My Favorite Photo from Yesterday

Saw this fuzzy fella at one of the properties that my husband and I toured yesterday, while on the Fredericksburg Garden Week tour.

I think that this sweet-faced Highland bull may soon find himself immortalized on canvas in oil paint ... hint, hint to my dear husband.

Upcoming Spring Rose and Garden Events in Virginia

At this time of year, there are SO many choices of things for rose and garden lovers to do in Virginia.  (For those of you in other parts of the country, I'm sure that there is plenty of stuff for you, too, wherever you are.)  Below, you will find the events that I plan to attend ... I will be enjoying these as a plain old attendee at each of them but one.

Virginia Garden Week
April 19 - 25, 2015
There's nothing like Virginia Garden Week anywhere else in the country.  Home and garden tours are scheduled in many locations throughout the state.  I'm touring Fredericksburg on Tuesday, Warrenton on Wednesday, and Middle Peninsula on Friday.
Click HERE to go to the Garden Week web site for schedule and details.

Azaleas in full bloom in Fredericksburg for Garden Tour.

I will be speaking at the April meeting of the Chesapeake Bay Garden Club, delivering my program "Documenting and Preserving the Roses at Hollywood Cemetery"
Festival Hall, Reedville, Virginia
Tuesday, April 28, 2015 at 12:00 pm

A beautiful example of statuary, and 'Safrano', at Hollywood Cemetery

Lynchburg Old City Cemetery Antique Rose Festival

Featured guest and speaker is my friend, Rev. Douglas Seidel

Heritage roses propagated from the cemetery's collection will be available for sale.

May 8-10, 2015  

Schedule of activities at the cemetery's web site HERE.  

'Dortmund' climbing on the porch of one of the museum buildings at the Old City Cemetery.

Sunday Picnic at Hollywood Cemetery

Pack a picnic, bring a blanket, and relax to sounds of great entertainment.  As an added bonus, I expect the roses at the cemetery to be putting on quite a show.

May 3, 2015, 1:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Details on the cemetery web site HERE.

Unknown red China rose, on the Dorsey Cosby lot at Hollywood Cemetery

Monticello’s Tufton Farm Wine and Roses Open House

Featured speaker is Peggy Cornett, Curator of Plants at Monticello

May 30, 2015 10:00 am – 2:00 pm  
Details are HERE, at the Monticello web site.

'Baltimore Belle' blooming in the garden at Tufton Farm.

Hartwood Roses Open Garden Day

Date to be determined, as soon as the roses in my garden let me know when full bloom time will be.

Details will be posted here, on the Hartwood Roses Facebook page, and on the Hartwood Roses web site as soon as I have them. 

The Old Rectory ... Garden Tour

On Thursday last week, The Husband and I planned to go on the Virginia Garden Week tour in Warrenton.  The computer gods had other things for him to do, however, and he had to stay home to deal with an emergency at work.  With his blessing, I went solo on this tour ... and I am so glad that I didn't miss it.

There were five beautiful properties on this year's tour:  an 1833 inn that was built as a Wells Fargo stagecoach stop, an 1828 home built by Chief Justice John Marshall, a perfectly restored and decorated brick Federal home from 1856, a 1996 beautifully designed English-style Arts and Crafts home decorated with William Morris fabrics and papers, and my favorite ... The Old Rectory, formerly the parsonage for Leeds Episcopal Church.

 

 

 

 

According to the tour brochure, the home was built in 1855.  The current owners spent a year restoring and renovating the house.  I wish I had interior photos to show you, because every room in this house was PERFECTION!  (Think Restoration Hardware meets Antiques Roadshow, with a little bit of Sarah Richardson, and you'll have the right idea.)  The front porch vignette was a perfect introduction to the wonders that were inside.

 

 

 

The home's garden is the work of the previous owner.  She was a skilled gardener and plant collector, and she worked her magic in the landscape with an imaginative blend of plants over a 25-year period.

 

 

 

 

 

The back of the property has a steep drop-off formed by a large rock ledge.  The garden design works WITH this feature, honoring it and enhancing it, with woodland plants and specimen trees and shrubs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I saved my favorite part of this property for last ... when I walked out the back door, I almost squealed at the sight of  "The Schoolhouse".

 

 

 

 

 

Every detail of this little building appeals to me.  I took LOTS of photos to use as inspiration when we finally get around to renovating the little outbuilding on our property.

