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Garden Party in Virginia

Make plans now to attend Historic Garden Week, when more than 200 of the state's finest gardens, homes, and Southern icons bloom with pride.

No one celebrates the advent of spring with quite as much passion and enthusiasm as the good people of Virginia.

During the last full week of April, homeowners and gardeners across the state open their doors and welcome the world to come for a visit. Historic Garden Week festivities include teas, luncheons, and lectures, as well as a series of tours boasting more than 200 homes and gardens, most of them privately owned.

"It's our gift to the state of Virginia," says Mary Hart Darden, president of The Garden Club of Virginia. "It's a very special week."

A Long-standing Tradition

Fittingly, the idea for Garden Week germinated at Monticello during a flower show organized in 1927 to raise money to save Thomas Jefferson's old trees. The event was such a success that The Garden Club of Virginia was called upon again-this time to raise funds needed to landscape Kenmore, the Fredericksburg home of George Washington's sister, Betty Washington Lewis.

In 1929, Garden Club volunteers organized a pilgrimage of homes and gardens; then they penned invitations to friends around the country asking them to visit during the last week of April. Their efforts raised $ 14,000 that first year. Historic Garden Week had taken root.

The homes and gardens open for tours this year stretch from the mountains to the coastal plains, offering a wide range of climates and plants. "There are usually daffodils blooming in the mountains when they've already finished on the coast," says Peggy Talman, 2004 Historic Garden Week chairperson. "You get a taste of what grows here."

Saving Garden Treasures

Over the years, members have raised more than $10 million, enabling the club to fund garden restorations at more than 35 historic properties. One of the newest, Dodona Manor in Leesburg, opens for the first time this spring.

"It's a simple farmhouse, but Gen. George Marshall was an avid gardener," Mary Hart says. "To think now that we have the opportunity to restore his garden and celebrate his love of the land is very exciting."

Those who visit the state during this nine-day garden party-whether by chance or by design-also reap the benefits of the Garden Club's warm hospitality and good will.

History in Bloom

At Monticello in Charlottesville, Andrew and Adrianna Ross pose in front of a bed of tulips, their little brother, Nickolas, snuggled between them. They sit still as stones and smile like angels-until the shutter clicks. Then they're off and running, rolling in the grass and chasing each other with youthful abandon.

Their aunt, Pat Levitt from Newburyport, Massachusetts, laughs and shakes her head, marveling at their energy. The second-grade teacher brought the family here as a history lesson of sorts.

"The older children are learning the history of our country, so we decided to bring them to the history instead of just reading it to them," she says. "Of course, Monticello is absolutely gorgeous with everything in bloom. We couldn't have planned it better if we had tried.

"We were just astounded by how much Virginians treasure their Garden Week," she continues. "We do garden tours in New England, but this is really spectacular."

San Francisco resident Jacqueline Repici grew up in northern Virginia. Home for a friend's wedding, she took time to do something she missed out on as a child-visit Monticello. "Sometimes you have to grow up and move away to realize how wonderful the place you grew up in really is," she confesses.

These reactions don't surprise Peggy at all. "We welcome people from all over the world," she notes. "That's why it's called the greatest open house in America." CASSANDRA M. VANHOOSER

Historic Garden Week: April 17-25. For an advance copy of the 220-page guidebook, send $5 for shipping and handling to The Garden Club of Virginia, 12 East Franklin Street, Richmond, VA 23129. You can also order the guidebook and tickets online at www.vagardenweek.org. For more information call (804) 644-7776.