When you reach the edge of Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, there is a long boardwalk that leads you to the Anacostia River.  It's a lovely view with very little to indicate you are within a major city.  The semi-wet soil in which the pink perennial below is growing is a typical habitat for Vernonia noveboracensis or New York Ironweed.

New York ironweed is a native to the northeast and though it's regularly found on the edges of streams, it can also fare well in drought or heavy soils.   It can easily reach heights of 6-8' and works great with other late summer flowers like sunflowers and goldenrod.

Finally, the deep magenta blossoms (like all flowers in the Asteraceae family, the flowers are composites with disc and ray florets), add a powerful pop to an otherwise dull late summer garden.

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

Last Saturday, my students and I had class at the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens.  If you haven't been (and you live in the DC area), definitely check it out.  We lamented the fact that we were just a few weeks too late to enjoy what had to have been an amazing show of lotus (Nelumbo nucifera).

Here are a few photos.  I'll elaborate on a few new species later in the week. 

Enjoy!

Quercus falcata

My students and I passed this tree at the National Arboretum a few weeks ago and it was downright impossible not to stop and take a longer look.  The graceful lean to it, in addition to the backlit sun, made the tree look downright enchanted.

 

It was obviously an oak, but I was unsure which species.  Turns out it is Quercus falcata or Southern red oak or Spanish oak.  Its northernmost range is New Jersey, but the tree is so incredibly sensitive to compaction, you rarely encounter it. 

More on the National Arboretum's 'Ruins'

A little over a week ago, I posted about the structure at the National Arboretum, which was built from unused columns from the Capitol.

Amsonia hubrichtii

Recently, I was recommending Amsonia hubrichtii or threadleaf bluestar, for a job site in Bethesda.  While sharing photos of the plant with the client and architect, I added, "Amsonia also is the 2011 'Perennial Plant of the Year' -- it's like the Oscars for plants." And while I was being a little flip, it's true.

I think the masses of Amsonia used here (with occasional pops of bluestem and aster) is a lovely application of the plant.  As wind brushes by the hillside, they all lazily sway in the breeze.  In the spring, when the light blue star shaped flowers appear, it's no doubt lovely, tough I think it must look best in the fall, when the plant turns a honey, straw color.

 

Amsonia is native to North America, from points east of Missouri within the zone range of 4-9. 

The National Aboretum's "Ruin"

Last Saturday, I took my students on a trip to the National Arboretum. While walking the grounds (admittedly, this was my first trip there), I suddenly felt like I was living in Turkey again, where one frequently encountered architectural ruins from ancient Greece dotting the landscape.  Seeing something like that here, in the states, was a little surreal. 

Turns out the sandstone columns were quarried for use at the Capitol.  However, architectural revisions rendered them superfluous.  An arboretum benefactor, Earl Garrett, made it a mission in the early 80s to find a home for these columns and Russel Page (who was friendly with Garrett) sited them, shortly before his death.

More on the columns and their adjacent planting in the days to come.