In her June 1922 letter, Beatrix Farrand advised that “no planting should be countenanced which in any way would distract ones [sic] attention from the simple and beautiful lines of the grades and the magnificent oak trees which surround the house.” By the 1940s, many of the original oaks had died.
An undated planting list created for the South Lawn, East Lawn, and Ribbon Walk outlines the tree varietals planted consistently throughout Dumbarton Oaks. Apart from the several oak species for which the institution was named, other deciduous and evergreen varieties such as deodar cedars, beech, maple, and linden trees are also listed. Of the 182 documented trees, twenty-seven are oak. The last remaining pre-Bliss oak tree stands by the Museum Shop and measures forty inches in diameter. These plantings dot the South Lawn with splashes of shady green, providing a veil of privacy around the periphery of the space.
Image: Ursula Pariser, View of South Lawn, 1979
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