Margaret Wilson Thomas, 83, has spent 40 years growing and selling flowers on a 5-acre parcel at 12410 Lawyers Road, named Margaret’s Gardens.
Affectionately known as the “Iris Lady,” Thomas said that before she gets old she’d like to see her property become a park for the area communities to enjoy in perpetuity.
“A community park is what we had hoped,” said Thomas, whose gardens have more than 2000 varieties of irises, but also includes peonies and day lilies.
Last year, Thomas and several volunteers tried to get the county to buy the property “to run it as a garden park,” said Thomas. They’re still trying, but the county has balked despite thousands of people who signed a petition last year supporting the idea.
THOMAS’S PROPERTY, which has reached iconic status in the community, allows many people a nature’s sanctuary where they come to paint and photograph the flowers and marvel at the rainbow of colors. The grounds, which are free and open to the community, attract most people on the weekends during the summer.
“School children come out here; parents come out here to teach their children environmental appreciation; people come out here on their lunch hours to relax and get away; and some people come out here to see what new irises look like,” said Edith Willis, an eight-year assistant to Thomas. “It’s become a tradition for so many families in the area to come out here.”
Willis, also a member of the Friends of Margaret’s Gardens, said that the biggest draw to the gardens is to see “every conceivable color combination you can imagine.”
People have told Thomas that her gardens are therapeutic. One visitor told her that her property is so beautiful she should put up a gazebo and host weddings.
It is no secret, however, that her property is worth millions of dollars. And although Thomas wants to sell it, she said that she would like to preserve what’s taken her so long to establish.
“A developer will snatch it up in a hurry,” said Thomas of her property. “I just hope it can stay a garden.”
THOMAS HAS NOW HUNG her hopes on Fairfax ReLeaf and its executive director, Kay Fowler, who has a plan to preserve the land as a “green technology education center.” Fairfax ReLeaf is a local nonprofit organization made up of volunteers who plant and preserve trees and restore habitat on public and commons lands in Northern Virginia.
“Our plan for the land is to be a sustainable living education center with other features such as a dog park, shade- and sun-tree nursery and a water feature to demonstrate proper water collecting and filtering practices that are in desperate need to be put in practice in Northern Virginia,” said Fowler. “We are putting together a design for a park that will serve the local community, the art following that enjoys the flowers and the greater community to benefit from all the advances in sustainable living practices and storm water management that are needed in our developing area.”
While pursuing several funding strategies for the plot, Fowler, with Thomas’s support, has worked to create a nonprofit organization, called the Oak Hill Green Technology Education Group, which will focus the effort to save the gardens for future generations. “We want to show people what this land can be,” said Fowler.
Fowler and other supporters are hoping to secure the funding needed to save the gardens.
“It’s Margaret’s property,” said Fowler. “She makes the call in the end, but she is committed to a public garden to get even more benefit for the community.”
Fairfax County Board of Supervisor Cathy M. Hudgins (D-Hunter Mill), aware of the efforts by Thomas and her supporters to have the county save the gardens, said that it has some merit. “It’s just how do we get there?” she said. “This isn’t a simple parcel to acquire.”
Hudgins explained that acquisition of the property by the county is complicated because of the size of the property, park authority requirements, and the property’s zoning, which allows the sale of flowers under a grandfather clause.
“I’m open to what can be done to keep it and overcome those challenges we face,” said Hudgins. “I know Mrs. Thomas would like to see a conclusion to this.”
The object, said Willis, is to preserve the gardens in perpetuity for the benefit of the community.
“The children need something besides sports,” said Thomas, who wants assurances that the gardens are maintained if the county should acquire the property. “Children enjoy flowers, and I like to see children enjoy flowers.”