July 9
Kathleen Meier, Sacred Plant Traditions
208 Douglas Ave, Belmont 22902
Welcome to the medicinal herb garden at
Sacred Plant Traditions. We are a United Plant
Savers Botanical Sanctuary and we have a number of native medicinals throughout our humble
Belmont neighborhood garden.
Since many of our medicines are considered
weeds, we hold classes on how to make very effective salves and tinctures (extracts) with violet,
chickweed, ground ivy and so many European
plants.
Our garden is our small apothecary garden where
we grow plants mostly for identification for students as well as some harvest for our own use.
Some of the honored inhabitants of our garden
are Goldenseal, Wild Ginger, Black Cohosh, Blue
Cohosh, Fringe Tree, Slippery Elm, Nettles, Bloodroot, Skullcap, Echinacea (app) Meadowsweet
and so many more.
Hosted by Buck Mountain Garden Club
Directions: From the north; cross the Avon
Street Bridge (near the Intelos Pavillion). Go
through light at bottom of bridge (now Avon St)
and turn left onto Hinton Ave. Go two blocks and
turn left onto Douglas Ave. 208 is near the end of
the block on the right hand side. Park on street,
go down driveway to left as you are facing house.
If you are a person with a disability and desire any assistive devices, services or other accommodations to participate in this activity, please contact the Albemarle Unit at (434-872-4580/TDD*) during business hours
of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. to discuss accommodations 5 days prior to the event.
*TDD number is (800) 828-1120.
September 10
Arbor Rise
1560 Briery Creek Rd., Scottsville 24590
Arbor Rise, the home of Tom Torrance
and Brian Marcus, is a four-acre property originally conceived to be a Piedmont naturalized garden. Two noticeable departures from that concept, though, is a recently installed Japaneseinspired garden along Briery Creek and a rose
garden on the western edge of the property.
The property was purchased in 2003 from an arborist who had planted several notable specimen
trees, but little else. They set out to design gardens around the trees, with the practical effect of
taming the steep slopes so, for safety reasons,
they would not have to be mowed, and reducing
the amount of lawn for the sake of energy and
eco-efficiency. At the edges, the gardens have
the effect of blending gradually into the forested
wilderness beyond.
In addition to the ornamental gardens, there is a
greenhouse/potting shed; an arched bridge spanning the creek; a vegetable garden with raised
beds, pergola for muscadine grapes and blooming
vines, and a fence that has succeeded (so far) at
keeping the ever-present deer at bay.
Tom and Brian continue to change the gardens,
with a focus now on replacing deer-vulnerable
plants with more deer-resistant species and simplifying the upkeep of the grounds as they age.
Hosted by Piedmont Master Gardeners
Directions: From Charlottesville, take VA-53 South past
Monticello. Just after Jefferson Vineyard bear right onto
the James Monroe Pkwy. Drive past Ashlawn-Highland
and Morven. At the south end of Morven, turn left onto
Rolling Road. Follow Rolling Road for about 5 miles. Just
as you pass the Woodridge Market on the left, bear right
onto Jefferson Mill Road. Follow Jefferson Mill Road
about 3 miles and turn left onto the first paved road to
the left – Albevanna Spring Road. Follow Albevanna
Spring Road for about 700 feet and turn left onto Briery
Creek Road. Arbor Rise is seven-tenths of a mile down
Briery Creek Road (1560). If you get to the open ford of
the creek, you just passed the house.
The 15th Annual Series of Visits to Local
Gardens in and around Charlottesville
Through the
Garden Gate
2016
Sponsored by the Piedmont Master Gardeners
www.piedmontmastergardeners.org
Gardens are open from 9-12 noon.
Admission to each Garden is $5.
Hosted by:
Albemarle Garden Club
Monticello Garden Club
Buck Mountain Garden Club
Piedmont Master Gardeners
April 9
The Grant’s Garden
2548 Garth Road, Charlottesville 22901
May 14
Foxfire
3238 Brown's Gap Tpke, Crozet 22932
The Grant’s moved here in June of 2014
from Minneapolis. An avid gardener, the owner set
out to create perennial gardens within the existing
brick structure at the front of the house. It was full
of weeds and a few boxwoods and hydrangea remained from a prior owner, but the entire garden
had to be started over. New paths were laid to take
advantage of the vista of the Blue Ridge through
the front door to the back of the house. Structure
was built into the main garden through a traditional parterre style and the addition of boxwoods to
out line the garden beds. Native perennials were
added with an eye to year round interest. The gardens bloom with peonies and hellebores in the
spring. Baptisia, leucanthemum, nepeta, veronica,
penstemon, agastache, calamintha, Echinacea,
guara, salvia and more bloom throughout the summer and fall.
