A wildflower paradise! Almost every wildflower lover has dreamed of a place where hundreds of species are accessible for enjoyment, study, or photography.
This dream is realized at the Bowman’s Hill Wild Flower Preserve, a project that teaches conservation and the importance of guarding our precious heritage of wildlife and wildflowers.
It is also a fine example of what can be accomplished by the joint efforts of many interested people working in harmony.
The members of these organizations and garden clubs deserve much credit for their results.
The Bowman’s Hill State Wildflower Preserve
The Bowman’s Hill State Wildflower Preserve is located on the west bank of the Delaware River between New Hope and Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania.
General Washington’s army was encamped there along the river during December 1776. Near this point, he made the historic crossing on Christmas night, 1776.
To commemorate this brave exploit, the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1917 passed a bill authorizing a state park at this point, called Washington Crossing, in Bucks County.
This act also included the 100 acres four miles north on Bowman’s Hill.
In 1934, a group of Philadelphia nature lovers, members of the state’s Conservation Council, persuaded the Park Commission to convert this Bowman’s Hill tract into a wildflower preserve and nature sanctuary.
Later this was permanently established by the legislature.
The group had the interested cooperation and advice of that devoted lover of wildflowers and ferns, Dr. Edgar T. Wherry.
He made a botanical study of the area and recommended the course to be taken in its development.
This included the artificial creation of certain types of terrain lacking.
A notable example is the sphagnum bog, now the home of a thriving ecological group including pitcher plants, sundews, fringed orchis, and others.
Twenty years have passed, and the terrain is now quite varied.
There are grassy meadows, woodlands, steep hillsides, the bog garden, and many other types. Pidcock Creek, named after the first settler, flows through it.
Managing The Great Wildflower Preserve’s Collections
The horticultural objective of those who manage this remarkable wildflower preserve is to establish within its boundaries a complete collection of wildflowers and shrubs native to all sections of Pennsylvania so that their preservation can be assured.
Already this collection is one of the most representative of the Middle Atlantic states, as nearly 500 species are happily growing here.
Nearly 200 have been introduced and include some unusual species from neighboring states.
The President’s Drive, sponsored by The Pennsylvania Federation of Women’s Clubs, is an automobile road that traverses the preserve.
It will eventually be “a lane of flowering shrubs and trees of Pennsylvania in honor of past and future Presidents of the State Federation of Women’s Clubs.”
Much has been done already in planting dogwoods, and the stand of redbuds near the stone bridge over Pidcock Creek, which I photographed in full flower on April 30, more than fulfills the promise of the sponsors just quoted.
This road is considerably widened at two points to provide car parking spaces. These places are focal points for trails that begin and end there.
Most of them are less than 1,000′ feet and afford visitors convenient access to the plants and shrubs without long, tiring walks.
The trails include the following:
- Marsh Marigold Trail
- Gentian Trait
- Lloyd Evergreen Trail
- Azalea Trail
- Edgar T. Wherry Fern Trail
- Medicinal Plant Trail
- The important Sphagnum Bog and several others
Plants Marked With Numbers For Identification
All plants and shrubs are clearly marked by numbers to make identification simple.
At the beginning of each trail, a box contains leaflets—printed lists of species bearing numbers growing on that particular trail.
These lists are numerically arranged, and one need only look for the number on the list to find the name of any plant or shrub.
I must again stress the accessibility of the wildflowers. The trails are clearly outlined paths that wind invitingly in and out among the trees.
The Wildflower Preserve: A Paradise For A Photographer
Species after species are found growing a foot or more from the edge of the path. It is a paradise for the photographer of wildflowers.
When I arrived that first morning, April 23, I was greeted by the Nature Director, Norman C. Fisher, a competent botanist and photographer.
He was most gracious and helpful in his assistance and cooperation and guided me to many interesting spots with camera possibilities.
Maintenance Work
I was much impressed with the cleanliness of the paths and was surprised to learn that the maintenance work is done entirely by the Preserve Staff with the limited funds available for this purpose.
Two part-time paid workers assist the Nature Director.
One, Mrs. Pauline Buckingham, a school teacher, spends her summers and weekends at the Preserve guiding children and adult groups.
When not occupied with these duties, she takes over much maintenance work, such as weeding.
The other, a retired graduate engineer, Nathaniel Wyckoff, helps out 3 days each week.
Weed Control
Maintenance involves keeping some of the weedy species in check to avoid overrunning and choking the less aggressive and more delicate plants.
The chief offender, against whom war is continually waged, is Japanese honeysuckle, which is gradually being eliminated.
Due to the many little brooks that flow through the track, control measures are necessary to prevent jewel-weed from monopolizing the banks, the favorite habitat of that plant.
Due to relentless destruction for the past 20 years, poison ivy is gradually disappearing within the confines of the garden.
