-back riding. I like to visit a few times each year to enjoy whatever plants catch my eye. My most recent stroll around the pond revealed these little delights.

Alliaria petiolata

Alliaria petiolata is also known as Garlic mustard, Poor man's mustard, and Sauce-alone. It's native to much of Europe and Asia, and has become well-established throughout most of the Eastern United States, parts of the Mid-West and Northwest. As you might expect, it's in the mustard family and it smells like garlic, so it has been used for culinary purposes for centuries. I've never eaten it myself, but think I'll try some next time I get a chance. It's so widespread, I'm sure no one will much care if you harvest some along the highways and byways. Be sure to give it a good wash before cooking.

Anemone quinquefolia

Wood Anemone (Anemone quinquefolia) is a delightful little thing, as all spring flowers are. It's not particularly showy, but I love seeing it peek through the leaf litter. It has been used as an application to stimulate the skin in cases of rheumatism and gout, and its juice has been used to remove warts and corns. It's acrid and will give you a mighty tummy ache if ingested.

Antennaria plantagifinifolia

Its name is bigger than the plant itself. Antennaria is derived from the appearance of the male flowers to insect antennae. Common names include Pussytoes and Woman's Tobacco. The rounded, club-like flowers together do remind one of a cat's foot. I've wondered about the other name, Woman's Tobacco. The little leaves seem to be too small to bother smoking, but another species - Antennaria dioica - has been used to relieve lung disorders, so that might be the association. You'll find it growing in dry, rocky soil in full sun.

Arctium minus

Arctium minus - Common Burdock or Lesser Burdock - is related to a Chinese species that is well-known for its medicinal properties. Most notably, it is detoxifying. This one has similar uses. It's said to be good for just about everything imaginable - antibacterial, antifungal, relieves gas, cures skin diseases, relieves burns and bruises, ringworms and insect bites. As with any herbal remedies, caution is advised. I've known of the leaves being eaten as cooked greens and the roots being brewed as a coffee substitute. But in my opinion, there is no substitute for real coffee.

Chimaphila maculata

Call it Spotted Pipsissewa, Spotted Wintergreen or Striped Wintergreen. I did not take this photo during my recent visit, but included it so you can see the flowers. It blooms later in summer. The plant also has multiple uses in the herbalist's medicine cabinet. It's said to reduce pain, combat bacteria, be styptic, increase perspiration, cleanse the kidneys, reduce fever, stimulate the skin, stimulate the metabolism and generally improve health. When I was a child, my dad always pointed it out to me, "That's for the kidneys." Some folks like to chew the fresh leaves for their fresh, wintergreen flavor.

Gaultheria procumbens

This is honest-to-goodness Wintergreen. Crush the leaves and sniff them. Hmmm. Good! My children and grandchildren are treated to a whiff every time I get the chance. (Someone should invent a "scratch and sniff" app.) The chemical methyl salicylate has the property of aspirin, so provides pain relief. Of course, there have been many other medicinal uses. I'll never forget the time my college roommate and I collected leaves, brewed them into a tea and enjoyed several cups. Then I read that copious amounts could cause vomiting, liver or kidney damage. Oops!

Goodyera pubescens

Also known as Rattlesnake Plantain, Goodyera is a delightful little orchid. Tea made from the roots is supposed to be a treatment for snakebites. In case of emergency, I'd call 9-1-1, instead. But I suppose if you were a pioneer of yesteryear, you'd rush home and brew up a few cups...if you made it back in time. The tea is also supposed to be analgesic, treat colds and kidney ailments.

Polygaloides paucifolia

It looks like an orchid, but it's not. Also known as Gaywings and Flowering Wintergreen. This is a nice little surprise to come upon among leaf litter in hardwood forests. 

Stellaria pubera

Star Chickweed is its common name. You can't miss it. This little perennial in the carnation family is in bloom almost year-around.  It's found throughout the eastern U.S. from Vermont to Florida, and even into Wisconsin. I don't know that it's useful for anything other than a subject for photography. I like it.

Tussilago farfara

Also known as Coltsfoot. See the leaf? It has been widely used in herbal medicine, especially for pulmonary problems, but can have toxic effects on the liver if ingested. My dad pointed it out whenever we chanced upon it. You'll find it in ditches and damp soil in the eastern half of the continent from Canada to Virginia and Tennessee.

Viola pedata

Viola sororia

Finally, there are the violets. V. sororia is the most common. You'll find it in moist soil, in partial shade to full sun. You might find it even in your lawn. Leaves and flowers can be eaten raw or cooked.

V. pedata - Bird's foot violet - is my favorite, by far. You'll find it in dry, rocky soil. I found it this time in the company of the Antennaria mentioned above. It has been used as a poultice applied to the brow for headaches. You can cook the young leaves, and candy the flowers.

