Perfect Gardens in Virginia’s Piedmont Area

In mid-October, the Association of Professional Landscape Designers held their national design conference here in Washington, DC. In addition to a full day or more of sessions on sustainability in gardens, marketing, design topics and the like, the conference included three full days of visiting gardens, two in the DC suburbs and one in the Piedmont region of Virginia, outside Charlottesville.

I had been involved in helping select the Maryland and northern Virginia gardens conference-goers visited, so I didn’t sign up for those two days. But I was really curious about two gardens scheduled for the Monday ‘Piedmont region’ extension of the conference, and so joined a number of good friends for a day trip to see them.

Our first stop was Mt. Sharon Farm, in Orange, VA. Designed by landscape architect Charles Stick in collaboration with the owners (Mary Lou and Charlie Seilheimer), the garden sits on a hilltop overlooking beautiful vistas that Mrs. Seilheimer described as thinking she is “lucky to come home to” every day.

One of the views from a path at Mt. Sharon Farm.

The garden itself was begun in 2000 but feels as though it has been there for many decades, in part because of the massive boxwoods that help create several ‘rooms’ and which Stick insisted should remain (another landscape architect whom the Seilheimers interviewed recommended removing all the boxwoods on site; he was not hired). Stick designed the garden with the principle in mind that all aspects of it should relate to the surrounding views outward, and it shows, even in spaces like the rose garden and the adjoining boxwood parterres.

Massive boxwoods predating the Seilheimers’ acquisition of Mt. Sharon were preserved and transplanted to form some of the garden ‘rooms.’

An enclosed ‘room’ of Leyland cypress.

This ‘Tapis Vert’ has a fountain at the end of it to draw visitors’ eyes to the view beyond. Hornbeams were originally planted to form an aerial hedge but failed to thrive and have been replaced with trident maples.

The boxwood parterre steps down to a rose garden.

A gazebo at the side of one of the axes of the rose garden.

Afternoon light in the rose garden.

Another view of the fountain in the rose garden.

Mt. Sharon is probably at its loveliest in the spring, and occasionally has been open to visitors during Virginia’s Garden Week. For more images of it during that time of year, visit Roger Foley’s website or check out his wonderful book, A Clearing in the Woods, which includes a chapter on Mt. Sharon.

After a too-short stay at Mt. Sharon, our bus took us onward to Warrenton, where we visited Marshfield, a 40-acre estate whose 12-acre garden has been designed by C. Colston Burrell. The current owner’s grandmother, Mrs. Samuel Appleton, was a founding member of the Garden Club of America, and so the gardens have been named the Appleton Gardens in her honor. The modest brick house at the top of the drive is tucked in among old oak trees and Japanese maples, but it was Burrell’s magic farther away from the house that drew me and my camera. We had plenty of time here, and ate dinner outside in the outer reaches of the garden. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves, but this was for me the highlight of the trip.

Masses of Virginia bluebells and ‘Viridis’ tulips bloom along this drive in the spring.

A small pool on the edge of the driveway

The pool leads up to a small waterfall.

A seat facing the meadow.

Small carex as a groundcover with conifers.

A grove of Gingko ‘Princeton Sentry’ above a small retaining wall at the edge of the property.

Another view of the Gingko grove.

A path into the Cutting Garden from the area where we had dinner.

Sedum and ajuga (cultivar unknown).

Backlit grasses in the Cutting Garden, with lantana in the foreground

Another view of the Cutting Garden

One section of the Cutting Garden includes boxwoods, a welcome bit of structure among the wildness of the annuals there.

At evening’s end, two APLD members stroll through the arch up toward the house.

Autumn Vistas at Dumbarton Oaks

One of the most amazing gardens in the Washington DC area is tucked away at the top of Georgetown. I’m speaking, of course, of Dumbarton Oaks, designed over a period of thirty years (more or less) by Beatrix Farrand. Farrand, the first woman landscape architect in the United States, worked with Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss to create an expanse of garden “rooms,” and designed every aspect of the landscape, from the plantings down to the finials and stone benches you find throughout. (For those of you who follow such things, National Geographic just ranked Dumbarton Oaks as one of the top ten gardens in the world.)

On the first of November, I went to visit the gardens. The last time I saw them, several years ago, I had been disappointed in the herbaceous borders. But this time the whole place looked spectacular; and there was a new “performance art” installation in the form of sound pipes in the Lovers Lane Pool, by Hugh Livingston. The Dumbarton Oaks website describes them as “an imaginary chorus on a watery stage.”

