Our Princeton Botanical Art Garden, nicknamed the Barden, has a special gathering of woody species. When Herrontown Woods was donated in 1957, this was a dense grove of planted white pines. The filtered sunlight and pine needles covering the ground made this a popular place for picnics. Then a series of ice and wind storms devastated the pines, creating openings where invasive species could gain a foothold. Beginning in 2017, the Friends of Herrontown Woods began removing the invasives to establish a botanical garden. A girlscout troop helped out, and as part of a Bar Mitzvah project, a boy cleared a loop trail that became known as “Jensen’s Loop.” FOHW founding member Kurt Tazelaar did much of the major clearing to prepare the site for native plantings of more than 150 species. The Barden is managed as a forest opening for people and plants, with whimsical pathways and gathering places.