A Jewel of a Garden: Helen Avalynne Tawes Garden in Annapolis
By Dotty Holcomb Doherty
A red-shouldered hawk sits on a snag, surveying the landscape of tall trees and cattail marsh, calling to his mate as she soars to their nest across the ravine. Gray catbirds squawk from the blossoming azalea and mountain laurel; green frogs twang from the pond edged in the blues and yellows of flag iris. The delicate perfume of honeysuckle lingers along shaded paths where sherbet-colored tulip tree petals lay scattered, and Carolina wrens add their insistent voices to the lush understory.
Welcome to Tawes Garden, a microcosm of Maryland habitats, where the pines and bayberry shrubs of the Eastern shore’s coastal plain are only minutes from an Appalachian hillside.
This five-acre garden might have become a parking lot. But one woman’s persistence transformed this once barren ground into a lush, wildlife-filled oasis in the heart of Annapolis.
A Vision Realized
Through the 1960s, woodland bordered the triangular lot at the head of College Creek. Located southwest across Taylor Avenue from the Navy-Marine Memorial Stadium, the cinder plot sat bare except for the annual West Annapolis carnival.
Initial change began in the early 1970s when several state government agencies were reorganized into the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Construction began on the Tawes State Office Building, named for the first Secretary of Natural Resources, Governor J. Millard Tawes, and early landscaping included a pond, a circular path and some scattered trees.
Meanwhile, in 1973, Stevie Lyttle was formulating a plan. The former director of the District II Federated Garden Clubs of Maryland envisioned a handicapped trail built in a centralized location in Maryland, allowing universal access to nature and cultivated plants. Lyttle called on her influential friends, including Comptroller Louis L. Goldstein to help her locate the perfect spot. The five acre plot was selected.
Working with the Department of General Services, Department of Natural Resources Secretary James B. Coulter and employees, plus the District II Federated Garden Clubs, Lyttle’s dream evolved. By 1975, with the help of advisor and landscape architect Ken Ropp, the master plan was finished. The barrier-free public garden would depict three geographical regions of Maryland: the eastern coastal plain, the western Appalachian Mountains and the streamside ecosystems found throughout the state.
The plans worked around the early landscaping, though most of the plants were non-natives. The idea of using native plants, says Jay Myers, current acting manager of Tawes Garden, hadn’t taken hold in the 1970s like it has today. Most nurseries did not offer native plants.
Some of the earliest trees remain: Dedora cedars still add their dark green boughs to the southeast side of the buildings and Chinese elms shade the northeast side of the buildings, their fluted trunks sporting multicolored peeling bark in shades of green, orange and tan. But the small blue spruce trees that studded the Kentucky bluegrass knoll overlooking the main pond are gone. A mountain took their place.
Building a Mountain
It takes a mountain to build a mountain. In 1976, 40 tons of Greenstone rocks were trucked to Annapolis from Catoctin Mountain, leftovers from the construction of a parking lot at Cunningham Falls State Park. Most of the rock was buried to create the modest hill, which would rise 16 feet above the pond. The visible rocks—today festooned with moss and tucked under a broadleaf canopy amidst ferns and wildflowers—look as though they’ve been there for centuries.
A path was dug that wound up and around the hillside and was later filled in with gravel. Native trees were planted—maples, black locust, hemlock and oaks—and the wait began. It would take years for the trees to provide the shade needed for understory plants. But today, the mountain trail has become a woodland wonderland, newly decorated each spring with ferns, mayapple, jack-in-the-pulpit, Virginia bluebell, wild columbine, violets and bloodroot. No major pruning is done in these woods unless safety dictates. Dead and down trees take on the roles they would in natural woods, becoming homes for insects that subsequently feed a host of woodpeckers and other birds.
The emerging garden needed a name. In 1976, a contest was held in the DNR lobby and state employees and visitors were encouraged to submit ideas. One name captured people’s hearts: Helen Avalynne Tawes, former first lady of Maryland and herself an avid gardener. With the DNR building named for Governor Tawes, honoring Mrs. Tawes with the beautiful new garden seemed the perfect match.
In 1977, the Helen Avalynne Tawes Garden was dedicated in her honor, with the Governor and Mrs. Tawes presiding. Lieutenant Governor Blair Lee III signed Senate Joint Resolution #56, recognizing the Garden as an official state project, while Stevie Lyttle proudly looked on. Her dream was coming true.
The Transformation Continues
Wide smooth trails allowed easy access to the Garden for all visitors. In 1980, 90-foot sensory garden planters continued the barriers-free theme by bringing plants up to eye- and nose-level, with room underneath for wheelchairs and walkers. Children love it, says Myers.
