Sunday, May 2, 2010

Who knew DC was so pretty?

After 8 years in DC, I finally made it down to the National Arboretum.  All I can say is that I'm ashamed and saddened that I never went before.  It was absolutely lovely and incredibly peaceful.



I was tickled by the azalea garden.  In the south, EVERYONE has azaleas in their front yard.  They're everywhere, and I have never really been a fan at all.  They're just sort of messy.  The bushes don't have a shape, and when they're not flowering, they're ugly.  And the white flowers turn brown really quickly, so there were lots of yards with ugly-shaped bushes with brown flowers on them.  Gross.

So I thought it was weird that the National Arboretum had a whole garden devoted to them.  But it turns out that the azaleas were in bloom and actually very beautiful.  I saw some varieties that I had never seen before, which people in Georgia should maybe think about substituting for the white ones in their collections.





And we loved the dogwood garden - so peaceful.  I didn't get very many good pictures, but we thought these two trees had very interesting blooms.



And I enjoyed relaxing on the grass and staring up into the sky.



Then I fell in love with this man.



Probably okay for the babe because I don't actually know who he is.  And he's a man.  But painting out among the trees?  Awesome!

But what was most wonderful, you ask?

The fiddleheads in Fern Valley.  I just adore the little whimsical things.  A whole frond curled up into those tiny little heads.  Love them.




All in all, a completely delightful day in DC.

1 comments:

just jenn said...

lovely! we ditched work one day to go to the bonsai sale (and see the bonsai exhibit, which also had the world's largest carpenter bees buzzing about, but i digress). i've not seen most of the rest of the arboretum yet.
we are so spoiled to live where there is so much to do for free. note to self: do more free things this summer.

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