Historic Garden Week

January 25, 2022

1999 Tour Chairman Nancy Bowles, The Boxwood Garden Club

2000 Tour Chairman Helen Pinckney, The Tuckahoe Garden Club of Westhampton

1999 Historic Garden Week Preview and Business Report

2000 Historic Garden Week Preview and Business Report

Historic Garden Week Chairman Nancy Bowles reported a wide variance in expenses for each tour. The new state sales tax exemption, and lower printing costs for the guidebook, posters and brochures, resulted in a 30% savings overall and, for the first time, Guidebook ads paid for its printing. She also questioned if single admission tickets should be continued since they were not financially beneficial.

HGW Administrator Susan Flowers encouraged clubs to send local brochures to her at the Kent-Valentine House office as soon as possible, as she sends them out in great quantities to supplement marketing.

One two-day tour proposed eliminating one day, substituting it with a plant sale. The Board of Directors rejected the proposal. Another tour asked permission to serve wine during evening tour hours. Permission was granted, but the club was advised to investigate their insurance policies and ABC regulations. The Board was disappointed when a club asked to be excused from hostessing at James River Plantations during Historic Garden Week. When asked by the Board to reconsider, the club agreed to hostess. Eleven clubs closest to James River plantations Westover, Brandon and Belle Air provided hostesses.

In reviewing an earlier decision that allowed Virginia Beach and Princess Anne Garden Clubs to combine their tours, the Board of Directors notified the clubs that the joint tour had reduced profits. Dolley Madison Garden Club was considering a request to offer a tour every other year.

GCV was notified in 1999 that Historic Garden Week had been selected for the bicentennial celebration of the Library of Congress, “Local Legacies,” a national project to document American community traditions. In other exciting news, Southern Living made plans to cover HGW preparation by homeowners and flower arrangers in the March 2000 issue, and House Beautiful featured HGW in an article “Women of Action.”

The 2000 HGW tour added Flowerdew Hundred to the James River plantations tour through the generosity of the David Harrison family.