George Washington had a passion for gardening -- and no matter what the season, you can still find evidence of that passion around nearly every corner at Mount Vernon today.  

Pleasure Garden

Pleasure garden. Click image for larger view

Among the curved beds of the brick-walled "Upper Garden," you'll find bulbs, annuals, and perennials for every season: hollyhocks, peonies, primroses, heliotrope, larkspur, and dozens of other specimens, all of which were grown here by the Washingtons. You'll also find fig and flowering cherry trees and century-old boxwood hedges.

The garden's most formal element is a well-documented, recreated boxwood parterre in the shape of a French fleur-de-lis. Landscape scholars at Mount Vernon speculate that Washington's use of the parterre was a way both to honor his friendship with the Marquis de Lafayette and to pay tribute to the French for helping America win the Revolutionary War.

Kitchen garden. Click image for larger view

Kitchen Garden

On the other side of the Mansion's west lawn from the Upper Garden, is the "Lower," or kitchen, garden, where you'll discover a delectable variety of of fruits and vegetables. Much of the produce that appeared on the Washingtons' table was raised in this brick-walled, sunny spot located directly behind the stables and their unfailing supply of manure. Today rows of asparagus, beets, beans, spinach, and peas grow in beds edged with low-growing herbs. Apple and pear trees pruned to form waist-high, stout fences line the paths between beds of artichokes, onions, and lettuce. The garden is a wonderful example of a formal English kitchen garden. It also showcases the abundance of "vegetables indispensable to the kitchen," that so pleased Martha Washington.

Crown Imperial, one of the few bulbs, actually mentioned in Washington's records. Click for larger view.

Botanical Garden

Tucked away between the upper garden and the north lane is a small, enclosed plot of ground, where Washington quietly experimented with growing a variety of plants, including pecan and hickory nuts and root crops for animal fodder. He fondly called it his "little garden." Be sure to find this private spot.