“Pool of Bamboo Counterpoint,” by Hugh Livingston, at Dumbarton Oaks.

Livingston’s sound “piece” follows on other temporary art installations that have graced other parts of the garden in past years, including Patrick Dougherty’s “Easy Rider” installation in the Ellipse, which I wrote about in an earlier post.

After investigating the pool installation, I spent several hours in the rest of the garden – the weakening fall sun was low enough that photography was less challenging than I’d anticipated. Hope you enjoy the show.

Dumbarton Oaks is located at 31st and R Streets NW in Washington DC. From now until March 15, 2015, the gardens are open only in the afternoons from 2 – 5 pm and admission is free.

 

Bench, steps and landing overlooking the Fountain Terrace

The containers on the Arbor Terrace looked wonderful.

The Herbaceous Border in late afternoon sun.

Asters and chrysanthemums in the Herbacous Border, with Amsonia foliage coloring a bright yellow.

Another view of the Herbaceous Borders

Light on salvia in the Cutting Garden.

Shadows on the gravel walk in the Ellipse. Hornbeam trees encircle the space.

The Beech Terrace. Need I say more?

A Farrand-designed iron gate frames a view into the Urn Terrace and fall foliage beyond.

Iron in the Garden

I have a thing about ornamental metal work in the garden. I like it a lot, if it’s well designed and works with the space it’s in.

There are so many ways to use it – benches for a start. OK, so they probably aren’t as comfortable as wooden benches, but they can really smarten up the space. The Victorian style of this iron bench works well with the Ripley Garden.

A heavy, well-painted iron bench invites visitors at the Smithsonian’s Ripley Garden.

More commonly, you may come across beautiful garden gates and fences to add a special touch to the garden; to let passers-by look but not touch, or just to serve as a backdrop to a glorious planting area.

This circular design on a gate leading to a small garden in Charleston SC is inviting. I wanted to step inside!

Detail of an ornamental gate in Charleston. Love the brass insets in the shape of a star and flourishes.

A custom-designed iron gate in a northwest DC garden designed by Corinna Posner of European Garden Designs.

A glorious iron fence with decorative panels at Magdalen College, Oxford sets off the herbaceous border in front of it with style.

Blenheim Palace’s gates are very grand and have lots of nice glittery gold bits.

Then there are opportunities to think outside of the box a little bit, either practically or to add a stand-alone sculpture to a space.

A custom-made bike rack near the parking lot at Chanticleer – where form mimics function perfectly.

Another iron bike rack, this one at the Morris Arboretum outside Philadelphia.

A freestanding metal sculpture (OK, probably not iron!) that would look right at home in someone’s garden. This, however, is found at the University of Georgia’s Botanical Garden (in Athens, Georgia).

What about the front garden, you say? Small space? How about an interesting railing or two?

Chanticleer’s magic includes a whimsical iron railing with supports that look like plant tendrils.

Iron railings enclosing a front stoop in Georgetown are designed along a musical theme – a lyre.

For something really out of the box – if you have a sizeable garden – consider rusted ornamental orbs like these or commissioning something from Andrew Crawford’s ironworking shop in Atlanta. Or let me know if you’ve come across something in your travels you’d like to share, and I’ll add it to the list!

 

An Artist Down the Road

In early March, the day of our “kick-off” meeting of all the crews and staff at Landscape Projects’ Poolesville, MD location, the other designers and I took a small road trip. Two miles away from our company’s physical plant, in Beallsville, sits Alden Farms, a local annuals-and-perennials garden center that happens to be owned by an accomplished sculptor.

David Therriault, the sculptor/gardener/entrepreneur in question, has been working with various kinds of “found” stone and metal for a number of years. What I loved about his work was its variety and how he combines different materials into a beautiful, cohesive work of art. Some of them are stand-alone sculptures of different sizes; some are water features. I saw at least a dozen I could envision incorporating into a garden.

If you’d like to contact David about his work, he can be reached via the Alden Farms website. If you live in the Montgomery County area, it’s worth a trip. But don’t be surprised if some of these works are gone when you visit, because I’m planning to take a client there soon, and she has a very large garden.

One of the water feature sculptures at Alden Farms

This piece, called “Shell,” could be used indoors or outdoors.

The stone used here is sandstone, etched with a beautiful design.

Some of the delightfully whimsical items available for sale at Alden Farms are by other artists.

One of my favorite works, this piece has metal insets and two different kinds of stone.

A detail from another water feature.

Inside David’s studio, this work caught my eye.

Another sandstone piece with a “yin-yang” flavor.