Everything’s Blooming at Historic Garden Week in Old Town!

One of our cherished local springtime traditions returns on Saturday, April 17, when Old Town Alexandria welcomes visitors to tour beautifully decorated exteriors and gardens as part of Historic Garden Week in Virginia.

This year’s garden tour has proven extremely popular, and tickets are already sold out. But the weekend of April 17 – 18 will be a great time to stroll the streets of Old Town to enjoy the springtime blooms. Exteriors of many homes in the historic district will be decorated with wreaths created by members of the Garden Club of Alexandria and Hunting Creek Garden Club. Please remember your face masks and be sure to social distance as you enjoy the scenery.

The Old Town Alexandria tour is part of the Garden Club of Virginia’s statewide Historic Garden Week tour of gardens. Tickets are still available for many tours in other parts of Virginia and can be purchased through the following link:  https://www.vagardenweek.org/main/tickets.

These tours are for a great cause – Historic Garden Week has raised millions of dollars to fund projects across Virginia, including conservation and restoration efforts at Mount Vernon, Stratford Hall, and The College of William & Mary. To learn more, go to www.gcvirginia.org and look under “Our Work.”

 

 

Photos Courtesy of the Garden Club of Virginia.

America’s Largest Open House is Virginia’s Oldest Volunteer Tourism Project. Presented by the Garden Club of Virginia, Historic Garden Week encompasses 32 tours organized and hosted by member clubs. For nearly 90 years, the nation’s only statewide house and garden tour has contributed to our state and regional economies. The economic impact of Historic Garden Week over the last 50 years is estimated to be over $518 million. Starting in 1929, the Garden Club of Virginia made it their most important work to preserve our state’s historic public gardens. From Monticello, Beatrix Farrand’s Green Springs Garden, Bacon’s Castle, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, to the State Arboretum in Winchester, to name just a few – a full diversity of gardens is represented in our projects. Since 1920 the Garden Club of Virginia has grown from eight founding clubs to 48 clubs with over 3,300 members. It is the coordinated efforts of these talented volunteers, along with the generosity of nearly 150 private home owners across our Commonwealth, who make Historic Garden Week possible. The Garden Club of Virginia’s horticultural programming and flower shows inspire one of Historic Garden Week’s greatest attractions, the world-class floral arrangements created by club members featured on tours. We estimate over 2,300 will be created especially for Historic Garden Week this spring. Think about what Virginia would look like if it weren’t for this annual event. Read about and plan your visit to the public gardens benefitting from Historic Garden Week. Additionally, in a continuing effort to build a comprehensive record of historic gardens in Virginia, the GCV offers annual research fellowships for landscape architecture students working toward a MLA or equivalent.

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