National Museum of Natural History (Constitution Avenue entrance)
I'm privileged to work at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC and a beautiful garden greets me as I arrive at work every morning. As the summer gets hotter and hotter, it just keeps getting better and better. I know a lot of people don't like the heat and humidity of a Washington, DC summer but this is when our public gardens really start to hit their stride. Don't get me wrong, I love spring gardens with their tulips, daffodils, peonies, bleeding heart, foxglove, poppies, and bluebells, but by mid-summer, most of these plants look the worse for wear. Some of them, like oriental poppies, bleeding heart, and most spring bulbs, have the good sense to go dormant in our summer heat but gardens that depend too heavily on these spring-flowering plants aren't worth seeing the rest of the year.