In "the language of flowers", violets are symbols of modest admiration. If you receive a bouquet of violets, you're invited to take a chance on love.

I must note that all mention above of medicinal use is given as information in a historical context. It is not an invitation for you to treat yourself. All medicinal uses should be taken by direction of a physician. 

Well, those are the highlights of my little April stroll around Pandapas Pond. If you're in the area, be sure to visit. 

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The Peggy Lee Hahn Horticulture Garden

Pergola at Peggy Lee Hahn Horticulture Garden

The Peggy Lee Hahn Horticulture Garden covers almost six acres of plant displays on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. It was established in 1984 by faculty members of the Horticulture department to serve as a resource for plant, landscaping and environmental education.

The garden featuring perennial borders, aquatic gardens, shade gardens, a native meadow, and a pavilion was named in 2004 after benefactors T. Marshall and Peggy Lee Hahn (1923-2009). T. Marshall Hahn (1926-2016) was president of Virginia Tech from 1962 to 1974.

Ms. Hahn is dearly remembered in her obituary. “During her marriage to Dr. Hahn, she was a successful and much loved First Lady throughout his presidency at Virginia Tech from 1962 to 1975. Her love of flowers and gardening is legendary, evidenced by her determination to see the Peggy Lee Hahn Horticulture Gardens and Pavilion at Virginia Tech brought to fruition. The embodiment of a gracious lady and consummate hostess, she spent many years at her husband's side while he served as President and CEO of Georgia Pacific in Portland, Ore., and Atlanta, Ga. After retirement, they enjoyed traveling around the world, but ultimately returned to Blacksburg and Hickory Hill, which she often referred to as ‘the most beautiful place on earth’ where her greatest joys were tending her gardens and spending time with her family.”

The Hahn Horticulture Garden is set in the magnificent campus of Virginia Tech. In my opinion, the real beauty of the campus is due to the Hokie Stone, a local limestone that forms the facades of most VT buildings. To ensure a ready supply, the university has owned and operated its own quarry nearby since 1869.

Visitors can reach the Hahn Horticulture Garden without difficulty, with the possible exception being “game days”. Any season is a good season to stroll the garden.

Follow me to see what grows behind that garden wall.

Peggy Lee Hahn Horticulture Garden terrace

View of Peggy Lee Hahn Horticulture Garden

Fall foliage at Peggy Lee Hahn Horticulture Garden

Carex at Peggy Lee Hahn Horticulture Garden

Winterberry Holly at Hahn Horticulture Garden

Lawn view at Hahn Horticulture Garden

Junipers at Hahn Horticulture Garden

Cow sculpture at Hahn Horticulture Garden

Oakleaf Hydrangea at Hahn Horticulture Garden

Rain Garden at Hahn Horticulture Garden

Memorial stone collection - Hahn Horticulture Garden

Water feature - Hahn Horticulture Garden

Fish sculpture at Hahn Horticulture Garden

Ajuga 'Black Scallop' - Hahn Horticulture Garden

Ornamental grasses - Hahn Horticulture Garden

Arum italicum - Hahn Horticulture Garden

Insect sculpture - Hahn Horticulture Garden

Frank Lloyd Wright sculpture - Hahn Garden

Lamiastrum - Hahn Horticulture Garden

Cupressus nootkatensis - Hahn Horticulture Garden

Conifer collection - Hahn Horticulture Garden

Trifoliate Orange tree - Hahn Horticulture Garden

Euphorbia - Hahn Horticulture Garden

Euphorbia myrsinites - Hahn Horticulture Garden

Have you visited the Peggy Lee Hahn Horticulture Garden in Blacksburg, VA? We'd love to hear of your experience. Leave a comment, please.

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The Norfolk Botanical Garden - Freedom, Imagination, Dreams and Flights Of Fancy

Norfolk Botanical Garden - Mermaid

 

 

 

Just beyond a rise at the edge of the Norfolk Botanical Garden, planes begin and end their flights at the Norfolk International Airport. The jets and noise may seem like intrusions on garden tranquility. They are sometimes, sadly. But both are symbols of freedom, imagination, dreams, flights of fancy.  

An improbable idea for a civic garden came from Frederic Heutte, a young plantsman. Heutte loved azaleas, and he observed that tidewater Virginia was almost as clement as the South Carolina lowcountry. Perfect for azaleas. This was during the Great Depression. Though I don't know for sure, I think Frederic perceived success if an azalea garden could be promoted as a tourist attraction. Charleston, SC drew thousands of tourists every year, even when money was short. He told his dream to Thomas P. Thompson, Norfolk City Manager. Thompson agreed. They applied to the city of Norfolk. The city complied, giving them about 150 acres to work with.

