Ordway Preserve
Goodhill Road, Weston, Fairfield County, CT
Source: Cooley, #35

Directions:

From exit 42 on the Merritt Parkway head north on Route 57 for 0.8 of a mile; bear right on Lyons Plains Road; drive 2.5 miles and turn left on Cart Bridge Road; turn right on Goodhill Road. In a short distance turn right into the Preserve entrance at #165 (and across from house #172).  Pass by the gate and continue up to the parking area.  

Geology:

underlain by resistant gneiss that created this undulating landscape; several brooks flow eastward into the East Branch of the Saugatuck River.

History:

The land donated by Katharine Ordway.

1979  --  dedicated.

Habitats:

mixed hardwoods on the east side; three former fields on the west side; an arboretum.

Trails:

9/21/2005.  We did not stay long because no dogs are allowed.  So I just jotted down some plants around the parking area while Cefe Santana smoked a cigarette.  Will have to come back when we don't have the dog with us.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney. 

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney

*  =  plants blooming on field trip, 9/21/2005

Trees:
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carya spp. (hickory)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Quercus spp. (oak)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Pachysandra terminalis (pachysandra)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)

Vines:
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)
Leontodon autumnalis (fall dandelion)
Lepidium virginicum (poor man's pepper)
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed)     *
Polygonum virginianum (jumpseed)
Rumex obtusifolius (broad dock)
Trifolium repens (white clover)     *
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)

Sedges:
Cyperus strigosus (umbrella sedge)

Grasses:
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Digitaria sp. (crab grass)
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)
Setaria faberi (nodding foxtail grass0  Acer rubrum (red maple)
(zebra grass)    planted

Ferns:
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)

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