Informal Gardens
The Forsythia Dell
In 1960, Mildred Bliss wrote "the onrush of spring at Dumbarton Oaks fairly leaves one breathless before the great billowing mass of forsythia tumbling down two hillsides turned to gold." Designed as a full acre of forsythia (now divided between Dumbarton Oaks and Dumbarton Oaks Park), this remote section of the garden glows for a few weeks each spring, after which its steep grades are softened by the forsythias' green foliage.
Within the forsythia is a small oval terrace containing a limestone urn and pedestal, adapted by Farrand in the 1930s from a drawing by the contemporary Parisian designer Armand Albert Rateau. Set on each side of the column are the limestone "Two Friends" benches designed by Farrand around 1937.
Further Information
The South Front
- South Side of the House
- South Lawn
- The Garden Library and Ribbon Walk
- East Lawn
- R Street Walk
- The Terrior Column and Enclosure
Enclosed Gardens
- The Orangery
- The Green Garden
- The Star Garden
- The North Vista
- The Swimming Pool and Loggia
- The Pebble Garden
- The Beech Terrace
- The Urn Terrace
- The Rose Garden
- The Fountain Terrace
- The Arbor Terrace
- The Box Walk
- The Ellipse