Bashful

Buxus sempervirens, or Common Boxwood, is one of the joys of Virginia, and Lexington gardens have lots of it: shaped into tidy mounds - as here - trimmed into thick hedges, arranged in formal patterns and parterres, or growing essentially free, when it can reach heights of 20 feet or more over time. (I've not seen any boxwood topiary in Lexington yet -- if you know of any let me know!) You (almost) can't go wrong with boxwood and red brick.

As a transplanted Northerner, boxwood and cardinals are the two things that delight me most about Virginia winters. The sight of a red cardinal sitting in a boxwood hedge will take the chill out of a cold snap, such as we're having right now. (Today's predicted high temperature: 21° F [-6° C]; tonight's low: 5° F [-13° C].)

Red, white and blue

I love the proportions of this wall and chimney, one wing of a handsome house overlooking the town from Liberty Hall Road. Very Virginia.

Robert E. Lee

Lexington, Virginia -- a town of 7,000 in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia -- is home to Washington and Lee University and the Virginia Military Institute, resting place of Civil War generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, and at the center of one of the prettiest counties in Virginia: Rockbridge County. I hope this blog will capture something of the unique character of Lexington.

Today's photo is of the Robert E. Lee Memorial Episcopal Church, lit by the late afternoon sun. This church sits across the lawn from the house on the campus of Washington and Lee where General Lee spent his last years as president of Washington College. The church was built and named in his memory after his death.