July is an important month at Parterre, when all the demanding garden work expended from March through June pays off…none more so than in the Green and White Garden. For…
I originally posted this blog on September 9, 2015. Eleven years later, I still find Newport, A Lively Experiment one of the most compelling and captivating tomes I’ve ever read, and…
The theme for this year’s Flower Show was “Pearls of Newport.” And can there be a more appropriate pearl than Rosecliff, this architecturally splendid Gilded Age mansion, where many a…
In honor of my dear friend, Margot Shaw, founder of Flower magazine and one of the headliners for the 2026 Newport Flower Show, I’m taking a page from her new…
The Newport Flower Show will have a Star headliner this month, Margot Shaw, founder of Flower magazine, introducing her new book, Flowering Outdoors: Gardens and Parties. Don’t you love the…
I’m so excited that the weather has finally turned and my glorious faves, peonies, are starting to show off! Appreciating how much we are all besotted with peonies, I chose…
In a town of many old mansions, most have become house museums or condominiums or have been turned into dormitories and classrooms for a local university. Only a special few,…
Memorial Day reminds us that summer is just around the corner, when friends return from all parts of the country and houses are “opened for the season.” One of those…
Historic Garden Week in Richmond provided such warm memories of both horticultural and architectural inspiration. One setting lingers in my mind, which I cannot resist calling the “Hansel and Gretel…
My affection and appreciation for Richmond’s architecture began during college, and has lingered since then. Fortunately, I’ve had many occasions to travel down to this exceptional Virginia city. Driving through…