Peg Bier’s Leafy Virginia Oasis

I first met Peg Bier this June at the opening party of our Garden Bloggers’ Fling at Willowsford Farm in Ashburn, Virginia. She looked lovely! It was fun to think we were going to be seeing Peg’s garden a few days later – the Fling write-up called her a “local gardening legend”.

Peg Bier-Willowsford Farm

Later in the tour, I spotted her chatting animatedly with another Fling attendee, Gryphon Corpus, soaking up the garden vibes at Meadowlark Botanical Garden in Vienna, VA.

Peg Bier & Gryphon Corpus-Meadowlark Botanical Garden

But the best sighting of Peg Bier was in the driveway of her own home in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia, where her large, 2.5 acre woodland garden appeared a leafy oasis in a neighbourhood of neat and tidy lawns.

Peg Bier

Even in the driveway, there were clues that this was not just the domain of a gardener, but a collector and artist as well.

Peg Bier-Succulent Display

Peg has lived in this pretty house for 58 years, raising four children with her late architect husband Richard and teaching her twelve grandchildren the fine art of gardening.

Peg Bier-House

As for that “local gardening legend” billing, for 25 years (1990-2015) Peggy had been a television personality on the show Merrifield’s Gardening Advisor produced by Merrifield’s Garden Center, (which we visited on the Fling, below), where she continues to work part-time as a garden specialist.  Imagine having this as your plant source…….

Merrifield Garden Center-plants

…. and this as your outdoor furnishings resource! (I could have spent a lot of $$ here, but contented myself with a sweet purple birdhouse and some windchimes.)

Merrifield Garden Center-decor

P.S. – A big thank you to Merrifield Garden Centers for hosting the garden bloggers.

Merrifield Garden Center-Garden Bloggers Fling

Here’s a little taste of Peg on the show, chatting with host Debbie Warhurst Capp about shade plants inspired by her own garden, which she calls a ‘nature preserve’ with its foxes and opossums.

Back to our tour.  As we moved into the back garden, I gazed up and saw a canopy of mature oak trees….

Oak canopy-Peg Bier

….and some tulip poplars (Liriodendron tulipifera) as well.  Keep in mind that this miniature forest is a literal ‘island of wild’ in a ‘desert of tame’. Residential development swallowed the land surrounding the Bier home, but Peg held on under her big trees.

Tulip tree-Liriodendron tulipifera-Peg Bier

Immediately behind the house is a roomy deck with a table big enough to seat a lot of family. And I loved the deck boards placed on the diagonal.

Peg Bier-Table & sundeck

And a comfy chaise for reading and relaxing.

Peg Bier-green chaise

If you took some time to watch the video above, you’ll know that Peg has hewn lots of paths out of the shade-dappled understory. This is her favourite path material: crushed ‘red stone” on top of landscape fabric. And look at that textural shade planting!

Peg Bier-Crushed red stone path

But it’s not all about the plants. Over the years, Peg has created little sitting areas out of the woodland. This is one I loved, atop a flagstone patio.

Peg Bier-patio

Much of her seasonal colour comes courtesy of inspired container combinations. Look at these cobalt-blue accents – and of course, the perfect complementary colour contrast in the orange Bolivian and Rieger begonias!

Peg Bier-Blue glazed accents

And I loved this little vignette, with French bistro table and chairs painted aquamarine. What a lovely place to have lunch!

Peg Bier-Aquamarine bistro table

With such a large property to tend, I wonder if Peg ever has time to sit in one of these lovely Adirondack chairs?

Peg Bier-Red Adirondack chairs

Another sitting area featured bricks laid around a mature tree.  The understory in the woodland includes natives like redbud (Cercis canadensis), fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus) and dogwood (Cornus florida), as well as shrubs and small trees Peg has planted including aucuba, mahonia, camellia, nandina, sweet box (Sarcococca), Japanese maples (many grown by Peg from seed), hydrangea and boxwood everywhere.
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Peg Bier-circular brick patio

Everywhere there were containers of tropicals mixed with luscious shade plants.  And more of those lovely orbs!

Peg Bier-Alocasia & tropicals

And loads of grasses! Variegated Japanese sedge (Carex morrowii ‘Ice Dance’) is a particular favourite of Peg’s.

Carex morrowii 'Ice Dance'-Peg Bier

Speaking of grasses, she loves dwarf mondo grass (Ophiopogon japonicus), too – and what a spectacular use of it, below.

Peg Bier-Mondo Grass-triangle

At the far end of the property, in the sunniest spot, there was a deer-proof enclosed garden filled with sun-loving perennials, vegetables and herbs, all mulched with pine needles.

Peg Bier-Deeproof veggie garden

Tomatoes are grown in containers here.

