Smithsonian Castle Enid Haupt Magnolia Garden

I wanted to see them before they all blew away or got frost bitten. The magnolias at the Enid Haupt garden next to the Smithsonian Castle are breathtaking. When we lived on Capitol Hill we walked by this place almost every day after I retired. We also pass through the Mary Livingston garden next to the Hirshhorn Museum and the arts and industries building. As you walk in the direction of the Washington monument the castle gardens located in front of the Smithsonian Castle and are ever changing. In the spring they are the most beautiful because the magnolia trees turn in to a powdery pink wonderland. One year the buds were all about to bloom when the freezing temperatures arrived and they all turned brown. It was such a sad sight! This time we arrived just before peak blossom. There were still a lot of buds that had not fully bloomed. The sky was a bit overcast and we were there earlier in the morning so it wasn’t as bright and sunny as one would like to capture the spring environment. The purple pansies were all in place in front of the castle and the tulips were beginning to show themselves. When they bloom it is simply lovely. There weren’t as many visitors because it was a Monday but you can tell it’s getting to be the busiest season in DC with more street traffic. This will be the first real cherry blossom season since the pandemic three years ago. It is really beautiful this time of the year. We are glad we can still take a morning walk on the National mall. And they are even more interesting in Spring. 

Enid Haupt Garden

Aside from the US Botanical Garden, the Enid Haupt garden in the Smithsonian Castle grounds is one of our favorites. When we lived on Capitol Hill we walked through both of them almost every morning. Now we visit about once a week and try to get to one or the other when I’m looking for photo options for the 52Frames challenge. This week we stopped by the Enid Haupt garden on the way back from visiting the National Gallery of Art. I was looking for items with texture, and there were a lot of possibilities. The plants and flowers were bursting in the late summer season. Between the heat and the excessive rains we have had in the area this year the environment was perfect to create this very humid and tropical place. It feels more like Florida than Florida. Even the grass on the mall remained green this year. The number of visitors also was less this week than even lasts week. I rather like it that way - especially trying to stay as far away rom anyone as possible. Even though we moved to northern Virginia over two years ago it still feels like we still live on Capitol Hill. After all, we are part of the DMV, and a Washington DC suburb - still close enough to be considered Washingtonians. 

Enid Haupt Garden Magnolias

It was such a beautiful day. Even though we had just visited the city earlier in the week, the threat of rain made us want to make another trip to see the magnolias at the Enid Haupt gardens. Because once the flowers are blooming, heavy rains and wind will wash them away. Even though it was a Saturday we decided it was worth the ride. I usually don’t like going to town on Saturday because the parking is awful around the national mall. And since people are feeling like moving about these days, it’s more crowded than during the week when it feels like we are the only ones out there for miles. And now since we don’t live on Capitol Hill anymore we have to find parking like everybody else. Parking in our old neighborhood would have been too far of a walk this time. Once we found a spot near the air and space museum, the gardens are just a bit further away by the Smithsonian castle. The magnolias were simply lovely. We walked this way just about every day for many years and everything is so familiar. Of course there are other flowers to be seen as well as cherry blossom sculptures. It is the season for beautiful fairyland experiences. We didn’t want to miss out on it. 

Poor Magnolia Trees at the Smithsonian Enid Haupt Garden

I Thank goodness we walk every day. With the temperatures so springlike this past month the flowers and trees have been blooming so much earlier than usual. And so was the case at the Enid Haupt Smithsonian Garden. We've been watching the early magnolia tree buds turn in to magnificent blooms over the last week. This place is one of the most beautiful sites during Persian new year celebrations at the Sackler museum and in to cherry blossom season. Especially on the weekends there are hundreds of visitors taking photos of and enjoying the beautiful scenes. So it was with great dismay when we walked through the garden today. In the grand bright sunlight, all the flowering magnolias looked simply dreadful. The below freezing temperatures turned the lovely pink blooms in to brown dried out mush. It was really sad to see. So I'm very glad we had the opportunity to experience the beauty of the garden last week. Too bad that didn't happen for a lot of other folks.