As a garden designer, Mrs. Mellon employed vertical spaces. Espaliers and climbing roses cover the stone walls of the formal garden. This pretty climbing rose adds a touch of soft yellow and lovely fragrance to greet visitors at the side entrance gate.

This view of the upper terrace and blue kitchen patio illustrates the simple, elegant beauty of the Mellon residence designed by H. Page Cross. Playful drumstick alliums and blue iris wrap up the spring planting design.

A pair of geese and their goslings enjoy the warm weather by the Springhouse Pond.

A visitor “hangs out” at the BCCF.

The BCCF recently acquired Shenandoah and Cub Run Creole chicks from Tangly Woods Farm in Keelzetown, VA.

Iris germanica, German, or bearded iris were a favorite flower of Mrs. Mellon. Bearded iris have three upright petals (standards) and three lower petals (falls) with a fuzzy strip (beard) to attract pollinators. We selected this ethereal shade of blue from Mrs. Mellon's cutting garden and added large clumps of this fragrant beauty to the Square Garden, where a blue color palette dominates.

Shimmering, papery petals in a bowl shape are a trademark of Papaver orientalis. The lovely blooms of this perennial poppy in shades of orange, pink, white and red were grown for Mrs. Mellon to use in arrangements. Annual poppies such as California, Shirley, and Iceland poppies seed freely in the formal garden, adding a touch of whimsy and surprise.

Mrs. Mellon created a large potager garden in her walled garden at Oak Spring in the French tradition. Rows of colorful vegetables, including 'Little Red Gem' lettuce, 'Wild Garden Mix' mustard, 'Zermatt' leeks, and bronze fennel add color to the spring show.

This lovely white anemone style herbaceous peony originated in Mrs. Mellon's cutting garden on the Rokeby Farm. Gardener Todd Lloyd tended to hundreds of colorful peonies, iris, poppies, dahlias and other blooms in the cutting garden there. These long lived historic plants were used for bouquets and arrangements that Mrs. Mellon displayed in her residences and shared with lucky friends!

Peonies highlight the formal garden at Oak Spring in late spring. Fragrant fuchsia blooms cover this large double herbaceous peony at the back gate of the garden.

The upper terrace of the formal garden was constructed by our talented stone mason, Tommy Reed over the course of several years. Large boulders, including sandstone, were split by hand and put in place. This work of art adds an air of structure and permanence to the garden and provides small pockets to place white alyssum and the silver-foliaged plants Mrs. Mellon enjoyed.

The Square Garden is formal in its symmetry and layout. Annual rye grass planted in the early spring helps set off the planting design and the charming guest house where Jackie Onassis and her family often stayed.

Papaver rhoeas, or common poppy, glisten in Oak Spring’s wildflower meadow following a night of rain.

Members of Oak Spring’s purple martin colony crowd their nesting houses.

The Mary Potter crabapple arbor casts shade over the walkway leading into the formal garden.

Purple pansies color the wings of the butterfly-shaped beds in the Children’s Garden.

Beaureguard Purple Snow Peas grown at the BCCF.

Baby barn owls spotted in one of the property’s silos.

A young fawn nestles in the long grass under a Hardy Orange Tree outside the Oak Spring Garden Library.

Dew drops dot a sugar snap pea at the BCCF.

One of the Arboriculture, Landscape, and Conservation team’s recent reforestation projects (as seen through poppies.)

An ant crawls along the pale pink petals of a rose.

The beautiful dual tones of an itoh peony, one of several varieties grown at Oak Spring.

The yellow, star-shaped flowers on these foxtails in the pollinator garden are just beginning to bloom. Soon, each flower will be covered in tiny flowers, attracting many beneficial bees and insects.