We're Off!

Spring has sprung! We tend to do more of what most people recognize as school when it's too cold/hot/wet out to do much else. When the weather warms, the sun shines and the flowers bloom, we're off and running!

Here we are running back through the Dogwood Garden at the National Arboretum. I think this is an under appreciated part of the Arboretum. It isn't as flower heavy as many parts, nor as densely planted.

The closest I can come to explaining it is that it feels like strolling in a Jane Austen novel.

There is something very pleasing about the proportions of the lawn, the wild forest on one side and the sweeping islands of trees on the other. Of course, when the dogwoods are blooming, it's magical! They are interplanted with mature trees and evergreens so that the clouds of blossoms glow and float in lush clouds.

This visit was at the very start of the bloom, the fountain was still dry, but it was a jeweled experience of Spring. The trees were brushed with pale green ("Nature's first green is gold..."). The new leaves cast dappled shadows on the emerald carpet, and great swathes of that magnificent lawn sparkled with white and purple violets!