As part of a recent birthday celebration at the Botanical Art Garden (Barden), the father of the birthday girl, philosophy professor Alexander Englert, created a whimsical map of the Barden and used it as part of a scavenger hunt for the birthday party.
Sunday, August 28, 2022
A Scavenger Hunt in a Scavenged Garden
Friday, August 5, 2022
Sunday, Aug. 7: May's Barden Cafe and Native Plant Tour
Sunday, July 17, 2022
The Fruits and Flowers of Our Labors at the Barden
The Botanical ARt GarDEN at Herrontown Woods, nicknamed the Barden, is many things to many people. For kids, it's a place that stirs the imagination and rewards curiosity, with a fairy garden, a small frog pond, and winding pathways to explore. It's also a botanically rich setting where we socialize in the gazebo or explore the plantings that offer an introduction to native plants.
On a recent Friday, invited to a late afternoon repast in the gazebo with friends, I decided to photograph some of the flowers and fruits of our labors. Our volunteer work sessions on Sundays, starting around 10:30 and continuing into the afternoon, are a collaboration with nature that unleashes a wave of abundance, continuing through to fall. As we ate and talked, a monarch butterfly flew circles around us, segueing into fireflies later on. It was a magical evening. What follows are snapshots of what this wave of abundance looks like in mid-July.
It's fun to see a purple coneflower (actual) presenting itself in front of a photo of same, mounted on one of the cages that protects the many species of flowers surrounding the gazebo in the "Veblen Circle."Later in the evening, as fireflies began to emerge, an evening primrose presented a new array of flowers. These are "volunteer" wildflowers that pop up on their own.
This is the first year that a black cohosh has bloomed in the Barden. Such beautiful spires of white. More will be encountered along the trails of Herrontown Woods, up along the ridge.
A black chokeberry was donated some years back, and is now bearing, benefitted by the open canopy that lets sunlight into the Barden.
A newly discovered tasty treat is the berry of the blackhaw viburnum, the most common native shrub in Herrontown Woods. Haw means berry, and these berries turn black in the fall when ripe.
My parents made delicious elderberry jelly and elderberry pie when I was a kid. These turn purplish black when ripe. Catbirds usually win the race to harvest.
Wednesday, July 6, 2022
Among Trees II a Great Success
There was considerable suspense leading up to this year's Among Trees sequel. When the first date was rained out, actor and organizer Vivia Font had to cast a wider net for fellow actors and musicians who could make the alternate date of June 18.
The host, Friends of Herrontown Woods, was meanwhile grooming the grounds and trails, and summoning its full array of orphaned chairs to spread across the lawn.With Covid winding down, would an audience find the time and find its way to the outskirts of Princeton for a presentation of nature poetry and music?
The answer proved to be yes, as 100 people of all ages gathered for the second annual Among Trees. Vivia shared the stage with four other actors and five musicians who shared their gifts with a rapt audience.A Tale of Three Orchids
One way that we're able to help native plants prosper at Herrontown Woods is by growing some of them in the Botanical Art Garden (Barden for short). There they can get more sun than is available in deep forest, protection from deer, and more attention in general. For instance, springtime is when I start looking for green-fringed orchids popping up. It takes a sharp eye to distinguish them from the abundant grass and plantains. Each year they seem to pop up in a different spot.
They were first found growing near Veblen House, a short walk up the trail from the Barden, but this year, I found only one up there, and promptly surrounded it with a cage to keep the deer from eating it.Then, down in the Barden, I happened to look down and saw another, already in bloom. That one too got a cage to protect it not only from deer but also from people straying off the paths.
Tuesday, June 14, 2022
Among Trees Rescheduled for Saturday, June 18, 4pm
Parking at 452 Herrontown Road. Or park at the main parking lot at 600 Snowden Lane, across from the entrance to Smoyer Park, and walk up the orange trail to Veblen House.
Sunday, June 12, 2022
Event: "Among Trees" Postponed Due to Rain
The return of Among Trees to the Veblen House grounds has been postponed, due to thunderstorms in the forecast.
Last year's Among Trees brought together on stage for the first time professional actors Vivia Font, Ben Steinfeld, and Kathryn Powell Roman, who have since formed the Princeton Actors Collective.Friday, June 3, 2022
Recent Sightings at the Barden
One thing people love about the Barden is that there's always something new. In that respect, it is a dynamic landscape like a beach, or a river. Here are a few recent sightings.
Thanks to Montgomery resident Laura Heil, the Barden now has a Free Little Library, tucked behind the kiosk next to the parking lot. The Princeton Public Library will be providing books. The gazebo at the Barden is one of several structures at Herrontown Woods saved from demolition. It was moved from 145 Ewing Street, where for decades it had been part of a lovely backyard garden. We also salvaged a rose bush from that garden, and this year, reunited with the gazebo, it is blooming.Felix showed off some minnows he'd found in the stream that cascades down from the ridge, not far from the Barden. They soon found their way back to water. He's also found crayfish in the streams near the parking lot.
The Barden is a botanical garden after all, and spring is a wonderful time to get acquainted with all the grass-like plants that aren't grasses. Here's blue-eyed grass, also called Sisyrhinchium, which if you look closely you'll see it has flat leaves and is actually related to iris. Providing a subtle background is pathrush, which looks like grass but is a rush, most commonly found growing in pathways, where it apparently likes getting stepped on.
Another grass-like plant is the sedge. Sedges have edges, meaning they have triangular stems. There many kinds of sedges, each kind with a differently shaped seedhead. This one's called morning star sedge--a fitting name.
Softrush keeps its dark green leaves through the winter, then grows a whole new batch in the spring. The seeds perch on the stems like earrings.
New growth on a witch hazel had an unexpected color this year.
Little did we know that Herrontown Woods was listed as one of the Best Hikes for Children in New Jersey, in 2005. The book's description motivated a family to come from Long Beach Island to visit us with their three adorable little kids. What they particularly appreciated was how close everything was to the parking lot--the Barden, the vernal pool with tadpoles in it, and the stream just a little bit down the trail.
Tuesday, May 31, 2022
A Reading of Roxaboxen -- Saturday, June 4
At 10am on Saturday, June 4 at Herrontown Woods, a Princeton Public Library Youth Services librarian will read the timeless picture book "Roxaboxen" by Alice McLerran.
Thursday, May 5, 2022
1st Annual Earthday Celebration a Great Success
This elaborate display, put together by Philip and Joanna Poniz, introduced visitors to mushroom identification and lore. Princeton Public Library staff had a table on pollinators, to go with an exhibit they are hosting at the library. Other tables provided a chance to learn about invasive species, recycling, herbs and vinegars, and nature mandalas.
He, Georgette, and their four daughters seldom use a car, preferring to bike around town, towing their dog in a toddler trailer.
Plants like this sensitive fern were just opening up their leaves.
The evergreen Christmas fern was showing two generations of leaves. The darker leaves from last year lay flat on the ground, while fresh new leaves rise from the center.
The event wound down around 3pm. The next day, painted earths still hung from a tupelo tree in the Barden.