Peg Bier-Tomato-in pot

And there’s even the odd rooster.

Peg Bier-Rooster Art

I wanted to walk every path, but time was running out!  How beautiful is this?  Imagine those hellebores in early spring.

Peg Bier-Flagstone path

I found a bathtub with a spouting frog….

Peg Bier-Bathtub Fountain

…. and a few fairies. (Peg loves fairy gardens.)

Fairies-Peg Bier garden

This pretty path was near the front of the property…..

Stepping stone path-Peg Bie

…. where I found concrete stepping stones embossed with the handprints of all Peg’s grandchildren. Isn’t that lovely?

Grandchildren steppingstone-handprint-Peg Bier

At the very front where the neighbours can see them was a glorious profusion of sun-loving perennials…..

Sun perennials-Peg Bier

…. as if celebrating colour and fragrance on the edge of this shady forest…..

Colourful perennials-Peg Bier

…..and the grace of bees.

Bumble bee on echinacea-Peg Bier

The bus was loading and I made my way along a split-rail fence, sniffing this luscious trumpet lily as I took a last look at Peg’s garden.

Trumpet lily-Peg Bier

But as I was climbing up the bus steps, I heard her cry, “Oh, no. I forgot to show everyone my special garden.”  I wondered where that could be, since every part of this big garden had seemed “special” to me.  I thought it wouldn’t hurt to run back for two minutes, so I followed her back into the woodland. And there it was, her beautiful little memorial garden to her late husband.

Memorial garden-Richard Bier

Having spent time with Peg, talking with her and learning a little about her, I thought how special that marriage must have been, and how his presence must still be so strong in this lovely garden where family is cherished above all.

Memorial stone-Richard Bier

And then it really was time to go.

Touring Casa Mariposa with Tammy Schmitt

Tammy Schmitt is one of the most positive, open-spirited people I’ve ever met. A grade school teacher by profession and a funny blogger on the side, her generosity and can-do nature is on display beside her home for her entire Bristow, Virginia neighbourhood to see.

Sign-Garden Sign-Tammy Schmitt

But then Tammy’s garden is a little different than most in her subdivision. Not only is Casa Mariposa an invitation to any and all pollinators that might be feeling a little thirsty in a desert of nearby lawns…..

House Front-Casa Mariposa-Tamy Schmitt

…. it’s also home to her family and a posse of rescue dogs, including the one posing with mama below.

Tammy Schmitt

Tammy took the lead in organizing the Garden Blogger’s Fling that I enjoyed this June in the Capital Region, and she and her committee did a fabulous job of finding us wonderful private and public gardens to tour. One of them was her own, which she was overly modest in describing to us. For though it’s the kind of suburban property many of us have, Tammy has turned hers into a flowery oasis filled with plants (many native) to lure pollinators and songbirds.  Let’s walk under her funky arch and take a little tour of some of those plants.

Garden arch-Tammy Schmitt

I love garden with birdhouses and Tammy’s got ‘em in spades.

Birdhouse & daylily-Tammy Schmitt

Aren’t these sweet?  One of Tammy’s houses actually hosts a lovely wren.

Birdhouses-Tammy Schmitt

As a bee photographer, I adore gardens filled with the buzz of bumble bees, like this one foraging on Tammy’s lavender beside echinacea, also a great bee and butterfly plant.

Echinacea & Lavandula-Tammy Schmitt

…. and honey bees, which love her drumstick alliums (A. sphaerocephalon)……

Bee on Allium sphaerocephalon-Tammy Schmitt

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Asclepias & Knautia-Tammy Schmitt

There were hover flies on the blackeyed susans (Rudbeckia hirta).

Hover fly-Rudbeckia hirta

Speaking of blackeyed susans… isn’t the one below beautiful? The gorgeous selections of this native are called gloriosa daisies – this one looks like ‘Denver Daisy’..

Rudbeckia hirta-Gloriosa daisy

This is a classic combination: blackeyed susans and beebalm.

Monarda & Rudbeckia-Tammy Schmitt

A self-admitted pot addict, Tammy cures herself by… buying more and more…..

Containers-Tammy Schmitt

Arraying them up the paver steps to her house…..

Pots-Tammy Schmitt

I was taken with Tammy’s choice of natives, including this fabulous royal catchfly (Silene regia).

Silene regia-Tammy Schmitt

The garden was packed with bloggers and it was much too short a visit. After a filmed demo and interview with one of Tammy’s favourite products, John & Bob’s Smart Soil Solutions, who were generous sponsors of the Bloggers’ Fling, it was time to say goodbye. And just on cue, Tammy’s little wren popped out to sing farewell.

Wren-Tammy Schmitt