Bipeds of Brookland: Mary Pat

Bipeds of Brookland: Introducing the people who make Brookland their home, one step at a time.

Mary Pat Rowan is a landscape architect and president of the Greater Brookland Garden Club. She admits, “My garden isn’t so spectacular because I work in other people’s gardens.”

After studying under a professor in Wisconsin famous for prairie restoration, Mary Pat came to DC and began a business in 1980 designing residential landscapes with native plants. “I attempt to create a habitat, rather than a landscape: a place for plants and animals, butterflies and bees.”  She works mostly in the city and points out that “small gardens are more difficult than large gardens because you can’t make any mistakes.”

Mary Pat moved to Brookland in the late 80s after hearing about “A great place that nobody knew about yet.” She shares, “I like that when you talk to people who live here, they are so enthusiastic about Brookland. They love it for the same reasons I love it. It is a diverse environment, it’s got people of different incomes, different races, different interests…  and because they all live in different houses.”

She has been president of the Garden Club for about three years and is happy for the 2016 Brookland House and Garden Tour, Sunday, June 5th (Tickets can be purchased online from the Garden Club Website:www.GBGC.org).  

“In Washington, it’s the only house and garden tour that I know of where the homeowners are there with their families, so it’s unusual. The hosts are inviting you into their house, the owners are there and families are there to tell you what they did.”

Interview and picture by Tom Sabella