Where can you learn how to grow woody plants for the fall garden, tour a greenhouse, take in a lecture on forcing bulbs and see a tribute to the Japanese chrysanthemum -- all in one place this month?
Montgomery County's Brookside Gardens offers all this and more throughout the year for the gardening enthusiast who's willing to travel beyond his own back yard. A 50-acre public facility in Wheaton, Brookside is an easy day trip from Baltimore. A recent drive from downtown took just 50 minutes.
Situated in a quiet residential neighborhood within Wheaton Regional Park, Brookside is a jewel of a display garden. According to horticultural manager David Vismara, the site has been favorably compared to Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania.
Though most Baltimoreans probably are not familiar with the garden, "Brookside is no longer Wheaton's well-kept secret," Vismara declares. More than 300,000 plant lovers visited the garden last year.
"Everyone uses the garden differently, from neighborhood joggers to families to horticulturists researching plant material," says Vismara.
A stroll through the grounds and Brookside's two conservatories takes only about an hour and a half. Most people begin touring in the conservatories, where year-round displays of tropical plants mingle with seasonal flowers.
The conservatories -- called the North House and the South House -- currently display, among other exotics, paleolithic-like ferns, a topiary bunny, bromeliads and rare begonias. Baby tears grow out of sidewalk cracks and staghorn ferns hang on the walls.
Outside, three formal gardens lead away from the South House. As you exit and turn into the Perennial Garden, pause and look up the hill to see the view through the formal gardens to the Wedding Gazebo that crowns the hill.
Each fall, the formal gardens display perennials compatible with the Central Maryland climate. The Yew Garden also highlights seasonal annuals, and the Round Garden showcases purple-leafed plum trees and decorative ground cover.
The adjacent Rose Garden, renovated this year with a new focus on fragrance, is maintained with the help of the Potomac Rose Society. Here, the Brookside staff is working to bring back elegant hybrid tea roses.
In the Fragrance Garden -- designed originally for the enjoyment of blind visitors -- you can stroke leaves to stimulate aroma, feel the textures of the plants and sniff fragrant blossoms.
