Department of Agriculture (National Mall side), Washington, D.C.
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enclos*ure 
I had no idea that this pear tree that is now listed as an invasive pest throughout the mid-Atlantic states in much of the southeast US was developed by USDA scientists and promoted by Lady Bird Johnson! Definitely a Frankenstein-like cautionary tale.
The Department is condemned out its own mouth, so to speak, with this plaque and the empty spot.
Poor Lady Bird Johnson; she deserved better than a Bradford Pear, but I’m sure she “planted” dozens if not hundreds of other trees during and after the White House.
The Mall-side area around the USDA is otherwise interesting, with a demonstration vegetable garden and various native specimen trees.
[…] October, during our trip to the U.S., I poked fun at a Bradford pear tree (happily?) missing from the grounds of the U.S. Department of Agriculture […]