Historic Garden Week in Virginia begins April 26th, 2025

The 2025 Historic Garden Week in Virginia is April 26 - May 3. Local Garden Clubs throughout Virginia host the annual week long home and garden tours. A nice guidebook is available at select outlets or you can view it online.

I always seek out locations that are more nature centric. Some tours focus more on home interiors but regardless, one is sure to immerse oneself in the lovely Spring gardens along tour routes. This year seems to be loaded with many choices that appeal to me!

Based on my preference to stroll in as many gardens as possible, my top contenders for tour spots this year are: Northern Neck, Chatham Hills / Richmond, Norfolk, Williamsburg, and Middleburg. 

Northern Neck, near to the Chesapeake Bay, is my top pick but it's close to a 3 hour drive for me from Charlottesville so it's a little far but oh so tempting. Situated on the Rappahannock River homes date from 1855 to the 1990's. One property attracts many birds and features a pond. Terms such as lush, expansive, wooded, and natural beauty are used to describe this tour.

Richmond is the closest spot on my list and usually there are 2 separate tours on different days. Especially interesting to me is the neighborhood of Chatham Hills which when originally designed had the landscape services of Charles F. Gillette. The guidebook starts with... "an oasis of manicured gardens, 5.5 acre estate, and describes another property as 1.5 acres of lush landscape". That should do it! A range of different styles of homes in a beautiful part of Richmond. A brick colonial, farmhouse, Greek Revival and Dutch Colonial.

The Norfolk tour is on a waterfront peninsula and included in the tour, if you have not exhausted your senses, is The Norfolk Botanical Gardens which is a real bonus! Renovated mid century dated homes are featured, which is quite appealing to me. One property contains one of the oldest Maple trees in Norfolk. I always enjoy "garden only" tours and on the list is a sedum roof solar home with gardens boasting more than 1,500 native plants.

I'm a bit partial to Williamsburg because when I was googling a Salt Spa popped up in my feed which gave me the great idea to make it an overnight trip doubling up gardens with some additional relaxation. This tour features 13 sites! Quite incredible for a one day tour. I'll need a massage after all that walking. One farm house built in 1775 was relocated to Williamsburg in 1928! Two "garden only" tours are included which is right up my alley. Included in the tour is a colonial Williamsburg guided walking tour featuring 3 homes and 4 garden sites.

Garden guidebook photos make Middleburg look quite lush. One property was included in the Smithsonian's Archives of American Gardens, cataloging more than 140 species of birds! Several water features are mentioned, one being 2 ponds located in a natural area. This tour is a walking tour which is always nice because you park once and don't have to fool with maneuvering to each property.

In my own neck of the woods, I hope to finally see the gardens of Morven in Charlottesville and I just noticed that at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library on the UVA Campus currently is running an Anne Spencer exhibit. I've been to Anne's home and gardens in Lynchburg several times. On 4/28 Monday from 11 - 3 the UVA President's home gardens (Carr's Hill) will be open which is always pretty in the Spring!

Get out this Spring! 

~Rebecca

 

80,000 veterans administration jobs to be cut. Why are we punishing our vets!

Today our caring and stellar geriatric doctor made a house call to give a shingles vaccine and review the health of my 93 year old veteran father-in-law, Bob. We have gotten to know him over the last 6 months since Bob moved into our home. Previously Bob was not in great shape. He lived alone in TN and had various doctors that he visited from time to time even though he had macular degeneration and was developing dementia. His general doctor told us he would not live out the year and basically to just throw in the towel and not bother treating his growing list of ailments (that was in 2023). 

Up until about 85 years of age, Bob was a go getter, with a career in construction work. Always on the move! Handmaking woodcrafts and growing vegetables to share with his neighbors. He was quite generous, even nearly losing everything from paying home health care workers to help him with his wife who was bed bound for 6 years. He never used the Veterans Administration as he really was a pretty healthy guy. He served in the Korean War loading bombs in planes and training others on the shooting range. His hearing has been bad for many many years. Possibly because there was no ear protection back in those days.

He had asked for nothing personally from the VA. After his funds were nearly wiped out, I stumbled upon the Veterans Administration in Tennessee and because he was adamant about staying independent, we started him in their home health care program which contracts through an agency up to 20 hours a week assistance with dressing, cleaning, bathing, and meal preparation. Eventually we had to bring him to Virginia to live with us. We transferred all medical to the VA clinic in Charlottesville which is run out of the Richmond office.

We have been so impressed with his care and just mentioned a few days ago how he has done a complete turn around. Previously hardly unable to get out of a chair and living a solitary existence basically just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Now he has a wonderful geriatric doctor that comes to our house and treats all his ailments. He even has gotten him in a local day care program! You might think home health care is frivolous but it makes sense! It takes another person with a body belt to assist walking Bob up and down the stairs and then we have to put him in a wheelchair. Because of his many ailments, it required nearly weekly office visits to the different specialists. He now primarily sees his geriatric doctor and it saves so much hassle. His doctor is amazing and an asset to our elderly service members. 

My father also served in the Korean War and he never received VA assistance. He died in a nursing home from Alzheimer's. If he had been enrolled with the VA it might have not been such a difficult ending and it absolutely would have helped my mother who cared for him day in and day out. I've experienced both private care (which was a total nightmare) and public VA care and I'll take the VA care any day! My experience has been quite positive and has improved his quality of life significantly.

