The Greater Brookland Garden Club began in 1998, when Wilson and a small group of his green-thumbed neighbors transformed a small garbage-attracting patch at 12th and Monroe streets NE into a garden.

Since then, the garden club has grown and strengthened through its various community projects – which range from replanting more than 500 tree spaces in town to maintaining a tree stand dedicated to two slain Wilson Senior High School students at 12th and Newton streets.

Currently, the garden club is preparing for its third "Houses & Gardens of Brookland" tour, which club members are hoping will surpass last year’s turnout. The tour will take place on June 8 from noon to 5 p.m.

House and garden tours went on in the Brookland area during the 1960s and for a few years in the 1980s, but then they stopped until 2001, when the new garden club decided to experiment with a revival tour. The 2001 tour included five houses and was open to members only.

Since then, the tour has expanded significantly. Half of last year’s 250 participants were from outside of the Brookland area, with a portion of those from outside Washington. Wilson attributes much of this to the effort put into advertising for the tour in and around the D.C. area.

The success of last year’s Brookland tour may also be due to the slow yet growing popularity of the area. Tom Rooney, who has lived in Brookland for 43 years, said he has noticed that home prices have gone up in recent years and that younger families are moving in.

Rooney, a sculptor and retired Catholic University professor, said he now spends more time tending to his garden than to his artwork. Rooney and his wife, Angela, live in a 1900 Queen Ann Victorian with a carriage house on their 1½ acre property, which will be featured on the tour. Some of his sculptures are displayed on the grounds.

The tour itself may be increasing the neighborhood’s popularity.

"I really think the tour has helped tremendously the image of our neighborhood and has inspired our neighbors to do more gardening projects," said Raelle Zapata, who has lived in Brookland for the last 13 years and has been a part of the garden club for the last four.

Zapata said she designed her garden over several years, inspired by gardening magazines and books and from sharing ideas with friends. By planting specific flowers and plants, Zapata said she intentionally created a garden that attracts birds and butterflies.

Ursula King, who said she considers her gardening to be a meditative process, will be displaying her home for the first time this year.

"I originally thought the garden club was a group where old ladies get together and talk about plants, but it’s much more," she said. "The garden club is more of a social venue to keep corners together."

When the garden club held its first party in June 1998, membership consisted of approximately 10 to 15 people. Now, six years later, there are 150 active members who have kept gardening alive within the community through participating in parades, plant sales and tree replanting. The funds from this year’s tour will be put toward maintaining community gardens and "re-treeing" the area.

Furthermore, this year many of the local businesses have purchased ad space in the tour guidebook. Additionally, several businesses have purchased their own plants and obtain maintenance advice through garden club members. By encouraging businesses to become involved with the garden club’s projects, "we’ve added a good feeling to our business area," said Wilson.

Since the Brookland house and garden tour began three years ago, it has grown to emphasize more personal gardens than homes, as well as neighborhood landmarks. This year the 6 acre garden of the 104-year-old Franciscan Monastery will be on display and the monastery’s garden guild will be selling illustrated guidebooks of the grounds in order to raise money for the Brookland neighborhood. Also included on this year’s tour will be the enclosed bamboo garden with 35-foot palm trees and ginger lilies at Island Jim’s, a neighborhood restaurant, and historic Brooks Mansion, now the home of the District’s nonprofit public access television corporation.

Wilson describes the tour as a way for those from outside the area to see what is so special about Brookland, as well as a way for Brookland residents to cross paths with one another and discover more about their community.

"This part of the city cares about their green space and about their trees," Wilson said.

Copyright 2003, The Common Denominator