Monticello Blog

The Thomas Jefferson Foundation has restored portions of the Upper and Lower Grove to resemble Jefferson’s landscaping vision more closely.

Minerva Granger was one of the enslaved women who was essential to Jefferson’s agricultural endeavors on his plantation. Along with her family and other members of the enslaved community, she planted and harvested tobacco and later wheat, which Jefferson sold on Atlantic markets.

Just as the intoxicatingly fragrant hyacinth blossoms begin to fade, another colorful charmer pulls back the curtain and takes the stage: the tulip.

Jefferson’s “Belles of the Day” Begin

Last week archaeologists began test excavations at an early-19th-century stone house at Tufton, one of the four quarter farms that comprised Monticello Plantation.

Sometimes a good tree gets planted in what turns out to be a bad location. That’s exactly what an engineer recently discovered near Monticello’s South Wing.

No story illustrates Jefferson’s missionary zeal for plant experimentation or his devotion to American economic success better than his lifelong quest for upland rice.

In my family, we frequently speak about plants as if they are people. "What kind of clematis is that?" one us might ask. And my mom might replay, "Oh, that's dependable, old Nelly Moser."

Maintaining your garden in the summer months can require serious determination and stamina, especially here in Virginia where the high temperatures, humidity, mosquitos, ticks, and chiggers conspire to chase the well-meaning gardener indoors to relax in the air-conditioning with a nice cold glass of iced tea.

The rose garden – a study of the history of rose breeding in North America –along with Léonie Bell’s legacy of collecting, preserving, identifying, and disseminating antique plants, represents the best in horticulture and the focus of the Center for Historic Plants.