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

 

Spring Flower Gardening Event Calendar 2019 in Charlottesville Virginia

My front flower bed earlier in the season.

Instead of finishing my taxes, I'll divert my attention to SPRING. It's such a wonderfully lovely time of year, I had to sneak this blog post in. My garden has transformed from the yellow's of Daffodils and Forsythia to the pink's of Crab Apple and Redbud. With each passing Spring day my view from my back deck develops. Shades of green darken and dots of white and red trees appear. I never tire of the seasons.

Love this sweet garden view on Rugby Road.

I try to reserve April and May for Gardening Events. These months are super busy and it's my time to be selfish and take time out to explore gardens and reunite with plants. I've even invited the local Facebook plant group over to my house this year for a morning coffee and plant swap. The pressure is on to tidy up the yard, not to mention finish my taxes. YIKES! I hope the gang is not expecting a manicured yard, I'm more of a plant collector than a landscaper. Should be fun meeting like minded garden lovers that I've gotten to know from posting comments online.

My front flower bed, it's Daffodil season!

The first main local gardening event of the season will be kicked off this weekend on April 13. Hosted by The Piedmont Master Gardeners, Through the Garden Gate is held the second Saturday of each month during gardening season from 9 - 12 for the exception of August.

The annual Jefferson chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society will have its sale at the Ivy Creek Nature Center on Saturday, April 27, 1 - 3. It's a wonderful sale with tons of plants and tons of buyers! Come early if you really want to be selective. Native plants benefit our local insect population!

Maybe Trisha will motivate me to go HGW VA.

Historic Garden Week in Virginia also kicks off on April 27 and continues until the following weekend on May 4. I've yet to decide on a garden location to visit. This is the first year that I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with finishing our garage and getting started on renovating the basement so my mother can move in. I might take a breather this year (the first in probably 8 years) and skip this main event.

The Piedmont Master Gardeners will also have their  main event on Saturday May 4th, 10 - 2 under the Stonefield Shopping Plaza tent (this is a new location). Their annual plant sale is awesomely amazing. Another great place to pick up a special and unique plant from many different local plant expert groups.

Sweet Daffodils in my garden.

This week I'll be heading out at 6 am to take a stroll through the Sarah P. Duke Gardens before my annual doctor trip to Duke. Might as well make the visit interesting! Can't wait to finally see these gardens. I conveniently booked an appointment mid April.

HAPPY SPRING and get out and smell not only the roses but all the flowers!

~Rebecca

Monticello in the Spring during Virginia Garden Week

Monticello April 20, 2015

It's hard to not be blown away by the gardens at Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia. Yesterday as part of Virginia Garden Week I attended a free lecture and tour by Architectural Historian, Gardiner Hallock, on the latest restoration project, The Kitchen Road. It was a blustery beautiful day on the mountaintop. A storm was brewing so the sky was full of white clouds floating among brilliant blue.

Lower section of Mulberry Row up to the Hemings log cabin.

In Thomas Jefferson's day, the Kitchen Road was the work area of "the farm". A bustling hub where food from the garden and deliveries were collected and dispatched up the hillside to the underground kitchen, ice house, and wine cellar. Wagons stocked with household items traveled up the mountain and ended up on the kitchen road to be sorted out by slaves.  Over 20 buildings were along Mulberry Row which connects to the Kitchen Road. Slave homes, an ironworks and weavers shop, and little stable were along this network of short pathways that let up to and serviced Monticello.

Ongoing archaeology survey of the stables.

A lot of work has gone into reconstructing a Hemings slave cabin, and connecting pathways up to the house. Some trees and shrubs have been removed and pathways have been recovered to the original Thomas Jefferson day pattern. Even the privy vent has been restored to the original design which is a much simpler and more natural stone outcropping. Monticello was one of the few homes with indoor bathrooms and was considered to be very modern. If alive, TJ would be fascinated by the new geothermal system that has just been completed at Monticello.

The tulips were in FULL BLOOM up at the main house.

All projects are based on Thomas Jefferson's drawings, historic photos, and archaeology digs. Some of the discoveries are quite interesting. Old cobblestones, paint chip analysis, and plenty of dirt sifting reveals centuries of history. Very few slave gravesites have been found (one is near the visitors center). There have to be more burial sites on the mountaintop but were unmarked and are difficult to find.

Dwarf Tulips that at one time I grew and loved.

Oh but I digress, the grounds were bursting with the most beautiful display of Tulips. The white Dogwood and Purple Redbud speckled throughout the mountaintop forest.

Fothergilla shrub in bloom at the Visitors Center

This is the peak time of year at the Visitors Center to see the native plant landscaping in full bloom.

Crested Iris

I would love to get my little grubby gardening gloves on some Crested Iris. What a lovely ground cover it has made at the Visitors Center underneath the white Fothergilla. I see it every year and dream of having a start and would like to replace my aggressive Vinca Vine with it.


It was a beautiful day and the weather held off this year, last year I was drenched so decided to attempt the same tour again. Thank you Gardiner for an amazing tour!

-Rebecca