Boxerwood recently completed two much-needed Garden restoration projects: we rebuilt the beloved Wetland Walk, and also re-resurfaced our 70 year old driveway.
The Boxerwood wetland is a special place, home to a wide variety of microbes, plants, insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Its value to Boxerwood is also as a sponge, absorbing run-off from storm events, and thus protecting waterways below. Over the years the previous boardwalk had deteriorated, preventing up-close-and-personal connection to this marvelous mini-world. The new boardwalk gives students and other visitors safer access to this unique habitat, and thanks to grants from Dominion Energy and the Rockbridge Community Health Foundation, we have rebuilt the walkway with locally harvested, naturally rot-resistant black locust and osage orange wood. Come take a stroll.
Meanwhile, driveways are also important! The Boxerwood driveway was badly degraded, 70 year old asphalt. Thanks in part to a grant from the National Environmental Education Foundation, we were able to hire a contractor to remove the old asphalt and put down a new gravel surface. The new driveway is more permeable, allowing more rainfall to soak into the soil (thus reducing watershed run-off) and it is pothole-free!
