Brown-belted bumblebee (Bombus griseocollis) foraging on an eastern purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) in the Upper Garden at Mount Vernon.

3200 Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, Mount Vernon, Virginia: 04 July 2014

part of the Mount Vernon album

Beyond the quick walk-through tour of the mansion and the vast artifact-filled halls of the museum — inside both of which photography is prohibited — the vast 400-acre grounds of Mount Vernon plantation along the Potomac River feature many different natural settings to enjoy.

Throughout the estate are a variety of landscapes and gardens including the fruit garden and nursery, upper garden, lower garden, pioneer farm and forest. Meandering through the gardens, I took these photographs of flowers in bloom and, at least once inadvertently, bees foraging for nectar and pollen.