Historic Garden Week in Virginia, Fredericksburg Home and Garden Tour 2022

Tuesday we toured six beautiful homes and gardens in historic Fredericksburg as part of the annual Historic Garden Week in Virginia. An afternoon rain was in the forecast but it literally held off until we finished our very last stop at the Kenmore Plantation. We missed one home as we confused it with the plantation on the map.

Fredericksburg has a vibrant charming historic commercial district with homes from the early 18th century surrounding this area. The oldest residential structure was on the tour, The Charles Dick House - Georgian architecture constructed in 1740. All homes preserved the beautiful original architecture but many had completely updated interiors. Modern kitchens and rooms with a garden view were common elements.

The Rappahannock Garden Club hosted the local event and members were especially nice. 

Highly skilled in floral design, arrangements were place throughout properties, inside and out. We were prohibited from taking photos of interiors so unfortunately I can not show you any. We've traveled to various locations for 12 years and the arrangements were some of the best created.

Gardens were full of blooming Azalea, Hosta, Columbine, Solomon Seal, Dogwood, and Tulips. 

Peony was budding and ready to pop. Virginia is a lovely state to visit during Spring.

Some gardens were colorful and showy and other subtle and peaceful.

We rested over some wonderful coffee and the best no-chicken salad I've ever eaten at Katora Coffee. 

I highly recommend a quick stop if you're in the area; the White Chocolate Rose Latte and Sandwich were delicious. 

My main focus on the tour is always the gardens. I always appreciate an extensive tour with a lot of variety. I partly was interested in this tour because one of the homes used to be a flower shop. The retired flower shop owner now lives in the property adjoining the tour home. Open for strolling, it was a good example of a small garden packed with a wide variety of interesting plants. 

Several gardens focused on native plants, Kenmore Plantation has a sweet native garden and massive trees on the property. It also has a large separate formal garden. We didn't have time to take a guided tour but we were fortunate to be able to walk the grounds.

Kenmore Plantation formal gardens

I recommend a visit to Fredericksburg and stroll around the historic district. 

Flowers are oozing in this area this time of year and its just getting started!

~Rebecca

Historic Garden Week in Virginia is this week. Beautiful Home and Garden Tour 2022

Charlottesville 2018

Historic Garden Week in Virginia is almost here! Tickets are limited for each location throughout the state so you might want to consider pre-purchasing tickets online this year. The tour was suspended because of Covid, but it's back this year. 

Ashland 2020

After a deep delve into the annual guide book, we've decided to go to Fredericksburg this year. They will be celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the George Washington Foundation. Funds raised by the Garden Club of Virginia (GCV) during their 1929 tours helped restore the gardens at the Kenmore estate, which was the first GCV restoration project. A massive outside floral arrangement will be assembled throughout the day.

Richmond

Proceeds raised by the GCV from the annual tours help maintain and restore historically significant gardens throughout the state of Virginia.

Help kick off the most beautiful time of the year in Virginia by getting out and seeing the beauty that we're so fortunate to be surrounded by.

Richmond

The tour runs tomorrow, April 23 - 30th. 

Typically a community has one or two specific dates assigned to them.

HAPPY SPRING!

~Rebecca

Fresh Produce for the Community in Staunton Virginia at Jones Garden

Get your fresh veggies on this Summer in Staunton Virginia at Jones Garden. An inspirational Community Garden that sells reasonably priced produce grown onsite. You can even volunteer in the garden and be credited produce for your efforts. It's a great way to dig in the dirt if you don't have a plot of your own or meet like minded civic oriented friends that want to make available delicious fresh organic food to all income levels. 

The lush garden is the brainchild of Naomi Jones who often can be found in the garden. Her artistic sister, Sarah, designed the colorful and well thought out space. Many other members of the Jones family helped bring the city plot to life by building large walls and planter boxes. This is only the second season of food production for the garden and one would think such an accomplishment would have taken many more years to develop. The work that has gone into this effort is quite amazing to see.

Produce sales are open to anyone in the community and are held weekly beginning May - October, Friday 3 pm - 6 pm and Saturday 9 am - 1 pm. Greens, tomatoes, beans, onions, herbs, and many other crops are grown in this relatively small area. Freshly grown onsite so the selection will change as the season progresses. Small plot / healthy high production!

Educational seminars are also scheduled from time to time, visit their Instagram page for all announcements. 

The elderly can sign up for garden food delivery while aiding Jones Garden in their composting efforts. Collect compostable food scraps and exchange them for veggies! 

Runners are encouraged to help support the garden by running in the Nourishing Strides 5K on Saturday May 28. Pre-registration required no later than May 1.

The garden location was selected to target the surrounding senior population which is high in this previously neglected area of the City. Staunton is so fortunate to have this beautiful green space available to its citizens! This garden is a gift to the community and it takes a special person to give it all they have. I applaud Naomi and her worker bees. 

Support the garden in some way, RUN - GARDEN - SHOP! 

It's all good. 

~Rebecca