Trail Blazers! DI Garden Club's Osprey Trail bursts forth with new growth and colorful blooms
Throughout history, flourishing civilizations have turned to man-made oases as a welcome respite from the hustle and bustle of day-to-day life. New York City’s Central Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, is one famous modern-day example. Another planned oasis that’s attracting a lot of fanfare is right here on Daniel Island: the Osprey Trail, a 3.5 acre stretch of paradise nestled quietly between the hum of traffic on Daniel Island Drive and the high-energy learning environment of the Daniel Island School.
This little corner of the island hasn’t always been a “Shangri-La.” Eleven years ago, when the Daniel Island School first opened its doors to students, the patch of land was just an overgrown plot of woods, littered with broken branches, dry brown leaves and underbrush. But members of the Daniel Island Garden Club (DICG), a non-profit organization with a keen eye to the potential of the island’s natural aesthetics, met to discuss possible solutions that could transform the neglected plot into a wondrous, welcoming place for everyone who passed through.
Two years later, in 2008, The Osprey Trail Preservation Team (OTPC) was officially established with a mission “to protect, maintain and enhance the garden in front of the Daniel Island School for the education and enjoyment of the public.”
The inaugural team included some Daniel Island Garden Club long-time members, like Beth Quantz, as well as master gardeners such as Jack Slapcinsky, Bob Uhler, Carolyn Goff and Mark Lindsay, many of whom continue to contribute significant time and energy to the Osprey Trail, often sharing advice with current DIG Club President Lydia Freilich and Vice-President Jo Rogers. While the team relies on the volunteer efforts of many of the Garden Club members, it also gets professional assistance from The Greenery’s Kevin Reed and his team, who install and maintain necessary irrigation systems, prune and remove unhealthy trees that are out of the reach of DICG pruners, and regularly go the extra mile to help the team keep the area clear of debris.
Thanks to the countless hours of planning, preparation and hard work, the Osprey Trail Preservation Team can proudly point to a number of notable achievements: the arch of the main rose trellis that welcomes visitors to the crosswalk leading to the front door of the school and the “Island Sonata,” a sculpture by Mt. Pleasant artist David Springer featuring the Osprey, the Daniel Island School’s mascot. A brick path also leads the way, adorned with names of Daniel Island families who generously contributed to the school in its opening year, along with support from the Daniel Island Community Fund. Finally, there’s the trail itself, a meandering gravel path that connects seven small individually themed gardens.
There’s the Japanese Garden with its meditation rock, wall of bamboo plants and faux water stream made of rocks to symbolize the flow of life and inspire soothing energy. The Woodland Garden and Southern Gardens boast their own colorful bouquets of plants and flowers. Beautiful rose bushes adorn the Rose Garden, while the Children’s Garden is easy to spot with its nursery rhyme-themed decor; and the Bee Dance Garden adorned with painted cement pavers depicting aspects of garden life including, of course, bees.
Among the gardens, visitors will come across a wide variety of flowering and evergreen shrubs, flowers, and vines indigenous to the Lowcountry. The gardens hosts Japanese Maples, Crepe Myrtles, palms, irises, red and white camellias, hydrangeas, azaleas, nandinas, Carolina jessamine, lantana, hyacinth and magnolias, rose bushes, ground cover, and different varieties of shrubs bursting with colorful berries.
Daniel Island resident and dedicated DICG volunteer Jo Rogers observes, “There is always something blooming along the Trail.”
While the team often has new ideas for improving to the Trail and its various gardens, whether that’s adding flowers or relocating plants to sunnier, or shadier, spots - they often have to wait for the right time, in the right season, to begin.
“We want to work with nature, not against it,” adds Rogers. “We need to have a lot of patience sometimes.”
Lydia Freilich agrees, observing: “There’s a French saying: ‘You can’t go faster than the pace of the music.’ That certainly describes our approach to gardening.”
“The Osprey Trail is a beautiful landscape full of all kinds of plants and flowers and whimsical things that pop up along the path when you’d least expect it,” continues Rogers. “Inspiration, motivation and creativity. These are qualities we try to cultivate in our gardens. We want the trail to inspire everyone who walks through, especially children, to wander through it and experience the joy of discovery.”
Certainly, teachers, staff and students at Daniel Island School are always happy to take advantage of the blooming outdoor classroom outside their front door - often using the Trail environment as a learning tool.
Kindergarten teacher Kim Card leads her class on Easter egg hunts as well as on nature walks in the spring and fall to see how weather affects the plants and animals. “We always find amazing treasures like spider webs, bird nests, squirrels, flower buds and insects or simply use our senses to discover new things,” she says.
