The Buddie Ford Nature Center Garden is located at 5750 Sanger Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22311 at the Jerome “Buddie” Ford Nature Center, next to the Dora Kelley Nature Park. The Nature Center is open Wed.-Sat., 10:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m.
The pollinator garden at the Buddie Ford Nature Center in Alexandria includes native plants that attract and support pollinators, as well as other insects and wildlife. Many of the plants are native locally in nearby Dora Kelley Nature Park and Holmes Run Gorge. The garden also offers a learning space, inviting members of the community to gather to learn more about the wonders of nature and the importance of native plants.
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In 2021 the Arlington Regional Master Naturalists (ARMN) adopted the garden as a demonstration garden. In 2022 Virginia Cooperative Extension and Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia (MGNV) also formally adopted it as a demonstration garden. It is the only joint ARMN-MGNV demonstration garden in the Arlington/Alexandria area.
The garden was originally developed more than 15 years ago as a Native Conservation Zone featuring native flora of the Holmes Run Gorge. A local Boy Scout troop had created pathways before native plants were added. Over time, non-native plants, including many invasives, proliferated, and pathways were obscured. The garden became impassable and overrun by invasive species including porcelainberry (Ampelopsis brevipedunculata), wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius), and Johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense), to name a few.
In addition to being overrun by invasive plants, the siting of the garden on very steep terrain made working in the garden a challenge and made the entire garden susceptible to erosion from stormwater runoff. The steep slope allowed no safe access into the garden for visitors and classes. The garden could only be viewed from the parking lot, a narrow upper path, and the Nature Center’s large deck.
In 2021 Master Naturalist and Extension Master Gardener (EMG) Valerie LaTortue began working with Nature Center leadership to revitalize the garden and to increase access and learning value for the community, with the goal of making the garden an educational tool for the Nature Center, Master Naturalists, and EMGs. She recruited a small group of EMGs and Naturalists to create a vision for the garden and implement that vision. The team has appreciated the Nature Center staff’s strong support for this endeavor.
Extensive efforts beginning in 2021 focused on removing invasive and other non-native plants, identifying native plants that remained, beginning the process of creating defined beds, and determining how best to mitigate stormwater runoff and create a teaching area within the garden. The team also created and manages a container garden on the deck of the Nature Center, showing how to grow vegetables, berries, and herbs in containers and providing another teaching opportunity in this neighborhood of low-rise apartment buildings.
Work continued in 2022, including the design and installation of a pathway that incorporates retaining walls and a small seating and gathering area. The installation of two retaining walls created a flat area for visitors and small classes to gather. In addition to providing an education area, the path and wall are designed to demonstrate effective stormwater management, using the challenge of the steep slope as another teaching opportunity. Major efforts continue to remove invasive species, identify native species present, and develop defined beds.
For more information on the garden and ongoing work there, see:
- Revitalizing the Pollinator Garden at the Buddie Ford Nature Center
- Stemming Erosion and Shoring Up a Learning Space in the Jerome Buddie Ford Nature Center Pollinator Garden.
Scheduled workdays are Saturday mornings from spring to fall, 9:00-11:00 am (an hour earlier in extreme heat). Volunteers are welcome—see the Nature Center website for more information.