History

Margaret Thomas and her husband George moved to 12410 Lawyer's Road in 1963. Margaret started her garden with irises from her neighbor, a member of the Chesapeake and Potomac Iris Society, who presented her with some irises "over the fence - that were much prettier than mine". This was the beginning of Margaret Thomas' Gardens. She joined the Chesapeake and Potomac Chapter of the American Iris Society in 1973. A year later, she found herself widowed with a young son - and a thriving collection of irises. She applied for and received a tax number in 1976. She sold irises and vegetables to support herself and her son and to afford to expand the size and variety of her gardens to include collections of peonies and daylilies. For more than 30 years, Margaret Thomas has opened her gardens to photographers, painters, school groups, community adult education classes and the general public. Volunteers have helped Margaret in her garden for many reasons, for many hours, over many years.

Margaret's friends and supporters formed the "Friends of Margaret's Gardens" in 2003. One of their main goals was to convince the Fairfax County Park Authority to include the land at 12410 Lawyer's Road on the Fairfax County Park Bond. In May 2003 and May 2004, the Friends ran Open Houses to raise awareness and ask supporters to sign petitions and write letters to the Park Authority. However, the Fairfax County Park Authority had received two other large tracts of land in 2003, as gifts, which took much of its time and focus. Thus the future of Margaret Thomas' Gardens is not yet secure.

Each year, the need to preserve Margaret Thomas' Gardens becomes more apparent. People have come to recognize it as a local "mainstay" that reinforces our community identity and coherence. The Gardens also is the last open space remaining on the busy Reston-Fairfax corridor, and it provides a lovely scenic respite for the commuters in this changing area. Everyone needs places to play - whether this "play" is gardening, flying a kite, walking a dog or playing soccer or football. There is a field next to the flower gardens that can be used for all these activities if it is saved as open space.

However, Margaret Thomas' Gardens is also an ideal site on which to implement a "growing" educational need! Fairfax ReLeaf is a 15 year old non-profit whose mission is to plant and preserve trees in Northern Virginia, preserving the Northern Virginia canopy. There is room at Margaret Thomas' Gardens for much needed additional tree nursery space: in fact, Fairfax ReLeaf has grown trees on this land for 3 years. Along with growing trees, Fairfax ReLeaf helps citizens to understand the value of stewarding trees to offset human carbon use and storm water run-off, among other things. Thus Margaret Thomas' Gardens could permanently serve as a "Sustainable Living" educational center where people could learn about:

•  the importance of trees in cleaning the air;

•  creating buffers for the storm water run-off to save the Chesapeake Bay;

•  the benefits of Low Impact Development; and

•  how to identify and control harmful invasive plant species.

To quote Baba Diom...

"We only save what we love. We only love what we know. We only know what we have been taught."

Margaret Thomas' Gardens, with its history and beauty, is already a much-visited spot. Here is a rare remaining opportunity to adapt an existing historic property for a much-needed public use that - through education, preservation, and play - will benefit both people and the environment.