Roanoke News – Monday October 9, 2006
by
Joe Kennedy
Students help
along circle of life
Lexington – For several hours on Thursday, the children of Janet Campagna’s
third-grade class at Waddell Elementary School in Lexington became – alive.
Divided into three groups of five, they sat
silently amid the trees of Boxerwood Gardens Arboretum and Nature Center and
tried to sense things as if they were deer. They noticed sights, sounds and smells, and the rapidly
answered questions when asked.
They picked up poles and fished for the duckweed that
covered a shallow impoundment of water called the New Pond in a suffocating,
pale green blanket. They used a stick, a conch shell, a large
sieve and a colander as “hooks.”
Bare-handed, they shook and dropped the duckweed into
pots and transferred it to the roots of nearby trees and shrubs.
What killed the pond for real fishing would nurture
plants for the future.
|
A student fishes duckweed out of a pond.
After removing the duckweed, students dropped it into pots and place it
as fertilizer around the roots of nearby trees and shrubs. |
Stepping
lightly
In the early afternoon they walked
ever-so-silently around the Old Pond, trying to spot turtles and frogs.
In everyday life, few children are rapt for so long.
The five youngsters following volunteer Phyllis Fevrier came up with
eight frogs and three turtles, the highest total of the day’s three
groups.
If Henry David Thoreau were alive
to tour these gardens, he’d be pleased: Here lies silence, emotion
and spirit.
Maybe it’s the naturalness of it
all. Maybe it’s education steward Elise Sheffield’s teaching
techniques, which emphasize silence and observation. Maybe the
lack of perfection-Boxerwood celebrates nature in all its cycles from
birth to death -- puts us at ease in a society where perfection is
dangled before us sinners, too often ruining our self-esteem and
wrecking our peace of mind. Volunteer teacher Phyllis Fevrier
leads a group into the wetland area in Boxerwood Gardens as students
keep an eye out for animals along the way. |
Constant,
iconoclastic gardener
Dr. Robert Munger, a general practice doctor, started landscaping the
grounds of his new home n 1952. In 1957, he began to collect rare and
unusual trees and shrubs, traveling to distant places and corresponding with
fellow planters. In 1977, he retired from his medical practice.
In 1985, he hired Karen “K.B” Bailey as his assistant.
In 1988, he died. His wife, Betty, kept Boxerwood going with Bailey
continuing to work there. In 1996, when Betty Munger wanted to
retire, Hunter Mohring found herself with just enough money to finance the
purchase of 8 acres of the 15-acre property. The next year, the gardens
were opened to the public.
Later in no particular order came
not-for-profit status, a curriculum compatible with the Virginia Stands of
Learning and a look at the future.
Mohring, 63, says she and Bailey
may sell their gardens to the Boxerwood Education Association in a couple of
years and retire to a small house on the property. The goal, of
course, is to keep the garden going. An hour spent walking, sitting
or, especially, watching schoolchildren soak up its charms would convince
the hardest person that something special lives – and dies and regenerates –
here.
Mohring is smart. That’s
obvious the minute she stars talking. She calls herself “a
problem-solver,” says she has all but earned a doctorate in clinical
psychology and admits the garden tests both her intellect and her
intuition.
Ask her what makes the place
special and she’ll say “emotion” and spirit.”
Accompany her on a tour and you’ll marvel at the Great Oak, estimated at 100
to 150 ears old, and a weeping cherry tree that Robert Munger supported with
a still-evolving arbor, making it the largest weeping cherry you’ll probably
ever see.
Happiness,
joy, vitality
At one time, Boxerwood Gardens Arboretum and Nature Center boasted the
larges collection of dogwood trees east of the Mississippi. Now, Mohring
said, its 7000 trees and shrubs include hundred of varieties of
rhododendrons, azaleas and conifers and 163 varieties of Japanese maples.
Each year, the Lexington and
Rockbridge County schools send three grades to the gardens. They
prepare for their visits beforehand and afterward, discuss what they’ve
learned. Mohring says this year’s budget is $176,000 and “we’re always close
to the edge.”
Something else besides the
silence and beauty is evident: the devotion of the people who work there to
their task.
Elise Sheffield, 45, is a Brown
University graduate who used to teach English literature at Southern
Virginia University in Buena Vista. After treatment for breast cancer, she
refocused her life by taking over the educational program at the gardens.
She loves watching children who may not succeed in school immerse themselves
in Boxerwood’s life lessons. “I see a lot of happiness, joy and
vitality of life.” She said.
At Boxerwood, it’s all about
paying attention.
