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Flower Garden
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For many Capitol Hill residents one of the great things of life on the Hill is the ability to ditch the car and walk. There is Eastern Market, Pennsylvania Avenues shops and restaurants, Barracks row, the numerous parks and a sense of community and belonging that is hard to find in any other Washington neighborhood. On any given day the streets are busy with folks walking to take care of chores, to mail a letter, to pick up a few things from the corner store before the afternoon cookout, or just out for a stroll.
Along the way they can enjoy gardens in a mix of styles that run seamlessly from one to the next. There are the grand front gardens on Massachusetts, South Carolina, and Maryland Avenues. There are quaint yet meticulous ones on practically every numbered street and then there are the wraparound, two-sided corner gardens on many of the Hills intersections. The home at 100 Fifth St. SE enjoys one of these wrap around gardens and although the address is Fifth St. SE, the house and garden sit in one of Capitol Hills most beautiful cross roads.
The owners Gene Berry and Jeff Campbell took over stewardship of the garden in 1994 and though the original camellias remain, the entire garden has been lovingly renovated. They spent the first few years in the garden discovering all that it contained and removing many of the overgrown spent plantings. The previous owner lived there for over thirty years and the garden, though once beautiful, had been neglected during the last years of their residency. So Gene and Jeff dove to the rescue with shovels and spades.
The construction of rooms
An important element of a great garden is the design and detail of the space. Installation of garden rooms, throughout the landscape, is nothing new but when well done it makes the difference between a hodgepodge of mismatched poorly placed elements and an eclectic ensemble of shapes and textures that are wondrous and intriguing. Anyone can dig a hole and drop a plant in but the design element is usually what is lacking in an amateur’s garden. This is not the case in Gene and Jeff’s garden. The garden is a tribute to the house, the block and the neighborhood. Though its creators treated it as an avocation, the thoughtful appreciation to all things artistic shine through every plant and element in the garden.
Plants flow from room to room with a flair that even the most seasoned landscape designers would be hard press to create. There is a sense of solace and tranquility while sitting in the outdoor living area contemplating the gardens seemingly endless expansiveness as it flows down 5th Street to wind wildly east at the intersection of A Street. The passageways and paths though overflowing on their borders with group and specimen plantings keep the movement and purposefulness flowing throughout the garden.
The garden gets its strength from its strong cottage inspiration. The columbine and bleeding heart concede to each other repeatedly throughout the garden. The roses pop off in the foreground of the camellias dark green glossy leaves. Daphne and lilies and iris and alliums spill over the pathways and demand to be noticed. The birdbath and pineapple sconce first contrast, then conflict, and then combine with the simple white iron bench. The brick and marble elements are from a Georgetown University garden. During its renovation, Jeff got permission to move those elements to his home garden. The cast iron urn has strong ties to the Victorian past that the garden now reflects. There is not a space that has not been thought out and not a portion of soil that does not belong to some plant or element. The senses are riveted from space to space and room-to-room to create a splendid orchestra of texture, color, and shape. The garden is not confined to the constraints of the iron fence boundaries it also explodes to the curbside tree box to create a full-fledged riotous explosive foyer to the garden.
A collection of time
One of the most striking elements of Gene and Jeff’s garden is the collection of plants. Gene says, “The garden, like life, is ever changing and is representative of where we are now.” In the beginning there was a collision of two tastes; Gene wanted the formality of boxwoods, while Jeff’s approach was more one of informal elegance. As with the plants, there was success and failure in their collaborations. However, that process has woven the space into one wondrous eclectic elemental garden.
The evolution to come
When speaking of their new introductions and plans of things to come, the excitement and desire that has driven them for fifteen years is far from lost. Gene’s fascination with discovering that one of his favorite lilies can be found in an article in the pages of Southern Gardens is enough to make the brownest thumbs gain newfound interest in gardening. Jeff’s enthusiasm about his new giant Himalayan Lily and his desire to continue to remove invasive plants to make room for new introductions are motivational fertilizer that can feed even the most disenchanted gardener. In fact while talking with them about their garden I was repeatedly reminded of why I love my craft.
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