The Brookside Gardens are public gardens located within
Wheaton Regional Park
Wheaton Regional Park is a public park and county-designated protected area, located in Wheaton, Maryland. It is operated and managed by Montgomery County Parks (Montgomery Parks), a division of a bi-county agency, Maryland-National Capital Park ...
, at 1800 Glenallan Avenue,
Silver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ce ...
. The gardens themselves are open daily without charge. However, certain annual events there are held that may charge a fee. The gardens hosts a "Garden of Lights" exhibit that features a light display during the holiday season.
History
The garden grounds were originally part of a landscaping and garden center on a small farm owned by Stadler Nurseries.
Brookside Gardens opened to the public on July 13, 1969, with a conservatory and developed as gardens. The landscaping and conservatory were designed by Hans Hanses and Carl Schoening, respectively. More gardens have been added and refined to showcase local species over the current . Hans remarked "the main idea for the garden was to supply the average homeowner with ideas for his own use. Everything you see here is not exotic, but something which grows well in the metropolitan area and which one can buy in any garden center.".
A donation from Elizabeth Turner made possible the construction of a Visitors Center, opening in June 1998, with classroom and meeting space.
Features
* Aquatic Garden – water-loving plants with two ponds and gazebo.
* Azalea Garden – over 300 varieties of azaleas represented by 2,000 plants. Also rhododendrons, witchhazels,
hollies
The Hollies are a British pop rock band, formed in 1962. One of the leading British groups of the 1960s and into the mid-1970s, they are known for their distinctive three-part vocal harmony style. Allan Clarke and Graham Nash founded the band ...
skimmia
''Skimmia'' is a genus of four species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the rue family Rutaceae, all native to warm temperate regions of Asia. The leaves are clustered at the ends of the shoots, simple, lanceolate, 6–21 cm long and ...
, and shade-tolerant perennials.
* Butterfly Garden – Seasonal in summer only. Admission fee.
* Children's “School's Outside” Garden
* Conservatories – seasonal displays and special exhibits. The surrounding garden contains a collection of unusual conifers and groundcovers.
*Dry Stone Sphere—A stacked stone sculpture, by stone artist Devin Devine.
* Fragrance Garden
* Gude Garden – a Japanese-style landscape with
bamboo
Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...
dogwood
''Cornus'' is a genus of about 30–60 species of woody plants in the family Cornaceae, commonly known as dogwoods, which can generally be distinguished by their blossoms, berries, and distinctive bark. Most are deciduous trees or shru ...
, and groundcovers, as well as an island teahouse overlooking the ponds.
* Maple Terrace – raised beds within a planting of ‘Suminagashi’
Japanese maple
''Acer palmatum'', commonly known as Japanese maple, palmate maple, or smooth Japanese maple (Japanese: ''irohamomiji'', , or ''momiji'', (栴), is a species of woody plant native to Japan, Korea, China, eastern Mongolia, and southeast Russi ...
s.
* a
Japanese teahouse
''Chashitsu'' (, "tea room") in Japanese tradition is an architectural space designed to be used for Japanese tea ceremony, tea ceremony (''chanoyu'') gatherings.
The architectural style that developed for ''chashitsu'' is referred to as the ' ...
overlooking a pond stocked with
koi
or more specifically , are colored varieties of the Amur carp ('' Cyprinus rubrofuscus'') that are kept for decorative purposes in outdoor koi ponds or water gardens.
Koi is an informal name for the colored variants of ''C. rubrofuscus'' ke ...
.
* Perennial Garden –
wisteria
''Wisteria'' is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae (Leguminosae), that includes ten species of woody twining vines that are native to China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Southern Canada, the Eastern United States, and north ...
s,
rose
A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...
buddleia
''Buddleja'' (; ''Buddleia''; also historically given as ''Buddlea'') is a genus comprising over 140 species of flowering plants endemic to Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The generic name bestowed by Linnaeus posthumously honoured the Revere ...
allium
''Allium'' is a genus of monocotyledonous flowering plants that includes hundreds of species, including the cultivated onion, garlic, scallion, shallot, leek, and chives. The generic name ''Allium'' is the Latin word for garlic,Gledhill, D ...
sedum
''Sedum'' is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Crassulaceae, members of which are commonly known as stonecrops. The genus has been described as containing up to 600 species, subsequently reduced to 400–500. They are leaf succul ...
,
panicum
''Panicum'' (panicgrass) is a large genus of about 450 species of grasses native throughout the tropical regions of the world, with a few species extending into the northern temperate zone. They are often large, annual or perennial grasses, growi ...
,
lespedeza
''Lespedeza'' is a genus of some 40 species (including nothospecies) of flowering plants in the pea family (Fabaceae), commonly known as bush clovers or (particularly East Asian species) Japanese clovers (''hagi''). The genus is native to warm t ...
,
calamagrostis
''Calamagrostis'' (reed grass or smallweed) is a genus of flowering plants in the grass family Poaceae, with about 260 species that occur mainly in temperate regions of the globe. Towards equatorial latitudes, species of ''Calamagrostis'' general ...
,
anemone
''Anemone'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. Plants of the genus are commonly called windflowers. They are native to the temperate and subtropical regions of all continents except Australia, New Zealand an ...
agastache
''Agastache'' () is a genus of aromatic flowering herbaceous perennial plants in the family Lamiaceae. It contains 22 species, mainly native to North America, one species native to eastern Asia. The common names of the species are a variety of f ...
, etc.
* Reflection Terrace – a memorial to the ten individuals killed in the October 2002 D.C. sniper attacks.
* Rock Garden – spring flowering bulbs with grasses and conifers.
* Rose Garden – all types of
rose
A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...
s, including hybrid tea, rugosa hybrids, grandiflora, English, miniature, floribunda, shrub, groundcover, polyantha, climber, Gallica, hybrid musk, and the garden rose.
* Trial Garden – spring flowering bulbs, then summer displays of new and unusual plant varieties.
* Woodland Walk – forested wetland with
bald cypress
''Taxodium distichum'' (bald cypress, swamp cypress; french: cyprès chauve;
''cipre'' in Louisiana) is a deciduous conifer in the family Cupressaceae. It is native to the southeastern United States. Hardy and tough, this tree adapts to a wide ...
,
tulip poplar
''Liriodendron tulipifera''—known as the tulip tree, American tulip tree, tulipwood, tuliptree, tulip poplar, whitewood, fiddletree, and yellow-poplar—is the North American representative of the two-species genus '' Liriodendron'' (the othe ...
,
spicebush
Dried fruits of ''Lindera neesiana'' used as spice (coll. MHNT)
''Lindera'' is a genus of about 80–100mayapple,
fern
A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes exce ...
, and skunk cabbage. A native plant garden includes approximately 124 species and cultivars of Maryland native plants.
* Yew Garden – a garden room within yew hedges.
Gallery
Image:SniperMemorial2.jpg, The Sniper Memorial at Brookside Gardens
Image:SniperMemorial.jpg, Names of victims at the Sniper Memorial
Image:SniperMemorialViewOverPond.jpg, View from the Reflection Terrace over the Aquatic Garden
Image:SniperMemorialPondInscription.jpg, Close-up of the inscription at the pond at the Reflection Terrace
Image:SniperMemorialDedPlaq.jpg, Dedication Plaque at the Reflection Terrace
Flowers of Brookside Gardens 2020b.jpg , Flowers
Flowers of Brookside Gardens 2020a.jpg, Flowers
Butterfly of Brookside Gardens 2020b.jpg, Flowers with butterfly