Large beds filled with spring-flowering trees, such as dogwood, magnolia, cherry, plum, and crabapple, and underplanted with masses of azaleas, rhododendron, camellias, spirea, and lilacs were built along the walk. Numerous varieties of neatly sheared conifers and hollies complement the riot of color. This backdrop of arching elms underplanted with masses of trees and shrubs serves to frame the view, yet it encloses the lunar lawn to create a sense of privacy for intimate entertainment on a grand scale.

A broad flowerbed edging the lunar lawn is filled with over 7,000 tulips and 3,000 pansies that bloom each April and May concurrent with the azaleas and dogwoods. When this breath-taking spectacle reached its peak in early May, Marjorie Merriweather Post hosted her annual garden party, which was the premier social event of the season for Washington’s elite. Hillwood Museum and Gardens continues to celebrate this tradition by hosting an annual garden party on the first weekend in May. In summer, the beds are filled with annuals, which make way for thousands of chrysanthemums in the fall.

 
On the southwest corner of the lunar lawn, a tall flagpole topped with a golden eagle in flight always carries the Stars and Stripes. The flagpole, fashioned after the masts of her private yacht, the Sea Cloud, was a gift to Mrs. Post on her seventy-fifth birthday from her staff. A crowned lion made of cast stone reclines regally at the edge of the terrace beneath the mansion’s portico.