Bindweed

 Some plants get no respect from gardeners. Bindweed is definitely one of them. A member of the morning glory family, it lacks the glorious colors of its more desirable cousins. The heyday of admiration for bindweed was surely around 1900, when its sinuous, curling stems were the epitome of the Art Nouveau style. Nowadays, when a gardener discovers an arrow-leafed stem of bindweed climbing up the roses or asters, they get out the trowel and evict it. But somehow, bindweed persists.

Dumbarton Gate

 Follow the creekside trail in Dumbarton Park, in Northwest DC and you will come to a set of steps. Climb up to the elegant gate and take in the view across the grounds of Dumbarton Oaks. Many years ago, guests at early spring garden parties would come down to this gate to enjoy the blooming forsythia, a corridor of yellow leading down to the creek. The forsythia still drape the walls, but in summer all is quiet and green.

Lichen Covered Bench

 Lichen are organisms that are a symbiotic combination of fungi, algae and yeasts.  We find them growing on stones, bricks, even other plants. This bench, nestled under a grove of trees, has been taken over by lichen. They look to me like flowers of peeling paint. But other lichens can form branches, threads or leaflike structures in a rainbow of colors. They can appear to be an entirely different color when wet as opposed to when they are dry. If you pass lichen on your regular walking route, be sure to stop and look at these mysterious organisms on both a dry day and a drizzly or rainy one.

Spent Fireworks

 It must have been a very noisy night for the residents of this block. I found the housings for fireworks clustered in driveways and along the edges of the street.  Dogs were surely cowering under beds wondering why the humans were making such a terrifying racket.  But on a sunny, stifling morning, silence was restored.