Trees in the bog old and new at Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

Then and Now at Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

Trees and Paths in the Woodland Bog

The tree canopy of the Woodland Garden has changed considerably over the 100+ years of the Garden's existence. One change forces another which causes another. In the photo below taken on Oct. 30, 1948, we see an extensive grouping of birch bordering the bog area of the Woodland Garden. While birch are not a long-lived species, the changes in the amount of water in the bog area have depleted their numbers such that today, in the 2008 photos shown below you will see very few birch. Photo from a Kodachrome taken by Martha Crone, courtesy Minnesota Historical Society, Martha Crone Collection.

In 1946 Garden Curator Martha Crone wanted visitors to have a close-up view of aquatic plants that were in and by the open water pool in the bog, so a trail through the center of the bog was added. In the photo below taken on Nov. 8, 1951, we have a partial view of the bog, taken from a different location and showing the extensive birch grove. The new path is seen, snow covered, running from the bottom left corner towards the left center of the photo. This spot is somewhere between the current Garden guidepost #'s 29 and 30. Photo from a Kodachrome taken by Martha Crone, courtesy Minnesota Historical Society, Martha Crone Collection.

Below: In the two 2008 photos below we are looking out through the barren trees of April, across the bog and toward the west hillside. This is a somewhat similar perspective to the photo at the top of the page. We see a birch or two, but the extensive grove no longer is there. The photo immediately below is taken near Garden Guidepost #32 and the other photo from further north near Guidepost #33. Gardener Cary George reported in The Fringed Gentian™ in September 1990 that a large number of the old birch had been lost in the drought that occurred in the last years of the 1980 decade.