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Falls Church Garden Club |
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Since 1950, in Falls Church, Virginia |
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Gardens on Tour |
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“My house, Woodland Cottage, was built in 1928. There is speculation that it was originally built as a summer house, although I have no evidence this is so. The house was enlarged in 1980, and I hope to add on to the back in the next couple of years myself. When I moved here, the front garden was tended, but overgrown. The back was heavily wooded. I literally had to take a machete and cut my way through the briars to get to the back property line. My friends and I rolled up English Ivy like a carpet. It covered the yard and trees. I removed several trees and left the old, majestic Tulip Poplars and Chestnut Oaks. Once everything was cleaned out, it had sort of a cathedral feel—high-branching trees that almost seemed like huge columns. The first thing I did, design-wise, was to create the pathways and movement throughout the garden. This created a natural framework of planting beds. I’ve never had a “plan” for the plantings-just planted things and moved them around when the spirit moved me. Hurricane Isabel drastically changed the garden. I lost three giant Chestnut Oaks in the storm. Thankfully, all of them fell towards the back, away from the house. The center of the back garden was destroyed. It took many weeks before I could make myself go back there. Irrigation pipes were in the air, lighting wires tangled, and the stone staircase tossed around—some stones as far as two houses away. The trees’ rootballs were 10 or 12 feet in the air. It took until the following summer to get everything back in shape—almost a year. I had good incentive: I was hosting the annual meeting of the Virginia Society of Landscape Designers and I was president that year! Just last fall, I had to have two more trees taken down over my pond. I really miss those trees; however it was necessary to take them out. I must get used to the openness. The positive side to all this is that there is a great deal more sunlight, and I can grow a larger variety of plant material. Things look healthier, too, with the increased light. I am in “zone denial”, which means I refuse to stick to the plants that are recommended for our growing zone, zone 7. You will see many plants in my garden that are not supposed to grow here, technically: Fatsia japonica, Viburnum awabuki ‘Chindo’, Needle, Dwarf Sabal and Windmill Palms, Loropetalum chinense, Fatshedera lizei, Aspidistra elatior, Ternstroemia gymnathera and Gardenias, to name a few. Southern Indica Azaleas and many species of Camellias thrive, too. Some years, things take a beating from the winter, but they almost always seem to come back in the spring. |
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The 2008 Garden Tour is scheduled for May 31st. The tour is open to members in good standing only. It’s one of the most—if not the most—popular events of the year.
In 2006 we toured four very different gardens, including the garden of a professional landscaper. The last page has a few shots of previously featured gardens. 2006 Tour Garden # 1: GARDEN AT WOODLAND COTTAGE, ARLINGTON |
