Brookside Gardens and more on the storm...

View from the Japanese Tea House

A few weeks ago, we had an unusually mild summer day, perfect for an impromptu visit to one of my favorite places, Brookside Gardens. I did not plan to take photos, but there were too many pretty scenes to leave unphotographed.

When my 5 year old saw the border in the photo above, she exclaimed, "Mom!! Sister's pie!!!", recalling the rhubarb pie we baked for her older sister's birthday last year. Have you ever seen an edible border like this??!!

Funny story about the photo above. When I saw this lovey-dovey couple, hand in hand, chatting away, I remembered RoseBelle's post about an older couple which reminded her of a Debeers commercial. I watched this couple in adoration, admiring how they had so much to talk about after what appeared to be a good lifetime together. They sat on this bench near us and when we finished with our little rest and walked past them, the woman was on the phone. I overheard her talking about how she and her dad were taking a nice walk at Brookside Gardens!

Do you remember the sniper shootings maybe...7-8 years ago that happened in the DC area? They were targeting innocent people pumping gas or cleaning cars at gas stations? That was right in my neighborhood. I was teaching at the time (the uncle of one of our students was shot and killed by the snipers). We were in lockdown for weeks. Our entire area was freaking out. Quite a few people I knew would literally run from our cars to our homes. The memorial above speaks to this time.

Photos from the Children's Garden below...

I wasn't quite sure what the dark red plumes above were - larger and showier than astilbe, but certainly smaller than ornamental amaranth. The gardener said it was amaranth grown in pots. This is what accounts for the smaller than typical size. She indicated that this might not have been her intention, but a good tip for someone like me who loves amaranth but hasn't the space for it - stunting growth on purpose.

Above and below: I love the shapes, textures, heights, and all the interesting things going on in the Children's Garden. This is totally done right. You could explore this area for hours and make all kinds of pretend.

I am beginning to really take advantage of this beautiful garden. I've posted before on another visit, and also on the landscape photography workshop I took. I love that Brookside Gardens offers beautiful seasonal interest, a greenhouse full of interesting specimens, special exhibits, and children and adult programs. Their Wings of Fancy butterfly show is also an annual event my kids look forward to. We can do the whole thing in a day, or spend the whole day on one thing. Best of all, it's nearby and free. Any of these spots near you?

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After composing this post, I received an email from Brookside Gardens updating the serious damage the recent storm had on the gardens. Brookside will probably leave one of the many fallen trees so that visitors can peek into and learn about the underground structure of a giant tree like this one below that ripped up the boardwalk on its way down...

Photo via Brookside Gardens Facebook fan page

Near the end of the message from Brookside:

...While it won't be long before we clean up every broken limb, the long-term effect of this storm will be felt for decades by way of the holes in our tree canopy. While we mourn the loss of our trees, we look forward to the opportunity their loss provides. You gardeners all know that insatiable desire to add new plants to your gardens - you feel it every time you stop at your local garden center, or visit a public garden and find a cool plant you've never seen before..

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In my last post, I detailed some of the fun the girls and I had indoors during
the exciting, very brief, and fairly unpredicted storm, but it actually killed
several people in our area, including a neighbor who was the president of our
civic association, an environmental activist and from what I knew, an all-around
amazing guy. Carl was with seven local families near their community garden
plot. They were having a picnic celebrating their second harvest and also to
thank Carl for his leadership in attaining the land and creating the garden.
Carl rode his bike everywhere, including the 2 miles to the picnic. He used a
push mower and helped lead our neighborhood attain a more effective recycling and less
wasteful trash service. He was killed by lightening during the storm.

*I'm purposely not using Carl's full name because I want any searches to direct people to articles written solely about him.

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On a lighter note, if that is possible after this fairly depressing post, I am off to a magical land of Spanish Moss and Angel Oaks. Photos will probably follow, as will the opportunity to do the regular blog reading that I have missed so much!

WYG: what a difference a few weeks makes

A gorgeous planter near the entrance of the Administration Building of the National Arboretum.

Below are beets that I helped sow in the Washington Youth Garden just three weeks ago. Rows are labeled with pieces of old vinyl blinds.



A few other sights around the Washington Youth Garden on this very hot early summer day...

Things were smelling as good as they were looking - and I'm not just talking about the rosemary shrub we were weeding around. A local chef was doing an outdoor cooking demonstration for some WYG families. Can you smell the freshly harvested garlic sauteing in the pan?

Today's duties for the volunteers consisted mostly of taking care of the Bermuda grass - pulling, covering with cardboard, mulching...not fun, but like all weeding tasks, somewhat fulfilling as well. Here are some of us, sweaty but proud of how things in the perennial border look. I'm in the red shirt.

Here's Mamoi weeding (sorry - I'm spelling his name phonetically because I can't remember the proper spelling!). I learned the most interesting thing from him today. We were talking about bamboo when he mentioned having seen bamboo seeds in his country. He said that unfortunately, seeds bring poverty and famine (to which I was very confused). I did a little research on this later on and here's the explanation in short: Bamboo flowers/seeds about once every 100 years. There is actually a mass flowering of a certain type of bamboo, regardless of location or region. Due to the mass fruit/seed production, the rodent population booms. This boom in the population also means they will eat whatever is available, including food stores and farm crops. Many of these pestilent rodents also carry disease. Now if that's not enough, after the mass flowering, the bamboo dies. This is a huge loss of a natural resource used for building material, floors, furniture, many other products and for trade. All this could be really devastating to many countries that are just barely making it anyway.

Anyway, in addition to the knowledge I always gain from either the WYG staff or other volunteers, this week I also gained a fresh bulb of garlic! This is no small token for my 3 hours of labor on a 95 degree day because have you seen my garlic stock? Me neither but 8 months ago, it was here...

Nora's garden

Though we've lived in the same neighborhood for a long time, I'd never met Nora until this morning. Her husband has always been the mainstay of their backyard garden, and during my beginning days of experimentation with my own garden, he was on my list of people to one day consult. I'd see him in his garden during drive, walk, and jog bys, recognizing him from afar with his trucker's cap, work pants, and button-down short-sleeved shirt. He'd be casually working his plot, hoe hanging from the low branches of the tree that frames his vegetables.


Detailed in my (from the vault) post My Neighbor's Garden , I'd always thought it would be a good idea to seek out our gardening neighbors and learn their stories, but of course, there have been many excuses not to stop and chat. I'm working on jumping on more of these opportunities.



On my run this morning, I thought it strange to see this woman working in the garden instead of the man I'd seen working on it every other time. Nora and I met when I asked her if I could snap her photo for my blog. I commented that I'd noticed a man typically working this plot. She said her husband has leukemia and recently had a stroke. He is in a wheelchair now. These days, Nora tends to the garden, finding relaxation and peace in her work.



This morning, she told me she was working on tomatoes, and I noticed that she has moved some things around since she's taken over. Despite the changes this little garden has experienced, one thing that so obviously has carried over is the solace it provides the gardener. Join me in sending positive thoughts to Nora and her husband.