Shopping in Fort Hunt

Like the olive in a martini or the MSG in Funyuns, accessories are more than a simple garnish on your fashion plate: they're the essential spice that kicks couture into gear and makes even last night's wrinkled dress look stylish today. Whip your toes, wrist, collarbone, and elbow nook into shape with today's Groupon: $25 get you $50 worth of shoes, handbags, and jewelry at ShoeFly, the award-winning house of accessories that area shoppers voted Best Indie Shoe Store and Best Boutique for 2009. Though your Groupon is not valid for online purchases, you can get your hands on sale items and style-savvy finds at any of ShoeFly's convenient locations in DC, Arlington, and Bethesda. Stuff your sartorial stockings with today's Groupon or grab a pair of Fryes to stuff your stockings into.In 1798, a young American named Wilton Chamberlain invented what closely resembles the modern shoe, made out of ultra-plush designer leather and fastened with rope made from copper pipe. As Wilt invested more time perfecting the shoe, he began experimenting with designer fabrics and alchemy, eventually creating expensive shoes that could be worn to galas, balls, and outdoor rock concerts.

One can convey secret messages of love, friendship, and heartbreak through the symbolic colors and species in a flower bouquet. Send coded messages to fellow spies with an enigmatic mix of white daisies and pink roses in a cube vase ($32.95+), plus a small box of chocolates ($9.99+) to provide sustenance during a stakeout. Pair a dramatic yet simple arrangement of red tulips in a clear glass vase ($35) with three Mylar balloons ($14.99), or a pale pink glass vase with carnations, monte cassino, and lisianthus ($29.95+) with a medium stuffed animal ($19.99). Otherwise, use your Groupon to make an extravagant statement with a dozen red roses ($95) or an exotic arrangement of miniature bronze callas, with equisetum stalks styled in the vase ($234.95+) fit for an elegant spa. Ask Convention Floral about its flower-of-the-week special on seasonal flowers.

Unlike the vendors who in ancient times ran to the morning trade ships to view the latest fashions from across the sea, Treat is set in modern times and has plenty of affordable products for everyone. Between sea-foam green walls, the spacious and well-lit boutique organizes a well-edited stock of discount designer fashions on brilliant white shelving. Treat's inventory is updated every week or two, just like your mom's Facebook profile, with new dresses and tops from designers such as Diane von Furstenberg, Nanette Lepore, Milly, Vince, Trina Turk; denim from Joe's Jeans, J Brand, Seven for all Mankind; shoes from Bettye Muller and Loeffler Randall; and handbags from Kooba, Hayden Harnett, and Marc Jacobs.

Since 1945, this family-owned landscaping business and garden center has helped locals transform their yards into lush landscapes and bountiful gardens. The company's secret to longevity is enlisting a staff of passionate expert gardeners and cloning them to populate future generations. Among its members, the landscaping team shares almost 200 years of collective experience, with foremen holding between 12 and 20 years apiece. Company president James Campbell began cultivating his love of all things flora on a farm crew at age 14. In college, he studied ornamental horticulture and then spent four decades working at Campbell & Ferrara, ascending from crew member to foreman to president.

You might get lost in the meandering paths of the indoor-outdoor garden center with 8 acres of trees, shrubs, and seasonal flowers. Thankfully, horticulturists and garden experts roam the grounds, ready to offer you directions and advice. To deter pests, for example, they'll tell you to plant a border of marigolds or a handful of sacrificial Skittles. Hand them a picture of your yard, and they'll predict which plants and flowers will likely thrive there. They also make DIY-ing easy by arranging over 1,000 trees and shrubs into user-friendly categories such as privacy screening, Virginia natives, and four-season. For customers who prefer an expert's help, landscapers offer degrees of assistance, ranging from installing customer-selected plants to completely redesigning yards with putting greens, outdoor kitchens, or waterfalls.

La Muse gives customers a gift option that doesn't require careful strategizing with a claw crane and a decapitated piggy bank's worth of quarters. Operating under the mantra of "Gifts with Purpose," La Muse offers an inventory of heartfelt, handcrafted items, including jewelry, personalized gifts, quote- and saying-adorned gifts, and home décor, all from American artists. Wrap wrists in copper cobras with the bracelets of Sergio Lub ($22–$52), bring life-affirming levity to the walls of your man-cave with the mixed-media art of Kelly Rae Roberts ($14.99–$39.99), or class up catapulting coffee grinds into filter forts with a stainless-steel and tumbled-glass coffee scoop ($15.99) from Laurel Johns. Other items include bath and body products, area photographs, and comical figurines and pictures.

Dalton Brody provides an upscale boutique atmosphere nestled in a cozy storefront of mottled stone and regal green awnings. The shop is stuffed to the rafters with crystal and glassware, painted serving trays, candles, handbags, picture frames, and much more. Fill your home with the mingling aromas of lavender and rosemary from a petite air essence incense-like air freshener ($45), or dappify the gentleman of your choosing with a pale-green American–sailboat tie ($75). For the homosapien who has everything, leather money clips ($38) come in a variety of grains and colors, while a small photo album bound in gentle green-and-pink floral tapestry ($34) will hold a variety of memories, images from the future, and souls. Dalton Brody also stocks numerous gifts for new moms and their babies; perk up a nursery with a pink piggy bank ($52) coated in white polka-dots.