Life grows on for tireless botanist
With the end of summer approaching, I wondered how Shirley Cross is doing. Shirley is 92 now, a Harvard-trained botanist who created the wildflower garden at Green Briar Nature Center in East Sandwich.
Two years ago on Labor Day, I had stopped by the nature center when Shirley happened to drive up in her 1987 pickup truck. In her straw hat, with thermos, picnic lunch and garden tools, she was ready to get to work, even on a holiday. She introduced herself and gave me a terrific spontaneous tour - Sneezeweed, turtleheads, bottled gentian, Joe Pye-weed - she knew all the Latin names.
Whenever I visit the nature center, I think about Shirley. Her house is nearby, right next to the Cape Cod Central railroad tracks, surrounded by a white picket fence and trees.
''Just come to the back door and knock, anytime,'' she once said. Each time, she has been unfailingly gracious, cheerful and involved in some interesting project. Last week, I ventured up to the kitchen door, peered through the window and there she was, seated at the counter, making a pie.
''Oh, it's a blueberry pie for my children, who are coming to lunch, so we've got to have something special,'' she said. She didn't miss a beat as she rolled out the top, carefully folded it, and cut small nicks to create a symmetrical pattern. ''I don't know if we got that in the middle or not, but we hope so,'' she said, sliding it into the oven.
Due to arthritis, she uses a cane now but she still volunteers every Monday in the wildflower garden, with a half-dozen others and horticulturist Catherine Paulson. With help from friends, Shirley also keeps up a large vegetable and flower garden in her side yard.
We went out to check the ''crops'' - tall rows of corn, squash, tomatoes, parsley, onions, green peppers. She knelt down and carefully selected an ear of corn for me to take home, along with a baby yellow squash and some parsley. Soon, her son, Tim, arrived with her granddaughter, Lydia Cross, a college sophomore, and I left them to their family luncheon.
It was a lovely, leisurely interlude at the end of another summer.
Without Shirley Cross, there wouldn't be a wildflower garden beside the 1780 homestead that houses the nature center's jam kitchen, classrooms and gift shop.
In 1979, The Thornton W. Burgess Society, which has a museum in Sandwich, purchased the house on Discovery Hill Road for a nature center. At Shirley's urging, the board of directors agreed to turn the house's large side yard into a wildflower garden.
''Shirley has a sparkling personality and always has a twinkle in her eye, even though she is a serious botanist,'' said Joan DiPersio of the center's staff. ''She's our Tasha Tudor. Shirley is also a very good botanical illustrator who has done the drawings for her own booklet.''
Tudor is an American illustrator and children's author who maintains an unusual garden in Vermont. Both women have the same birthday: Aug. 28, 1915.
Shirley Gale earned her doctorate in botany in 1941 from Harvard University, after graduating in 1937 from Massachusetts State College. In 1941, she also married classmate Chester Ellsworth Cross, who became director of the state Cranberry Experimental Station in Wareham from 1952 to 1981. They rented a house in East Sandwich and bought eight acres of cranberry bogs nearby to cultivate.
He was called for military service in 1942, doing scientific research; she kept the bogs going for the next three years. In 1945 when he was discharged, they bought their house and raised three sons: Peter, Christopher and Timothy.
Shirley was ''terrifically involved'' with her sons in Boy Scout activities, summers in New Hampshire and with creative crafts. She retains that same spirit of finding adventure in the life around her.
Visitors are welcome to walk through the garden at any time. An autographed booklet written and illustrated by Shirley, titled ''Green Briar's Wildflower Garden,'' gives basic information about each plant, the history of the garden, propagation, weeds to avoid, and the best growing conditions for each plant. It is for sale for $4.95 in the center's gift shop.
The Green Briar Nature Center is at 6 Discovery Hill Road off Route 6A in East Sandwich. For directions or information, call 508-888-6870 or go online at thorntonburgess.org.