Third Grade teacher and Daniel Island resident Lara Rodgers often takes her students on the walking path to help pull up signs after the annual Komen Race for the Cure and place flags near the street on Veteran’s Day. “The path is so pretty,” says Rodgers, “and such as asset to our school property. Unfortunately, I don’t think a lot of people really know about it.”
Fifth grade teacher Dede King, also an island resident, observes: “When I walk home along the trail, it is always a calming, peace filled time. This ‘island’ of lovely nature adds a sweet respite between our busy school and the busy street.”
For 6th grade Science teacher David Englehart, the Osprey Trail provides a real-life laboratory situation that complements classroom lessons on plant life. Students have the opportunity to classify vascular and non-vascular plants and identify angiosperms, gymnosperms, monocots and dicots. “It’s the perfect time of year to teach plant life cycles and reproduction,” he says.
While the OTPC relies on Garden Club members eager to go to work, it always welcomes help of any kind from island residents, whether it’s a gift of money or a donation of gardening tools, fertilizer or plants and flowers that residents no longer need in their backyard gardens. Most importantly, the team welcomes residents to volunteer their time - even one hour would go a long way - and a willingness to “dig in.” Depending on the season, the “to-do” list may include:
*Pruning the rose bushes.
*Planting new flower seeds and bulbs.
*Transplanting flowers and plants to sunnier or shadier spots for healthier growth.
*Fertilizing plants and flowers.
*Cleaning up miscellaneous twigs, sticks, and small branches and other debris strewn by strong winds and rain.
*Random weeding.
The next Osprey Trail Preservation Club workday is scheduled for Friday, March 31, from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
“You don’t have to have a green thumb or even any gardening experience for that matter,” says Rogers. “Just bring your love of nature, a dash of curiosity, and willingness to get some dirt under your nails!”
Adds Freilich, “The DI Garden Club isn’t formal at all. We’re just a welcoming, nature-loving group of people who simply love to socialize, share knowledge, and learn together and from one another. Some members have great landscaped yards. Others only have a couple of pots on their porches, or by a sunny window. Everyone is welcome.”
Dig in!
For more information on how to get involved in the Daniel Island Garden Club or to volunteer to assist with efforts at the Osprey Trail, contact:
Lydia Freilich at: frenchlydia@homesc.com
Jo Rogers at: ladyjorogers@gmail.com
Or go to DIGardenClub.com
HOT TIPS FOR SUMMER GARDENING!
The Daniel Island Garden Club got to the root of summer gardening issues with a little help from Derek Wade, owner of Carolina Landscape, Inc. At the club’s March 8 meeting at Providence Baptist Church, Wade offered a bounty of tips for cultivating healthy plants and flowers as the weather gets warmer.
Watering
Be careful not to water too much! Wade suggested one inch of water per week. Get a rain sensor if you don’t have one to cut down on excess moisture. “I’m gonna suggest that you water less frequently for longer durations,” he said. “You want to encourage the roots to go chase that water that goes down into the ground.”
Fertilizing
Let Mother Nature do her job – keep as much natural, organic material in your garden and landscaping beds as possible. “I do recommend with all those leaves coming down, just pull them back into the garden,” added Wade. “All that leaf debris, all that naturally occurring organic material – it’s fine!” You can add a slow-release fertilizer if you’d like, he suggested, and be sure to do soil tests to monitor conditions.
Compost
Compost is generally good and clean reports Wade, and acts like a good mulch. It can also provide much needed nutrients to your plants. Just remember to “bare the flare,” he noted, meaning don’t bury the stem of your plant with compost.
Pruning
Structural pruning should be done in the spring, Wade said. That includes your camellias, azaleas, hydrangeas, and other similar plantings. With perennials, wait until around the Fourth of July to give them a good whack, advised Wade. “You’ll prolong the bloom, and have a nice big mass of flowers!”
Managing pests and disease
Wade also warned that there are a number of pesky pests and diseases that are out to do your gardens harm. He mentioned chinch bugs as one of the more troublesome annoyances, as they leave irregular and spotty places in lawns. A good insecticide should do the trick. Also watch out for the leaf-rolling caterpillar, which can damage foliage, and the Rose Rosette Virus, which leads to thicker than normal foliage on roses as well as malformed plants. For the latter condition, Wade recommends immediate action.
“If you have Rose Rosette Virus in your plant, destroy it immediately!”
Attracting butterflies
Wade recommended the following websites for ideas on how to attract butterflies to your garden:
www.butterfliesathome.com
www.gardenwithwings.com