Oh to be a turtle and spend your days gliding through the water or sunning yourself on the rocks.  This is what fills most of our turtles days here at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. 

Last summer, 2007, was my first summer working here at the gardens.  As a horticulturist, one of the main areas I am responsible for is the Asian Valley.  When you first enter the AV, you walk down to a pond where our fish feeder is located and there is a little ‘island’ to walk out on and feed the fish (and turtles).  As soon as the weather warmed up last year I was approached by many visitors wondering where “their” turtle was—did he come back, did he die?  I, of course, had no idea what they were talking about as I had encountered no turtles thus far in the upper pond.  The visitors each had their own name for this turtle and all seem to think of this turtle as their very special friend here at the garden.  One particular gentleman theorized that this turtle had passed away, since he was very old and had been around that pond for many years, and the turtle disappeared into the mud earlier than normal in the fall and now it was spring and still no turtle.

I was intrigued by all these observations from so many people so I kept an eye on this upper pond.  Sure enough, after some time had passed, a large turtle appeared, and with Her, a tiny baby turtle!  So the mystery was solved and we’ve figured out He is indeed a She!  All summer I watched the happy visitors come and stop by the pond, delighted to find “their” turtle was back.  (I wonder how many names this turtle has!)  I watched the mother turtle hide and protect her young one, and oftentimes, the mother was present but the baby was not.  Sometimes weeks would go by and I would not see the baby turtle, and I feared one of our great blue herons had found the baby.  At some point in the fall, when the weather cools, the turtles disappear into the mud.

This spring, 2008, now that I know the history of our turtle, I kept close watch on the upper pond in Asian Valley.  All the turtles began to appear in all the lower ponds and lakes sometime around late March and still the upper pond was vacant.  I am happy to report that about six weeks later, the mother turtle made her appearance with—guess what?!...the baby turtle in tow, just swimming along as happy as can be.  The baby has doubled in size, from about 2 inches to now 4-5 inches.  Yesterday, I noticed the mother and her baby side by side sunning themselves on the rocks at the edge of the island in the upper pond.  What a sight to see!  You just can’t help but smile because they are so darn cute! 

I am also happy to report that there have been sightings of another baby turtle down in one of the lower ponds.  We can thank a very kind visitor for this, as he found a little baby turtle wandering on one of our garden paths one morning and asked me if he could put it back into our lake.

This is just one of the many reasons to visit us here at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.  Come visit, get acquainted with our flora and fauna, and even name a turtle or two.  You’ll be glad you stopped.

Laura Henley is a horticulturist at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.

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