Mount Sharon featured during Historic Garden Week 2010

More than 200 owners of the state’s finest homes and gardens are busy preparing for guests for Historic Garden Week in Virginia, April 17-25, 2010.  These generous community leaders will participate in “America’s Largest Open House,” the oldest and largest tour program of its kind in the nation.  Proceeds benefit the restoration of important historic public gardens throughout the Commonwealth.  For a list of these outstanding projects, visit www.GCVirginia.org.

Mount Sharon, one of the most beautiful private gardens in Virginia, will be a highlight of the Historic Garden Week tour in Orange County on Saturday, April 17. Photo by Roger Foley.

Sponsored by member clubs of the Garden Club of Virginia, more than 30 separate house and garden tours will be held across the state from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay during the peak of Virginia’s springtime beauty.  Celebrating our 77th anniversary season in 2010, Garden Week tours have been held annually since 1929, except for a brief period during World War II.  For more information, please visit www.VAGardenweek.org.

Photo:  Mount Sharon, one of the most beautiful private gardens in Virginia, will be a highlight of the Historic Garden Week tour in Orange County on Saturday, April 17.  Photo by Roger Foley.

Suzanne Munson, Executive Director Historic Garden Week

Historic Garden Week 2010 Advertising Opportunities

Deadline for Ad Entry:  September 15, 2009

Celebrating its 77^th Anniversary of Historic Garden Week in Virginia, dubbed “America’s largest open house”, the Garden Club of Virginia will present yet another outstanding tour program for April, 2010.  Our Historic Garden Week Guidebook is an excellent marketing vehicle for local businesses within or nearby the venues featured during Garden Week.  We distribute approximately 90,000 copies annually throughout Virginia and the United States during the months of February, March and April.  We offer many different sizes and color options for the ads, as well as “new for 2010” ad placement on our website. 

Historic Garden Week dates for 2010 are April 17 through 25.  For the daily schedule of venues open for Historic Garden Week 2010, visit us on our website at www.vagardenweek.org.

Download the 2010 Guidebook Advertising Agreement by selecting from Downloads at right.  Contact Historic Garden Week Executive Assistant Christine Harris  for additional information at 804-644-7776 or gardenwk@verizon.net.

Historic Garden Week Celebrates 77th Season

Historic Garden Week in Virginia celebrates its 77^th season this year. Garden Week tours have been held annually since 1929, except for a period during World War II when members of the Garden Club of Virginia took time off to tend their Victory Gardens.  More than 3,300 members of the GCV, along with other friends and supporters, work to produce the tours during the last full week of April each year.  Each tour offers an engaging variety of five to six local houses and gardens for public visiting.  Over the past seven decades, Historic Garden Week ticket sales have exceeded $15 million.

For tour dates and details, access http://www.vagardenweek.org/schedule.htm.  A comprehensive 200-page guidebook, available beginning in February, may be obtained by sending a $6 donation to Historic Garden Week, 12 E. Franklin St., Richmond, VA 23219. 

Prices for tour tickets range from $10 to $35 per event.  Tickets may be purchased on the day of the tour at any of the properties open, at designated information centers, and in advance from local tour chairmen or via the website.  It is not necessary to buy tickets in advance, although bus groups may wish to make earlier plans.  Tours will be held on their scheduled days, rain or shine.

Visitors typically drive to tour areas and then are greeted by hostess guides at properties open.  All houses will feature superb flower arrangements created by Garden Club of Virginia members, with emphasis on colorful seasonal flowers and plants native to the state.

Historic Garden Week in Virginia

The Garden Club of Virginia’s Historic Garden Week April 17-25, 2010
Winner of the Phoenix Award from the American Society of Travel Writers
Good Quality Images Available
Contact:  Suzanne Munson (804) 644-7776 or gdnweek@verizon.net
Please list web site whenever possible:  www.vagardenweek.org
Local Contacts:  Access event name at http://www.vagardenweek.org/schedule.htm, beginning in January.

More than 200 of Virginia’s most beautiful private houses and gardens, spanning four centuries of development, will be showcased across the state during Historic Garden Week in Virginia, April 17-25, 2010.  Known as “America’s Largest Open House,” the program is the oldest and largest statewide tour event of its kind in the nation.

Three dozen outstanding tours are sponsored by member clubs of The Garden Club of Virginia.  Proceeds benefit the restoration of historic landscapes throughout the Commonwealth.  Many of the private houses and gardens are open to the public for the first time.  All periods of Virginia history are reflected in the styles of homes and landscapes featured, including the Colonial era, American Revolution, Civil War, Victorian period and recent decades.

Event locales range from the ocean to the mountains and include rural, urban and suburban settings at the peak of Virginia’s springtime color.  Tourists have a wide choice of places to visit for an inside peek, from Colonial plantations to Victorian farmhouses, suburban estates, city townhouses, hillside retreats and waterfront villas.  Beautiful gardens range from formal 18^th century terraces to backyard habitats, boxwood mazes, walled city spaces, and cutting, water, herb and “secret” gardens.   In keeping with the 40^th anniversary of “Virginia is for Lovers,” the state’s signature theme, lovers of gardening, architecture and interior design will find much to enjoy on Garden Week’s many and varied tours.

Historic Garden Week in Virginia Special Events

This year, a number of the house and garden tours will feature special activities for the Garden Club of Virginia’s Historic Garden Week guests.  These include flower arranging demonstrations, discussions by Master Gardeners, interludes by local musical ensembles, delicious lunches homemade by church groups, and even fashion shows.  Discussions of Thomas Jefferson as gardener will be held at Monticello during the week.  Visitors will also enjoy guided tours of Jefferson’s beautiful Pavilion Gardens at the University of Virginia, the crown jewels of the Garden Club of Virginia’s restoration work with funding from Historic Garden Week tours.

Historic Garden Week in Virginia Benefits Historic Landscape Preservation

The Garden Club of Virginia’s Historic Garden Week tours have restored the gardens and grounds of Virginia’s most prominent historic figures, including those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James and Dolley Madison, Patrick Henry, George Mason, Robert E. Lee and Woodrow Wilson.  These and other fine historic properties are open to the public. Please visit www.gcvirginia.org for additional information.