Restoration of the Garden

In September 1983, eight years after Anne Spencer’s death, the Hillside Garden Club began the project of restoring the garden. The original garden, with young shrubs and trees, was open and sunny, with masses of flowers and grass paths. As the oak and cedar trees matured, they created a much shadier garden meaning an exact replication of the original was not possible. The Garden Club instead worked to capture the spirit of the garden from the late 1930s, referencing many old photographs and family memories, while preserving the original layout of open-air “rooms.” Garden Club volunteers planted many of Spencer’s own bulbs, flowers, shrubs, and roses while supplementing the garden with plants from their own gardens. 

The first restoration was substantially completed by June 1984 and received statewide recognition in 1985 with the Common Wealth Award from the Garden Club of Virginia. With the October 1987 publication of the story of the garden’s restoration in the national magazine The American Horticulturist, and the garden’s restoration gained national recognition.

By 2007, it became necessary to replace some of the garden structures that had deteriorated over the twenty-five years since the first restoration. Hillside Garden Club assumed responsibility for a second major restoration of the arbor and pergola. This time the club used much more accurate replicas of the structures, and painted them the original, colorful robin's egg blue. For the first time, the pond with its fountain and checkered rim received a restoration to its first design. This effort resulted in the Garden Club of Virginia awarding its Common Wealth Award for the second time in 2009. International recognition followed with praise for the restoration in the British publication Historic Gardens Review in its summer 2011 issue. Through the years, the garden has been featured in many other magazines, such as Southern Living (October 1986 and April 1994), Historic Preservation (May/June 1994), Victoria (April 1996), Garden Design (July/August 2005), and Country Gardens (Spring 2005). In 2022, Sarah DiMarco of Veranda included the Anne Spencer Garden in a list of “the Thirty Most Beautiful Gardens in the World.”

Hillside Garden Club and the Anne Spencer House and Garden Museum, Inc., have benefited from the guidance and preservation assistance of The Garden Conservancy. The 28-year-long story of the restoration and maintenance of the historic garden is documented and lavishly illustrated in Jane Baber White's book, Lessons Learned from a Poet's Garden (2011). The award-winning book, Half My World (2003), by Rebecca Frischkorn and Reuben Rainey, explores the history and design of the garden and its influence on her work as a poet. Both books are highly recommended for additional information on the garden.