In the Garden with Bridget Wilson
Written by Kaitlin Hill | Photos by Gracie Savage
Middleburg is home to many lovely gardens, from structured English-style spaces attached to palatial estates to small side yards nestled between the homes in town. Bridget Wilson has had her hands in the dirt for many of them.
“I have always been a designer at heart, and the medium has simply shifted over the years,” Wilson shares of her latest adventure — floral and garden design. “I designed children’s clothing and ran a shop in Middleburg called The Magic Wardrobe, and then I turned to the human body and created Native Barre Studios, a method of exercise I built around my own training as a figure skater. Gardens and cut flowers are the most recent chapter, and it began in 2016 with a single lavender plant,” she adds.
That lavender plant blossomed into Bridget Wilson Flower & Garden Design, which boasts an impressive project list, including the recent rework of Bunny Mellon’s Serpentine Garden.
Of her process, the self-taught landscape architect says, “I begin every project by really listening, learning how a client lives and what they want to feel when they step outside. From there I move into detailed drawings and 3D renderings, which I take very seriously, because the process is as important as the result.”
Local partnerships are important to the process, too: “I stay deeply involved through installation, and on larger projects I have the privilege of working with Omega Landscape, drawing on their years of experience alongside my vision.”
“I begin every project by really listening, learning how a client lives and what they want to feel when they step outside.” –Wilson
More than a planner, Wilson revels in the opportunity to put plants in the soil. “The planting phase is my favorite part,” she admits. “I have installed everything from tiny one-quart perennials to 20-foot topiary trees, and there is nothing I love more than being out in the field laying it all out by hand. I have a wonderful team in Sergio and Miguel, and the three of us work beautifully together to translate my drawings into something real and rooted in the ground.”
Recently, she finished a project with Middleburg resident Julie Slingerman. “I took a couple of her classes at the community center, and I believe I met her during her seed starter class,” Slingerman says. Looking to add to her garden, Slingerman enlisted Wilson’s help.
“My original vision was just a couple raised beds in the back and to grow some vegetables,” Slingerman explains. “She came over, I told her my vision, and she started sharing her vision.” She finishes with a laugh, “We went with her vision.”
The backyard project would extend into the front yard. “She helped with landscaping all around the house,” Slingerman says. “We planted a bunch of trees out front, a bunch of beautiful boxwoods, but the real masterpiece is the backyard.”
Slingerman describes the backyard as “pretty formal. Bridget refers to it as a parterre.” The design includes topiaries, a pea gravel walk, herbs, vegetables, flowers, and a trellis of roses. “I had this old firepit that came with the house when I bought it back in 2020. I was going to throw it out, but Bridget repurposed it into a fountain.”
She says the finished product is “very spectacular for a small space.”
“There are the clients, who become real relationships and who understand the land in a way that makes the collaboration meaningful.” –Wilson
Of working with Wilson, Slingerman says, “It was a really wonderful experience. She’s so passionate, she’s so knowledgeable, and she’s such a hard worker. She has a great crew and brings in ideas I would have never, in a million years, thought of… She is always high-energy.”
Wilson’s appreciation for her clients is apparent in her work and the rewarding feeling she gets from operating in this area. “There are the clients, who become real relationships and who understand the land in a way that makes the collaboration meaningful. There is the land itself, the climate, the rhythm of the seasons here. And there is the community of craftspeople, nurseries, and fellow designers who make this corner of Virginia such a rich place to do this kind of work,” she says. “Each piece feeds the others, and together they make Hunt Country the most rewarding place I can imagine practicing this craft.”
For Wilson, the dirty work is worth the beautiful outcome, which she believes is an essential part of well-being. “In the crazy world we live in, why not create a space where someone can go to relax, to have a time out, to feel like they are on vacation in their own yard.” She concludes, “Beauty is medicine, and creating that kind of space for someone else is my medicine.” ML
Published in the June 2026 issue of Middleburg Life.