|
The Wetlands
The wetlands help to increase the incredible biodiversity
at Boxerwood by providing abundant quality habitat for those of us who
live in and around the water. The wetlands also help with local
environmental problems too! By functioning as a sort of natural
sponge, the wetlands can reduce impact to the watershed by filtering some
harmful substances out of the water that flows from our springs down
through the wetlands and eventually ends up in Wood's Creek.
What
is a watershed?? --click here quickly--you need to know this!!!
One of the major problems in the wetlands is overgrowth
of algae due to nitrates washing into the water, mainly from fertilizers
used on neighboring property. Too much algae decreases oxygen in the
water as well as reducing sunlight to bottom-growing plants. The
algae you see on the surface is called duckweed, and gives the water a
pale green, almost solid-looking appearance. |
| 
|
As you continue your tour around the wetlands,
crossing the
zig-zag bridge
to the
other side, you will then pass directly under the weeping cherry as
you walk under the arbor and across the wetlands dam. Upon
reaching the far end of the dam, look down and you will see where
our creek exits after passing through the filtering wetlands and
continues on down through the
watershed. |
| But don't miss the cypress tree on your
right. What are those strange pokey things at the foot of the
tree? Cypress knees.
No one knows why the cypress grows its knees or how they might
benefit the tree, but here's a story by Mrs. Kostelni's second grade
class at Central Elementary School:
How the Cypress Got His Knees
Once upon a time, there was a cypress tree and he
was all alone. He was sad because the squirrels went to the oak
tree and the birds went to the holly tree, but nobody visited the
cypress. When it was his birthday, some swamp elves came to
visit. They said, "Why are you so sad on your birthday?"
He told them why. During the night the elves came back with
magic tools and knives and gave him knees. He didn't feel a
thing. The next morning he saw frongs sleeping on his knees.
The cypress tree was so surprised and happy that he now had friends.
The tree was never lonely again. And that's how the cypress tree
got his knees. |
 |
|
| SHHH!!! Straight down below the weeping cherry
along the edge of the wetlands is the best spot in the garden to
look for frogs... but as any Boxerwood kid could tell you, you'll
only get to see them if you have zipped lips and tipped
toes. The green duckweed on the surface of the water makes
an especially good camouflage for our most-often sighted wetlands
amphibian, the green frog (Rana clamitans). |
|
|
This tree, located near the
wetlands on the left-hand side, is a metasequoia species (Metasequoia
glyptostroiboides) once believed to be extinct and known only
through the fossil record. In 1941 a grove of live specimens
was discovered in Southeast China, and in 1947, seeds were collected
and sent to the Arnold Arboretum, which, in 1948, distributed the
seeds to gardens in America and Europe, including Boxerwood!
This species has been growing and reproducing itself for 50 million
years!
|
|
|
Take a walk on these logs through the wetlands.
Watch out -- don't loose a shoe! But, it would be worth it
because you might see some other famous inhabitants of our wetlands,
such as::
American
bullfrog (Rana catesbieana) -
Spring
peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) -
Eastern Painted turtle (Chrysemys
picta)
|
 |
|
|
|
|
