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The Washington Post, Weekend Section
April 28, 2006
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Hillwood Museum and Gardens abounds with luxurious, untouchable treasures such as gem-studded Fabergé eggs and delicate orchid blossoms. On Saturday's Spring Gardeners' Day at the museum, families will encounter a grittier, more hands-on Hillwood through activities that embrace plants, dirt and bugs. Green thumbs not required.
Although Gardeners' Day will offer programs for all ages, the event aims to "excite young kids about being outdoors and being in the garden," says Rebecca Singer, Hillwood's youth audiences manager. "As we get older, nature becomes less accessible to us. As adults, we don't want the dirt and the bugs anymore, so it's important to get kids involved in nature early on."
Absorbing nature at Hillwood isn't hard for visitors both young and old. The grounds, bequeathed to the public by Post cereal fortune heir Marjorie Merriweather Post, stretch over 25 quiet acres of Northwest Washington adjacent to Rock Creek Park, showcasing Post's passion for beautiful natural surroundings.
In her outdoor "garden rooms," you'll get the idea: A waterfall babbles while willow branches rustle in the Japanese garden; Roman goddess Diana watches over the fountain and ivy walls of the French parterre; violet hyacinths along garden pathways lean toward the ground, heavy with a syrupy sweet scent.
On Gardeners' Day, kids can do more than just admire this natural beauty: They'll write about it, learn how to take care of it and even be able to take a bit of it home.
Singer will host a workshop on haiku in the Japanese garden, where children will participate in an interactive story about a haiku master, then explore on their own and present their findings in haiku form.
Kids who are ready to "Dig In!" will join Hillwood gardener Melissa Danskin for her plant-potting class. Budding horticulturists will choose from a selection of annuals, planting the flowers in a six-inch pot to take home.
Danskin says she looks forward to working with children on the event day, particularly for the enthusiasm they bring. "They enjoy what they're doing. They don't know that it's work yet," she says with a laugh.
Gardeners aren't the only ones working outdoors; insects fertilize flowers, eat pests and help dead matter decompose. These are some of the topics that Kay Taub, former director of the Smithsonian Institution's O. Orkin Insect Zoo, will touch on in her "Meet the Garden Critters" program as young listeners get to handle unusual live bugs.
Taub uses her props -- including hissing cockroaches, Chinese silkworms and giant millipedes -- to connect audiences to the natural world. "There's something about having an opportunity to hold something on your own and really look at it up close," she says. "I don't care how many worksheets [you do about bugs], how many movies you watch; this goes way beyond that."
If kids are squeamish or don't want to get dirty, that's okay. Hillwood offers many places to steal a moment of bug- and mud-free respite. Families can partake in a civilized competition on the estate's putting green, meander through the Post pet cemetery or sip tea at the cafe.
And there's always the Georgian-style brick mansion. Children 6 and older can enter the house, where, much like the contents of a giant dollhouse, hundreds of exquisite objects will let their imaginations play.
"Ooooh!" a little girl shouted one recent Sunday upon discovering the diamond-studded wedding crown that Alexandra, the last czarina of Russia, wore in 1894. In an adjacent room, a father and son leaned toward a cabinet filled with delicate china plates. "Which one would you give Mom for her birthday?" the man asked his little boy.
Singer says that Hillwood's biggest challenge has been getting people to see the property "as a place for families. If you think of this grand house with fragile things, you think of it as hands-off."
Sure, visitors might not get to handle the Wedgwood ice pails, but during Gardeners' Day, they'll have no shortage of things to get their hands into.
SECOND ANNUAL SPRING GARDENERS' DAY Saturday from 10 to 3 at Hillwood Museum and Gardens, 4155 Linnean Ave. NW (Metro: Van Ness/UDC, then a 20-minute walk). 202-686-8500. http://www.hillwoodmuseum.org. Free parking. $15 adults, $5 children to age 18. Reservations required; call 202-686-5807 Friday or Saturday. "Meet the Garden Critters," "Dig In!" and putting activity are ongoing from 10 to 3; "The Poet in You" haiku workshop is 11:45-12:30 and 2:15-3. The house may be entered at no extra charge from 10 to 3. The cafe, which opens at 11, is accepting reservations for parties of five or more Friday until 4:30; call 202-243-3920. Others must make reservations at the visitors center on Saturday.
-- Jenny Mayo
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