Smithsonian Gardens
Smithsonian museum grounds
Washington, DC
Surrounding the National Museum of the American Indian
Aproximately 150 species native to the Piedmont region are featured in four habitats: upland hardwood forest, wetland, cropland, and meadow. Native wildflowers grow under oaks, pines, and magnolias, while paw-paws and birch trees surround the water-lilies and cattails of the wetlands. Native American crop rotation and traditional methods are combined with organic practices using such natural predators as ladybugs to maintain a sustainable garden on the south side of the museum. Grasses, coneflowers, and goldenrod fill the meadow.
The landscape is grounded by four stone cardinal direction markers that lie along the east-west and north-south axes of the building; they come from four corners of the Western Hemisphere: Hawaii (west), Canada (north), Maryland (east) and Chile (south). Forty additional boulders from Canada, called Grandfather Rocks, are scattered throughout the landscape.
