Author: Otilia Lopez-Martinez

On March 10, it was sunny and a beautiful day to walk with your friends or family, but what’s even more beautiful is having a good time, discover more species and plants that bloom out toward the sun, and Spring season is here. As I walk on the pathway it felt so good to walk again not like the last time when it was cold and I felt really sick mainly my headache worse, but hey from the past, and good to start my first blog. As I mention walking through the pathway, there is a different specific area of the pathway or trail whatever you call it like the pathways are used to allow the visitors access and help protect plants the selection from stepping. The reason that because plants are sensitive and delicate. But enough about pathway which I’ll talk about it at another time. Nevertheless, Spring season is here already which I love and flowers started to bloom out beautiful, colorful, and good smell too, the species of animals started to come out as well fewer. As I kept walking looking around anything that surprised or interest me to see plants or animals, but in my mind when I think of the word “Spring” means is a time of renascence, revival, and enlightenment. The spring season is one of the majority wonderful seasons in humankind. This time of year, it’s a great opportunity to enjoy nature’s beauty and experience its rich diversity. As I walk I can hear the mini waterfall sounds like it went swoosh-plunk and hiss plop even with a force that moves fast at the stream. As I sat down on the branch I can hear a bird sound like a cheep note on a tree, so I went close, slowly, and quietly I started to take notes on my journal to make an observation. Technically it was a house sparrow bird, to describe its small, plain buffy-brown overall with dreary gray-brown underparts and the stripes on the back bird is buff, black, and brown which the gender is a female yeahhhhh lucky me. It was a beautiful sound and adorable cute bird. But I want to know more about the activities and significance in the spring season at Bog Garden back in the day and actually, in my research source, it said: ” The spring season also brings heavy rains that cause erosion of the paths, creeks, and can damage some of the more tender spring ephemeral plants of the Garden collections. The paths can also suffer significant impact from groups and some of the steeper and muddier paths will occasionally need to be closed to tour traffic.” Very interesting and that makes sense for safety, but also another important to check safety plants environment like it said “Early spring is also the time to check the canopy for dead branches hanging over areas frequented by people and they should be removed if considered a hazard.  If a tree is dead and needs to be removed, leave the lower 12 feet standing as a snag if it is not dangerous. Trim back shrub and tree limbs that grow out into the path.  This will need to check each season. Spray or dig A. italicum. There are also repairs to paths, path edges, bridges, and other garden infrastructure.” I understand that plants need to be careful and treated when it comes to seasonal Spring where it blooms, extra care, making sure smells good, and so on. Spring is the best and beautiful season even gardens are nurtured by a strong community.

On February 27, partly sunny, still cold outside, but fresh to go out, I wish I had the day where it was sunny and beautiful so I can take more pictures at Bog garden, but couldn’t because of the amount of classwork. But hey it’s always next time, so getting back to the point of wondering and questions about this place is how many plants are there? how many species are there? what’s their infrastructure back in the day when they started building the Bog Garden? what is horticulture and does it relate to this place I pick? and any hybridization or propagation. All these questions I will discuss and answer including my experiences the first time I went to Bog Garden. From the start, I remember the time I went walking on the trail pathways actually specific areas but that’s later on my post that leads to the mini bridges, plants, the lake, and so on it’s really beautiful and peaceful to relax and feel the natural sense. But what really carries out when walking different paths and got attention is the infrastructure like going back my research about the management plan I read it said:” The infrastructure of the Bog Garden is currently such that the plants are the focus of the landscape design,” that makes sense, but here’s a fact back of the day they mention this said: “There are several problem areas on some of the steeper paths that perhaps need the installation of a sub-structure to provide better drainage, surface water shedding, and surface stability,” I didn’t know about that kind of problem.

I saw seeing some steep hillsides it’s not that rough and really it softens the structure narrates the natural forest theme of the Bog Garden. Looking back the management plan I read and research about the Bog Garden section on plants, there are a lot in the canopy, subcanopy, shrubs, herbs, and vines, but each of these plants is very different without forgetting there are plants in the garden collection like trilliums, evergreen ginger, ferns, and spring ephemeral wildflowers. When I think in the season in Spring about plants I picture them as beautiful, mature, magnificent, multicolored, delightful, rich and eye-catching because plants are very delicate and it represents something to unique others what they see, can’t wait to see them bloom and luminous smell. Again looking back on my research there are a lot of animals specifically herps, mammals, birds, aquatics, and butterflies, but one animal which I mention from my first post that I didn’t see clearly but only see the back is the eastern cottontail rabbit, it has a body is a lighter color with a white underside on the tail and large hind feet, clearly, I have mistaken my description what I saw, but I really hope to see him again because it’s cute and adorable. All these plants and species are almost like horticulture where is sustainable production and falls between domestic gardening and field landscaping even environmental care.

