Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Geographically Challenged
I don't know where I live. Oh, I can find my way back to the house and all that, but ever since we bought our retirement house I don't know which place to call home. We've been dividing our time between our northern Virginia and central Virginia houses for about a year and a half now.
So how to tell people about the place where I live and garden for bloomingwriter Jodi's Garden Bloggers Geography Project? Well, I guess I'll focus on northern Virginia (because that's where I've lived the longest) and sneak in a few words about central Virginia.
Virginia Places is an excellent website. They've done a fine job, and I refer you to them if you actually want to know something about the geography of Virginia.
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I live in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington DC in a 20-something years old housing development. Twenty years ago we were on the outer edge of the suburbs, but that edge has moved far west of us.
Focusing on gardening, and contrary to what Henry Mitchell says ("it is not nice to garden anywhere"), the Piedmont (or foothills) region of Virginia is a pretty good place for a garden. We have enough cold weather for apple trees and spring bulbs, but not so much cold weather that we can't grow magnolias. And we have many, many public gardens in the Washington DC area where you can see exactly what will grow here. Here's just a sample of some I've visited:
National Arboretum
Brookside Gardens
Smithsonian Institution
Dumbarton Oaks
Hillwood
Meadowlark Botanical Gardens
You might be hungry after all that walking. We have very good restaurants in the DC area, particularly so-called ethnic restaurants. Tyler Cowen writes an online guide, which is quite useful even if I don't always agree with his opinions. All the major fast food and casual dining chains are here too, if that's your thing. Or you can eat in the grocery store - Wegman's and Whole Foods have dining-in options. You might even see a celebrity there; I did today.
We're still acquainting ourselves with central Virginia, but Monticello is a wonderful place for gardeners to visit. Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, was also happy to be known as a gardener. You can view his garden journal online (hey, just like us, except his is handwritten). His first entry is March 30, 1766 where he notes that the purple hyacinth has begun to bloom.
Labels: virginia
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