Historic Virginia Garden Week in Richmond

Every Spring I make sure to leave the last week of April unscheduled so I can tour the homes and gardens during Historic Virginia Garden Week. 

This year for the first time I went down to tour the homes in Richmond, VA, with three of my Bible Study friends. The weather was absolutely gorgeous!

We couldn't take pictures of the homes, but we could of the gardens and outdoor arrangements. I thought the one above was unique because they used flowers to look like a shish kabob.

Another flower arrangement.

This one was also cute because of the rustic holder and the cute little flowers and succulents on it.

I loved the flowers in the basket off this old fashioned bicycle.

The azaleas were in full bloom that weeke.

I asked someone to take our picture so you could see the pretty flowering trees and bushes behind us, and this is what I got.

This is what we were standing in front of.

This one turned out better since the azalea bushes were so tall.

Cute arrangement on a tree swing.

The exterior of one of the homes we toured. The lines weren't actually very long in front of most of the homes.

We also went to an exhibit about WWI in the Virginia Museum of History. 

A player piano with some music from the era of WWI, around 1917 to 1920.

Some items that belonged to President Woodrow Wilson.

Another display about some of the famous founding Fathers from Virginia.

We toured homes on Thursday and Friday, so we spent the night in the historic Jefferson Hotel in downtown Richmond.

Here's the statue of Thomas Jefferson in the lobby where you check in.

It was a very upscale hotel. Here are a couple of views of the lobby--from the upstairs looking down,

and from the downstairs looking up.

This was something new for me--in the bathroom there was a TV in the mirror! It was expensive, of course, and I don't think I'll ever stay there again. It wasn't worth the money if the bill hadn't been split between four of us.

Lovely Historic Homes and Gardens

In the middle of April my sister Jill came to tour DC during her spring break from school, 

so I met her in the city one day to tour Hillwood, the home of Marjorie Post.

Marjorie was quite a collector of art and dishes, especially from Russia.

This is an actual Faberge' egg, made for the Russian Royal family at the turn of the 19th century,

Some of the hundreds of antique dishes that Marjorie Post collected.

I usually try to pose with the pianos of the historic homes I visit.

Marjorie Post was the heir to the Post cereal fortune, and had many portraits of herself in the home.

The gardens were also very pretty. I toured the home in the spring many years ago when the azaleas were in bloom. This year we were a bit early for the azaleas, but some of the daffodils and tulips were still blooming.

On another day Kent and I went to tour the workshop, gardens and home of a famous artist who made his home in Stafford, Gari Melcher.

I purchased a copy of this painting by Gari Melcher of the birth of Jesus.

We were able to take pictures inside the workshop but not in the home.

This was one of his famous studies of a local Virginia woman.

The trees were in bloom and it was a lovely spring day.

The wisteria was also at the height of it's bloom.

On another day Kent and I went to tour some of the mansions along the James River during historic Virginia Garden Week.

We had another gorgeous spring day for our tour. The mansions we toured are all still privately owned.

One thing I love about touring homes during Garden week are the wonderful flower arrangements.

We were allowed to take photos in this home because the owner was there and she said it was okay.

Kent and I went on the homes tour with Karen Smith and Becky Reger from my Bible study group.

This was a pretty flowering vine on the outside of the home.

The next place we toured was the Shirley plantation, which has been in the same family since the early 1600's.

It's the closest to the James River.

This giant old tree is an impressive sight to the right of the mansion.

Our last stop was the Berkeley plantation, and for some reason I didn't get a picture of the front of the house.

Berkeley was used as a headquarters for the Union Army during the Civil War, so it has some cannon balls still lodged in the walls of the buildings.

Our last stop of the day was at the site of the historic Polegreen Church outside of Richmond.

It was destroyed by fire many years ago, so they've built a framework where it used to stand.

It's an unusual and memorable memorial.

It was the first non-Anglican church in the state of Virginia back in the mid-1700's, which is why it's remembered. There were some interesting religious historical information at the site and we're glad we took the time to stop by.

DC Cherry Blossom Festival

It's been a few years since Kent and I were in town to enjoy the cherry blossoms in DC.

We were pleasantly surprised that it wasn't very crowded as we walked around the tidal basin on a week day afternoon.

A pretty view of the cherry blossom trees in the background.

Here are the trees along the Tidal Basin as we walked towards the Jefferson Memorial.

We always try to get a view with the Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument.

The Washington Monument framed by cherry blossoms.

Lots of the blossoms were already falling off the trees.

The weather was about perfect, not too hot and not too cold.

As we were walking back towards Arlington National Cemetery we passed the entrance to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial. It was nice to spend time among the cherry blossoms of DC again!