Divided into texture, taste and fragrance, the garden’s sensory experiences intermingle. No chemicals are sprayed at Tawes Garden; sampling is safe and encouraged.
Visitors tantalize their taste buds with nibbles of fresh sage, peppermint, thyme, lemon balm, chives and spearmint. Lingering among nostalgic scents, they indulge in whiffs of apple-scented geranium evoking fall afternoons and hot-spiced cider, of old-fashioned lavender and rosemary and of Greek oregano, conjuring memories of favorite pastas. In the texture garden, eyes close and fingertips graze the smooth silky leaves of Siberian iris and the rubbery points of hens and chickens. The waxy leaves of heartleaf begonia, the flannel softness of lamb’s ears, and the squeaky surface of stone crop prove irresistible.
The Tawes Garden’s unique plan did not go unnoticed. In 1982, the American Society of Landscape Architects recognized the Garden with a prestigious honor: a national Merit Award for Design Excellence.
In 1986, Helen Avalynne Gibson Tawes, at age 88, visited her namesake Garden one last time when the gift shop opened, operated by Charlotte Huse.
But her Garden was far from finished.
More Features Added
The natural amphitheater at the northern end of the Garden lay dormant until 1987 when the grass around the circular path was replaced with flowers. Representing the cultivated gardens of Maryland, perennials and annuals were planted in a patchwork quilt pattern; the new Plant Mural greeting walkers as they sought exercise from their offices.
“Perennials tend to be 10-day bloomers,” says Myers, “so it’s nice to have annuals that bloom all summer.” Maryland’s state flower, the Black-eyed Susan, is a featured native wildflower, blooming throughout the summer and fall.
Benches encourage rest and an arbor, dedicated to Charlotte Huse in 2003, offers shade from summer heat.
On the heels of the Plant Mural came the dedication of the Eastern Shore in 1988. A boardwalk over the meandering stream led to a small peninsula where primary and secondary dunes were constructed, representing Maryland’s coastal plain. The secondary dune was planted with grasses and bayberries—one of the first shrubs to colonize beach habitat.
Horse equisetum grows happily along this sandy shore, along with prickly pear whose lemon-yellow blossoms last only two days in June. Lilliputian retaining fences keep the sand in place and birdsong obliterates the traffic sound from Rowe Boulevard.
Trees march in succession away from the sand, much as they do on a drive from Assateague to Annapolis. Sand-loving loblolly pines give way to sweet gum as you leave the coastal plain, to swamp maple, oaks, more maples and ashes. As soils change, so do tree species, and Tawes Garden has captured this transition.
Before the turn along Rowe Boulevard, note the long rows of pines demonstrating the value of trees as a renewable resource. Continue past a grove of maples and find the large white oak—Maryland’s state tree—planted by Governor William Donald Schaefer and Comptroller Louis L. Goldstein for Arbor Day in 1987.
The Arbor Day holiday has been a favorite for adding to the Garden. Beginning on that holiday in 1976, plantings along the streamside continually added to the Garden’s complexity. Today, huge bald cypress trees dominate the streamside bed, their knees poking curiously from the mud. Ironwood trees show off their muscular bark. River birches—some of the original plantings—preside over the undergrowth of lady, cinnamon and Christmas ferns, columbine, Joe-pye weed, skunk cabbage, jack-in-the-pulpit, and false Solomon’s seal. Sit on the long bench in the shade of sweet bay magnolia, beech, tulip poplar, sycamore, black willow, and red maples and listen for the migrant warblers as they stop over on their way north.
In 1992, a xeriscape habitat was added, an enticement to Bay dwellers to cut back on water use. This concept has been popular, and necessary, for many western homeowners, says Myers, but hasn’t really caught on in the east. The rocks of the garden dominate the eye, as red sandstone, gray sandstone and shale add to the tapestry of coreopsis, Russian sage, hostas, and cone flowers. The hillside is fragile, and visitors are asked not to climb, but a trip around the grassy hill to the top reveals wonderful stromatoporoid reef rocks, loaded with striations and sea urchins.
The latest rock added to the Garden was in 1997, when a six-ton sedimentary rock arrived from a western Maryland road construction site in Garrett County. “The ground shook when they dropped it!” remembers Myers. Named Waffle rock, the criss-cross raised pattern on the rock truly does resemble this breakfast confection and now sits tucked along the path under the western mountain trees.
