Making Garden Magic Bloom

An event to restore a public garden space

Today ’s post is from Barbara Martin .

On May 1 , five supporter and I ( we ’ve dubbed ourselves the Secret Magic Garden Society ) staged a fundraising issue to restore the long - ignored and , up until now , overgrown corner of a jewel of a national park : Glen Echo Parkjust outdoors of Washington , D.C. , in Glen Echo , Maryland . build as a chautauqua at the turn of the 100 , the park became a wildly democratic amusement park in 1911 , which then closed in 1968 . TheNPStook over the park soon after , and , along with a nonprofit make 20 years ago , the Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture , it has been restoring the parking area , include its famed historicDentzel Carousel , chip by bit . But the back corner was a mass ofinvasivevines , trees , andweedssince the entertainment parking area ’s closing .

At the center of this turning point is a stonefountain , which was also covered with weeds and crumbling . In April 2020 , I dug the weeds out of the spring ( it was Covid ; no one was there to stop me ) and fill it with flowers in honor of my champion , Stephanie Beeler , who was a career employee of the NPS and theUSGSand who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer . I would send her photos to cheer her up during her treatments . While you’re able to’tnamethings in interior parks , they ca n’t stop over you fromnicknamingthings , so Beeler Fountain was hold .

Stef passed aside in July of that class , and along with a group of friends corralled for the effort , I began to enhance monetary fund to restore this particular corner in her honour , all of which culminated in this retiring Sunday ’s event , the Magic Garden Flower Bloom .

The event kicked off with a Champagne-Ardenne brunch for 120 guest . cater by Ridgewell ’s Catering , with medicine by acclaimed bassist Neal Perrine , the event featured a silent auction bridge , a maypole created by sculpturer Bart Hawe , and nearly 1,000 crocheted flowers , created by crafter around the country , that adorned the fountain and a white oak sapling in the garden . At 1 postmortem , the garden opened up to the world , and anyone could come and pluck their favorite flower in exchange for a donation to the park .

To appointment , we have raised $ 70,000 for this box , the proceeds of which have been used to remove more than 30 year ’ worth of encroaching Tree and vines ; steady the al-Qaida of Beeler Fountain ( and stabilize the Secret Fountain in the back ) ; constitute a garden of dozens of native tree , more than 50 shrubs , and hundred of flower along the perimeter ; replace the fence along the borderline , and excavate two miniature golf game course holes that up until then were buried underground . ( This corner had been a miniature golf course as part of the amusement parking area and was bordered by the two fountains . ) Future plans include rejuvenate Beeler Fountain and restoring these two hole .

The landscape architect for the grounds is Bevan Shimizu , who grew up in the neighboring township of Glen Echo and comes from telling landscape gardening lineage : His female parent , Holly Shimizu , is the former executive film director of theUnited States Botanic Garden . He has planted a garden of entirelynative species .

The photos are by Kaz Sasahara .

Beeler Fountain is planted up with flowers , including irises that were in the beginning plant in a Washington garden in the late 1950s , when Beeler Fountain was built .

Beeler Fountain is spread over in hundreds of hook flowers crafted by multitude around the land for the Magic Garden Flower Bloom .

A jazz trio assembled by noted bassist Neal Perrine accompany the issue .

The presenter bulwark was filled with flowers made for each donor by the event commission .

Flowers from the Magic Garden Flower Bloom

item from the silent auction

The Maypole was created by carver Bart Hawe .

Two fix from the original miniature golf track were excavated as part of the garden plan , and then were covered in Methedrine blossom for the event .

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