Long Branch Nature Center:
A Neighborhood Resource
Long Branch Gardens Shine
The Long Branch Nature Center has a lot of cool stuff for kids and
adults.
Visitors are often surprised at the range of plants in the Center's Native
Plant Garden, all of them native plants perfectly adapted to this
area and easy to grow. There are Virginia Bluebells, White Snakeroot,
Turtleheads, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Bluestem Goldenrod, Green
and Gold, Bloodroot, Spring Beauty, Rue Anemone, Cardinal Flower,
Stonecrop, Wild Ginger, White Wood Aster, Wild Geranium, Mayapple,
Trout Lily, Perfoliate Bellwort, Wild Bleeding Heart, Dutchman`s
Breeches, Virginia Spiderwort, Crested Iris, Foamflower, Wild
Columbine, Partridgeberry, Jacobs Ladder, Creeping Phlox, Green
Dragon, Lady Fern, Polypody Fern, Christmas Fern, Maidenhair Fern,
Royal Fern, Ostrich Fern, Winterberry, Mountain Laurel, Fringetree,
Serviceberry amd Pinxter Azalea. They are clearly labeled, so
you can easily pick out plants you would want to grow in your
own garden. The Naturalist there, Alonso Albugattas, is a cornucopia
of information about native plants. Since in his spare time he
is the President of the Virginia Native Plant Society, he can
also advise you on sources for the plants in their garden. And
eventually the creator of the Native Plant garden will return from
maternity leave as well. Long Branch has a lot more to offer than just exhibits!
Another Long Branch plant specialty is child gardens, and they
now have a spider plant garden, a garden of the plants you find in
fairy tales, a sensory garden where you see, taste, smell and
feel plants, and are working on a dinosaur garden and a fern garden,
helped along by four of Arlington's Master Gardeners who are volunteering
there. There is also a butterfly garden, with the plants that
the butterflies like when they are in the caterpillar stage.
Inside the Nature Center are exhibits of animals you might find
around here if you are sharp-eyed and lucky. There are always
some turtles swimming around and it smells a little bit like a
zoo inside. The Long Branch staff nurses wild animals back to
health for re-release into the wild. They also are repopulating
our woods with things like toads to attempt to renaturalize the
park.
There is lots more to Long Branch. The Nature Center staff runs all sorts
of programs, from birding and plant walks for adults to frog walks
and campfires for kids. The range is impressive, and there are films to
illustrate some of the talks, or sometimes just the films themselves. Some of the
events are listed in the Barcroft News, but there is a newsletter produced
by the Nature Center if you want to make sure your don't miss anything.
Greg Zell, the Center's director, has been the prime mover in
the reconstruction of Sparrow Swamp to protect the embankments
of the W&OD Trail while still maintaining the wetlands environment
that has brought many species back to Four Mile run, to the delight
of young observers, bird watchers and anyone who enjoys wildlife.
He just about has the problem licked, with funds he has rooted out
here and there among the tangle of programs and a design that
will hopefully meet all requirements.
Long Branch is worth a visit! You can take the trail or drive
around to the parking lot entrance on Carlin Springs Road. From the
W&OD at 7th Street, go right (north) past Sparrow Swamp, then take a
left down the steep hill (17 per cent is steep) and cross Four Mile
Run on the bridge where Long Branch runs into Four Mile Run. Follow Long
Branch, first through the parking lot, then onto the trail. The Nature Center
is about 300 yards up the branch. By car, the entrance to the parking lot is
on Carlin Springs Road, between the hospital and the school.
Call the Nature Center at 358-6535 to check their hours. They are closed on
Mondays.
This page was last revised on: September 15, 2000.
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