Monday, November 27, 2017

Hillwood Gardens Part I

The gardens at Hillwood Estate make great use of the terrain and are quite impressive. Exploring them was fun for old and young alike.

We first went to the greenhouses, which were rebuilt in 1996 on the original spot. They contain a large collection of orchids and other rare and tropical plants.

Greenhouses

Entrance

The first display

A fabulous orchid

Delicate flowers

A nice combination of colors

Cute and fragrant

More delicate beauties

Amazing

Just outside the greenhouses, the cutting garden provides decorative flowers for the mansion and other buildings on the estate.

Cutting garden

Estate owner Marjorie Merriweather Post was fascinated by Russian culture so she had a dacha built on the property. Even though it is in the style of a Russian country home, it does have modern amenities. It's now used for special exhibits. We only saw the outside.

Dacha

Window close up

Back of the dacha

Marjorie also loved dogs and had many as pets throughout the years. She had a pet cemetery built on the estate.

Pet cemetery

Guarding the entrance

Lady Margaret

Scampi

On the other side of the cemetery is the vista terrace, just below the Lunar Lawn.

Vista terrace

Lunar Lawn viewed from the edge of the terrace

The lawn was the center of outdoor entertaining. Marjorie hosted garden parties for the social and political elite of Washington, often resulting in busy summers for the staff.

The lawn also has a sun dial (perhaps a bit of humor on the Lunar Lawn?) and a flag pole taken from one of her boats.

Sun dial

Flag pole

The view of the lawn from the house lets visitors see the top of the Washington Monument in the distance, though perhaps the best views are in the winter or from the upper floors of the house.

Lunar Lawn seen from the house

Zoomed in to see the Washington Monument peeking over the treetops

The stone lion dates from 1700 and was taken from Old Somerset House in London. The house was torn down in 1909 and the lion was brought to America.

British lion

A pathway leads down into the Japanese Garden.

Stairs to the Japanese Garden

Cool statue of Pan

We visit the Japanese Garden and more in the next post!

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