Escape the Office: U.S. Botanic Garden

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WHEN YOU LOOK AT HISTORIC photographs of the Capitol taken from the west, there's always some sort of greenhouse in the foreground. A few years after the British burned the Capitol (and other parts of the capital in 1814), the first greenhouse and gardens took shape at the foot of Capitol Hill. Though there have been different structures under different organizations, what is now the U.S. Botanic Garden should be considered one of the city's most historic institutions. And for Capitol Hill staffers, or anyone else working near the Department of Health and Human Services, the place offers up a great escape from the nearby offices of federal bureaucracy.

But even if you can't put policy and politics aside during a pleasurable stroll through the greenhouse complex at Independence Avenue and First Street SW, you're in luck. There's an exhibition of paintings and photos of the vanishing Louisiana coastline, one of the nation's most pressing of policy challenges. Photographer C.C. Lockwood and painter Rhea Gary traveled the state to capture the fragile nature of Louisiana. Their combined work is part of "Vanishing Wetlands: Two Views" exhibition in the West Orangerie and is on display through May 13.

"Vanishing Wetlands" is a fairly modest exhibition by size, so you can get your dose of sobering policy reality and then vanish into the botanical world that lies beyond. This week, the East and West galleries are closed through Thursday, but the main conservatory spaces — the Garden Court, the Jungle Room and adjoining botanic areas — are open. Here, you'll find everything from the mother-in-law's tongue (sansevieria trifasciata) from Nigeria to the critically endangered Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis), discovered in 1994 in Australia's Wollemi National Park. It is one of the rarest and oldest plans on the planet, dating back 200 million years when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

Parts of the U.S. Botanic Garden's collection can trace it roots, so to speak, to the 1838-42 expedition by Lt. Charles Wilkes, who led a group of six ships on a global expedition.

» U.S. Botanic Garden, 245 1st St. SW, 202-225-8333; conservatories are open 10 a.,m.-5 p.m. Monday-Sunday (Federal Center SW)

Photos courtesy U.S. Botanic Garden