When Beatrix Farrand began her work on the Green Garden, two majestic oak trees (one red, one black) were the centerpiece of the room. In keeping with the design ethos of creating in deference to existing topography, Farrand installed plantings around the existing giants in 1928. By the 1940s, the red oak had started to decline, and had to be replaced. The black oak was removed in 1993 under the direction of Meade Palmer. Today, a single southern red oak (the replacement for the original) stands alone in the Green Garden. A white oak was planted to replace the tree removed over two decades ago under the direction of Jonathan Kavalier in 2018. Though Farrand’s work began when Dumbarton Oaks was a private residence, the Green Garden’s central focus remains the same even in its transition to a public space. The namesake for the property itself, the oak tree is one of the highlights of the garden room as the visitor steps into it from the Orangery.
Image: Photograph by Stewart Bros., ca. 1932.
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