WHAT I DID ON MY SUMMER VACATION. PT. 1

THE NATIONAL ARBORETUM

One of my favorite places to visit in the DC area when there is a little free time available to me or visitors are in town is the National Arboretum in NE DC. If there was ever a place that can make you forget about where you are.......and NE DC is definitly a place you want to escape from.....it is the Arboretum. It is the Central Park of the Nations Capital. Once inside the gates, just as you walk out of the parking lot is the Koi pond. These beautiful fish follow you up and down the length of the waterline waiting for handouts. There are gumball machines that dispense food to feed them, perhaps that is how they get so big.

www.usna.usda.gov/

Here they come....looking for handouts.....it's like a stampede....without feet

"You talkin to me?"

This one was actually trying to sell me a knock-off rolex!? Not begging for food.

Next up, the Perennial gardens, this place amazes me and at the same time pisses me off! I am trying to turn our little 2 acre parcel of land into a mini-arboretum and it is just never nearly as beautiful as the real thing. Perennials, for those who do not garden, are plants that, in their ideal zone, will re-grow on a yearly basis. They sometimes spread and can be dug-up and relocated to other areas of the yard easily. I love perennials for that very reason.

And finally over to the Capitol colums. These 22 Corinthian sandstone columns were among 24 that were part of the east central portico if the United States Capitol. Architect Charles Bulfinch oversaw construction of the portico using a design handed down by his predecessors, William Thornton and Benjamin Henry Latrobe. Completed in 1826, these columns provided the backdrop for presidential inaugurations from 1829 (Andrew Jackson) to 1957 (Dwight Eisenhower), and were the site of many speeches, protests and rallies.

In 1958 the columns were dismantled to make way for the east front extension of the Capitol, which is adorned with marble reproductions.

Restorations of the columns was made possible through the efforts of Ethyl Shields Garrett and support from the Friends of the National Arboretum. Garden designer Russell Page selected and designed the new site which was completed and dedicated in 1990.

This is getting a bit lenghty so I am going to break here and continue in a new thread..........