Our Trip to Mount Vernon

I had an opportunity to visit the historic Mount Vernon gardens for a second time. The first time was a high school field trip. I absolutely loved the view from the porch then and now, but I don’t remember the gardens. Not because they weren’t there. They have been there since 1760! More likely because I was 17 and way more interested in my friends and the freedom I was experiencing, far from my Kansas home.

I loved eating vegetables in my teen years, but I wasn’t paying attention to how they were grown.

Fast forward to 2025 and our 27th wedding anniversary. I chose to return to the gardens of George and Martha Washington. This time around I was in love with the brick-walled gardens. And it was a delight to linger slowly through each one with John. I love him, too!

The Lower Garden, also known as the kitchen garden, is designed as a European Potager. Spanning almost an acre in size, the garden is enclosed by brick walls adorned with espaliered fruit trees. The walls serve two purposes. They keep out wildlife, and the bricks hold heat, giving the peach, apricot, and plum trees a warmer microclimate. 

This Lower Garden is where the majority of the household fruit and vegetables were grown to feed 14-18 people daily. Within the garden walls, the garden beds are artfully laid out. A Potager garden is not only functional, but it is pleasing to the eye. The brick pathways are lined with apple and pear trees that have been trained into a living fence, standing about waist-high. Apples and pears can handle colder temperatures and don’t need the warmth of the outer walls.

Between the planting beds, there are grass pathways. And each planting bed is lined with an herb fence. One bed is rosemary, another lavender, and another is thyme. Each garden bed was then filled with a single crop, like lettuce or cabbage. Everything is in neat lines.

The garden was dreamy, and I’d love to go back when the trees are heavy with fruit. It would be a perfect place for my morning stroll with a hot beverage!

Next, we visited the Upper Garden and greenhouse. This was George Washington’s Pleasure garden. It, too, is surrounded by brick with gates to let you in, but the paths are much wider and made of gravel.  Originally, it was a garden for nut and fruit trees, but was given an upgrade in 1785. Washington wanted a place for his many guests to stroll and have conversations. Like the Lower Garden, the Upper Garden had multiple planting beds containing more flowers and boxwoods, but also a few fruit trees and some vegetables mixed in. Guests loved seeing the tropical trees he was able to grow in the greenhouse, as well as the two formal boxwood parterres in the shape of fleur de leis as an acknowledgement to the French for helping us win our independence.

The guests would have loved spending time in the Upper Garden and eating the food of the Lower Garden. The Washingtons hosted well. I know I loved my short stay in the garden!

My first thought upon entering the Lower Garden was I WANT THIS! And I don’t deny it would be lovely, but after walking a bit and seeing hundreds of fruit trees and plants, it doesn’t take long to realize the amount of work it would take daily is HUGE. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to work all day every day in my garden, and these gardens are not a one-person job. It would take many. 

Martha Washington once wrote that vegetables, “was the best part of living in the country.” And for many years I thought I needed country land to have all the things I wanted from a garden. I thought I needed a lot of space.

But it turns out we can get that same country garden feeling in a city backyard. 

Once I stopped looking at Mount Vernon gardens as a whole, and started breaking it down into its elements, I could see how I already have many of these things included in our Learn to Bloom Garden.

We have…

Borders that define the space

Clear Pathways for walking around the garden beds

Defined Garden beds filled with herbs in the corners

Arches instead of gates

Fruit trees

A place to sit

Flowers & vegetables

Many of us have room for a potager-style garden in our backyard. But even if you don’t, there are ways to create this feeling in the smallest of spaces. Give your raised garden bed a border of herbs. Have you tried Boxwood Basil? It is so cute. Maybe you can add a fruit tree in a pot. 

If you don’t have space to walk around a garden bed, build your garden beside an already existing path to the back door. Tuck in a chair somewhere. 

Most of what we want is a feeling, not the actual thing. I encourage you to dig deep within yourself and explore the feeling you desire as a gardener. When I step into my garden, I want to feel relaxed, ease, peace, and abundance.

If you don’t already have a garden space, pretend that you do for the next step. 

Write down how you feel when you step into your garden, and how your guests will feel when they step into your garden. What elements help create that feeling? Do you already have some of these elements? What can you add to get closer to your goal? 

Bottom line-Progress over Perfection. George didn’t build his gardens in a day.

Now that you have your feelings as a gardener established it’s time to get started. Here is my free guide on growing a garden in Houston, Texas.