Monticello Blog

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, when it comes to plants named after people, we can't help but speak about them as if they are people too. Someone might ask, "What kind of clematis is that there?" and my mom would answer, "Oh, that's Nelly Moser, she's such a refined and dependable lady."

Monticello visitors are experiencing a once-in-a-lifetime event as the Thomas Jefferson Foundation undertakes a major landscape restoration project on Mulberry Row.

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.

As a gentleman farmer, Thomas Jefferson was among the most forward thinking of his peers – he grew fruit trees grafted onto dwarfing rootstock, championed native species, imported European varieties, commissioned the Lewis and Clark Expedition for flora, and was the earliest American to reference garden plants widely found at nursery centers today. But perhaps the most revolutionary aspect of Jefferson’s plantsmanship was his use of microclimate – something that took nearly 170 years to fully appreciate.

Are you looking for ways to get back in the garden again after a long, cold winter spent indoors? Happily late winter, before the new buds break, is the perfect time to prune dormant shrubs that bloom on “new wood."

CBS Sunday Morning took an in-depth look at how Monticello is telling the story of slavery—from our landmark exhibition Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello: Paradox of Liberty to our Slavery at Monticello tours.

On June 8, 2012, Smithsonian Gardens staff harvested beets, cabbage and turnips to be displayed as part of The Jefferson Table and Gillette Family Garden public program presented by the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) at the USDA Farmer’s Market.