By Denise Vogt
Denise Vogt and Frank Leone recently welcomed Adrian Bloom, British author, speaker, horticultural specialist and owner of Bressingham Gardens and Nursery near Norfolk in Diss, England. These impressive gardens feature over 8,000 types of plants in six linked gardens totaling 17 acres and are worth a stop on your visit to the area.
You ask what’s the connection? Well, as a young man, Bloom’s job brought him to D.C.’s Foggy Bottom neighborhood. The quirky name stuck with him and years later he started his own “Foggy Bottom” gardens. In 1967, he transformed a six acre meadow with trees, beds of shrubs, and conifers. His most recent book, Foggy Bottom – A Garden to Share is filled with photos of the gardens over four seasons with text and impressive references helpful for any level of gardener.
As we toured the neighborhood and shared its history, we often stopped to admire the diversity of trees along our route – crape myrtle, maples, oaks, redbud, dogwoods, plane tree, star magnolia, service berry, cypress and more. For more information on our trees, visit DDOT’s Urban Forestry’s website. Meeting Mr. Bloom and walking with him helped us to see an often overlooked aspect of the Historic District – the treasure of our trees.
Comments