The Secret Garden
It's possible this small piece of land is one of the most visited sites around Washington, D.C. But, it's also likely that hardly anyone pays attention to it even while they are there.
Located between the Washington Monument and the White House, the German-American Friendship Garden is anything but obstructive. No bigger than a basketball court, the garden is split in two by a sidewalk most people use to get from the National Mall to the Ellipse at President's Park. Looking south, the Washington Monument dominates the skyline.
Looking south from the Friendship Garden, the Washington Monument dominates the skyline. Photo by Manuel Bewarder
The garden, on the south side of Constitution Avenue between 15th and 17th streets NW, was dedicated by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 as a "symbol of friendship between the two countries," said Bern E. Deichmann, president of the German-American Heritage Foundation of the USA.
The site also celebrates more than 300 years of German history in the United States, including the first all-German settlement in present-day Germantown, Pa.
With its blooming greenery, benches and two fountains, the garden is intended to be a little oasis amid the National Mall, where people could "put their feet into the water and enjoy the flowers, where they can pull off and relax," said Thomas Rainer of Oehme, van Sweden & Associates.
This history is reflected in the garden's arrangement. Developed and created by landscape architect Wolfgang Oehme, the garden displays plants that are native both to the U.S. and Germany.
It includes plants such as black-eyed Susans, American-native wallflowers, blazing star, sedum and coreopsis, Rainer said.
"Some of the plants in the garden were actually brought in from Germany," said Deichmann, who spent part of his childhood in northern Germany before moving to the U.S.
Yet all this connection to history doesn't seem to impact the everyday life in the garden. These days, people – mostly tourists – stop by, mainly to sit down on one of the 12 benches and enjoy the early-spring sunshine.
"I didn't know about the symbolic background of this place," said Bernard Ungerer, a tourist from Belgium who was relaxing from a long walk on the National Mall.
On the ground, at the edge of the flower bed, a small and dark sign explains the history of the place. Its relative obscurity may be the reason for the widely unknown background of the garden.
"It's hard to get permission to change something on the National Mall," Deichmann said. "But we hope to get a better signage for the garden soon."
Next would be to bring together the two separate sides of the garden – by placing a third fountain in the middle.
The German Embassy in the District is also pushing for the preservation and a sustainable revitalization of the garden, according to Ulrich Sante, embassy spokesman. The embassy will take an active part in discussing the garden's future, which should become an attraction on the Mall again, Sante wrote in an e-mail.
"We are working on this," Deichmann said about the future of the garden.
