THE WASHINGTON POST • THURSDAY, JULY 22, 2010
GALLERY ST. ELMO
10 DC
District
L OCAL LIVING
The beauty of harmony
Textures of tall grasses and perennials animate the garden beds between the sidewalk and the elevated porch of Suzanne Hubbard’s cedar shingle house in Takoma Park, which is not just a coincidence for its owner, a weaver. She worked with landscape architect Holt Jordan to create a garden that was natural without becoming wild. Jordan, mindful that a personal front garden still needed to connect to the neighborhood, designed a stone path that produced a strong diagonal link between the street and the house, a Sears kit bungalow from the 1930s. A perimeter hedge of privet,
PHOTOS BY MICHAEL S. WILLIAMSON/THE WASHINGTON POST
Suzanne Hubbard’s front corner yard in Takoma Park is a changing tapestry of plants. High summer brings blooms of crape myrtle, fennel and the little red bottlebrushes of the mountain fleeceflower.
a demanding evergreen that is rarely handsome in Washington, was replaced with cherry laurel and three pink flowering crape myrtles, now tall screens clouded with flowers. The central bed has been a stage for corn, wheat, sunflowers and switchgrass over the years. Now it is defined by feather reed grass, which has a rare quality of being upright but not stiff, dancing in the slightest breeze.
Hubbard points out a pleasing color combination, the blue of the fading lavender next to the red blades of Japanese blood grass and the mustard-yellow umbels of the self-seeded fennel. These assembled colors are low-key, more evident to the weaver than the gardener, possibly. She says she is mindful that
each little detail of the garden —a yarrow flowering, a bulb emerging — is part of a whole. For her, these are the threads running through a garden. Hubbard is also amazed at the sequential and concurrent cycles of growth, flowering and decline. “It’s all synchronistic; everything grows on time,” she says. We are sitting on the porch looking out, and the view is framed by the thick stems of an old wisteria. Beyond, the flowerheads of the feather reed grass quiver below the crape myrtle blossoms. A bronze fennel is coming into flower, attracting tiny pollinators. “There is definitely a form of
weaving I like,” she said, “the idea that I’m not just the one in control.”
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
MORE ONLINE At
washingtonpost.com/home: View See more photos of the four featured front gardens in a gallery. Share Proud of your garden? Submit pictures to our reader gallery.
Nectar draws butterflies.
Sunflowers are a source of food for wildlife.
Plantation Shutters 15%OFF Interior Shutters $
Canadel 5-piece setting including special orders
500 off
With this coupon. Not valid with other offers or prior purchases. Offer expires 7-28-10.
Mon.-Fri. 10:30-9 • Sat. 10-9 • Sun. 12-7
11301 Rockville Pike • White Flint Mall North Bethesda • 301-230-9747
www.tablesandchairsva.com •
TC1008@aol.com 703-938-0917
Free In-Home Estimate
www.shuttersbydesign.info
www.Shuttersbydesign.net
4938 ST. ELMO AVENUE BETHESDA, MD 20814
WWW.GALLERYSTELMO.COM
Hardwood Construction Free Installation
Custom Paint & Stain LifetimeWarranty
6 WEEK DELIVERY
Home Furnishings Consignments
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74