Historic Garden Week in Virginia

Historic Garden Week is the oldest and largest statewide house and garden tour event in the nation and is sponsored by The Garden Club of Virginia. Billed as “America’s Largest Open House”, the 2010 event takes place from April 17th through April 25th. Attendees will have the opportunity to visit more that 250 of Virginia’s most beautiful gardens, homes and historic landmarks. Beginning in February 2010, a guidebook will be available to provide descriptions of houses and gardens included in the event.

For more information about tickets, tour highlights and garden schedules visit the event website.

What's In a Name: The Binomial System of Names

Did you ever wonder how a plant gets its scientific name? If you have, then you’ll enjoy reading the Master Gardener Foundation’s discussion of Plant Names. This well written and easy to understand article explains the Binomial System of Names, why we have it, and how it works.

I recently came across this site while I was researching one of the plants in my garden, Timeless Rose. I knew the botanical name was Rosa x JACecond, but it wasn’t until I read this article that I learned that the small ‘x’ between the genus and species name means that this is a hybrid rose.

This article is a great way to get your feet wet in the area of plant names before going on to some of the more complicated references.