Cooperative Living June 2023 - 11

COOPERATIVE FOCUS
We use an 8-to-10-year trial period
before we certify a plant as suitable. "
Peter notes that the garden features
the largest xeric garden east of the
Mississippi River. " Xeric plants provide
beautiful shapes, texture and color
while requiring little water, " he says.
GROWING THE BOTANIC
GARDEN FROM SEED
Peter's idea for a national botanic
garden germinated in the 1980s when
he was developing the largest herb
farm on the East Coast north of Florida.
The Smithsonian Institution sent staff
members and volunteers to his farm to
collect and study plants. Knop became
friends with the late Marc Cathey,
former director of the 451-acre U.S.
National Arboretum and later president
of the American Horticultural Society.
" Marc and I realized
that Washington, D.C.,
with all its great institutions,
lacked a large national
botanic garden, " Peter says.
" The United States Botanic
Garden on Capitol Hill has
an impressive conservatory,
but it doesn't have enough
land for a true park along
the lines of England's Royal
Botanic Gardens in Kew,
Berlin's Botanischer Garten
und Botanisches Museum,
or Montréal's Jardin Botanique. Marc
believed the National Arboretum
needed its other half - a national
botanic garden. I decided my parents'
garden could be that other half. "
ZOO BAMBOO
Visitors can travel on a safari through
the garden's dense bamboo groves. Beata
says she and Peter fell in love over their
mutual love of the tree-like plant. They
co-opliving.com
" We want our farm
and garden to restore
and renew workers and
everyone who visits. "
- Beata Knop
share their love with the giant panda
bears and many other animals at the
Smithsonian's National Zoo &
Conservation Biology
Institute. The bears
each eat 26 to 84
pounds of the woody
plant a day. (Because
the Knops sell bamboo
to the zoo, dogs are not
allowed in their park.)
ROCKY
MOUNTAIN HIGH
From builders'
discarded rock, dirt
and other reclaimed
materials, the Knops created what they
say is the tallest mountain from the
Atlantic Ocean to the Blue Ridge
Mountains. The mountaintop provides a
spectacular panoramic view of Loudoun
and Prince William counties, Maryland
and - on a clear day - Pennsylvania.
" When we finish the rock walls
and guardrails, we'll allow visitors to
climb our mountain, " Peter explains.
Beata exuberantly says, " You can see
all the area's fireworks displays on the
Fourth of July from up here. We plan
to build a patio terrace and let people
watch fireworks while picnicking and
sipping wine. "
A PUBLIC AND PARTY
SPACE FOR ESCAPE
Peter says, " My family and I want
our garden to be a place for continued
research, but we also want it to provide
a public space for escape from the
pressures of city life by providing an oasis
for wildlife, fresh air and clean water. "
The garden's Japanese and meditation
sanctum provides visitors with a tranquil
refuge for serenity.
The family enhances the park's aura
with art. " My parents established an art
community on the farm, " Peter recalls.
" Artists from all over the world stayed
here for weeks or months. Beata grew up
in Poland in a family of talented artists.
She became an accomplished sculptor.
When we married, she brought the spark
of creativity to my vision. "
(continued on page 10)
June 2023 ● Cooperative Living ●
9
PHOTO BY SCOTT MACCONOMY
PHOTO BY RODERICK BROWN
http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living June 2023

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