While staying in Virginia, we couldn’t turn down the opportunity to tour our nation’s capital! So while staying at the Pohick Bay Regional Campground, we made several trips across the Potomac into DC. On our first trip, we checked out the Monuments and Memorials of Washington DC. Then we saw The Smithsonian National Zoo, followed by the Smithsonian Museum of Air and Space. This time, we explored the United States Botanical Gardens.
While the Monuments were great, the artifacts in the museum were amazing, and the zoo was a lot of fun, the United States botanical gardens were probably my favorite part of DC. These gardens were a refuge and an oasis of green in the middle of the busy city.
And that was just the outer gardens. Inside the gardens was an immense greenhouse, separated into different biomes from tropical rainforests to arid deserts.
Here The Girl successfully identified a pineapple!
All of the gardens were well signed, with names of the various plantings. Another great sight was the smaller garden pots surrounding the main building. They were each planted with a theme, with educational plaques about the area the plants are from and the food culture they inspired.
One of the girl’s favorite gardens was the rose garden. We loved this one so much, that after Mom returned from feeding the meter, we took her to smell the roses, too!
Other Gardens Around DC
Throughout DC, there were numerous plantings and gardens. From native plantings meant to lessen the impact of rainwater, to large, formal English gardens. Several of the cultural buildings even had themed gardens. The Native American Cultural Center had a large plot of traditional food crops, with informational plaques. The English gardens were interesting, too, and helped to put some modern practices, like mowed lawns, in the context of the class system that spawned them.
When visiting Washington DC, you may not think about it, but we encourage you to make the time to visit the National Gardens!