A New Partnership for an Innovative Shoreline Project

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Fall / Winter 2020 - Center for the Inland Bays - Inland Bays Journal

The Center for the Inland Bays and the Delaware Botanic Gardens at Pepper Creek partnered in the summer and fall of 2020 to stabilize about 300 feet of shore...

Along the banks of Pepper Creek near Dagsboro, a new partnership propelled by the power of volunteers is helping a stronger shoreline take root.

Staff and supporters from the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays and the Delaware Botanic Gardens at Pepper Creek braved the hot, humid days of summer to build one of Delaware’s most innovative living shoreline projects using logs and branches gathered from the nearby woodlands.

“Using nature-based materials to stabilize shorelines is just as effective, and in some cases more effective, than hard-armoring methods such as bulkheads,” says Dr. Marianne Walch, the Center’s Science and Restoration Coordinator.

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Botanic Gardens’ Shoreline Stabilizing Project Makes Progress

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October 01 | by Chris Flood in the Cape Gazette

It’s been about a week since sand was placed along the Delaware Botanic Gardens’ Pepper Creek shoreline, and Brian Trader said a newly constructed anchored-branch toe is already doing its job.

The sand was white when it was put here, but it’s beginning to silt in, which is why it looks so dirty, said Trader, Delaware Botanic Gardens deputy executive director and director of horticulture. The sand is the naturally occurring base for other plant life found along the shoreline there, he said.

For the better part of 2020, Delaware Botanic Gardens staff and volunteers have been hard at work completing a shoreline stabilization project, which includes an anchored-branch toe hundreds of feet long and thousands of grass plantings.

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Birds Nest Revetment made from wood found on site. Photo by Chris Flood

Delaware Botanic Garden in Bloom During COVID

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August 29 | by Claire Jones in the Garden Diaries

Rhyne Garden. Photo by Ray Bojarski

On a breezy, refreshingly warm, not hot day, I visited the Delaware Botanic Gardens to see see how things have developed in a year of many happenings, most importantly the impact of COVID. Like most other public gardens, DBG has been closed to the public all season and as a young, still expanding public garden, I was apprehensive that the closing would have a detrimental effect of rampant weed growth which could quickly overtake new plantings. And I was curious if the pandemic had any impact on the garden creation progress, when I pulled up to the DBG parking lot.

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Beautiful Botanicals in Dagsboro

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August 25 | by Tracey F. Johns in the Tidewater Times

The new Delaware Botanic Gardens in Dagsboro, Delaware, provides a place to step away from Covid’s darkness to experience the ever-changing vibrant colors and relaxing effects of nature. More than 80,000 plants ~ the majority of which are native to Delaware and coastal plains regions ~ bounce light and add fragrance as you meander two miles of paths connecting meadows and natural forests for a soul-filling experience along Pepper Creek.

A trip to the Gardens also de-livers the earthy scents of salt marshes and the sounds of numerous birds, along with the sights of butterflies, dragonflies, turtles, frogs, otters and more.

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Shery Swed enjoying the lilies

Attached to the World: Piet Oudolf on the Garden of Life

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Ursula | Francis Till

In conversation

A pioneer of the New Perennial Movement in gardening and landscape design, which emphasizes naturalistic plantings that work symbiotically with their surroundings, the Dutch designer Piet Oudolf has become one of the most sought-after figures in his profession over the last two decades, creating gardens in places as disparate as Chicago’s Millennium Park, along New York City’s High Line and in the celebrated Oudolf Field on the grounds of Hauser & Wirth Somerset.

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Piet Oudolf in his home garden. Photo: Mark Ashbee

Video - 5 Essential Stops On Your Next Trip To Delaware

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Edited by Sheila O'Neill on 27 July 2020

Displayed on Wiki.ezvid.com

While it might not have the size of a New York or Texas, travelers shouldn't sleep on Delaware. The first state admitted to the Union, and one allegedly called a "jewel" by Thomas Jefferson, it's loaded with history, local flavor, natural New England beauty, and opportunities for shopping and recreation. The destinations listed here, ranging from gardens and beaches to museums and restaurants, should satisfy anyone looking to get the most out of the Small Wonder state.

Access the video by going to Wiki.ezvisd.com and read more about Delaware.

From Soybeans to Splendor

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by Lynn R. Parks in August 2020 Delaware Beach Life

Botanic Gardens transform a monoculture into a thriving, vivid display of diversity

Not too many years ago, the small farm field on the south side of Piney Neck Road, about 2 miles east of Dagsboro’s Main Street, was dedicated to the growing of soybeans.

