September Garden Highlights: Seven-Son Flower (Heptacodium miconioides)

Do you know this plant?  If not, you should.  It is just becoming more widely available in the nursery trade.  It’s a small ornamental tree that reaches  about 15-20’ in height.  When young, the bark is a rich brown and exfoliating and a pretty tan in its adult years.  It flowers in late summer with dainty white panicles of sweetly scented flowers.  The  real show, however, comes a bit later, when the sepals, after the flower falls off, turn a rich rosepurple, thus extending the beauty of the tree. 

Fall Family Festival A Great Success

If you were not at Boxerwood this past Saturday, you missed a fun time under beautiful skies.  The more than 700 people who were here got to enjoy;

The garden full of dancers of all ages.

Apple cider being pressed and sipped.

Learning about solar energy and the importance of watershed protection.

Playing Crazy Croquet or volley ball.

Making nature crowns.

Making your own print blocks.

Sampling fresh made donuts or home made baked goods provided by the Mom's Club of Lexington.

Campus Kitchen was also here serving their Frito Pies (which I can personally testify were quite tasty).

Natural fiber weaving was added to our solar panel base.

Visiting with some adorable puppies and kittens from the Rockbridge SPCA.

Learning about Zero Waste and the Rockbridge Area Conservation Council.

Learning about what your kids do at Boxerwood.

And lots of just plain old running around outdoors and having fun in the sun.

Oh... you weren't there.  Well now you have something to look forward to next year.

College volunteers will work on PlayTrail

On Saturday, February 29 from 1-5pm, Boxerwood Gardens is fortunate to have students from both Washington and Lee University and Virginia Military Institute take part in a service day working on our children's PlayTrail!
Because of this, parts of the PlayTrail may not be accessible to visitors during this time. The rest of the garden will be open as usual.

Thank you students!  

Zombie Ball 2012 Set for October 27 at the W&L Pavilion

Boxerwood will be hosting Zombie Ball 2012 at the W&L Pavilion on October 27. Our special guest will be Elizabeth Massie the two time Bram Stoker Award winning author of renowned skill who has created many stories with horror and Zombie themes. You can check out her website at www.elizabethmassie.com

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One of her stories, "Abed" has been made into a new movie that is said the be "possibly the most disturbing Zombie movie of 2012."  You can check out the trailer for the movie "Abed" based on a Elisabeth Massie story at:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxE7lAFxAqI

Elizabeth will be at the Zombie Ball to serve as a judge in our costume contest and will also have copies of her books for sale and signing.

This is just one of the exciting new features that will be added to the fun this year.  Keep tuned for more information.

Elizabeth Massie

Rains Hold Off To Make Boxerwoodstock A Big Hit

More than 500 people of all ages flocked to Boxerwood to help celebrate the beauty of nature and enjoy some great music at our BoxerWoodstock Festival.

Severe thunderstorms and flash flood warnings circled around Boxerwood all day, but held off until 7:30pm when we had to stop the music.  It was unfortunate we had to end the fun early, but those that came out appeared to really enjoy the time they had.

All the funds raised at this event will go toward keeping Boxerwood's environmental education programs and garden growing.  Thank you to all that attended.

Here are a few scenes of the musicians who performed.  We will have more photos posted later here, on Facebook, and on our website www.boxerwood.org.

Even though the music is over for now, please find the time to come out and visit our gardens sometime this summer.  There is always something blooming at Boxerwood, even if it is just your imagination.

BoxerWoodstock Preparations Continue

Today Jay Sullivan and Joe Dinardo dug post holes and raised five sails to help shade our BoxerWoodstock audience on Saturday. Check out the view of the stage from the top of the hill! Those readers who know Boxerwood well may have noticed that we moved the stage location so that the backdrop is now a spectacular Hornbeam tree rather than a Beech. The Hornbeam is at the edge of the meadow in an area that naturally slopes toward it, so everyone will have a great view of the stage.

BoxerWoodStock 2012

July 14, 2012
Gates open at 2pm
Bands perform from 3pm - 9pm

BoxerWoodstock welcomes families, providing music, food, active games and crafts for kids of all ages.