On February 17, it was cold but sunny to go out and explore more into nature but instead, I’m going to talk more about Bog Garden history. Also as a reminder from the previous question on my very first post the introduction, I will answer the best way I can. To begin within the year 1987, the Bog Garden at Benjamin Park was discovered by Dr. Joe Christian who was well known as a “plant rescues” and developer of the garden for many years in Greensboro. I also realized picking this area in history said: “The property, a bird sanctuary, had been part of Starmount Farms since the early 1930s. It was near the home of Blanche Sternberger Benjamin, widow of Edward Benjamin, founder of Starmount Company and developer of the Starmount Forest neighborhood and the nearby Friendly Shopping Center,” which makes sense and explains why this area-specific. Christian did management with the help of his friend, the city staff, and a lot of volunteers to build Bog Garden.

Each of them did different approaches to management to build the garden like the city staff said: “most likely to notice a situation that requires attention (e.g. weed invasion, storm damage, needed trail or bridge maintenance, or wildlife damage). The meaning will do a lot of fixing and upgrades with the help of the Bog Garden Management Committee for this situation. For the Bog Garden volunteers, do and learn botany, horticulture, and lore of the plants, but the reason they needed to help this garden it said: ” for guides and interpreters for special events and can use their skills to educate the public.” That makes sense in my understanding and also an interesting fact I realized the question is how are they going to get money to build this garden? Well, first Christian needed to approved by the Management Committee in order to do Bog garden activities then need funding money in order to construct and maintenance to happen in the garden. I realized in the history it said here “Private funds were donated to construct bridges, stone steps to traverse the hillside, and an elevated winding walkway was constructed to provide access throughout the entire wetland and to border the lake.”

Meaning they get the funding was from GBI and this was surprising for me even I didn’t know this fund was private to construct all that happening. In my mind. I think the reason he wanted to build a Bog garden because he loves spending time going outdoors even exploring the wilderness in many beautiful ways of nature areas not to mention he wanted the local public people to see nature ways and wilderness or maybe there’s more to it than meant the eye. For my next post blog, I will discuss and talk more depth about the infrastructure of the Bog Garden, the meaning horticulture word, the ecology of the collections, and the important group of species at the Bog garden. Also maybe I might talk about the different types of weeds plants that I saw and animals I saw with my experiences.

On January 29th, the day it was cold partly sunny, and cloudy, the place I pick was the Bog Garden nearby Hobbs Road and it was my first-time experience going out particularly at the garden place. As I walk in I see family members or friends coming in doing walking, jogging, biking, talking, and others taking pictures which I’m was going to do that too. Anyways once I walk in I see a long stream that you can literally see the ground dirt and with that, I see rocks particularly shine rocks size of small, big, or medium rocks. On the stream hiding under some kind of above-ground trees where roots and specks of dirt, I see a lot of ducks mostly see ones brown ducks which are females, and the other ducks that have a glossy green head, white ring on neck, and body of chest brown and yellow nose are breeding male, I think they called Mallard. It’s impressive that females and males are in groups and try to find food to survive the cold weather on the stream or at the lake cool. As I keep walking on trails I realized there so many trails to walk not to mention see bridges but a medium one and tall trees blowing against the air surround me. I also realized it’s quiet and peaceful where you a certain area. The ground was hard and a sound of crunch like a candy bar but it’s a piece of ice that makes a sound. As furthermore, I see an amazing waterfall actually two that connects to the lake and along the stream as well. But the point is seeing that is graceful, bright, and scenic it’s not big, but I wish, hey it’s beautiful, and I can literally hear the sound like thunderous human-made waterfall seeing fairy and smoothly, but really cold. Besides that, I see rocks that are big and to describe that one is heavy, concrete solid lunar, molten, shine sparkled line and so on that I can stand on rocks, I think that area it was called Serenity Falls Bridge In Honor of Dorothy Lomax 2006 and the other one called Dr. Joe Christian “Serenity Falls” 2007, a very interesting and historical time to me personally. As I keep further long very walking is I still see a lot of tall trees one on water and others on the ground, but I notice there some trees that look like a bamboo tree across the stream when I was at the bridge taking pictures I don’t know what it calls. Speaking of the lake it was large and lovely to see Mallard ducks land to water in action cool. In my mind, when I look closely and standing at the side bridge touching the water is cold, limited fresh, and it feeds water to animals. Oh, I almost forgot is I saw fewer animals like birds, squirrels, ducks again and a chipmunk I think I mean it was quick and I have to glance hard was a tail color dark and light stripes that’s it. Overall it was beautiful and got a chance to see good scenes of nature, but I a curious question in my mind why the founder of Gob Garden is here near Friendly Stores? Was there a significant history behind Gob Garden? What’s the purpose of building the Gob Garden at Benjamin Park?