The Lynchburg Garden Club

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden blooms today as the result of a vision held by Grace Arents, the niece and heir of Lewis Ginter. Lewis Ginter, a successful businessman and entrepreneur, purchased land in 1884 to provide an area for “healthful recreational activities for the community”. Miss Arents, a nurse, had traveled in Europe and visited botanical gardens there. She nourished her love for horticulture and gardens through these visits. She also wanted to provide a “healthy environment for children suffering from crowded living conditions in the polluted areas of the city”; thus, she initially established a hospital for sick children on the Ginter property after she had acquired it upon her uncle’s death. When the hospital ceased functioning, Miss Arents chose to live in that residence which she named “Bloemendaal” or valley of flowers. Before her death in 1926, Grace Arents stipulated in her will that the property should become a botanical garden named in honor of her uncle. Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden became a reality in 1984, and the area in front of Bloemendaal House was officially designated as the Grace Arents Garden. Read More.

Thomas Jefferson first documented roses in his earliest Garden Book entries when, at age 24 and still living at Shadwell, he recorded, “April 4, 1767 planted suckers of Roses….” Cultivated roses during the mid-18th century were either once-blooming European varieties or native species such as wild Virginia or Carolina roses (Rosa virginiana or R. carolina). There are several options for Jefferson’s “suckering” roses, but most likely they were the Apothecary’s Rose (R. gallica officinalis), an ancient rose species native to southern, central and eastern Europe, with large, semi-double, crimson flowers. In September 1771 Jefferson first specifies a rose by name—Sweet Briar Rose (R. eglanteria)—for his landscape at Monticello. This large, once-blooming European shrub with single, blush-pink flowers, is distinguished by its apple-perfumed foliage, densely prickled stems, and long-lasting hips. By 1782, Jefferson included “a Calendar of the bloom of flowers” in his Garden Book, listing “crims. Dw. Rose” flowering from May through June. While this dwarf crimson rose could have been the Apothecary’s Rose, it is possible he was referring to the Burgundian Rose, Rosa x centifolia ‘Pompon de Bourgogne,’ a low growing, once-blooming variety with rosy purple flowers, which was in cultivation before 1664. Read More

Historic buildings and their landscapes are a cohesive unit that reads like a book to tell the story of the life and times of its occupants. Pierce E. Lewis, in The Interpretation of Ordinary Landscapes, describes the landscape as “a cultural record that reflects tastes, values, aspirations and even our fears in a tangible way.” Senior Historian in the Virginia Department of Historic Resources Calder Loth reminds us that “historic grounds serve as a compliment to the building, not to obscure or dominate it.” These ideas factor heavily in the restoration design plans today. Research found in letters, photos, books and archaeology help to develop the restoration design with an understanding of the maintenance required. Realizing gardens are not static, reevaluation of plantings and design help to keep it maintained and in concurrence with the new information about the landscape. Read more.

Saunders Brothers Announces its 6th Edition Boxwood Guide

The 6th Edition Saunders Brothers Boxwood Guide is now available. Since publishing their first guide in the summer of 2005 as a quick reference for landscapers, designers, gardeners and homeowners, Saunders Brothers has continued to update this publication regularly based on new findings and observations. Their goal is to supply landscape professionals, as well as backyard gardeners, with the most up to date information on boxwood gardening and care possible.

The guide is the result of a journey that began over 70 years ago by the Saunders family. What started as one boy's 4-H project evolved into the foundation of their wholesale nursery. Today Saunders Brothers supplies hundreds of garden centers and landscapers with a large selection of both container and field-grown boxwood.

The Boxwood Guide can help you quickly find the most appropriate boxwood for your particular design, need and site conditions. In addition, detailed care instructions are listed in the guide to assist in caring for any boxwood garden. The new guide contains more research, descriptions and details than any of the preceding issues.

There are hundreds of varieties and cultivars of boxwood available in the market today. Saunders Brothers is working to trial and evaluate these through years of experience and through the National Boxwood Trials. Countless efforts are being made to offer the industry the best selections for landscape use. Evaluations include the aesthetic appeal, grower friendliness and landscape performance.

The 6th Edition Boxwood Guide is available as a PDF file on the Saunders Brothers website.

Lespedeza thumbergii Gibraltar (Bushclover)

If you are looking for a beautiful plant for late summer to early fall bloom, consider Lespedeza thumbergii. This is an unknown jewel, and an award-winning, medium sized deciduous sub-shrub. It has delicate foliage, brilliant blossoms ranging from purple, fuchsia pink to white. It features long, arching branches with thousands of pea-like flowers creating a fountain of color when not much else is happening in the border. Like a perennial, it dies back to the ground after a hard frost. Blooming on new growth, it is best pruned back in late winter or early spring and then watch it soar over the growing season. Lespedeza will grow from 3 to 6 feet tall and just as wide.

