Flowers and foliage abound in the native plant border that welcomes visitors to the reserve. York County Master Gardener volunteers have nurtured the garden over a decade to form a gorgeous display.

This spring, they added new plant identification signs to the garden. The signs were made for us by Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens and underwritten by a memorial gift.

The family of Nat “Buddy” Wright, a docent and volunteer here back in the 1990s, felt this tribute was a perfect fit. We’re pleased that Buddy’s interest in teaching others about nature is being extended through these signs, which give the common and scientific names for almost 50 species:

• Actaea racemosa = snakeroot, bugbane
• Amelanchier canadensis = serviceberry, shadbush
• Aquilegia canadensis = wild columbine
• Arctostaphylos uva-ursi = bearberry
• Aronia melanocarpa = black chokeberry
• Asclepias tuberosa = butterfly (milk)weed
• Asarum canadense = wild ginger
• Baptisia australis = baptisia (blue wild indigo)
• Chelone lyonii = pink turtlehead
• Chamaecyparis thyoides = dwarf Atlantic white cedar
• Chrysogonum virginianum = goldenstar (green and gold)
• Clethra alnifolia = coastal sweetpepperbush, summersweet
• Diervilla lonicera = northern bush honeysuckle
• Dennstaedtia punctilobula = hay-scented fern
• Echinacea purpurea = purple coneflower
• Eutrochium purpureum = Joe-Pye weed
• Geranium maculatum = geranium
• Geum fragarioides = Appalachian barren-strawberry
• Helenium autumnale = common sneezeweed
• Juniperus horizontalis = 'Bar Harbor' creeping juniper
• Liatris spicata = blazing star
• Linnaea borealis = twinflower
• Lobelia cardinalis = cardinal flower
• Monarda didyma = beebalm
• Morella pensylvanica = northern bayberry
• Physostegia virginiana = obedient plant
• Phlox paniculata = garden phlox
• Polygonatum biflorum = Solomon’s seal
• Podophyllum peltatum = mayapple
• Prunus maritima = beach plum
• Prunus serotina = wild black cherry
• Rhus aromatica = fragrant sumac
• Rudbeckia hirta = black-eyed Susan
• Salix discolor = pussy willow
• Sambucus nigra ssp. canadensis = American elderberry
• Swida alternifolia = pagoda dogwood
• Swida sericea = red-twig dogwood (red osier dogwood)
• Symphyotrichum novae-angliae = New England aster
• Tiarella cordifolia = foam flower
• Vaccinium angustifolium = lowbush blueberry
• Vaccinium corymbosum = highbush blueberry
• Vaccinium vitis-idaea = mountain cranberry
• Viola labradorica = Labrador violet
• Viburnum trilobum = cranberry viburnum