MOUNT VERNON, Va. — The 1785 tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), one of George Washington’s favorite trees, is a magnificent hardwood named for its tulip- shaped flowers. It’s a prehistoric species, about 50 million years old.
There are a pair of the trees that Washington placed along the curving paths flanking the bowling green at his historic estate on the Potomac River — and one of 13 trees he planted that still survive at Mount Vernon.
Imagine the conversations on these walkways. The Marquis de Lafayette, Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry all visited here.
Say “George Washington,” and most Americans automatically think, “first president.” But a recent visit to Mount Vernon revealed something new. Washington — Revolutionary War hero and statesman, that serious face on a dollar bill — was a farmer first.
Mount Vernon reflects Washington’s 45-year evolution as a landscape architect, innovative farmer and experimental gardener.
It’s a living history lesson, circa 18th century, for 21st-century gardeners.
During a tour, director of horticulture Dean Norton explained how Washington practiced sustainability, composting and crop rotation, and utilized native and exotic plants.
Mount Vernon was a working plantation that supported not only a family but also slaves and servants. Sheep provided wool; flax was grown to make linen. To improve soil so it could feed hundreds (including a constant flow of guests), Washington used crop rotation. Composted manure from the paddock helped replenish soil nutrients.
The house sits at the end of a long, broad “bowling green” (for gatherings and games) flanked by those massive trees towering over the winding paths. The huge lawn seemed appropriate for the tall, athletic Washington, who could hurl a shot put and knew how to dance.
Equally stunning was the view from the east piazza, the two-story porch Washington designed. The tops of shrubs and trees planted down the steep riverside slope form an informal hedge of hanging wood that frames the river view.
Washington transplanted many trees from the property’s vast woodlands — including crab apples, maples, locusts, sassafras, pines, catalpas, dogwoods and magnolias — to screen work areas and provide shade and fragrant blooms. He followed English landscape designer Batty Langley’s “New Principles of Gardening” in planting big trees: You shouldn’t have to walk more than 20 paces without shade.
Behind the informal wooded areas lie the Upper Garden to the north and Lower Garden to the south.
Box-trimmed parterres and colorful beds of seasonal bulbs and heirloom blooms fill the Upper Garden. Growing there were blackberry lily, tulip, fritillary, balloon flower, black-eyed Susan, catmint, coreopsis, foxglove, larkspur, phlox and stokesia.
The Lower Garden, about an acre, supplied fresh food for months, thanks in part to protective brick walls that created a season-extending micro-climate. Fruit was espaliered on the sun-warmed walls, a space-saving, decorative technique ideal for today’s city gardeners. The property also boasted its own vineyard and distillery.
Washington died at Mount Vernon in 1799, granting freedom in his will to the property’s slaves, whom he’d trained as gardeners and craftsmen.
The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association bought the estate in 1858 and maintains it today, raising funds through private donations, admissions and gift shop sales.
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