I just read of the pending indiscriminate elimination of 80,000 employees from the Veterans Administration (30% of which are veterans themselves). Why is the richest country in the world targeting the VA? Why are we punishing our veterans and their families? How can we ask individuals to join the military and not promise them benefits or pull the plug on them? Why are we asking wonderful doctors to take a hike?

There are many elderly veterans that are going to be seriously disoriented by losing their health care services and/or provider. When we have no compassion and give no thought to harming those who we have asked to sacrifice their life to PROTECT OUR COUNTRY then we've lost our soul. To pull the rug out from veterans that have relied on the VA is gut wrenching and to see great doctors get kicked to the curb without any thought as to the service they provide is disturbing. There is no logical reason for doing this other than selfishness and shortsightedness with the intent to gleefully cause chaos. 

My father-in-law has our family to keep him safe but sadly some veterans are terminally or mentally ill and can't fend for themselves. Willy-nilly axing VA medical doctors and staff just because you think there is government waste is a total copout as to what your real plan is, to privatize our government and shrink it down so the wealthiest can benefit while leaving the less fortunate to figure it out. Please call TODAY your representatives and ask them to explain what they will do to protect the elderly, veterans, and our valued doctors from this planned extermination at the Veterans Administration.

~Rebecca

Abraham Lincoln In his Times by David S Reynolds book review. Honest Abe was truly an amazing man.

Several weeks ago I found some time to search for garden history books at our local library, specifically about Monet and Vita Sackville-West, neither of which were fruitful checkouts as both were missing. I had no intention of reading about Abe, especially a 1,000 page book. Coincidently, on my checkout list was a different David Reynolds book with stellar reviews, so this book about Lincoln caught my eye.

I will start by saying this is not really a review as I'm not going to be critical one way or the other but it is more of a description of my enlightenment. This book is very detailed and begins with the birth of Abe and ends with his death. It does not cover much about the ins and outs of the horrors of the Civil War but it highlights significant battles and Abe's involvement. The life of Abe has been thoroughly recorded in history and after reading the book I understand why. Our President Lincoln was indeed a significant historic personality who somehow managed to survive through the long war years.

After reading this book, my general impression of Abe was that he was honest and didn't waver on his commitments or beliefs having strict moral character and fortitude. Our government before Abe sounded disheveled, mismanaged, and full of rowdy behavior. It was said that only Honest Abe could have pulled off uniting the States while freeing the slaves. He was not an uppity man, he was the salt of the earth. Self educated and eventually becoming a good lawyer and ultimately a wise statesman. He is a good example of what is called the American Dream. His life experiences were varied and he had direct contact with a wide range of social classes. The people could relate to his speeches as they were mesmerizing, well thought out, and to the point. Photos of Abe in his later years of life show his increasingly worn appearance throughout the continuation of the Civil War (estimates of 520,000 soldiers died but records were not accurate especially concerning confederate soldiers and slave deaths. Some calculations put it closer to over 1 million and included death from diseases).

Being a life long Virginian, I have been to the Lincoln Memorial several times and the experience is like no other. Climbing the stairs one feels as if on hallowed ground, Lincoln bigger than life, his importance illustrated by his size. It indeed is a fitting structure in honor of this truly amazing man.

During the 4 years of Lincoln's presidency, 1961 - 1965 many other societal projects were occurring. We mainly think of Lincoln as bearing the weight of the war but the country was also experiencing rapid expansion. He believed strongly in infrastructure so he was promoting the railroad while directing distribution of tracts of land through the Homestead Act to hopeful poorer families (sadly greedy prospectors took advantage of the program). Shockingly, when he took office, there was no uniform banking system, money was being produced in different designs by the states. He signed a National Banking Act to have one currency. There was no oversight in agriculture and he created the USDA. A large group of mid-west and west coast states were still territories which gradually were being converted into States (adding more drama concerning States rights to own slaves or not). Of course his biggest accomplishments were ending the war, freeing the slaves while preserving the Union, and adding the 13th Amendment to the constitution.

My family, Tobacco pouch from Virginia factory after war

Also of interest in the book were his relationships with this wife, friends, business associates, and government officials. I gathered that he was at ease with meeting the unknown head on, eager for new experiences and a master at working through difficulties. It is striking to realize he was able to absorb himself in the greatest of responsibility during this chaotic time in history and not have a stroke or be assassinated. He never seemed to heed warnings of his likely demise from his many enemies, putting duty before all else. Self-sacrificing even though so many died on his watch. 

Even Lincoln was not perfect. The Indian crisis out West was not a priority and their lands continued to be distributed to white settlers. He replaced his generals frequently because they either didn't follow instructions or for losing battles which caused the war to drag on. Progressives and civil rights leaders were critical of his slowness to end slavery. Ultimately, he saved the union while freeing the slaves from the lawful designation of them being human prisoners for life as mere property.

My family, Confederate Vet and family after war

It took me about 4 weeks to finish the book and it inspired me to watch Abraham Lincoln 3 part series produced some time ago by the History channel and research my Virginia family history a bit more. 

~Rebecca