More DC Open Gardens on September 25th
Remember last May’s Open Days tour in DC, sponsored by The Garden Conservancy? Well, mark your calendars again, for Saturday, September 25th, when five more gardens will be on display as our local Open Days events draw to a close.
Four of the gardens are in the District of Columbia; the other one is in the Woodside Park neighborhood of Silver Spring, Maryland in close-in Montgomery County. Here’s a little preview of the gardens.
Landscape designer Corinna Posner has two gardens on the tour – her own and one next door to it. A wooden arbor and gate connect them. Corinna’s garden is overflowing with juxtaposed colors, textures and foliage, all informed by a European design sensibility.
Corinna Posner's back yard garden is a visual feast.
Her neighbors’ garden is smaller in scope but full of wonderful stone walls that are both functional and aesthetic. The designer left the owners plenty of space to play with annuals in mixed beds, and even the shady parts of the garden have mixed plantings that set off the stone work beautifully.
The shady side of the Kendig-Dumont garden with its dining terrace and raised planting beds.
Elsewhere in the District, visitors will be able to explore the delights of a private garden on Benton Place, N.W., where a tropical border in the garden shines its brightest in the fall;
and to wander through the developed part of a 2.5-acre garden that belongs to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Duemling, near American University. The Duemling’s gardener grows most of the thousands of annual plants on the premises either from seeds, plugs, or cuttings, and the borders change every year.
A view of the "turret" wing of the Duemling house from one of the lower terraced areas.
One of the mixed borders, filled with shrubs, annuals, and perennials.
The final garden, located in Silver Spring, Maryland, is nestled in a wooded neighborhood on a lot with a number of level changes. The designer, Mary May, has turned the challenges presented by the site into an opportunity to create a number of garden “rooms” around the house, including a variety of seating areas for small gatherings as well as a lower level of mixed border plantings. For now, a view of the front yard, taken last September, will have to set the stage.
The front terrace of the Hester garden, one of the beautiful gardens scheduled to be open in the DC area on September 25th.
For more information on each of these gardens, including their addresses, visit the Open Days website. Admission is $5 per garden, although the Posner/Kendig-Dumont gardens count as one (what a bargain!) for purposes of the tour. Gardens will be open, rain or shine – hope to see you there!
Explore posts in the same categories: landscape, photographyTags: D300, design, private gardens, The Garden Conservancy
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September 5, 2010 at 8:01 am
I won’t be able to visit those gardens this year, alas, but thanks for a little peek – they look like beautiful places to be on a fall day. I especially would love to see a tropical border garden – sounds exciting!
September 5, 2010 at 10:25 am
Cyndy, thanks for stopping by! The tropical border is actually only one small part of this multi-room garden, which I had the pleasure of photographing recently. Hard to believe fall is almost here!