 

 

 

I already have a big picture window like this in my stash of salvaged windows.  Won't take much to use smaller windows on the sides to create a bay.

 

 

This bump-out with narrow windows was a bench in a dining alcove.

 

 

With one last look, I bid farewell to this perfect place.  It's rare for me to tour a house and react like I did with this one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This place got to me, and it will provide motivation and inspiration to fuel some of the remaining projects that I still have looming ahead of me here at our house ... as we continue to put this 'Humpty Dumpty' of a renovation of ours TOGETHER AGAIN.

 

After I posted this, I did a little bit of Googling to see what else I could find about this place.  Hit paydirt after only a few minutes.  Click HERE to see the listing and photos from when the home was for sale in 2011.  Having seen the current interior, the difference between the Before and the After is amazing!!

 

 

Historic Garden Week: Fredericksburg Home and Garden Tour

The last full week of April is Historic Garden Week in Virginia.  This year marks the 80th anniversary of Garden Week, the oldest and largest event of its kind in the US, billed as "America's Largest Open House."  Garden clubs in localities throughout the state host tours of historic homes and gardens ... proceeds from the tour are used to restore gardens at state historic landmarks.

The Fredericksburg tour featured properties that were on the original Garden Week tour.  My mother and I always take this tour together (she is just as crazy about gardens and historic houses as I am, so it's a good match.) 

Our first stop was Fall Hill, a Georgian-style house built in 1770.

 

 

As we waited our turn to tour the house, I was studying and photographing the porch.  I got a couple of ideas that I hope I can use when I finally get around to finishing our porch.

 

 

 

There are flower arrangements everywhere on the tour properties, all done by garden club members.  Since there is no photography allowed inside the houses, I can only show you some of the ones outside.

 

 

 

Fall Hill had a number of outbuildings ... the ones I liked most were the Summer Kitchen and this green machine shed.

 

 

 

 

 

Our next stop was Snowden, built in on some of the highest ground overlooking the city of Fredericksburg.  The original house was built in 1815, but was destroyed by fire in 1925.  The current house was built a year later, replicating the original design as closely as possible.  (I totally forgot to take a photo of the front of the house.  Here is a photo that I am borrowing from the Free Lance Star.)

 

 

 

The stone cottage behind the house is believed to date to 1720.

 

 

 

The garden was designed in the 1940s by Charles Gillette, and it was restored in the 1990s using photos taken in the 1950s.  When work began on the restoration of the garden, it was quite overgrown.  Our guide told us that the workers found this original fish pond when one of them fell into it.

 

 

 

Each corner of the fish pond garden is anchored by a wisteria standard.  The trunk on each wisteria is huge, and they were all in glorious full bloom!

 

 

 

 

 

Another feature of Snowden's garden is this allee of Crape Myrtles.  I imagine that this is even more beautiful in summer.

 

 

 

Brompton is the home of the president of the University of Mary Washington.  It occupies a hill on Marye's Heights, and it was a witness to the heavy fighting in both of the battles of Fredericksburg during the Civil War.  The original four-room portion of the house is believed to date to the 1740s.

 

 

 

 

The Brompton Oak, a 300+ year old White Oak, still graces the front lawn.

 

 

 

It was in this very spot that Matthew Brady photographed Union soldiers sheltering under its branches.

 

 

 

The garden in the rear of the residence has a stone patio, which opens to a garden in the shade of three large magnolia trees.

 

 

 

 

 

This two-story out-building (I assume that it's a guest house or office) sat beautifully in the landscape.

 

 

 

 

 

As we left, it was wonderful how the brick walkway led us beneath the branches of another huge tree.

 

 

 

Our final stop was Belmont, a home built in the 1790s, most famous as the country home of American Impressionist artist Gari Melchers and his wife Corinne.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Belmont has a Georgian-style landscape around the house, which gradually gives way to more natural gardens and trails.

 

 

 

Mr. and Mrs. Melchers built a stone summerhouse in a prime spot, overlooking the Rappahannock River.

 

 

 

 

 

Trails lead from the summerhouse, winding through a very natural-looking garden.

 

 

 

 

 

'Solomon's Seal', one of my favorite shade plants

 

 

It was a long day for us, and Mom and I were both pretty tired by the time we finished at Belmont.  There had been so much to see, and we walked almost every inch of the gardens at each of the homes we visited.

 

I've been getting caught up on things here at home today ... and I hope to set out again tomorrow, to see what the Warrenton tour has to offer.