Brief History of Boxerwood

Robert S. Munger, MD was almost single handedly responsible for the creation and development of Boxerwood.   He believed in giving plants a good start in life and setting them free to develop, mature, age, die and decay with little human intervention. In 1952 Dr. Munger and Elizabeth Evans Munger built their home in this slightly overgrown pasture and raised three children here. At first, to provide shade for their home, Dr. Munger began to landscape; in the beginning, he was simply a collector. He claimed to be unaware of the landscape and its design. His interest rested mainly among Dwarf Conifers, Dogwoods, Rhododendrons and Azaleas, Magnolias and Japanese Maples, but many others plants caught his interest.

In 1977, Dr. Munger retired from his medical practice as a General Practitioner to become his own full-time gardener. In 1984, he had help from Karen "KB" Bailey, who became Boxerwood's Gardening Steward after the BEA was founded years later.  In over 30 years of collecting, Dr. Munger guessed that he had planted somewhere between 12,000 - 13,000 trees and shrubs. He suggested that he had probably lost about half to wrong tree - wrong place, disease, infestation, short life expectancy, and any other reason a tree might not make it. “And yet, everything considered, what more healthy philosophy can gardeners - and for that matter the leaders of the world and the four or five billion others of this world - have than that of Martin Luther who said, ‘tho he knew that tomorrow the world were to go down, he would still plant his apple tree today.’”

His passion for his garden continued to grow until his death in 1988. Shortly after Dr. Munger's death, an inventory revealed that over 7,000 trees and shrubs were attributable to him. Some 2,500 were labeled cultivars. Today, we probably still have over 7,000 trees and shrubs (including just over 1,300 cultivars of Dr. Munger's), but nature has done more of the planting.

In 1996, Hunter Mohring and KB bought a portion of the land and began exploring ways to save the garden and develop its full potential for the surrounding community. The gardens opened to the public in April, 1997.  The next year, a Oberlin student majoring in environmental education, as her winter project, created a curriculum for students in grades K-5 that was aligned with the Virginia Standards of Learning. Almost immediately after that, Mollie Messimer came by in need of a site for a grant that had been written. In the spring of 1999, Mollie brought her grant and the children from Central Elementary School. The nonprofit Boxerwood Education Association was formed in 2000. Hunter became our Executive Steward; KB, our Garden Steward; and Mollie Messimer, our Education Steward. 

Just as the garden changes, so has Boxerwood.  The BEA has purchased large parcels of the property.  Elise Sheffield, our Education Director since 2004, has expanded the education program to Rockbridge Schools, elementary and middle; Bonnie Bernstein created the Early Education Program starting at PreSchool; the Play Trail was created and is loved by hundreds of area children; after-school programs have been initiated; special events have been added and existing ones expanded; our web presence has grown; and our garden continues to be cared for. 

Our current staff includes Bruce Bytnar, Managing Director; Elise Sheffield, Education Director; Jess Sullivan, Early Education & Family Programs Coordinator, Hannah, Klein Program Educator; Sally Grunewald, Communications Director; Faith Vosburgh, Horticulturist; and Clara Williams, Gardener.