Seasons of Care for Arlington Central Library Gardens

Text and photos by Devin Reese, unless otherwise noted.

If you take a walk around the Arlington Central Library, you can’t miss the gardens. Even on a fall day when deciduous plants have let go their leaves and annuals have died, the mosaic of trees and shrubs marked with botanical signs draws your attention. ARMN volunteer Yu-Hsin Hsu observes that, “People look at the signs, and take a picture. You hear parents talking to kids about nature. I remember a father showing a kid a plant they recognized from a book.” And the student garden at the nearby Thomas Jefferson Middle School is a library offspring, created by ARMN volunteer Marj Signer who started it using plants and signs donated by the Central Library.

But things have not always been this way. 

Once upon a time, said former Central Library Manager Margaret Brown, the areas around the library were just “patches of weeds and clay.” But an interlibrary loan specialist—Lynn Kristianson—with a graduate degree in botany became determined to transform the urban library landscape. Armed with gardening skills and persistence in removing invasive plants, she created a native, perennial pollinator garden on the east side by the auditorium. It brought a wealth of spring and summer colors to the library’s surroundings, and eventually, pollinators.

Today, you’re likely to see a slender, dark-haired woman working in the library’s gardens. Yu-Hsin Hsu was drawn to working in the garden eight years ago as she was completing her ARMN training. She went to return a book to the library and noticed Margaret Brown frantically weeding to restore the garden to its natural beauty for the memorial. Yu-Hsin offered to help.

With guidance from Margaret and from ARMN’s Noreen Hannigan about which plants were invasive, Yu-Hsin set to work cleaning them out, while harboring the nagging thought that the job would never be done. In a way she was correct. What she had thought was a short-term assignment to help restore “Lynn’s” garden became a long-term role of taking care of it, largely because there was no one else to carry on Lynn’s dream. Yu-Hsin had “come along and saved the day!” says Margaret Brown. And she was the right person for the job.

Yu-Hsin grew up in Taiwan in what she calls the “cement jungle” but always had a feeling that “nature is the best teacher for every human being.” She saw how clever her classmates from the countryside were and figured that “nature would transform a person to become a smarter thinker.” So, when she moved to the U.S. and had a daughter, Yu-Hsin wanted her to learn about nature. Together they volunteered in parks, and at Greenspring Gardens in Alexandria. Someone recommended the ARMN training to become a master naturalist, and her education during the training about the importance of native plants to local wildlife would soon be put to the test in recognizing natives and invasives in the library gardens. 

The tangible results of Yu-Hsin’s initial gardening started to show as native plants poked up in the areas that had been cleared of invasives. Still, she says that she felt woefully unprepared at first, “knowing nothing about native or invasive plants.” Even as she got familiar with the species, she was overwhelmed by the responsibility of tending and watering everything, reluctant to recruit volunteers, and shy about answering questions from curious people passing by the gardens. 

Then, Todd Minners got involved. He had retired from an engineering desk career, gotten his own ARMN master naturalist certification, and became a roving volunteer as well as ARMN’s treasurer. Todd was inspired by the example set by his late mother, a Master Gardener who made her mark on the Bethesda community through her volunteering and mentoring. Working on restoring native plants was not only a tribute to his mom, but also an extension of his initiative to transition his own yard to natives. When he heard in 2020 that Yu-Hsin was single-handedly managing the library gardens, Todd saw “an opportunity to make a difference by helping out.” 

Todd likes making lists. Says Yu-Hsin, “He’s amazing because he came in right away with his Excel spreadsheet and said, “you likely have 60 species.” Todd noticed Yu-Hsin’s “creative and artistic energy.” So, while he offered an organizational strategy, including maintaining a plant list, Yu-Hsin continued planting and envisioning new directions for the garden. 

Since then, Todd has “scurried around” after her, saying “Tell me what you planted,” so he can keep the inventory and signage up to date as plants die and others are added. The signs include not only the common names of the native plants, but also the scientific names (which Lynn would appreciate), and cross-cutting themes, such as pollination. Seasonally, the sign sets are changed out to reflect the important but distinct garden features in the summer versus the winter.  

By Todd’s count, the gardens, which include two sunny areas and two shady areas, now boast more than 70 plant species. Native plants are showcased in the demo gardens at both the east and south entrances to the library. The diverse assemblage of plants—while initially based on purchases by first Lynn and then Yu-Hsin—now include many plants donated from the Virginia Native Plant Society or other organizations that share ARMN’s mission.

The library’s gardens have also sparked collaborations with other regional and national organizations. Supplies are stored in a shed shared with an Arlington Friends of Urban Agriculture vegetable garden near the back door of the library, part of its Plot Against Hunger initiative. Its vegetable garden—full of well-tended produce—flanks the native plant gardens. Six of the library garden’s plants are also part of a national study of phenology, i.e., of trends in plant growth called Nature’s Notebook, that ARMN supports through data collection at three sites.

On a recent, rainy afternoon, I watched Yu-Hsin and Todd Minners talk their way through the garden, and there wasn’t a dull moment. Yu-Hsin was bubbling with ideas for the future to make the garden “even more beautiful,” like adding a log similar to one she had seen in Glen Carlyn Park that was draped with flowers, or a terraced effect with year-round colors to “show people that native can be pretty.”

Todd in his quiet way supported and guided Yu-Hsin’s visions for the garden, saying that he could procure a stump for her with a bit more information on length and circumference. Todd’s practical approach to getting materials and signs in place seems to have helped hone Yu-Hsin’s sense of purpose in managing the garden. While expressing that she was “dragged into the responsibility,” Yu-Hsin has clearly become a visionary for the gardens. 

Together, Todd and Yu-Hsin reflect on their shared goals to grow the garden’s educational value. Todd envisions increasing their connections to library patrons and schools, for example by creating a social media presence for sharing observations. They both recognize that the library, with hordes of pedestrians passing by, presents a rare opportunity for visibility and engagement. “The access we have to the public is unmatched by any natural area anywhere in Arlington,” says Todd. 

To increase public engagement, they’ve planned plant giveaways. At the library open houses once or twice a year, about 100 small potted plants from the gardens leave for new homes in the hands of eager visitors. Todd has also erected a sign showing where one can buy native plants in the broader DC area.

Yu-Hsin and Todd also reflect on the challenges of managing the garden. Although summer volunteers help water it, they wish it didn’t need any watering, since in theory the native plants should be sustained by rainwater. But, the history of the site shows why it has poor soils, such as places that are bounded by cement paths that limit percolation. And Yu-Hsin compares digging out new areas to mining because of the abundance of rocks in the soil. Both wish they had an additional person to take leadership on setting priorities, while attracting and organizing more volunteers to help reach their goals.

But even as they lament the difficulties, it’s hard not to notice the awesome transformation of the garden from its overgrown condition in 2015 after the passing of its founder, to its current, organized splendor. Lynn would be pleased.