Foxfire is best described as an incremental
garden, its American cottage style changing annually
since 1977 dependent upon the time, energies, and
monies of its creators, Larry and Lorraine Wyant.
The driveway was redesigned and additional garden beds were added to attract birds, bees and
butterflies. Hellebores, plumbago, sweet woodruff
and numerous fringe trees were added. Many native dogwoods and redbuds were added to the
drive and to the woods edge.
As you can see, this garden is a work in progress.
Come see it!
Under the large oak tree, a new garden was designed with birds and bees in mind featuring a variety of native pollinators.
Directions: From Charlottesville, take Barracks Road /
Garth Road to White Hall (about 12 miles). Pass Wyant's Store in White Hall and stay on Rt. 810/Brown's
Gap Turnpike heading North. You'll pass Piedmont
Store on your left. Go down the hill, cross a
bridge. We're the first drive on left passed the
Moorman's "River". Entry sign says Wyant. Come to
the top of hill to the grey house and please park in the
designated area.
The owners are conservationists at heart and intend to leave the many acres of hardwood forest
alone only adding several footpaths for hiking.
There is a lovely shade garden filled with ferns and
spring ephemerals. Bleeding Hearts are a family
favorite and many varieties flourish under a large
oak tree.
Hosted by Albemarle Garden Club
Directions: From Barracks Road shopping center, head west on Barracks Road. Drive 6 miles
west on Barracks to 2548 Garth Road. First
driveway on the right past Owensville. Look for
the red barn on the right. P lease don’t park on
the lawn.
Something new is added/amended each year. For
example, 2015 debuted three David Austin “The Lady
Gardener” roses which were in celebration of Lorraine’s completion of the Master Gardener program.
One thousand (1000!) “Tete a tete” daffodils; three
female Winterberry hollies from Monticello’s garden
center; and a boxwood surround of the vegetable garden were also added.
This year, 2016, will be greeted hopefully with some
Noisette roses from Thomas Jefferson’s Center for
Historic Plants; a wooden picket fence around the vegetable garden; expansion of the chicken run; and an
as yet undefined water recycling project.
Hosted by Monticello Garden Club
Virginia Cooperative Extension programs and employment are open to all, regardless of age,
color, disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, veteran status, or any other basis
protected by law. An equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. Issued in furtherance
of Cooperative Extension work, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Virginia
State University, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture cooperating. Edwin J. Jones, Director, Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg; M. Ray McKinnie, Interim
Administrator, 1890 Extension Program, Virginia State University, Petersburg.
June 11
The de Camps
2025 Browns Gap Tpke, Charlottesville 22901
Schuy and Eileen moved to Charlottesville in 2008 after Schuy retired from the
Army. Schuy has always loved trees and has
planted extensively since moving to the property. Eileen fell in love with lavender on a book
club trip to Provence and thought it would be
nice to have a little patch of her own which she
planted in May 2011.
The former owners had horses, so there were
just a few trees scattered around the property
and along the swale. Some plantings were to
remind us of places we lived before, such as the
Norway Spruces and Lindens that remind us of
our time in Germany. Other plantings are to
create fall colors or simply ones that can survive
the wild swings of our local climate and the voracious appetite of the deer. Others such as
the River Birch are to mitigate commonly saturated ground.
A pond with a waterfall was installed a couple of
years ago and provides a nice place to sit with a
glass of lemonade or a beer. Schuy also grows
hops, brews his own beer, and maintains five
beehives with a few more to be added.
Hosted by Piedmont Master Gardeners
Directions: Rt. 250 West, right on Browns Gap
Turnpike (Route 680), drive past Beaver Creek
Reservoir and continue for about one mile to
2025 Browns Gap Turnpike on the right. There
are two gravel parking pads, one on the left of
the driveway and on a little farther down on the
right in front of the gazebo.