Hillwood Gardens Part II

Continuation of yesterpost...

The Japanese-style garden at Hillwood Estate blends local flora with Japanese plants, along with decorations reminiscent of Japan. The garden is built into the hillside. Our children enjoyed going up and down the various paths, crossing the bridges, and stepping carefully along the small grinding stones.

Japanese garden

Birds of a feather

Toddler enjoying the rocks

Older children also enjoy the rocks

Daughter crossing stepping stones

Cute turtle

The stepping stones

View from the top of the garden

Next to the house is the French parterre, a formal garden in the style from 1700s France. A large hedge with one or two passageways leads into the garden.

Hedge entrance into parterre

Parterre

Diana, godess of the hunt, guards the far end of the parterre.

Diana

The sculpted shrubs fascinated our children, but not as much as the water fountain in the middle. We had to make some effort to keep the kids dry!

Sculpted shrubbery

A fun fountain

A small patio up against the house provides the water for the fountain and has very lovely decorations. The sphinx fascinated me with its blend of Egyptian roots, Victorian face, and Italian Renaissance cherub on back.

Sphinx 

Water source

Dressing room window overlooking the parterre

View of parterre from the house

We next visited the rose garden. We chose the time of our visit poorly (late October)--not many flowers were on display. Each bed is planted with one type of summer-blooming rose, so we will have to come back. Under the column in the center of the garden, Marjorie Merriweather Post's ashes are buried.

Entrance to rose garden

Rose garden

Burial spot for the home owner

Flowers not in bloom

Leading out of the rose garden is the Friendship Walk, a pathway created by Marjorie's friends to honor her philanthropy. The path ends at the Four Seasons Overlook, a quiet spot for reflection and relaxation.

Friendship walk

The Four Seasons Overlook

Winter

Fall

Spring

Summer

The gardens are lovely and we may return someday (like next summer!).

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!