Not Just a Voyeur…
I have already purchased my ticket for the Georgetown Garden Tour. It’s not until May 9th, but I can’t wait, so I’ve bought my ticket to ensure that soon I will be walking through Georgetown with a pass that will give me entree to some of its loveliest and most exclusive gardens. It’s like holding the golden entrance ticket to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. 
I last went on the Georgetown Garden Tour in the early 1990’s. I moved to Connecticut the following fall, and consequently haven’t been on the Georgetown tour since. Though I’ve been on many tony tours elsewhere, it remains my favorite. It’s not just that I am a voyeur (actually, I like to think of myself as “one in search of inspiration”). There is something uniquely singular about having permission to breach garden gates and doorways where access is normally denied, and entering what are essentially separate universes divided from the real world by a mere garden wall or fence.
Setting up this garden tour is a gargantuan task undertaken by the Georgetown Garden Club that begins with the enlistment of diverse gardens. This year, as Georgetown Garden Club member Jane Matz assured me, “The contrast in the gardens is small and large, very modern and very traditional, lawns and pools, guest houses and tree houses. We're thrilled to get every garden, as most visits to Georgetown never let you see the charm and expanse behind the houses”.
Yet it’s not just finding gardens and gaining permission to display them. Volunteers must be assembled, homeowners reassured, sponsors found, vendors arranged, publicity organized, and other logistics anticipated and thought-through. Surely prayers are said as well, not only for a beautiful “day of”, but also for a “Goldilocks spring” – neither too hot nor too cold, neither too wet nor too dry. One of the garden owners told me last week that, “preparing has been easy but a bit frustrating in that the cold winter delayed the production of the flowers”. Hardly had he uttered his words when, of course, the weather turned unseasonably warm!
This year’s tour features nine superb gardens. Several are formal, but one belongs to an old farmhouse – one of those delightful surprises one discovers in Georgetown. Several of the gardens are professionally designed including one that is congenial to wheelchairs (you might never notice), a formal garden that is unexpectedly large with gravel paths and a swimming pool, and still another that is, according to designer and long-time tour organizer, Edie Shafer, “snappy and stylish”.Evermay will be on the tour, but will not be the only garden of historic significance. After all, this is Georgetown! One garden boasts a water pump that was used to supply water when the White House was under construction and another was once owned by Abraham Lincoln’s only surviving son. Its’ boxwoods are said to have been planted by Robert Todd Lincoln himself over 100 years ago, just blocks from where his brother, Willy, was once buried. Its’ owner confided to me that “what stuns me about the yard is the feeling of quiet and country and we are literally one block from M St. I feel like I am in Middleburg when I sit back there. Also the history is very stirring, with the only remaining cornerstone of 1751 Georgetown.”
As a plant lover, I am dying to know what will be blooming a week from Saturday – tulips, bluebells, roses, wisteria, dogwoods, azaleas, peonies, alium, the catkins of Corylis avellana “Contorta” (but you expected a bit of Latin)? I find myself trying to anticipate what will be out, what will be gone by, and what not quite there yet. Since each walled garden is it’s own microclimate determined by site orientation, shade or sun, and other conditions, it will be fascinating to see the variation in plant development from one garden to the next. I have also heard there are edible plants in some of the gardens. I’m dying to see how they are arranged. Then there are the pots, containers, and urns: Will more exotic summer annuals have replaced pansies? It’s all too exciting!And being of an acquisitive as well as an inquisitive nature, I don’t mind confessing that I’m secretly looking forward to having tea at Christ Church’s Keith Hall (between 2-4 pm) and browsing various items at the Garden Boutique. I am told there will be herbs, small topiary standards from Cultivated Gardens, vases from Middle Kingdom, and various items on consignment from Georgetown merchants for sale.
Fortunately, one can enjoy the entire day, the tea, and all without guilt since the proceeds of this wonderful tour will benefit the preservation of historic parks and public spaces. Tickets are $30 before May 2 and $35 thereafter. I will see you there!
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