![Photo Credit: David July — , Mount Vernon, Virginia: 04 July 2014](https://mountsutro.org/images/content/ne14-mtv_echinacea-purpurea.jpg)
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.
![Photo Credit: David July — , Mount Vernon, Virginia: 04 July 2014](https://mountsutro.org/images/content/ne14-mtv_hemerocallis-fulva.jpg)
![Photo Credit: David July — , Mount Vernon, Virginia: 04 July 2014](https://mountsutro.org/images/content/ne14-mtv_platycodon-grandiflorus.jpg)
![Photo Credit: David July — , Mount Vernon, Virginia: 04 July 2014](https://mountsutro.org/images/content/ne14-mtv_rudbeckia-hirta.jpg)
![Photo Credit: David July — , Mount Vernon, Virginia: 04 July 2014](https://mountsutro.org/images/content/ne14-mtv_hibiscus-syriacus.jpg)
![Photo Credit: David July — , Mount Vernon, Virginia: 04 July 2014](https://mountsutro.org/images/content/ne14-mtv_coreopsis-verticillata-zagreb.jpg)
![Photo Credit: David July — , Mount Vernon, Virginia: 04 July 2014](https://mountsutro.org/images/content/ne14-mtv_hibiscus-twigs.jpg)
Photo Credit: David July
Photo Credit: David July
Photo Credit: David July
Photo Credit: David July
Photo Credit: David July
Photo Credit: David July