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GARDEN CLUB OF VIRGINIA PRESENTS HISTORIC GARDEN WEEK APRIL 21-28

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RICHMOND, VA. — Four centuries of Virginia’s heritage will be highlighted during Historic Garden Week on more than 30 tours across the Commonwealth April 21–28. Many of the private houses and gardens are open to the public for the first time.

Events are sponsored by member clubs of The Garden Club of Virginia, and proceeds benefit the restoration of historic gardens and landscapes throughout the state. This year marks the 74th season for this premier annual springtime tourism event.

In 2007, Virginia celebrates the 400th anniversary of the founding in Jamestown of the first permanent English-speaking settlement in North America. A number of events will have Jamestown-related themes.

Visitors to the Williamsburg house and garden tour on April 24 can also travel to nearby Jamestown Island, with a complimentary shuttle and visit to the island included with the Williamsburg Garden Week ticket. At one of the historic houses in the Virginia Beach area on April 26, English longboats and Indian reenactors will depict the first landing of colonists on the New World shores on that day in 1607.

Private houses on tour statewide date to the Colonial era, American Revolution, Civil War and the Victorian period, as well as those recently completed in this century. Gardens on tour also span the centuries in history and design.

Event locales range from Atlantic Ocean to the Allegheny Mountains and include rural, urban and suburban settings at the peak of Virginia’s springtime color. Homes open represent every major architectural style found in Virginia, including stately Eighteenth Century James River plantations, elegant townhouses, expansive suburban estates and handsomely renovated farmhouses. Fine gardens range from boxwood mazes, walled city retreats and formal parterres to backyard habitats and water, cutting, herb and “secret” gardens.

For more information, www.VAGardenweek.org or 804-644-7776.