The Mary Livingston Ripley Garden was the inspiration of Mrs. S. Dillon Ripley, lifelong plant scholar-collector, active gardener, and wife of the Smithsonian Institution's eighth Secretary.  Mrs. Ripley conceived the idea for a "fragrant garden" on the eastern border of the Arts and Industries Building - a location that was designated to become a parking lot.  In 1978 Mrs. Ripley persuaded the Women's Committee of the Smithsonian Associates, which she had founded in 1966, to support the garden.  In 1988 the Women's Committee recognized their founder and friend by naming the garden after her.

Open daily, the Ripley Garden is a quiet oasis for thousands of National Mall visitors each year.  Its unusual curvilinear design - the work of noted Washington, DC, architect Hugh Newell Jacobsen - along with a profusion of flowers in raised beds, creates a distinctive sense of intimacy and informality.

Click Here for a map of the Smithsonian Gardens.

Current Horticulturist Janet Draper's goal is
to expose visitors to the widest variety of plants possible...to "expand the plant palette."  In the garden's early years, Smithsonian gardeners transplanted Euonymus from the Ripley family home in Litchfield, Connecticut, to form the east wall's espaliers.  Today, Smithsonian greenhouse staff produce the garden's unique hanging baskets and seasonal plants for the flower beds.  The garden furnishings are from the Smithsonian Horticulture Services Division historical collection.  The seating features a growing collection of antique and reproduction 19th century styles.  The furnishing collection continues to grow through gifts to the garden, some of which are tributes to Mrs. Ripley.

In 1994, Mrs. John Clifford Folger of Washington, DC, and Palm Beach, Florida, initiated an endowment fund for the support and care of the garden in order that it might be preserved as it was first conceived by Mrs. Ripley.  This thoughtful gift was given with the hope that others might add to the fund so that visitors would be able to enjoy the garden into the 21st century.

Join Horticulturist Janet Draper for a casual and informative tour of the garden every Tuesday at 2p.m. throughout the growing season.  Meet at the fountain.  Weather Permitting.

Click here for a map of the Smithsonian Gardens.