Oehme Van Sweden - Sullivan Garden
This tiny paradise looks far more spacious than it actually is (only about 28 x 32 feet) ... but the size is typical for a back yard garden in Washington DC's Georgetown area.
The old three-bay garage, at rear, was turned into a storage area, but another owner could just as easily decide to turn it into an office, a studio, or even a small guest house.
The plantings are typical of an Oehme van Sweden garden... ornamental grasses, magnolias (Southern and sweetbay), crape myrtles, perovskia and coreopsis, oakleaf hydrangeas, hypericum and hostas, and much, much more.
The garden is actually a showcase for Haitian art, which the owner collects, and the plantings lend the back yard a tropical island air.
A lily pond with the seated sculpture of a woman by Mary Brownstein is set at an angle to the residence, on the terrace outside the kitchen doors. It's just the first of many works of art that are featured in this small garden, some even built into niches in brick walls.
In winter, when a lot of the plantings disappear, the garden's design is carried by the artworks, the distinctive paving patterns, and the broadleaf evergreen textures of holly, magnolia, and groundcover hellebores.
A small dining / seating patio is at the rear of the garden, shown here just outside the old garage, and the vine-covered pergola provides shade from steamy summer DC temperatures.
The lead designer of this garden was OVS's Lisa Delplace, now the firm's CEO. The careful details in paving, in design, in special features and plantings are typical of the firm's work, particularly in small urban gardens like this one.
The Sullivan garden is frequently on the annual Georgetown Garden Tour sponsored by the Georgetown Garden Club -- and it was on this year's Garden Conservancy Tour. Don't miss it the next time it comes around...you won't ever see many others like it.
(click on photos to enlarge - images ©Jane Berger)
Wow, this is one of OVS's best. These types of spaces are hard to design. I just found your blog and it is a great one. Thanks you for what you do for our profession!
Posted by: LAND architect | July 21, 2009 at 07:59 PM
OVS's garden's are always breathtaking. This one is a wonderful example of how their style can be applied in a smaller space.
Posted by: Kate Wiseman | June 23, 2009 at 01:12 PM