It has received the Award of Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society. It will be happy in full sun or partial shade and is best grown with average to medium moisture. It will tolerate lots of soil conditions but does not like being wet. It is drought tolerant once it is established. Lespedeza is best shown in shrub borders, cottage gardens, mixed borders or cascading over walls. It is also pest and deer resistant and looks great with stachys byzantine (lamb’s ears), Buddleia alternifolia and roses.

Give it a try – I know you will love it just like I do!

Elaine Burden, GCV Restoration Committee Member, Fauquier & Loudoun Garden Club

From its inception, the Garden Club of Virginia strove to preserve the natural beauty of our state through native plants. They are the key to revitalizing and sustaining the health of our ecosystems and supporting biodiversity. They are the foundation of the food web and we must all do our part by adding them to our gardens, planting them in our towns, and incorporating them along our highways.

The very first project undertaken by the GCV, back in 1922, was to educate the public about the importance of preserving our state’s wildflowers, native trees and shrubs.

In 1926, the GCV was instrumental in the passage of a state bill to protect native plants called the Ball Bill. The law prohibited the “picking, pulling up, tearing up, digging up, cutting, breaking, injuring, burning or destruction of any tree, shrub, vine or turf growing or being upon the land of another, or upon any land reserved, set aside, or maintained by this State as a public park, or as a refuge or sanctuary for wild animals, birds or fish, without having previously obtained the permission in writing of such other, his agent, tenant or lessee, or of the superintendent or custodian of such park, refuge, or sanctuary, so to do.”

In 1928, GCV member clubs were asked to plant dogwood trees in their community and to encourage schools to plant a dogwood or holly on school grounds. An effort was launched, with the support of the state highway department, to plant dogwoods along state roadways. The GCV slogan was: “Cover the State with Dogwood, Virginia’s State Flower—One Million Dogwoods by 1935.”

The Garden Club of Virginia’s focus on native plants for the past 100 years still thrives today. Our organization has played a pivotal part in the Virginia landscape we enjoy; a legacy, 100 years in the making and, still going strong today.

Heidi F. James, GCV Horticulture Committee Chairman, The Lynchburg Garden Club

We have entered into the pruning season for many trees and shrubs. January is a good time to inspect the condition and growth of your deciduous trees as well as shrubs like boxwood, butterfly bush, cherry laurel, photinia and many more. For trees, the goal is to produce strong, healthy and safe trees. This can be achieved by following some simple pruning principles.

Your Garden Maintenance Manual, provided to each property by the Garden Club of Virginia, is a great pruning guide right at your finger-tips. This manual was written by Rieley & Associates to provide detailed pruning guidance for timing, techniques, maintenance and renewal, tools and safety. Additional bound copies may be purchased on the Shop page of the GCV website.

The USDA has also published a good reference manual on How To Prune Trees. You can find a printable PDF manual here.

Another good pruning resource is A Guide to Successful Pruning Shrub Calendar published by Virginia Cooperative Extension Service and Virginia Tech. This manual provides month-by-month pruning instruction for a wide variety of shrubs in Virginia. Click here for a PDF file and the calendar.

Whether you’re pruning for aesthetics, health, to promote growth, or safety, now would be a good time to make a plan, sharpen tools, to enhance the natural beauty of your landscape.

Clarkie Eppes, GCV Restoration Committee Member, Hillside Garden Club

Before

After

Poplar Forest reopens to the public for Winter Weekends from January 16 to March 14, with guided tours offered every hour beginning at 10:30 a.m. Daily visitations resume March 15th.

A Valentine’s Day Candlelight Wine Dinner is scheduled for February 13.

Check their website for other special events scheduled in March, April and May.

Mount Vernon is offering a selection of virtual tours and outdoor activities. Interpreters will be stationed in the Historic area and at Washington’s Tomb throughout the day. The Mansion's first floor is now open along with the museum and gift shop.

Jefferson's Monticello is fully reopened with safety precautions in place. The daily visitors capacity has been significantly reduced.

Stratford Hall's normal operating hours have resumed with self-guided audio tours of the Great House and historic grounds.

Montpellier's grounds, museum shop and café reopened January 16. Due to Covid restrictions still in place, the mansion is closed to the public.

Belmont is open for individual and group tours by appointment.