The project needed money and labor. The "good-ole-boy" network got things started. (I don't mean that in a perjorative sense.) Summer of 1938, U.S. Congressman Norman R. Hamilton announced a Works Progress Administration (WPA) grant of $76, 278 for the garden project. The WPA in Virginia employed lots of people, unskilled and skilled, at taxpayer expense for all kinds of projects. It worked wonders for awhile.

The administrators hired over 200 African-Americans, mostly women, to prepare the site. They "carried the equivalent of 150 truck loads of dirt by hand to build a levee for the lake. The laborers were paid twenty-five cents an hour for their hard work," equivalent of about $3.00 per hour now. Probably more than I make most days as a small-business owner.

By spring of 1939, "four thousand azaleas, two thousand rhododendrons, several thousand miscellaneous shrubs and trees and one hundred bushels of daffodils had been planted."

Success breeds success. "In August of 1939, Representative Colgate W. Darden Jr. secured an additional $138, 553 for the Azalea Garden, and the founding of the Old Dominion Horticultural Society provided volunteer labor to assist the Garden. By 1941 the Garden displayed nearly five thousand azaleas, and seventy-five landscaped acres that were encompassed by five miles of walking trails."

The city got behind it in a bigger way and renamed the Azalea Garden the Norfolk Municipal Gardens. For political and economic reasons, the city promoted the gardens as the site for the International Azalea Festival.

The Norfolk Municipal Gardens was renamed Norfolk Botanical Garden after the Old Dominion Horticultural Society took over its maintenance. The stated mission was to "promote for the people of Tidewater, Virginia, a Garden that will always remain an inspiration, and lead the home gardener to greater enjoyment and accomplishment in his own yard", and more.

Other improvements have been made. Waterways, which always appeal to me, have been constructed. Boats ply them to provide visitors placid viewing experiences.

There are theme gardens: Japanese, American Colonial, Rose, Statuary, Butterfly, Native Plant, the WOW garden for children. Professional and amateur gardeners should make a point of visiting the All-America Selections Garden, where new plants with exciting potential are on display.

Visitors can tour the Norfolk Botanical Garden by foot, boat or tram. In March, we toured on foot with a garden map in hand. We like walking because we have freedom to roam, can stop when we want, look at different angles, inspect plants closely, take pictures, sit and wait, scratch and sniff.

Gardens and art are essentially the same. I think gardens are the epitome, for they are sculptures we can enter to involve all our senses. The flying mermaid sculpture and an exhibit of paintings were the perfect segue to what we found behind the garden wall.

At the end of an ample plaza we found a pergola flanked by Edgworthia chrysantha and draped with Gelsemium sempervirens. It was our first chance to enjoy a fragrant view overlooking the boat basin to the Sarah Lee Baker Perennial Garden beyond.

Japanese gardens quietly invite visitors to enter, so we did. Stone, water, thoughtfully trimmed plants and a Japanese garden bell enhanced the tranquility of the moment and subdued any disturbance from the airport beyond.

The Sarah Lee Baker Perennial Garden features a dramatic limestone fountain and terraced canals. Over 200 varieties of perennials and bulbs paint the landscape with seasonal splashes of color. The backdrop of Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Filifera Aurea' and Magnolia x soulangeana was spectacular. This perennial garden is a fitting tribute to one of Norfolk's most important patrons. Mrs. Baker's influence is palpable. Sarah Lee Baker (1910-2002) was the wife of prominent businessman Isaac Mitchell Baker of Norfolk.

As we strolled to the Renaissance Court, we noticed photographers with some serious equipment trained on nearby pines. They said bald eagles were nesting in the garden. Our approach to the Court was cordoned off to protect the raptors from intrusion.

In 2003, a pair of bald eagles decided the high pines soaring above would be a fine place to begin a family. Since then the eagles have become quite an attraction. An "Eagle Cam" provided visitors around the world views of the eyrie via the internet. Views are also possible from the NATO Tower and the Renaissance Court.

The female eagle was killed, tragically, in 2011 when she collided with an airplane while hunting food for her three fledglings. The young were removed to a wildlife center until they could be released to the wild that summer. An impressive sculpture of an eagle in flight and a plaque commemorates her life.

Apparently her mate began a new romance for the nest was home to eaglets once again in spring 2012. The nesting season lasts from December through July.

Near the Renaissance Court along the Camellia Allee, we came upon a delightful bronze sculpture of graceful dancers by Mario Korbel. They seemed to float above a marble base inscribed with a flight of fancy by Arther Morris of Norfolk.

There Are

So Many Gods

So Many Creeds

So Many Paths

That Wind And Wind

When

Just The Art Of Being Kind

Is All This Sad World Needs

Arther Morris was the father of noted sculptor Virginia Morris Pollak.

