Annual event lets you peek inside local secret gardens

20140825_sbd_oud The D.C. area's 'Open Days Program' day is coming. Four private gardens will be open for tours next Saturday. Here's the Oudraat-Brown Residence. (Courtesy of the Garden Conservancy.)
The Macleish Garden in Washington, D.C. (Courtesy Peter Tomlinson.)
Chevy Chase, Maryland (Courtesy Michael Moran Studio.)
The Rauser Garden. (Courtesy of the Garden Conservancy.)
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Local Girl Scout saves historic garden

The Garden Conservancy is a great organization. Their famous “Open Days” program convinces owners of beautiful private gardens across the country to open their gates to the public one day a year, to raise money that will be used to restore once-beautiful gardens that have gone neglected.

But they’re a national organization, which makes the recent achievement of 17- year-old Hannah Barth all the more amazing. To achieve her Gold Award — the highest honor in Scouting — the Maryland teen “conserved” the historic Creeger House garden in Frederick County, replacing weeds and invasives with the heirlooms and natives that filled the garden in the 1800s. She even saved the Creeger family’s original climbing rose.

Nice work, young lady!

Private local gardens open for a day next weekend

The D.C. area’s “Open Days Program” day is coming. Four private gardens will be open for tours next Saturday, Oct. 18, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Three are in D.C. proper; a fourth is in Chevy Chase.

The cost is a mere $7 per a garden, and the money raised will be used to restore once-beautiful gardens that have gone neglected. It’s a once-in-a- lifetime — okay, once-a-year — chance to see what lies behind some of the most intriguing garden gates in the area.

Three of the Open Days gardens are in D.C. proper: The meandering and soul- soothing Macleish Garden; a colorful and whimsical landscape designed to reflect the owner’s homeland of Holland; and a Japanese-inspired garden that brings a touch of Zen to an otherwise busy residential neighborhood. Tour one or all three, but only next Saturday.

Here’s a link to more detailed descriptions. Note that due to personal privacy concerns, you’ll have to call the Garden Conservancy’s toll-free number for the exact location of some of the Gardens.

The fourth garden — in Chevy Chase — will interest fans of sustainable living as well.

Of course, the Underwood garden harvests tomatoes, but they also harvest sunlight with solar panels and the very energy of the Earth with a geothermal well. You’ll also see a working rain garden and green roof. But remember, like the other gardens, you can only see these wonders next Saturday.

Last call for lawn care

Poor Erik in D.C. may not have time to visit those private gardens, because he’s two months behind on his lawn care.

He writes: “I have a small yard that gets lots of late-morning and mid-day sun. What’s the right end-of-season prep? One last cut and some seeding? Fertilizer? Or have I missed the window?”

You better be really skinny, Eric, because that window is closing rapidly. If the grass is longer than four inches, cut it back to three.

And if you have bare spots you need to seed, first spread an inch of compost as both fertilizer and seed bed to help ensure speedy germination.

Don’t delay one week longer, or the soil will be getting too cold for seed or food.

Rose show this weekend

The Potomac Rose Society, which serves northern Virginia, D.C. and southern Maryland, will hold their annual Rose Show Oct. 11-12 at Merrifield Garden Center in Fair Oaks. Free and open to the public Saturday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.

Orchids on parade as well

The National Capital Orchid Society’s 67th Annual Orchid Show and Sale, featuring orchid workshops, plant vendors and exhibitions of these oh-so- exotic flowers takes place this weekend (and Monday!), Oct. 11-13, at Behnke Nurseries, in Beltsville, Md. Admission is free.

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