On Saturday, I went along with the CPI group to go on a photo walk in the UVA gardens.  I've peeked over the walls before, but I've never been inside them (I didn't know they were open to the public!  For free!!).  We were also fortunate to have a long-time UVA professor go with us that was able to answer any questions we had about the plants.  It was just gorgeous.  I love Spring in Virginia.   The grounds of UVA (and Monticello) are UNESCO World Heritage sites.

One of the most distinctive things in the garden is the brick serpentine walls.  All of them.  If you look at the map I linked to above, you can see that while each garden has this feature, each garden is different and quite remarkable.

Another interesting thing is the garden gates.  Each garden has very distinctive gates, and a couple are shown below.

Each of the gardens have very different "feelings" . . . just like rooms in a house.

And last, the flowers planted.   They have staff gardeners, as well as local garden clubs that do periodic work there.   They're gorgeous in Spring.

Last, the Rotunda building roof is being renovated.   The roof itself is copper, and is in good repair, but every so often they strip the paint off and check everything and re-paint it white.     The scaffolding you see below will be removed during graduation (May 19) and put back once it is over.    Also, note the black padding around the tops of the columns . . . to protect them.  These restorers are being very, very careful with this graceful old building.  :)

If you want to see larger versions of the above photos, you can visit this gallery.