A group gathers at the commemoration of the Culpepper bird garden Friday, October 11.
A small group is gathered around the Migratory Bird Habitat at Culpepper Garden on a recent sunny Friday afternoon for the dedication of the new project. This garden was made possible from a grant awarded by Keep Virginia Beautiful to create a bird habitat.
Marta Hill Gray, Executive Director of the Arlington Retirement Housing Corporation (ARHC) that operates Culpepper Garden says, “This was the vision of one of our residents, Kit Britton who unfortunately died recently before he could see the completion of his dream. His vision was to attract birds.”
Jasmine Witcher, V.P. for Development at Culpepper, says Balfour Beatty Gilbane Company was looking for a service project,”And it was perfect timing for us.” She says, They came 6 weeks ago, during the rain of course, and volunteered their services all day building the water project.”
Paul Timpane, Director of Property Operations at Culpepper, donated the rocks for the water garden from his residence. Timpane comments, “This made my wife happy because she had been on me to get rid of them for a long time.”
The rock garden is surrounded by native plants that they are hoping will attract new birds to add to the cardinals, sparrows and bluejays that currently frequent the grounds. Dee Bivens, a Culpepper resident since 2011, is the go-to person for advice on plants and shrubs around the property and helped choose which plants to put along the rock garden. She says she grew up in the Midwest, and one of the reasons she chose Culpepper was because of the beautiful grounds that make it a pleasure to be outside.
Sherwood Wile, another Culpepper resident, is the local bird (and squirrel) expert. He is hoping to attract some migrating warblers in the spring as well as some chickadees and other local birds. He is holding a purple bird notebook that has been given to every resident for recording the birds they see around the property. Witcher says they plan to have resident walks around the property to record the birds they see and then an event where the residents get together and share what they have found.
The Migratory Bird Garden is just one more addition to the restoration of the grounds which has been a dream of Marta Hill Gray since she became the Director in 2020. The garden path has been planted with hundreds of daffodils that turn the grounds into a yellow wonderland each spring with new bulbs added each year. A First Responders Garden has been planted near the front of the building and is used to focus on the Arlington first responders in a special ceremony every year. The path around the buildings has a number of spots to stop and read, eat a snack at a picnic table with visiting relatives, sit on a bench and enjoy the wildlife.
Culpepper Garden is an award winning non-profit senior living residence for low and moderate income residents. It has 273 independent and 73 assisted living apartments and a waiting list of well over a year.