Korbel's sculpture was removed from the garden for awhile for restoration, which is complete. Since the camellias were in bloom, someone thoughtfully dressed them with a few blossoms. A smaller version of the sculpture may be seen at the Cooper Gallery, Lewisburg, WV.

Behind the Renaissance Court, a statuary garden leads to a view of Lake Whitehurst. Stony attendants include Phidias, Rubens, Canova, Durer, Thomas Crawford, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Murillo, Raphael and Rembrandt.

The Norfolk Botanical Garden was rich with pleasant spring scenes and blazing floral displays. I was particularly impressed by an imaginative espaliered cordon.

Gardeners who anticipate new plant releases will appreciate that the Norfolk Botanical Garden is an official All-America Selections Display Garden. The mission of All-America Selections is "to promote new garden varieties with superior garden performance judged in impartial trials in North America." The AAS tests plants at gardens nationwide. Superior selections are named AAS Winners. At AAS Display Gardens, visitors can see plant selections up close and visualize how they might use them in their home landscapes.

It seems that every botanical garden nowadays has a children's garden. If not, they should. Children's gardens are fun and educational, introducing young ones to nature, science, art, freedom to explore and the joy of growing. Norfolk's World Of Wonders is especially well-conceived. The sculpted caterpillar arbor was fun. A passing grown-up jogger couldn't resist going through it back and forth.

There is more to enjoy than one can take in on a single day, or even in a single season. You really need to visit often. The best way to do that is to become a Garden Member. For a reasonable fee you get free admission, which makes it easy to drop in on a whim, and lots of other perks such as discounts, a subscription to Norfolk's garden magazine, and borrowing privileges at the Huette Horticultural Library.

The Norfolk Botanical Garden is a member of the American Horticulture Society Reciprocal Admissions Program. So with your membership at Norfolk, you get free or discounted admission to over 230 other member gardens in the U.S. for as long as your membership is current. You can't beat that.

Become a member of the Norfolk Botanical Garden, visit often, learn, enjoy, imagine, dream, let your spirit soar. Maybe I'll see you there.

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Norfolk Botanical Garden canal in spring.

The Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

The ornate terra cotta roof of the Main Street Railroad Station rising above a concrete flyover hints to hurried travelers on I-95 in Richmond, VA that there is something grand beneath the city's industrial surface. In fact, it was industry, capital and private benevolence that funded Richmond's grandeur. From the rubble of the Civil War, the city emerged as an economic dynamo. You might say Richmond was smoking...literally, for it became an important home to the tobacco industry. Lewis Ginter was one of its leading citizens. For his business acumen and his part in developing a cigarette-rolling machine, Ginter became very wealthy, and he used his wealth to advance learning and culture.

Ginter's wealth, influence and sense of philanthropy was shared among other members of his family, most notably with his niece, Grace Arents. Grace, heiress to Ginter's fortune, contributed generously to charitable organizations, and was also involved in "hands-on" benevolence.  Eventually, Arents' liberality provided a fitting memorial to her uncle in the form of a wonderful botanical garden for the benefit of the public.

As with the roof of the Main Street station, the entrance to the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden only hints at the beauty beyond. Upon entering the garden from the Visitors Center, the signature Conservatory is viewed beyond three delightful garden rooms. With a map in hand and the conservatory as a destination, we come first to the Four Seasons Garden, which is planted for year-round seasonal interest. Just beyond, the Healing Garden features plants with medicinal properties. Before ascending the hill to the Conservatory, the Sunken Garden provides a water feature and a place for private reflection.

The Conservatory is "the jewel of the garden", its 63 foot tall dome and translucent panes sparkling in the sunlight. In it is housed an extensive orchid collection, palms and seasonal floral displays.

Down the hill toward the lake, the Rose Garden features a vast selection chosen for disease resistance, fragrance and extended bloom period. A visit in summer should be delightful.

We who enjoy asian theme gardens will not be disappointed. Our visit in spring found the Prunus and Magnolia trees to be in full bloom. On the other hand, the season was not the best for enjoying the West Island Garden, which features carnivorous plants.

Perennial plant enthusiasts will be thrilled with the Flagler Perennial Garden, Woodland Walk, Arents Victorian Garden, the Lace House Garden with hand-carved gazebo, and the Wildside Walk. Grace Arents Bloemendaal House, set among these gardens is typical of its day.

The Children's Garden, Conifer Garden and wildflower meadow will captivate young and old alike. The view across the lake from the Lucy Payne Minor Gazebo is not to be missed.

If you're journeying through Richmond, the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is not far from I-95. We've passed the signs many, many times, always feeling rushed and thinking that we simply couldn't spare an hour or two. But a visit to the Garden is just what a hurried traveler needs.

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