A Neighborhood Surprise

From studying Google Maps to locate parks we found a local business located five blocks away from where we lived.  The business was owned by Mariana and was called the Wildflower Plant Nursery Wildflower (wildflowernativeplants.com). Mariana offered landscape advice and sold native plants. We contacted her and asked if we could visit with our neighborhood group. She was delighted. 

The garden and nursery were located in Mariana’s one-fifth of an acre yard in Bethesda, Maryland.  She moved to her home 16 years ago. She had always loved gardening and she began to shape her garden -- a part sun, part shade garden with a sloping front garden with spots of sun in the back and a sunny front yard roadside bed. Several years into developing her garden, she focused on the importance of native plants and the many benefits to gardening with native plants; the most important is that they support biodiversity and improve the habitat around us.  

Her garden and nursery specialize in native plants that occur naturally in our eco-region. Most of the plants that she had for sale could be seen in her garden and provided an opportunity for us to become familiar with the plants, their growth habits, site requirements, as well as suitable companion plants. 

We had planned for the visit to be one hour. However, people were so interested and had so many questions that the walk around lecture lasted about 75 minutes.  In planning future field trips, we will encourage the speaker to ask people to save some of their questions until the end of the visit, so that the main presentation can be completed in an hour.

Since we are a group of older adults, there were a few safety issues identified during this visit. Although the garden was beautifully planted, there were steps and flagstone pavers that created uneven ground in some spots. Attendees gave a hand to those who were not completely steady.  Also, standing for more than one hour was a long time for some.  Consideration will be given to having more chairs available at future visits. We also wanted the speaker to use a small portable microphone that we brought along. She was uncomfortable using it and said she would speak loudly.  On future walks we will ask speakers to use a microphone. 

At the end of the visit we had an opportunity to sit in the garden and visit with friends, purchase plants and drink lemonade. People enjoyed the beautiful day.

Looking For Birds At Locust Grove Nature Center

BHV is very fortunate to have wonderful local government resources nearby. The County-run Locust Grove Nature Center is less than a 10-minute drive from our homes, but it is a natural sanctuary from the surrounding urban bustle. It is a small center but offers many programs including Native Plant Educational programs, some toddler nature programs, nature walks and bird watching.  We went there to participate in Project FeederWatch, a November-April survey of birds that visit backyards, nature centers, community areas and other locales in North America.  

The nature center had a viewing deck with 7 large bird feeders. The naturalist gave us some tips on how to identify birds. We looked for  a few minutes and didn’t see anything and then the birds seemed to adjust to us and came to the feeders. We saw lots of nuthatches, Downy woodpeckers and mourning doves.  We got great tips on how to identify bird songs, bird food and squirrel proofing feeders. 

Our bird count information was sent to Cornell University and allowed us  to contribute to a continental data-set of bird distribution and abundance. One of the participants said “Thank you for today. Had a wonderful time learning something new.”

Our Giant Neighbor– The National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) campus is more than 200 acres and is located less than 5 blocks away from where we live.  For many years NIH has been gated and to go on campus involves going through several levels of security.  BHV was able to arrange a tour for October 6, 2023 of  parts of the NIH campus. The focus of the tour was to show us how thoughtful landscaping techniques help to further sustainability. Our guide was Connor, the institution's landscape architect.  

Over the past 50 years, the campus has been intensively developed, but a woodland stream and quiet glens still make visitors feel far from the hubbub of the modern day. By 2003, the stream was breaking down under increased pressure from development, more intense rainstorms and erosion. To address this there was a restoration effort that included widening the stream bed, adding massive boulders to the banks, creating spillways to slow down the water flow and instituting "No Mow" buffer zones that allowed trees and brush to grow along the banks instead of a high-maintenance lawn. Regarding the stream itself, Connor noted that more than 90 percent of the stormwater that falls on campus ends up in the sediment trap of the stream. The water drops first into an upper pool of the spillway, and then to a lower pool, where vast quantities of sediment and trash are allowed either to settle or to rise to the surface. Eventually, the cleaned water re-enters the stream. The clean stream continues to the corner of campus flowing finally into the Potomac and the Chesapeake Bay. 

As we walked, Connor spoke about the surrounding woodland environment. Currently the NIH campus is estimated to have 8,000 trees. In 2010, a tree census was taken, during which all trees with a certain trunk caliper were identified, measured, and tagged, and their data points were entered into a database that has proved to be extremely helpful to today's stewards. In all, 5 percent of the campus is covered in trees; the goal is to raise that coverage to 10 percent by 2030. Currently, NIH plants about 125 new trees per year, focusing on a diversity of species. 

To end the tour, Connor introduced us to two volunteers from the Montgomery County Master Gardener program who maintain the National Library of Medicine Herb Garden. The garden was started in 1976 with three plants: thyme, boxwood, and lavender. Now, its 100 or so plant varieties are chosen for their healing qualities. 

This was a wonderful tour and everyone was thrilled with all the new information they had absorbed together.