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Mount Vernon

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Gardens & Landscapes

George Washington's mind was rarely far from the lush gardens and majestic views at Mount Vernon.

George Washington oversaw all aspects of the landscape at Mount Vernon. He extensively redesigned the grounds surrounding his home, adopting the less formal, more naturalistic style of 18th century English garden landscape designer Batty Langley. Washington reshaped walks, roads, and lawns; cut vistas through the forest, and planted hundreds of native trees and shrubs. The well-ordered gardens provided food for the Mansion's table and were also pleasing to the eye. Eighteenth-century visitors to Mount Vernon were delighted by bountiful offerings of fresh vegetables and fruits, and reveled in after-dinner walks amongst all manner of opulent flowering plants.

Top Ten Facts about the Gardens at Mount Vernon

The Vaughan Plan

Vaughan sketched a plan of the Mount Vernon mansion and the formal area around it in his journal, embellishing it with a perspective of the river and the Maryland shore beyond.

Saving Washington's View

For more than 50 years the Ladies of Mount Vernon have been working to preserve George Washington’s view across the Potomac.

Washington's Failed Vineyard

While Washington's grape-growing efforts in the early 1770s gave the locality its name, that endeavor quickly proved to be unsuccessful.

Botanical Garden

No place at Mount Vernon better shows off the secret George Washington - his desire to be self-sufficient, his enchanting curiosity, and his determined optimism, undeterred by considerable failure - than his botanical garden.

A Paddock for Deer

Following aristocratic British practice, George Washington fenced off 18 acres on the slope, between the Mansion and the Potomac River, to serve as “a paddock for deer” or deer park.

Ten Facts About Mount Vernon's Landscape

George Washington possessed a strong interest in landscape design and architecture throughout his adult life.

The Mount Vernon App

Plant Finder

Our integrated plant finder service allows you to better identify the names and details behind the amazing array of flowers, plants, shrubs, vegetables, and trees that you will find at Mount Vernon.

Download the App

Gardens & Landscape

The Four Gardens at Mount Vernon

See the Upper Garden, the Lower Garden, the Botanical Garden, and the Fruit Garden and Nursery at George Washington's Mount Vernon.

explore the gardens

The Shops

Historic Seeds

Bring a part of Mount Vernon to your garden. The Shops at Mount Vernon offers heirloom seeds from plants grown on the Estate.

Specialty Tours

Gardens and Landscapes Tour

This 45-minute guided tour examines Washington's brilliant design for the grounds and gardens at Mount Vernon.

Specialty Tours

The General in the Garden

The book explores General Washington's influence over the gardens at Mount Vernon and the preservation of the landscapes by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association which has been the caretaker since 1853.

The General in the Garden is published by the University of Virginia Press and is available for purchase at the Shops at Mount Vernon.

PURCHASE A COPY

Honey Bees at Mount Vernon

John Ferree, Mount Vernon's very own beekeeper, discusses the roles honey bees played, and continue to…

Collection of Seed

Dean Norton, Director of Horticulture at George Washington's Mount Vernon, talks about the historical…

Landscape Development at Mount Vernon

Dean Norton, Director of Horticulture at George Washington's Mount Vernon, discusses how George Washington…

The Upper Garden

The Lower Garden

The Greenhouse

Trellis in the Upper Garden

Boxwoods in the Upper Garden

Mount Vernon's Horticulture Staff

The Upper Garden and Greenhouse

Coneflower

Sweet William

Balloon Flower

Trees at Mount Vernon

The Greenhouse

Gardeners at Mount Vernon

Washington loved his gardens and was constantly changing the plants used at Mount Vernon. There is little evidence to suggest, however, that he was the one gardening.

Batty Langley

Learn more about how Batty Langley and his New Principles of Gardening influenced George Washington and the gardens at Mount Vernon.

Landscape and Gardens

Encyclopedia Articles

Articles on Gardening