DESIGN TIPS
The horticulturists at the Smithsonian Gardens offer these tips for improving your garden’s design: 1. Be curve conscious. Give your garden shape. By incorporating curves into your landscape you will encourage exploration. This will also create a visually dynamic space. Use edging, box hedges or brick walls to create definition for those curves. Add lighting, and you’ll be able to enjoy your shapely escape day or night. 2. Take a seat. Many gardens are designed to be tranquil spaces. Use seating in your favorite spots to relax and enjoy the view. Place cast-iron benches in the shade to cool down or in the sun to warm you up. Either way, the inclusion of seating will enable you to enjoy your beautiful creation. 3. Make a splash with a water feature. Fountains help create a soulful experience that speaks to all the senses. Listen to the sound, enjoy the view or let the cool mist wash over you. Add a water feature to your garden and excite your senses. 4. Go up a notch—think vertically. Adding height to a garden can make a dynamic visual experience. Incorporating grasses, flowers and foliage with tall and angular trees carries the eye throughout the space. 5. Formal is fabulous. Formal gardens are both visually arresting and sophisticated. Create elegant lines and shapes by pairing different flowers and colors together. Add decorative urns or sculptures to accentuate the space. A formal garden will transport you to a world of refinement.
Clay sculptures titled Always Becoming greet visitors on the south side of the National Museum of the American Indian.
NATIVE PLANTS
Here’s a handful of favorite plants at the Smithsonian Gardens that are native to the United States: SWAMP MILKWEED (ASCLEPIAS INCARNATA)—This pink-flowered perennial is native to swamps and prairies across eastern North America. It’s a great choice for an area with poor drainage, as it will tolerate even the muckiest clay. It attracts hummingbirds and butterflies, and it hosts the caterpillars of monarch and queen butterflies. Full to part sun. USDA Zones 3–9. JOE-PYE WEED (EUPATORIUM PURPUREUM)—Another pink-flowered, moisture-loving perennial, joe-pye weed hails from much of eastern North America. It’s a favorite of native bees and butterflies, and its flowers have a sweet vanilla scent. Pinching the stems in early summer results in a more compact plant and heavier flowering. Full sun to light shade. Zones 4–8. BLACK-EYED SUSAN (RUDBECKIA HIRTA)—This classic prairie perennial can be short-lived, but its cheerful blooms earn it space in the garden. Native to plains and pastures of most of North America, it will grow in sun or shade, wet or dry soil. Zones 3–7. COMMON BUTTONBUSH (CEPHALANTHUS OCCIDENTALIS)—This shrub grows 6- to 12-feet tall, sometimes forming a multistemmed small tree. It grows well in wet soil. Its ball-like white flowers, a favorite of viceroy butterflies, give way to button-like fruits; both make it highly ornamental. Native to swamps of eastern North America, it requires full sun to part shade. Zones 5–9. YELLOW WAKEROBIN (TRILLIUM LUTEUM)—After it blooms in spring this low-growing perennial dies back to the ground. If happy, it will spread to form a nice colony. Native to damp woodlands of the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast, it likes regular water and part to full shade. Zones 4–8.*
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GARDENERS ON THE GO!