“This beautiful sheet of water, like a sapphire gem set round with emeralds…” Samuel Francis Smith, History of Newton, Massachusetts, 1880
Environment...
The Dam, the Pond & the Forest
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The plant life at Bullough’s Pond is remarkably diverse and beautiful.
Flag Irises. Photo by Robert Gray, At-Hand Guides
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Weeping Willow. Photo by Hayley, Abadonnship, Flickr
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Bullough’s Pond was born when a man named John Spring built a dam across Smelt Brook in 1664 to power a grist mill. As a mill pond, Bullough’s Pond has always been shaped by the hand of man, and the plant life around and in the pond reflects human influence. T
Birches. Photo by Howard E. Fineman
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Oriental Bittersweet. Photo, National Park Service
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Winter Creeper. Photo by Chris Evans, Invasives.org
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Orange Jewelweed. Photo by Hayley, Abandonnship, Flickr
Invasive wetland plants like orange jewelweed, purple loosestrife and especially the yellow flag irises are very pretty, but crowd out native wetland plants like cattails and Joe-pie-weed. They also impede waterflow, and have a very negative impact on biodiversity. |
Purple Loosestrife. Photo by Hayley, Abandonnship, Flickr
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Cattails. Photo by Phil Roeder
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Joe-Pie-Weed. Photo by Hayley, Abandonnship, Flickr
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Interrupted Fern. Photo by Circeus, CC License
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Cinnamon Fern. Photo, CC License
Similarly, along the banks of the pond, helpful native plants like interrupted fern, cinnamon fern and turtlehead are displaced by aggressive, invasives like Japanese knotweed, bull clover, buckthorn and multiflora rose.
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Turtlehead. Photo, U.S. Forest Service
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Japanese Knotweed. Photo, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
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The paths along the roads on the north and east sides of the pond are hedged with an assortment of non-harmful invasives like rosa rugosa, and landscaping plants like fairy roses. 
Fairy Roses. Photo by Hayley, Abandonnship, Flickr.
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Rosa Rugosa. Photo by Dan Levenson, ©2013.
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