This year’s Festival will feature four regional bands performing on Boxerwood’s all-new outdoor stage (:

• Leading off the day will be singer-songwriter Leslie Tucker, returning for her third BoxerWoodstock. She’ll be accompanied by friends Jim Brown on guitar, Dan Newhall on bass, and Bill Wolston on keyboard. The band performs a large repertoire of rock, contemporary folk, country, and original songs imbued with strong vocals and harmonies.
• Next are Fayssoux Starling Mclean, who hails from South Carolina, and guitar wizard Brandon Turner. Fayssoux has been featured on many notable country music recordings, including duets with Emmy Harris on ‘Green Rolling Hills’ and ‘Spanish is a Loving Town.’  She sings her own compositions as well as traditional folk songs, gospel, contemporary country and rock, and love ballads.
• The Downbeat Project is a five-piece band based out of Charlottesville, whose original music has quickly garnered a loyal fan base across the region. The band's reggae-toned beats and deeply soulful singing create an intensely positive groove. The group includes Clarence Green, guitar and lead vocals; Zach Blatter, mandocello; Landon Fishburne, guitar; Gerald Soriano, bass and vocals; Rob Hubbard, drums and vocals.
• We’ll close with the Graham Spice Band. Graham (guitar, keyboards, and vocals), is a technologist for the Music Department at Washington and Lee. He’ll be joined by local musicians Lola Mullen on guitar and vocals, drummerNeil Bland, Kevin Dick on bass, Ashley Spice on trumpet, and Cochran Lyle on pedal steel. The group combines digital sounds with classic analog instruments to perform funk classics and original compositions.”

Tickets are $10 per person; Children 12 and under free * All four groups have all donated their performances for the festival. Proceeds will support Boxerwood’s environmental education programs for the local schools and upkeep of the woodland garden. 

Food: Food and drinks, including beer, wine, iced tea, soft drinks, BBQ sandwiches, burgers (veggie and beef),  hotdogs, fries, ice cream, fudge puppies, wine cakes and watermelon, will be available to purchase on site along with festival T-shirts and other souvenirs. No coolers are permitted, but do bring chairs, picnic blankets and sunscreen.

Kidstock Activities: volleyball, bocce ball, croquet, slip ‘n slide, face painting, henna tattoos, tie-dye (bring your own t-shirts), beading, and psychedelic painting.

Sponsors: Computer Doctor, Rory J. Cutaia, Powering People, Green Valley Rent Alls

Craft Vendors:A Little Bit Hippy, Dragonfly Designs, Green in the Blue Ridge, Herman’s Produce, Jack Mountain Crafters, Miss Bea’s Wine Cakes, Mystical Silk, Shenandoah Express, Sweet Things, Trashion Fashion, and Wild Child Face & Body Art.

* Member benefits:
- New members (signing up at the festival) and band members will receive 5 tickets towards food/drink.
- Existing members will receive a $1.00 drink/food ticket if they go to the membership table

With your help, we Raised a Stage! Read more about the project, watch our music video atwww.kickstarter.com/projects/243499717/1533407639/ . Record heat and power outages did not deter a crew of Boxerwood volunteers, who revved up a generator and spent last weekend constructing a permanent outdoor stage for the annual BoxerWoodstock summer music festival. The 24’ x 12’ platform stage is located at the edge of the Boxerwood meadow, facing the Blue Ridge Mountains.  A magnificent Hornbeam tree provides a natural and shady backdrop. The stage was designed by volunteer Jay Sullivan, Professor of Engineering at VMI, who has created several other unusual structures for the nature center, including a giant Crow’s Nest, a 15-foot tall Adirondack chair, and several award-winning parade floats.  Assisting him with the construction were volunteers Bonnie Bernstein, Joe DiNardo, Hank Dobin, Jim Kvach, John Miles, and John Vosburgh. Boxerwood Managing Director Bruce Bytnar, who sweated out the weekend working alongside the volunteers, commented on the structural integrity of the stage. “This was constructed by one of the largest brain trusts to erect such a structure in history.  We had a chemist, mathematician, engineer, architect, microbiologist and Shakespearean scholar as part of our crew. I think it’s safe to say it’s overbuilt.”