Tour Georgetown’s Garden Treasures: Tudor Place and Dumbarton Oaks
this Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 10:30 a.m.
Two of my favorite public gardens are in Georgetown. How lucky can you get? Better yet: Both are on tour this Saturday morning! At 10:30 am Gail Griffin, Director of Gardens & Grounds at Dumbarton Oaks, and Suzanne Bouchard, Director of Gardens & Grounds at Tudor Place will lead a group through both gardens.
What I love about these two gardens is the contrast between their histories and their designs. Tudor Place, steeped in the history of the Custis Family (Martha Washington’s granddaughter, Martha Custis Peter and her husband, Thomas Peter, purchased it in 1805) and the development of the Capitol, reflects the family’s requirements for food production and beauty as it evolved over six generations. It is unique in how long the house and gardens were owned and lived in by a single family. Moreover, no designer was involved in it’s creation yet it stands out as an intimate and beautifully laid out garden with a tremendous plant collection, some of which is related to plants at Mount Vernon. It’s worth a trip this week, just for its rose garden!
Dumbarton, on the other hand, is the result of a 25-30 year collaboration starting in 1921 between landscape architect Beatrix Farrand (niece of Edith Wharton, and the only female founding member of the American Society of Landscape Architects) and Ambassador and Mrs. Bliss —educated, cultured, and noted art collectors. Their efforts resulted in the creation of a spectacular terraced garden, a stunning blend of European and American influences.
This tour is a great opportunity to learn how the gardens at Dumbarton Oaks and Tudor Place have evolved aesthetically since the nineteenth century and the challenges surrounding their preservation today.
Reserve now, as space is limited!
Dumbarton Oaks & Tudor Place Members: $10
Nonmembers: $15
Go to http://tudorplacegardentour.eventbrite.com/ to register.
Herbs Workshop at Tudor Place, Saturday, May 21, 2011
If you love history, eating, cooking, and plants, you will be pleased to know there are still a couple of openings for the first of three “Garden to Table” workshops inspired by the historic gardens at Tudor Place. This first workshop, which will run from 10:30 until 2:30, will focus on container herb gardening with a Mediterranean theme, reflecting the travels of the last owners of Tudor Place. It will be taught by Suzanne Bouchard, Tudor Place Director of Gardens and Grounds, and lifelong "foodie" and owner of Just Simply...Cuisine, Chris Coppola Leibner. Just Simply...Cuisine is a teaching kitchen in Woodley Park that depends on local grocers, farm markets, butchers, fishmongers, bakeries and dairies to inspire students. Workshop participants will start the day at Tudor Place where they will learn hands on the basic steps of herb gardening, primarily in containers, and each participant will create their own herb filled container to take home. Lunch will be provided at Just Simply….Cuisine after the cooking class. Students will dine on their own culinary creations based on the herbs discussed and planted in the morning session.
Tudor Place is now a relatively formal garden but at one time had vegetable gardens and its owners grew herbs in the flower knot, which is now the renowned rose garden.
The next two workshops are “Edible Flowering Plants for the Garden” on June 18, and “Fruit Production for Small Spaces” on July 16. At both workshops, Suzanne Bouchard will discuss how the Peter family incorporated each theme (herbs, edible flowers, & fruit trees) into their gardens and examples you can see today.
The workshops are $90 per session or $260 for all three sessions for members, and $95 per session or $275 for all three sessions for non-members. You can register for these workshops (the deadline for the one this Saturday is Friday) online at: http://gardentotable.eventbrite.com/
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