Lately I’ve been taking the dog to what is referred to as Quiet Waters Retreat, since it is easy access from my neighborhood, and she doesn’t particularly care for the nearby dog park. It is a 19-acre property that AACo spared from private development, only to turn around with it’s own development plans.

For some inexplicable reason, they had the idea to run all of the proposed construction traffic through the neighboring Hillsmere community, rather than access the site from their own park, so it was quickly shot down. Prior to development, there was a farm road that ran straight from Forest Hill Dr in Hillsmere to Quiet Waters Park Rd, complete with a hedgerow that still stands today. So it wouldn’t have been a stretch to implement construction access from that direction. Anyhoo, the dog doesn’t care about any of that…

The top of the site is flat and open, with an amazing, $3.9m view of the South River and the Chesapeake Bay beyond. Sorry, rich people, better luck next time. The dog is grateful. It is a low grassy meadow, with surprisingly little turf grass mixed in, save for Red Fescue. We spotted several native forbs poking out of the meadow, which was relatively dry and sun/part-sun in most locations.

Salvia lyrata, Lyreleaf Sage, above. Hypoxis hirsuta, Yellow Star Grass, below.

Hieracium venosum, Rattlesnake Weed, above. In addition, we found broad stands of Gaylussacia baccata, Black Huckleberry, in drier, light-shade woods. We also found a couple of specimens of Rush (actually Luzula) that I have never seen before. Luzula echinata, Hedgehog Wood Rush, found above the toe of a slope.