Williamsburg Day Trip

As I mentioned in my previous post, yesterday's weather was spectacularly beautiful, and I took a bunch of pictures as we strolled through the historic area of Williamsburg. Many of the buildings are accurate recreations of what stood there in the 1700's, while a few are restorations of buildings that managed to survive the centuries. Most of the rebuilding was done in the 1920's and 30's with the help of Rockefeller money, but even still it is a work in progress . A lot of the gardens and plantings were done then as well, and as a result there is a great collection of varied and mature plants. In those early years of restoration, the gardens were designed as ideas of what people thought colonial gardens looked like, or what they wanted them to look like - or more simply they are gardens in the Colonial Revival style. As scholarship has changed over the years, there is now a more accurate impression of what typical home gardens may have looked like. Most gardens must have been filled with a variety of plants to supply the larder and with culinary and medicinal herbs, and not so many ornamentals. The ability to have a pleasure garden was the privilege of the wealthy. Today however, if these gardens were to be restored to a condition that was more typical of the era - they would be a lot less showy and a lot less interesting to the people who visit Colonial Williamsburg, including myself. So I am OK with seeing less historically accurate gardens in order to enjoy showier gardens that have a historical flavor.

Let's start with some trees. The Maples were at their peak and I could have spent all day staring at them.

The Oaks were also holding good color.
The street leading to the Governor's palace is lined with Catalpas (I don't know which species). Family lore has it that my grandfather's only experience at smoking was with the seed pods from this tree which is also called a Monkey Cigar tree. He apparently got very ill, and was a rabid anti-smoker the rest of his life. The flowers on these trees remind me of Orchids or Digitalis.

Crape Myrtles are really showy right now as well, and the smaller leaves add a different texture to the fall foliage show. The path is made from crushed oyster shells - shoes recommended.

Did the color of the house bleed into the Crape Myrtle, or was it the other way around?

Bruton Parish Church is one of the buildings that managed to survive into the 20th century. It has a great grave yard too, but unfortunately it was closed yesterday.

I passed one fenced garden that had rectangular plots in the middle surrounded by a riotous border of yellow Marigolds, Gomphrena and a Lantana that was pink and yellow. It was not very traditional but looked great, even though it had been hit with the season's first frost.

Here are a few shots from a kitchen garden.

These tools are for Carol of May Dreams Gardens, who is celebrating her 1000th post, and who has a thing for garden hoes.
Finally some smaller shrubs with good fall color, like this Sassafras...

...Pyracantha...

...and a Viburnum.

All Souls' Day Eve - Williamsburg

In one sense there is no death. The life of a soul on earth lasts beyond his departure. You will always feel that life touching yours, that voice speaking to you, that spirit looking out of other eyes, talking to you in the familiar things he touched, worked with, loved as familiar friends. He lives on in your life and in the lives of all others who knew him.

- Angelo Patri -

Today we took a day trip to Williamsburg, which we try to do every fall. We usually take the Jamestown/Scotland Ferry and the Colonial Parkway for maximum scenic benefit. This is how I get my fall foliage fix, and a good opportunity for the three of us to spend time together. The weather was perfect, close to 70, clear blue cloudless skies and windless. We stroll the streets of the historic area, eat, shop and some of us poke our un-ticketed heads into fenced off gardens.

We have made this trip many times, but this time we stumbled into a garden I have never noticed before, just outside of the tourist area on the campus of William and Mary. There was a sign at the entrance to the brick walled garden inviting people in, but the sign that drew me in was the fall color from a Coral Bark Japanese Maple. The garden was small, but it was packed with many species, in beds linked by a circular path of crushed oyster shells - the traditional Tidewater paving material.

We spent a lot of time in this garden (2/3rds of us enjoying from a bench). When we were ready to leave, I passed a plaque at the other entrance to the garden dedicated to Gregory S. Adams, class of 1981 (with the above statement). He apparently died at a young age and this garden was planted in his memory. I do not know who Gregory S. Adams was, but I figure he was one or two years older than I am. Whoever he was, he was well thought of and missed - enough so to have a very nice garden created for him. It was a good place to spend to spend part of the day enjoying the weather in a garden.

There were several Ligularias (Farfugium japonicum) in the garden including this one in full bloom.Jerusalem Cherry (Solanum pseudocapsicum) is pretty but poisonous.

This is the Coral Bark Maple (Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku') that drew me in.


Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) is one of my favorite small trees. The sweet aroma from the flowers was almost overpowering and could be smelled well beyond the garden wall.

In the center was another favorite tree, a Gingko with unusually large leaves, but it is still too early for these to turn to golden yellow here.
Outside the garden wall was yet another tree on my A-list, the Chinese Pastiche (Pistacia chinensis). This tree is street-wise tough, has great fall color and interesting fruits.

Although I once spent my share of time in church, All Souls' Day was never part of my experiences there, but I do think that taking a moment to remember the dead, whether we knew them or not, is not a bad idea.

If you would like to see more of the Adams garden, you can click here and see a slide show of what it looks like in other seasons. I'll post more Williamsburg pictures as time permits.