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The gardens of Dumbarton Oaks are spectacular throughout the year. But during the spring, they are somehow even more beautiful. But the beauty comes in successive waves. Visit only once a season, and you might miss out. Or even if you do visit at a perfect moment, you might simply miss out on some corner of the gardens that are especially gorgeous that day.

GM spends every spring carefully timing his visits to the gardens to maximize the best parts. And its only fair that he share this knowledge with the public. So without further ado, here is a Users Guide to Dumbarton Oaks in the spring.

The guide is broken down by the particular attraction and when to visit to see it. Weather obviously can affect the timing a great deal. So if you are really eager to see one or more of the vernal shows below, it’s best to check it out on the early side and come back again if you’re too early.

Refer to this map on the gardens’ website for where to find the exact locations of the scenes below.

Plum Walk

One of the first displays of spring in the gardens is the Plum Walk. It’s a row of about a dozen plum trees that blossom with strikingly purple flowers. Like many of the items on this list, it is perfect for portraits, particularly of couples. When it’s in bloom, you often find newly engaged couples posing along the walk.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Men with guns tried to volunteer for the Ukrainian army at the embassy on M St.
• Great photos inside the soon to be open Fountain Inn.

In GM’s article yesterday, he mentioned that the Census Bureau counted about 800 fewer people in Georgetown in 2020 versus 2010. GM speculated that much of that could be attributed to undercounting caused by the pandemic. But a look at the more granular data presents a different story.

Above is a map of the Census block groups for the Georgetown area. Each block group shows the 2020 count (on top), the nominal change since 2010 (the middle), and the percentage change. As you can see, for most of Georgetown the changes were fairly minor. In east Georgetown, the upper, lower and eastern groups were basically the same. In the upper portions of west Georgetown, the numbers were also fairly flat. But the remaining groups showed some noticeable variation.

Most notably, the lower west part of Georgetown lost 571 people, over a quarter of the population. The next block group up (basically M up to O St. between Wisconsin and 35th) lost 127, over 12%. Conversely, Georgetown University gained 192, almost 5%.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Ritz Carlton condo sells for $11 million, setting a record.
• Bill that would allow open containers at the Georgetown Harbour moves forward.

At Monday night’s ANC meeting, two representatives of the ANC redistricting committee discussed a draft plan to redraw the Georgetown ANC district lines. The changes would be minor, but may require some dispensation to become approved.

The reps, former ANC commissioner Monica Roache and Burleith Citizens Association president Eric Lagenbacher, are on the Ward 2 task force charged with redrawing the boundaries both between ANCs and within them. In ANC2E’s case, there will be no changes to the boundaries of the ANC itself. But some changes are necessary for the individual districts within it (known as single member districts, or SMDs).

Each SMD is required to contain between 1,900 and 2,100 residents. The count must come from the decennial census. And Georgetown lost population under that count. Here is a chart shared at the ANC meeting showing the population changes for each SMD from 2010 (the second column) and 2020 (the third):

GM’s written briefly about this apparent drop in population. It’s unclear whether this drop is real or just a product of a pandemic-driven undercount. Regardless of the cause of this drop, these are the numbers that the task force has to use.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• New art studio opens on 33rd St.
• Nice article on the original Georgetown bulldog.

GM writes an occasional series called the Ghosts of Markets Past, wherein he explores the former corner markets that used to dot the neighborhood. In researching for that series he came across a fantastic resource: a list of all chain grocery stores in DC as included in various city directories. Although GM’s quest to highlight all the corner stores will continue, he wanted to compile the Georgetown locations from that listing.

The map above shows the Georgetown locations of various chain grocery stores in the 1930s and 1940s. (Here is a link to the map). The vast majority of them were Sanitary grocery stores. (This was a chain started in Bethesda by John Letts in 1909. By 1927, Letts bought Piggly Wiggly and had 362 locations. The next year Safeway bought out Sanitary.) Beyond the Sanitary grocery stores, there were a handful of A&Ps and Piggly Wigglys.