Patricia Kennedy

Somewhere around 1950, when my next door neighbor was about six years old, he planted a bunch of lilies in his front yard. He still lives in the house (where he was born), and his lilies still bloom every year.

During the 25 years living in my house, I've enjoyed these blooms every single June. Arold's lilies are an orange color, and there are others around the neighborhood in shades of yellow and pink. They are hardy and easy to grow - they even grow wild in Rock Creek Park and in some of the neighborhood alleys.

These are some of the Washington June blooms!

In Washington, we get cherry blossoms in March and April. May is about azaleas.

And June is the month for roses!

During Willie's walks, we pass by these rosebushes on the corner of 17th and Allison Streets in Crestwood, the neighborhood where I live.

Here is a close-up of one of the yellow roses. It is so beautiful that even Miss Type-A here took time for a little stop and sniff. And what a wonderful way to start a day!

Across the street from these bushes, my friend and neighbor, Janice Sterling, has just about the prettiest rose garden in the neighborhood. She has a mix of white, red, pink andpeach. Some are growing over her white picket fence, and some are under the windows of her charing house.

So if you are visiting Washington this June, take a trip up 16th Street, above Mount Pleasant, and when you get to Allison Stree, turn left. Then, you will have an opportunity to walk a block east and smell the roses.

And they are just about the most beautiful things you can imagine!

Yes, Washington is famous for it’s cherry blossoms that bloom like crazy in late March or early April. There is even a festival with a princess and everything. So what happens when the blossoms fade and blow off the cherry trees?

Next come the azaleas! This week, they are all over town. They are red, shocking pink, white and lavender.

On some houses, they are neatly manicured hedges,

and on others they are sort of wild.

They grow pretty slowly, so when you see a huge flowering display, you know that someone has lovingly nurtured the bush over many years.

Even the simplest brick center hall colonials (Washington’s cliché houses) look amazing when they put on their lipstick and become absolutely flirtworthy! These photos were taken over the last few days in Cleveland Park, Tenleytown and Chevy Chase.

So if you are visiting Washington and missed out on the cherry trees, it’s worth a drive or a stroll through some of the residential neighborhoods un upper Northwest DC. This week the early bloomers are giving way to the middle bloomers, then come the late bloomers – sort of like me! So the display will last through most of the month of May.

It's at 3460 Ordway Street NW. Ordway is a street in Cleveland Park named after a guy named Edward Ord, who was a Major General in the Civil War and served under General Grant.

Rosedale Cottage is one of those houses that is just a shameless flirt! You walk in the door, and your heart skips a few beats! If Rosedale was a woman, I guess she'd be a cougar, because she's of a "certain age", old but nobody is quite sure how old. She's had a lot of work done, however, and she can totally hold her own with the new construction down the street!

Here are some photos taken by Peirs Lamb, who is my office's Art Director. And he's a gifted photographer - and the reason I wound up moving to EVers and Company. He puts together amazing marketing materials for our listings, including this one.

The property is being offered for $1,999,000. It will be open on Saturday and Sunday between 1 and 4 in the afternoon.

Ordway is between Connecticut and Wisconsin Avenues

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The house at the right is in a neighborhood in Bethesda, right across the DC line in Maryland. It's neighbors are pretty architecturally diverse, but typical of homes built between 1930 to 1955. Some of them can be described on the MRIS profiles as "farm houses" and some are bungalows, a few cottages and, yes this place, which falls under "other".

It is the infamous "Mushroom House". I've driven by it lots of times showing other houses in the neighborhood, and my buyers have not generally thought of as a selling point.

And I have to wonder, what were the owners thinking when they remodeled and reinvented what probably started out as a mid-century colonial?

I've seen my share of odd houses. Some are what we call "buyer specific", appealing to a few people, but the few who do like it really like it a lot. But if the mushroom house ever came onto the market, who on earth would the target market be? How do you find the probable purchaser for this place?