Each tour offers an engaging variety of five to six local houses and gardens, most open to the public for the first time for Garden Week. The book provides descriptions of houses and gardens open, directions, ticket prices, and the names and telephone numbers of local tour organizers. Tickets may be purchased on the day of the tour at any of the properties open and at designated information centers. 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 homes on tour.
All houses will feature superb flower arrangements created by Garden Club members and other arrangers, with emphasis on colorful seasonal flowers and plants native to Virginia. The beautiful East Garden of Virginia s Executive Mansion, designed in the mid-1950s by noted landscape architect Charles F. Gillette, was recently restored by The Garden Club of Virginia with funding from Historic Garden Week tours. Properties on these tours range in date from the mid-19th century to the very late 20 th century and include a wonderful variety of architectural styles and landscape designs. The Winchester tour on April 21 and 22 will feature one of Virginia s most beautiful gardens at Glen Burnie, an estate with 25 acres of formal gardens surrounding a garden museum and historic 1794 house, one of the early homes built in this part of Virginia s Northern Shenandoah Valley. The Leesburg Garden Club s tour on April 22 and 23 will take visitors into the pastoral countryside of Waterford and will include four houses with gardens and a private arboretum with more than 1,700 conifers and Japanese maples.