The best of the simplest of Nature in DC isn't the japanese cherry trees at the basin . For one thing, the Cherry blossoms are best seen against a blue . We lived in DC for 20 years, and only saw the Cherry blossoms against a blue 4 times. Clouds are white. Most of the Cherry blossoms are white. White on white doesn't impress. The #1 display of nature in DC is Azalea (and Rhododendron) season, roughly the center of May. Small plantings of Azaleas are everywhere the place in downtown DC, but the simplest display are found during a number of specialised Azalea gardens: the National Arboretum; McCrillis Garden in Montgomery County, MD; the Montgomery Co. garden in northern Silver Spring; the grounds of a personal school within the Montgomery County, MD, suburbs.

The Azaleas are the simplest of the simplest . For the remainder of DC Nature, in no particular order:
The Great Falls of the Potomac 
The view from the porch of George Washington's Mt Vernon
The Bonsai tree collection at the National Arboretum
The rest of the National Arboretum after you see the Azalea garden and therefore the Bonsai
The fall foliage in Rock Creek Park (DC and nearby MD).
The Mall, from the foot of Capitol Hill to the Potomac was a fetid pestilential swamp until it had been drained and elevated.




A D.C. Bonsai