Her Dream Lives On
Stevie Lyttle died in 1994. To honor her memory, the shelter area was transformed in 1995. Brick pavers now surround the wooden shelter, where robins raise babies in tiny nests. Pink azaleas bloom next to flower-filled planters, and redwood benches invite the weary to rest. A brass swan sculpture sits atop a platform along with two plaques. One, dedicating the improvements of the shelter to Lyttle, “whose love of nature and concern for people with disabilities led to the development of this garden” and the other, a favorite poem of Lyttle’s by A. A. Milne, “The Mirror.”
Only two full time employees work at Tawes Garden: acting manager Jay Myers and garden horticulturist Sara Smith. Three part time workers and numerous volunteers round out the staff. The very active Friends of Helen Avalynne Tawes Garden play an enormous role in raising funds for the bills the state cannot cover in its budget. The pond’s fountain, benches, numerous plantings, and the umbrellas and picnic tables in the dining area all were donated by the Friends group.
The main function of the Garden is to educate the public about natural resources, so plant labels are frequently found. Tours run at the Garden in the spring and fall for school groups, garden clubs, and senior groups. Summer brings the popular 22-year-old summer camp, where the first day is spent at the Garden, with scavenger hunts, t-shirt tie-dying, nature games, and crafts, before venturing out for the rest of the week on local field trips to study Maryland’s natural heritage. Many children, who first attend the younger 6-9 year old camp, return for the 10–12 year old camp. “They love it and keep coming back until they are too old,” says Myers.
Mother’s Day garden sales and trips to the Philadelphia Flower Show are some of the newer events sponsored by the Friends. But it’s in the Garden itself that we see their hard work, and the continual charitable work of volunteers, from donations of plants and trees, to spring weeding and planting. The Garden began as a work of love and remains so to this day.
Visiting Today
Each season brings its own flavor—and challenges, like last summer’s drought. Or invasive plant species. An explosion of duckweed last year made Myers philosophical.
“It may end up being a big plus,” he says. “We always had trouble with hydrilla and floating heart covering the pond every summer. The duckweed could be a blessing in disguise if it blocks light into the pond and inhibits the growth of these invasive plants.”
“Gardens are living things,” Myers continues. “They go through cycles and they evolve, so you make changes. This is not a static museum but a growing living environment.”
A place to visit, again and again.
“Our daughter just smelled her first honeysuckle,” says Robyn Rothamel of Glen Burnie of her 17-month-old daughter, Lauren. She and her husband, Reverend John Rothamel, Jr. came for a relaxing walk in the shade, to enjoy the Garden’s “picturesque series of moments.” Under the central pavilion, they took a photo of their young family, one they have decided to repeat each year.
Spring is the perfect time for a first visit. Wildflowers bloom, birds sing, and frogs peer from the pond where large mouth bass, sunfish, and channel catfish roam. Mudslider and red painted turtles sun themselves and a great blue heron fishes regularly along the pond’s shallow edges. Red-winged blackbirds squeak in the cattails as they set up nests, and baby ducklings hatch and greet children today as they have done for decades.
Fall brings a last explosion of color before the trees lose their leaves. In winter, the Garden looks its five-acre size. The surrounding buildings and Rowe Boulevard come back into view. But, as greenery pours over the landscape through the spring and summer, the Garden transforms.
“We expand to 20 acres,” says Myers, smiling. “The illusion is amazing.”
Visiting the Garden:
Hours:
The Tawes Garden is open daily from dawn until dusk; admission is free. Guided tours are available by reservation. Call Jay Myers at 410-260-8184.
If you enter the garden through the DNR building, you will need to show a valid photo ID and register with the guard. On weekends or after hours, access the garden to the right of the buildings.
Directions and Parking:
From Route 50, take the Rowe Boulevard exit (24) toward downtown Annapolis. Turn right on Taylor Avenue. The Tawes Garden is behind the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) building on your left.
You have several parking options.
1. Make third right off Taylor Avenue and enter Gate 5, Lot B to park next to Navy- Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Attendants are there from 9 a.m.-8 p.m. daily. $5.
2. Turn left onto Sachs Drive and park in DNR lot. A 30-minute visitor’s lot is available free at all times. If you would like more time, park and visit on weekends or after 3:30 pm during the week.
Public Transportation:
Take Annapolis Transit’s Gold Route on Rowe Boulevard ($1 with age discounts). You can also take the free State Shuttle or Navy Blue Route from downtown to the stadium. For more information, call 410-263-7964.
Cafeteria and Gift Shop:
Cafeteria is open from 7:30 a.m.–3 p.m.
Gift Shop hours: 9 a.m.–3 p.m.
Both open Monday through Friday, except state holidays.
For more information, call 410-260-8189 or visit the Garden’s
website.