Our Nation's Garden

One of 200 orchids on display at the U.S. Botanic Garden

I recently went on a quick trip to Washington D.C. to visit my husband who's doing some research there. We did the usual touristy things, taking advantage of the plethora of free and interesting exhibits. Of course, I had to take a quick trip to the U.S. Botanic Garden. The Botanic Garden was established by Congress in 1820, although the building at its current location was built in 1933.

Plant tower

Outside the conservatory are some interesting garden vignettes. Every time I go there I think of how quickly the staff must have planted all those gardens, trying to get them going in time for the summer tourist season. This year the vignettes were not as fun for me as last time when they showed typical plants for each part of the U.S. I couldn't quite figure out what the theme was this year. Still, it was all interesting.

Planted arch

How's this for an archway into the garden? Looks like fun but too much work for me!

Vertical plantings of oxalis and beans

I wish I had a better long range photo of this yellow archway. It was planted with oxalis and bean vines. Very fun.

Water feature near entrance

Once inside the conservatory, a beautiful, old, gigantic 1933 greenhouse, there are a couple of water features with loads of potted plants.

giant hydrangea bloom!

Look at the size of these hydrangea blooms (hand provided for contrast). Unfortunately I couldn't find the name of this one (most of the potted plants in this section weren't labeled) but I'm wondering if it is Invincibelle or one of those other giant hydrangeas. I swear the blooms were bigger than my head (that's big)!

Begonia in a bottle

There are plants from all over the world in the conservatory. There was an interesting collection of begonias, some of which were in little bottles.

They have over 5,000 orchid specimens of which they display about 200 at any one time. I could have spent hours in there photographing them - they're all so strange looking!

The First Ladies' Water Garden

Outside the conservatory is the relatively new National Garden. It's big and a great place to stroll with a rose garden, a butterfly garden, an amphitheater, a trickling stream and pond, places to sit, and this First Ladies' Water Garden, designed to showcase the important role water plays in plants, animals and humankind. It was pretty steamy by the time we got here, and I wanted to kick off my shoes and wade around a bit (but didn't since I was trying to be a bit dignified around are nation's grounds). I do wish I'd gotten to this part early in the morning. By the time we got here it was way too sunny for many photos, especially since I was carrying a new little compact camera that I wasn't real familiar with.

Rowhouse garden

We stayed right near the Capitol and I loved seeing all the tiny gardens in front of the rowhouses. Coming from the land of suburban yards, it's nice to see little postcard gardens for a change. I do encourage you to check out the Botanic Garden next time you're in DC. And check out all the other places along the Mall. It's a real national treasure.

Is this anyway to treat a tree?

And now for something completely different ... I had to whip out my camera in the parking lot of the airport when I got home to document this mess of a planting job. They're building a new terminal and have partially built a new parking lot, planting many new oak trees and crapemyrtles. Unfortunately, they were ALL DEAD!! I wonder why? Leaving the tree wrapped in its burlap casket with no dirt or mulch on top in the middle of an extreme drought ... Well, what more can I say?

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2011. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.