For Upkeeping And Expansion
The state pays the salaries of the Nature Director and his two part-time assistants, but additional income needed for upkeep and expansion is derived from many donors and sponsors, such as the following:
- Garden and nature clubs
- Women’s clubs
- The Scouts
- Daughters of the American Revolution
- The Colonial Dames and other groups and individuals.
Many of these have sponsored particular trails, such as:
- The Blue Bell
- Gentian
- Marsh Marigold
- Azalea
- The Medicinal and many others
Each has its season when it is especially beautiful. The members of sponsoring groups take great interest in their organization’s trail and assist in its maintenance.
Even wildflower gardens need some attention and weeding.
Photographing Along The Trails
Perhaps you would like to take a leisurely walk with me and explore a few of these trails. They average about 1,000′ to 1,200′ feet in length, barely a quarter-mile.
It is April 30, a lovely day with sunlight and soft breezes, blue sky showing through the delicate green of the new leaves.
Although the terrain is rugged, the level grades make for easy walking.
Gentian Trail
We will first walk along the Gentian Trail, which is sponsored by The Weeders, a group of garden enthusiasts.
The path winds along a tiny brook that feeds the pond. This will be our objective.
As we enter, we see a large patch of swamp buttercup, Ranunculus septentrionalis, which is quickly photographed.
A few steps farther, a mass of blue phlox, Phlox divaricata, catches our eye and must be photographed. Such a subject is too lovely to be overlooked by the flower lover.
There were marsh-marigolds, Caltha palustris, that, the week previous, had been covered with the yellow eyes of their flowers.
Still, on this day, the spring beauties, Claytonia virginica, were in bloom everywhere on moist ground.
Large patches of may-apples, Podophyllum beltatum, delighted us with the handsome pattern of their leaves.
We soon reached the pond, a gift in 1951 from the Founder’s Fund of the Garden Club of America, which holds the Bowman’s Hill State Wild Flower Preserve in high esteem for its excellent work.
The pond provides a proper home for water-loving plants, such as arrowheads, pickerel-weed, wild-calla, etc.
It was too early to find any of these in bloom, but along the path that skirts the pond, columbines were dancing in the breeze, and the saxifrage was decorating rocky outcrops here and there.
The cinnamon fern fiddles were uncoiling, and a Pinxter-flower was almost ready to bloom.
The bird chorus furnished a delightful sound background of which the insistent call of the oven-bird was most prominent.
Even so, one could use several pairs of eyes and ears to record all the interesting wonders of the woodland on this glorious day.
Blue Bell Trail
We slowly hiked back to the road to take another trail. Finally, the entrance to Blue Bell Trail was in sight with large clumps and patches of Mertensia virginica in full bloom.
The Doylestown Nature Club sponsors this trail.
Marsh Marigold Trail “Spring Trail”
We next reached the Marsh Marigold Trail, also called the Spring Trail, as it is considered one of the best this season.
Just off the road at its entrance and growing a large colony of blue-eyed Mary at our feet.
As we entered the trail, blue phlox, Phlox divaricata, was everywhere in evidence.
Still, a small clump growing against a tree background was a pictorial possibility too good to be missed.
Sphagnum Bog Garden
On July 21, I made my third visit, and my principal objective was the Sphagnum Bog Garden.
The Old York Road Garden Club sponsors this little bit of marsh terrain and its surrounding area.
This plot, 50′ feet long and 25′ feet deep, has a happy spot on the pedestrian path along the main drive. A rustic fence protects it from the invasion of a probably careless visitor.
As I approached, my attention was first attracted to a colony of meadow beauty, Rhexia virginica, its bright magenta pink enlivening the little area.
Nearby, a good-sized clump of orange milkwort, Polygala lutea, furnished a lovely color contrast.
I noticed several stalks of the white-fringed orchis, Habenaria blephariglottis, a welcome variation in shape and color.
There were several clumps of pitcher plants, Sarracenia purpurea, their flower stalks past blooming but still beautiful.
To run the whole gamut of the continually changing surprises of this wild garden would require weekly visits from March 15 to October 15, a full seven months period.
Still, there is always something of interest in bloom even on an occasional visit.
After I had exhausted the photographic possibilities of the Sphagnum Bog Garden, Mr. Fisher suggested that the Gentian Trail had something to offer.
Growing along the south edge of the pond was a large stand of lizard’s tail in flower.
There were large clumps of Oswego tea, Monarda didyma. The curving banks of the little brook that feeds the pond always attract, but particularly so today, for these curves, led to a large patch of these brilliant flowers growing near the trail’s entrance.
It soon was leaving time for my two and one-half hours’ trip back to New York.
As I turned to take a last look at the Gentian Trail entrance sign, I could not resist one more picture.