DOGfish head learning garden at delaware botanic gardens

No other plants were welcome there — any that appeared were quickly dispatched by the cultivator or sprayed with an herbicide. “This was a monoculture,” says horticulturist Brian Trader. “Just one plant grew here, year after year after year.”

“This was a monoculture,” says horticulturist Brian Trader. “Just one plant grew here, year after year after year.”

That was the situation in 2013. But things are very different now. What was just a sea of beans is home to tens of thousands of blooming plants, grasses, trees and shrubs, most of them native to the Delmarva Peninsula. Read more…


Delaware Botanic Gardens keeps working through the COVID-19 pandemic

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May 29, 2020 by Kelli Steele in the Delaware Public Media

The Delaware Botanic Gardens (DBG) - located along Pepper Creek in Dagsboro - opened to the public last September after several years of planning.

The 37-acre coastal garden was supposed to reopen for a new season in March, but did not because of the coronavirus crises.

Click here to read more and listen to an interview with Brian Trader…

Botanic Gardens set to stabilize Pepper Creek shoreline

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April 23, 2020 by Chris Flood in the Cape Gazette

Brian Trader, Deputy Executive Director and Director of Horticulture, points to where a viewing platform will be off the Woodland Gardens trail. CHRIS FLOOD PHOTO

Looking to preserve its 12.5 acres of forested wetlands, Dagsboro-based Delaware Botanic Gardens has submitted an application to the state for a major shoreline stabilization project.

According to a public notice issued April 1 by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s Wetlands and Subaqueous Lands Section, the project has four phases. As proposed, the work will include building a 318-foot-long anchored-branch toe designed to attenuate waves, thousands of plantings and installing tree wads, the roots of fallen trees, to restore plant communities. Read more…

How a soybean field in middle-of-nowhere Delaware became a buzzy botanic garden

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September 23, 2019 by Adrian Higgins in The Washington Post

At the Delaware Botanic Gardens, drifts of perennials and grasses provide a season-long parade of shifting forms, textures and colors. Flowers are subordinate to the overall effect. (Adrian Higgins/The Washington Post)

Two years after an army of volunteers installed thousands of little nondescript plant plugs, a two-acre field of perennials and grasses near the Delaware shore has sprouted into a beguiling meadow conceived by the prominent Dutch plant designer Piet Oudolf.

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Delaware Botanic Gardens holds grand opening dinner event

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September 13, 2019 By Chris Flood in Cape Gazette

Former Delaware First Lady Carla Markell shows off a picture of the Meadow Garden presented to her by Delaware Botanic Gardens President Ray Sander and Executive Director Sheryl Swed. Shown are (l-r) Sander, Swed, Carla Markell and former Gov. Jack Markell. Photo by Chris Flood

The Delaware Botanic Gardens started a week-long grand opening celebration with a memorable dinner party Sept. 12.

Just as the night’s festivities were about to begin – outdoors – a strong storm system rolled through and drenched everything. The rain brought everyone in under the tent, but it didn’t dampen the mood.

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Delaware Botanic Gardens at Pepper Creek almost open

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September 13, 2019 By Kristin Aquariann in Cape Gazette

Photo by Kristin Aquariann

I have been following the Delaware Botanic Gardens’ growth since reading Henry’s article (www.capegazette.com/node/23902) back in 2012. Thus I leapt at the opportunity to attend the fundraising dinner last night in Dagsboro. Even if I wasn’t a huge fan of flowers, who in their right mind would pass up chilled baby lobster tails during cocktail hour?

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Delaware Botanic Gardens debuts next week in Dagsboro

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September 10, 2019 By Kelli Steele, Delaware Public Media

The Folly Garden

A 37-acre coastal garden in Dagsboro is set to open to the general public next week.

The Delaware Botanic Gardens (DBG) is located along Pepper Creek and will consist of four main gardens and a rustic cedar “Potting Shed” that will serve as a welcome center.

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Delaware Botanic Gardens Unveiling

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September 1, 2019 By The Garden Diaries

Picture by The Garden Diaries

Walking into the Delaware Botanic Garden on a sizzling hot morning in August, the first thing that I spotted was a a bright orange-painted box turtle scurrying down the pathway into the shelter of a nearby log. Being greeted by wildlife is typical at the soon-to-be-opened 37-acre Botanic Gardens that is located on the shores of Pepper Creek in coastal Delmarva, and is teeming with native flora and fauna.

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