Good morning! Won’t you join me for a stroll through one of my favorite places, Dumbarton Oaks? The gardens are stunning and the house is pretty nice too. And have you seen a lovelier ticket? They remind me of the ones I have from Greek museums.

Rather elegant gates, wouldn’t you say?

Located in Georgetown, Dumbarton Oaks was formerly owned by Robert Woods Bliss and Mildred Barnes Bliss. They bequeathed the house and gardens to Harvard University, of which Bliss was an alum. There’s a museum with a decent collection of Byzantine and pre-Columbian art too.

You can wander down this lovely path lined with boxwoods…

…or go up and see the Bliss mansion. It’s only open until 5 p.m., but is beautiful inside. Mr. Prose and I passed it up this time, because we’ve both seen it before.

I particularly like the orangery, especially the French doors and Palladian windows. In the winter, they grow orange trees inside. Wouldn’t that be nice? I had a lemon tree in California and the blossoms smelled heavenly. The lemons? Not so great. I think I have a black thumb when it comes to growing fruit trees.

Orangery detail. The same wheat sheaves seen in the iron gates.

Lacecap hydrangeas in the upper gardens. Tomorrow, the pool and lower gardens.