These are Crape Myrtle trees. They flower all summer and are
supposed to have a brilliant fall color. Their trunks and bark
are very unusual, and deer don't like them. They are all over the state.
Of Fruit Gardens, whose fruit was intended only for the kitchen:
George Washington wrote: For every acre...,an apple tree
of good grafted fruit is to be planed on the premises, in a
regular orchard truly laid out in rows forty feet apart,
in between which (also in regular order) rows of peach trees."
Of Seed Beds:
"It is miserable for a farmer to be obliged to buy his seeds;
to exchange seeds may, in some cases be useful; but to buy
them after the first year is disreputable."
Of Nursery Beds, whose tender shoot & cuttings were grown
to be transplanted: "I entirely approve...of establishing large
nurseries of every kind of plant that is fit for hedges."
George Washington wanted to plant live hedges of fast
growinglocust and willows, instead of fences, but he
could never fully protect gardens from animals.
After George decided to stop growing tobacco and started
growing wheat, he invented this 16 sided barn to
thresh wheat using horses, instead of slaves.
This is a batteau, a type skiff that was used for hauling goods
and fishing. In the spring all workers would fish the Potomac
and haul in more than a million fish in a matter of weeks.
George Washington," ...there I nothing I more ardently desire
nor indeed is there any more essential to my permanent
interest, than raising of "live" fences on proper ditches or banks."
