In August 1992, Margaret Baker Reid donated a conservation easement to Triangle Land Conservancy for 1.4 acres of her property in Raleigh to become a Wildflower Garden. This beautiful and unique property is currently owned by Mr. Robert Mackintosh. Yesterday, Laura Stroud (Conservation & Stewardship Associate) and I went to the property for its annual monitoring visit. Here are some photos from the garden as well as more about information about the garden as documented in the original Baseline Documentation Report (BDR).
“The Reid Wildflower Garden, created over a period of 50 years by Margaret Baker Reid, contains an extensive collection of plants native to Wake County and the surrounding region. Margaret used principles of gardening and ecology she learned from her friend and mentor, Bertram Whittier Wells. Dr. Wells, head of the NCSU Department of Botany for 30 years, was an early ecologist and author of Natural Gardens of North Carolina.”
“Through classes and frequent weekend outings with Dr. Wells, Margaret Reid learned much about the region's flora and came to believe that humans can only live with Nature if we understand and appreciate our natural environment. Her garden was inspired by the simple elegance and beauty of places and plant associations she observed in Nature. “
“From the first Green-and-Gold she rescued from in front of a bulldozer on Canterbury Road in about 1940, to the last Hepatica she rescued from Martin Marietta Quarry, Margaret Reid stayed true to her convictions, suing only “rescued” or propagated plants. Many of the plants in teh garden originate from plants rescued from woodlands which were cleared for the region's developments.”
Some of the rare and unusual species recorded in the garden back in 1997 were:
• Alleghany Spurge (Pachysandra procumbens)
• Bigleaf Magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla)
• Carolina Least Trillium (Trillium pusilum var. pusium)
• Dwarf Ginseng (Panax trifolius)
• Galax (Galax urceolata)
• Ghost Pipes (Orobanche uniflora)
• Large White Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum)
• Oconee Bells (Shortia galicifolia)
• Painted Buckeye (Aesculus sylvatica)
• Pink Ladyslipper (Cypripedium acaule)
• Princess Pine (Lycopodium obscurum)
• Puttyroot Orchid (Aplectrum hyemale)
• Red Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
• Striped Gentian (Gentiana villosa)
• Trailing Arbutus (Epigaea repens)
• Trailing Wolfsbane (Aconitum relcinatum)
• Twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla)
• Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense)
• Yellow Ladyslipper (Cypripedium pubescens)
And that's just a small list of plants found in the garden! Also of note – in the summer of 2001, the Margaret Reid Wildflower Garden won the 19th Annual Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Community Appearance for Tree and Landscape Conservation. While it is still quite pretty in summer, we can't wait to visit the garden again next spring when it is in full bloom!
