Last fall, our staff installed a new CoolBot walk-in refrigerator at the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants (CHP). Previously, all seeds grown, harvested, cleaned, and packaged at Monticello were stored in one of two places: an ordinary household fridge, or an unglamorous shed with a...
The Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello on Saturday, September 22. Celebrating the little gems -- the farming, the culinary arts and the craftsmanship -- of Virginia and beyond.
For those who have visited the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants at Tufton Farm, you have probably caught glimpses of our resident Eastern bluebirds ( Sialia sialis ). Tufton Farm provides ideal managed habitat for bluebirds with its abundance of pastures, fence perches and variety of...
Chef and culinary historian Michael Twitty talks with PBS's NewsHour about his new book on the complicated story of race, culture and food and its legacy today.
“What would I not give that the trees planted nearest round the house at Monticello were full grown.” --Jefferson to Martha Randolph (from Philadelphia), 1793 Sometimes a good tree gets planted in what turns out to be a bad location. That’s exactly what an engineer recently discovered near...
When do you get ready for spring? At Monticello, our flower gardeners are at it October through December every year, planting 8,000 bulbs to ensure a beautiful bloom season. Tulips at Monticello Tulips were the most frequently mentioned plants in Jefferson's records. Monticello's Curator of Plants...
Happy Birthday, Garden Book! On March 30, 1766, Jefferson wrote, "Purple hyacinths begin to bloom" at Shadwell, initiating a 50-year journal of his gardening hopes, observations, successes and failures. Monticello's Curator of Plants, Peggy Cornett, and Monticello guide Bill Bergen introduce this...
It's unofficially #ColorOurCollections Week (Feb. 1-5), so we're sharing a few Monticello-related drawing. Three are from the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), which were done in the early 1990s. The last is of a Twinleaf plant (Jeffersonia diphylla) by former Shannon Research Historian at...
