Visit to Monticello

The House and Gardens

Me and hubby went to Monticello as part of our anniversary get-a-way plans.  I was impressed by the size and would definitely return to do more tours in the future.  The large cistern in the bottom middle part of the collage was one of several on the property and they had a capacity of over 3000 gallons of water.  He rigged them to collect water from the roofs.  They wouldn’t let us take pics inside the house unfortunately.  Thomas Jefferson had some ingenious ideas indoors as well as outdoors.  He designed the home himself by reading architect books and the house was in a constant state of remodel during his lifetime.

The Vegetable, Vineyard and Orchard gardens.

 The vegetable gardens, vineyards and orchards were quite massive in size.  We were told that the produce grown here is distributed to the staff so nothing goes to waste.   

The Monticello Cemetary

The Monticello Graveyard still remains in the trust of the descendants of Thomas Jefferson.  This is where he was laid to rest as well as his past & present family members.  The obelisk shaped stone was designed by him and he wrote the inscription as well.  He listed his accomplishments in order of what he felt was his greatest contributions.  This was one of the last stops on our tour.  Hope you enjoyed my brief summary of our visit to Monticello.  Have a nice weekend everyone!

Another road trip…

Yesterday me and my garden blogging buddy Janet The Queen of Seaford got together for another mini road trip.  First she took me on an official tour of the Learning Garden in York county.  It was an educational experience to view all the different gardens at this time of the year.  Can’t wait to go back in the spring to see what it looks like then.  I came home with a zillion photos and some seeds from a Camellia and a pretty annual Salvia.  Can’t wait to try my hand at growing a Camellia from seed.  Thanks Janet for the tour and the free seeds. 

We also made an excursion over to the Yorktown waterfront, pass the battlefields to check out the cool plantings.  I was quite surprised to see how many changes they had made to the area since Hurricane Isabel wiped this beach out in 2003.  It has a quaint feel to it that reminds me of Colonial Williamsburg.  I’m sure the shops and boardwalk have been a lovely tourist attraction, but the locals enjoy it as well.  Couldn’t get over these Rudbeckia still blooming. 

And of course I didn’t come home empty-handed since me & Janet did a mini-plantswap of our own.  I shared some of my favorite Phlox ‘Robert Poore’ and a division of the Walking Iris (that Darla sent me).  She generously gave me some divisions of Verbena bonariensis and Green Coneflower.  I meant to get them planted before it started pouring last night.  I’ll get on that today.   Looks like even Spaz approves of the new additions for the garden.  :)

Botanical Garden Visit

Friday was a nice outing for me &  Janet when we went to visit Les.  Not only did we get to to view his garden (which was great by the way) but we also took an outing to the Norfolk Botanical Garden.  Somehow I didn’t think to pull my camera out to take pictures of Les’s garden but fortunately Janet got some great shots which you can view here.  Above is just a sampling of the many types of garden displays you can see if you visit.  This was my first visit in the fall so that was fun to see what was blooming. 

They also have wonderful container plantings in beautiful ceramic pottery as well as some unusual containers like the tires above.  I thought this was a fun & colorful grouping.   It was surprising to find things such as eggplants mixed in with the ornamentals.  The Fern ‘Rita’s Gold’ is on my wishlist for sure.

(Tea Olive, Unknown grass, Hibiscus 'Roselle', Salvia 'Argentine Skies and Rice Plant)

Above are some other plants that caught my eye.  A few were interesting to all three of us such as the Hibiscus ‘Roselle’ which as interesting deep red seed heads to match the stems and the Rice Plant.  We couldn’t find a label for it but a worker told us the name.  It’s an annual that reseeds so I might have to give it a try.  This Salvia is another  guaranitica cultivar like ‘Black & Blue’.  It is twice the size of Black & Blue and the color is soothing.  All and all it was a great day in great company.  Next time you’ll have to come over to the peninsula Les.

Visiting Smithfield Gardens

Went on another roadtrip today with Janet  of  The Queen of Seaford.  We went over to Smithfield Gardens to meet Les of A Tidewater Gardener and Helen of Gardening with Confidence.  Of course we got there a bit early so we could browse the display gardens as well as pickup a few things from the nursery.  It was nice to meet some other fellow garden bloggers.  Sorry I didn’t get any pictures of the four of us.  But if you are curious…Helen got some shots of us that I’m sure she will be posting soon.     See that gorgeous blue tree in the upper left hand photo?  That is a Vitex and I want one or two of them for my front yard!  Now I know where I can get them it’s just a matter of time before I convince hubby they are a must add, lol. 

Everywhere you looked there was something eye-popping to see.  From water lillies to ornamental purple peppers.  It was inspiring to see the color combinations they put together in the display gardens.  

Here’s the new goodies I picked up for the garden.   There is a Barberry ‘Sunjoy Gold Beret’,  Oregano ‘Kent Beauty’ (ornamental), Baptisia ‘Purple Smoke’ and Sedum ‘Variegata’.  Yes I know I said no more plants, but did you really think I could go to a fabulous nursery and not get anything? lol    Anyhow it was a fun roadtrip and I look forward to meeting Helen again in July when she gets a peek at mine & Janet’s gardens.  It was nice meeting you Les and maybe someday I’ll be able to stop by and see your garden.  Oh & thanks to Hubby for holding down the fort so I could get out & have a bit of an adventure today. 

Road Trip with Janet!

I met up with Janet this morning for a short excursion out to Brent and Becky’s Bulbs  in Gloucester, VA.  We were going to visit Les at Smithfield Gardens, but he was off today.  So we will be visiting you Les another time which just means we will get to take another roadtrip.   We had a good time exploring the display gardens and picking out new goodies to bring home.  It was also fun seeing plant combinations such as the two Asiatic Lillies in the photo collage above.  Unfortunately I couldn’t find a name for these two but I love how the dark colored pink is echoed on the edge of the Lily in front.  The Foxtail Lillies above caught my eye as well, this particular one is called ‘Cleopatra’ and there was a yellow in the photo below called ‘Lemon Meringue’ .  I will be ordering both of these for fall planting.

In the display bulb field the varieties are labeled so if something was blooming it was nice to look down and see the name.  The Alliums had interesting seed heads as well as blooms.  And me and Janet couldn’t figure out why the Mimosa Tree in the upper left photo had this lime green foliage, this lighter foliage looked like blooms from a distance.   It doesn’t look like the weedy Mimosa we see growing along the road everywhere.  Could it be the new growth that is lighter in tone? 

We also stopped at another nursery we spotted on the way back .  Here’s my new purchases from both places, I showed great restraint don’t you thing? lol   They are as follows: the two yellow bloomers are Proven Winners Superbells ‘Saffron’ or Calibrachoa, Eucomis comosa (Pineapple Lily) in the back, and the tiny white & green foliage is Caladium humboldtii.  Isn’t it a cutie?    Sorry I realized after I uploaded this photo it was a bit blurry.