Northern Gardening

I have really never thought of Washington D.C. as a garden lover’s destination, but I found out differently when I visited there last week.  The original purpose of my visit was to attend the Friends of the National Arboretum Cookout fundraiser, which was celebrating Minnesota this year.  A friend lives in D.C. and was on the planning committee for the event and we booked our plane, hotel, etc. so that we could attend the cookout with his family.

Fun right?  Hobnobbing with our MN state legislators and enjoying the U.S. National Arboretum. Well, long story short–President Obama decided to have a garden party on that date so FONA changed theirs to later in the week and we never made it to the cookout.  Disappointing, but we had a wonderful time nonetheless, and I would heartily recommend the trip to all of you that have never visited our Nation’s Capital.

For instance, did you know that most of the “must-sees” in Washington D.C. are free admission?  Thanks to our friends we did a whirlwind tour of the Capital Building, the Library of Congress (my favorite!), the National Archives and the Smithsonian American History Museum.  And of course, I managed to work three gardens into our schedule, as well!

Both the U.S. Botanic Garden and U.S. National Arboretum are a very worthwhile visit, but please make the time to drive down to Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate, Museum and Gardens. There are some very nice flower gardens, but the kitchen gardens at Mount Vernon are where Washington really excelled and rival those of any French chateau (except perhaps Villandry!)  The gardens combined with the museums and touring his mansion make it well worth investing a whole day of your D.C. trip.

So take a few days off this summer and visit Washington D.C., our Nation’s Capital.  Not only will you see some great gardens, but you will come away with a great sense of pride as an American.  It really is an amazing place.

Note: You can find more D.C. gardens to visit in the book “1001 Gardens You Must See Before You Die.” It is a terrific way to find great public gardens no matter where you are vacationing this summer!