Some of the landscaping at the home of Dan Day on Ireton Road.
Joannie and Jean Bouchy standing in front of one of their outdoor fireplaces at their home on Ireton Road.
By Jordan Puckett
Sun staff

The Williamsburg Garden Club hosted it’s fourth bi-annual home and gardens tour Saturday July 13. A total of eight gardens and two homes were featured on this year’s tour, as well as the Harmony Hill Museum, where the Garden Club is housed.

“Our motto is ‘Growing, showing, sharing, and caring’,” said Garden Club president Julia Hess. “Those are all things we’re trying to promote.”

The Williamsburg Garden Club is now in its 77th year. The Club maintains the flower pots and gardens throughout the village and encourages village residents to take pride in their gardens and be more active outdoors.

“One thing we want is for people to be impressed with the landscaping they see on the tour and want to do more more with their own gardens,” Hess said.

One of the gardens featured on the tour was that of Joannie and Jean Bouchy on Ireton Road. The Bouchys have lived there for 23 years. Their 13 acre property features two ponds, natural habitat areas for wildlife, several outdoor fireplaces, and many beautiful gardens.

“Our gardens have evolved over the years,” said Joannie Bouchy. “We’ve done all the landscaping ourselves.”

The Bouchys have participated in the home and gardens tour once before, in 2009. They said they had around 150 visitors the first year. They estimated around 175 visitors this year.

Another garden featured on the tour was that of Charles and Lucy Snell, also located on Ireton Road. Lucy Snell, a member of the garden club, also opened her house to visitors. The house was decorated with a fairy garden Christmas in July theme. The house was full of Christmas decorations, and outside in the gardens were a large Santa Claus and a clothesline with a red Santa suit.

The other house on the home and garden tour was that of Janet and Don Booth, on Gay Street. The Booths have lived in the house for under three years and have already made several major improvements to the house. They have replaced the furnace, taken out the old ceiling fans and replaced them with chandeliers, bought new appliances for the kitchen, and added closets, among many other improvements.

“When you buy an old house like this, you don’t buy it from the old generation,” said Janet Booth. “You borrow it from the next generation. We feel this house really belongs to the community.”

Money raised by the home and garden tour helps the garden club to maintain the gardens of the Village of Williamsburg

The garden club is also selling $15 cookbooks and will have a mum sale on Fridays and Saturdays from August 16 through September 7. Eight inch pots are selling for $4 or three for $11 and 12 inch pots are selling for $12. They will be sold from the corner of State Route 32 and McKeever Pike.