Margaret's Garden

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In August 2019, we began to weed an overgrown strip along 6th Street between E Street and South Carolina Avenue SE. As we uprooted the interlopers and trimmed unruly shrubbery, passersby told us "Margaret used to garden here." Seeking more information about this person so fondly spoken of we asked Nancy Metzger, a former chair of the Capitol Hill Restoration Society’s Historic Preservation Committee for assistance. Nancy shared an interview Stephanie Deutsch conducted for the Ruth Ann Overbeck Capitol Hill History Project and an article she also wrote for the Hill Rag about the "Tree Lady of Capitol Hill." We read about how Margaret Missiaen became a "guerrilla gardener" and so much more on Capitol Hill beginning in 1995. Some 20 years later, she put down her trowel and relocated to San Francisco. Helen Jackson, a nearby homeowner picked up that garden tool for a while and now places it in our hands. Guerrilla Gardeners of Washington DC is privileged to be the caretakers of this space and are naming it "Margaret's Garden" as a tribute to her legacy.

Photo credit: Capital Community News