Posting on New Year’s Day is my excuse to share photos of some gardens I visited in 2015, shots not previously shown here on GardenRant.
First, the fabulous Garden Blogger Fling in Toronto included everyone’s favorite modern garden, above.
Flingers also admired this back garden we stumbled upon. In 2016 the Flingers will be gathering in Minneapolis. (See y’all there!)
The only other out-of-town garden I visited in 2015 was Chanticleer outside Philadelphia, seen in this post.
My excuse for sticking to mostly local gardens? Gathering photos for DC Gardens, the nonprofit campaign I launched last March to promote public gardens in the Washington, D.C. area. So yesterday I browsed my 2015 shots of local gardens for some new ones to share here.
Gingko espalier in fall at the National Arboretum‘s Bonsai and Penjing Museum.
Trials of annuals at Brookside Gardens. We’re hoping to publish the results soon to help gardeners choose the best-performing annuals this year.
Dumbarton Oaks doesn’t encourage visitors (owned by Harvard, it doesn’t need visitor money or attention, I guess) but I visited in April (here on GardenRant) and throughout the season.
Dumbarton in May.
The Smithsonian has about 12 gardens around the Mall, and this Butterfly Habitat Garden is one of everyone’s favorites.
Another is the Victory Garden. (Here’s a good video about this garden and the history of Victory Gardens, with horticulturist Joe Brunetti.)
And of course the Ripley Garden.
My favorite museum in all of D.C. is the National Portrait Gallery, especially since its courtyard was enclosed (with a stunning glass canopy by Norman Foster) and the ground level designed by Kathryn Gustafson. Notice here one of her iconic water scrims – the thin layer of water moving across the floor. The courtyard is a fabulous space.
A gem I recently discovered is Tudor Place in Georgetown.
In April I happened to visit the U.S. Botanic Garden when the redbuds were at their peak in the all-native Regional Garden.
Meadowlark Botanical Garden in Vienna, Virginia has its own resident photographer but I visited in July and loved these views, above and below.
But back in my own back yard, which I’ve shown you recently, here’s a panorama from a different angle. I’m using the pano feature on my iPhone more and more for gardens.
Since I ripped out the lawn it’s taken three seasons for the perennials to fill in – right on cue. (They “leap” in the third year.)
Seeing these and hundreds more photos of my garden visits in 2015 reminds me how much I love being in gardens, especially gardens like these that calm and inspire. Happy New Year, Rant readers. May it be filled with garden visits!
My Year in Garden Visits originally appeared on Garden Rant on January 1, 2016.