feature story

80th Annual Georgetown Garden Tour

By david roffman

MAY 2008

The 80th annual Georgetown Garden Tour, scheduled Saturday, May 10, 2008 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., includes eight private gardens, five on the east side of Wisconsin and three on the west side. All are within easy walking distance. The gardens are interesting, unique and charming.

Tickets are $30 purchased before May 3 using the form available on the Tour website www.georgetowngardentour.com by mail to Georgetown Garden Tour 2008, 3313 P Street, NW, Washington, DC 2007; by fax to 202-337-0755, or by calling 202-965-1950.  Tickets may also be purchased for $35 the day of the event at Keith Hall, 31st and O Streets, NW in Georgetown, or at any of the participating gardens. Georgetown Smith & Hawkins is offering a 20% discount the day of the Tour to all ticket holders.

The Tour is sponsored by the Georgetown Garden Club to benefit local organizations, with emphasis on the preservation of gardens, parks and green spaces. 

Tea and light refreshments are available to ticket holders from 2 to 4 PM at Keith Hall.

New this year, and as part of its on going effort to promote green living, the Georgetown Garden Club presents its Tulip Bag, an all purpose tote both practical and eye-catching. The bags, lovingly painted by Georgetown artist and long time Garden Club member Katryna Carothers, set this bag apart – it is both durable and washable, it is sparklingly elegant. The bags will be sold at the Garden Tour or may be ordered by calling 202-625-1175. They sell for $12.   

Each year, in conjunction with the Tour, the Georgetown Garden Club hosts a Tree Box Competition, focusing on tree boxes and front gardens. Visitors will see ribbons indicating winners the day of the Garden Tour.

The Georgetown Garden Club donates all proceeds from the annual Tour to gardens and green spaces in the community. Organizations receiving funds in 2007 were: the Georgetown Public Library, Book Hill, Georgetown Waterfront Park, the Student Conservation Association at Dumbarton Oaks Park, Trees for Georgetown; Tudor Place, Montrose Park, Rose Park and Volta Park Habitat Garden.

The Georgetown Garden Tour will take place rain or shine.

GARDENS ON THE TOUR

EAST SIDE
3028 P Street.  A new small garden, warm and charming. A most unusual tall white notched and arched fence lends drama; a pergola provides the perfect focal point. Plantings include nandina, lavender, Russian sage, climbing rose “New Dawn” and redbud “Forest Pansy.” By Meriwether Designs.

1623 28th Street.  Evermay   More than three acres of multi-level Italianate gardens and terraces surround an historic house—built in the 1790’s. With a gazebo, pools and sculptures, and a commanding view of the city and its monuments, Evermay is spacious, unique, beautiful.

2703 Dumbarton Avenue.  A delicious small garden: the large round Lunaform pot in an iron stand drips with ferns and ornamental oregano.  Herbs overflow, the effect is lush and soft; there is a spouting fountain, a seating wall, and an unusual styrax obassa. By Green Gardens.

2708 Dumbarton Avenue. This enchanting two-level garden features a large L-shaped pond full of koi overhung by a splendid red Japanese maple. An 1895 urn from Cyprus drips into a small circular pool and a creeping fig climbs a stone arch. Many treats. Rogers & Co.

3035 Dumbarton Avenue. On our tour for the first time: a refuge perched high above the street! The intricate gingerbread of the fabulous house watches over a large grassy oval edged with brick and Belgian block and surrounded by viburnums, crape myrtles, and red barberry and much more. DCA Landscape Architects, Inc

WEST SIDE
3314 P Street.  A garden planted mostly in white for magical dining on summer evenings by the dark water of the large pool.  At the far end is a woodsy area with a fountain and a bench, an enormous beech, fastigiate Bradford pears, pots of oleanders and agapanthus and much more.  Owner designed.

3415 Volta Place. This thoroughly inviting garden has lovely details: a beautiful pool, antique pots, lace-leaf maples, a hedge of weeping beeches, Chinese red garden sheds, a greenhouse, the murmurings of little birds... and a macaw.

1552 34th Street. A newly redone small garden. 2 large urns are planted with mondo grass; a brick paved square –placed on its point—frames an exuberant fountain. Plantings include the pink climbing rose Cecile Bruner, vitex, lace cap hydrangea, red crape myrtles, a fig, and a golden chain tree. By Sally Boasberg.