Eye-Candy Galore in the Gardens of Bethesda

The long waterfall of garden designer Barbara Katz

Thanks to Brookside Gardens for organizing an awesome collection of gardens for the public to drool over! It was all part of their hopefully yearly garden tour to benefit everyone’s favorite local garden – Brookside itself. The gardens were a big hit with tour-goers, all of whom I know appreciate the generosity of the garden-owners in letting us crawl all over their properties en masse.

This huge pond covers the entire back garden of Osamu and Holly Shimizu.

Above, the small garden of U.S. Botanic Garden Director Holly Shimizu and her landscape designer husband Osamu manages to hold a moss meditation garden, a sizable bronze fountain, and a huge pond and waterfall that create a grand view from their large, inviting back porch.

AAAAJune20127 — L: Hostas and Japanese Forest Grass are great together. R: Clematis at their peak can’t be beat.

Landscape roses and perennials cascade down a hillside toward the pool in another garden.

AAAAJune20126 — Great combo along some stairs, and a full-grown Mahonia holds a corner.

A grove of river birches with masses of nandinas and hostas form a dramatic foundation planting.

Another great mass – this one of oakleaf hydrangeas in a sunny border.

In a shadier spot, mophead and lacecap hydrangeas combine well with alliums and hellebores.

Below is a gorgeous feature that solves a water problem – this stream running between the curbside garden and front yard of another large property that had been plagued with water problems for decades, thanks to an underground spring. Some smart designer came up with this solution to managing water that manages to be stunning too.

Generous-sized borders with masses of hostas, Solomon’s seal, and more.

Ornamental grasses lead the way to the pool, then surround it for privacy, with no dropped leaves to contend with.

Masses of easy-care perennials and stepping stones through a wide foundation planting? Smart design!

Posted by Susan Harris

Stephanie Fleming

Stephanie Fleming was raised at Behnke’s Nurseries in Beltsville. Her Mom, Sonja, was one of Albert & Rose Behnke’s four children. She was weeding from the moment she could walk and hiding as soon as she was old enough to run, so many weeds, so little time. Although she quickly learned how to pull out a perennial and get taken off of weed pulling duty.