The giant American boxwoods that dominate the Sweet Briar House grounds are as impressive as they are historically important.

The trouble was that the 150-year-old shrubs virtually obscured the approach to the residence of Sweet Briar College's president. That wouldn't do for the house and grounds where the College often hosts special events. A proper fix meant more than trimming the boxwoods. So in 2001 SBC officials turned to the Garden Club of Virginia for help.

On Thursday, April 28 at 2:30 p.m. Sweet Briar community and Garden Club members will gather at Sweet Briar House to dedicate a new front arrival court. Most of the project was funded by proceeds from Historic Garden Week in Virginia. Independent clubs organize annual garden tours in their local communities to raise money for GCV Restoration Committee projects.

Mina Wood, a Sweet Briar alumna and member of the Lynchburg Garden Club, is the 2004-06 chair of the Restoration Committee. It consists of 13 members selected from the 47 GCV clubs. "We felt it was time to get the hair out of our eyes and see the front of Sweet Briar House," Wood joked, referring to the growth that threatened to block the view of the imposing home. But the project more than met the committee's criteria.

"It was considered worthy because the house is the home of the founders of Sweet Briar College. [The house] is one of the best examples of Italianate architecture in Virginia. It has these old, old American boxwoods that make it a very special garden, and it has the arboretum that Elijah Fletcher established," Wood said.

Besides hardscaping the front approach to the residence, the Garden Club's gift to the College includes a conceptual plan drawn by landscape architect William Rieley for renovating the entire house grounds. The plan is to open up views of the mountains obscured by overgrown boxwoods behind the house, to re-establish the arboretum with interesting native and exotic trees, and to create outdoor spaces suitable for modern-day uses.

Fletcher, a newspaper publisher and prominent Lynchburg businessman, bought the plantation and original 18th-century farmhouse in 1830. In the 1850s he added the Tuscan-style tower wings to the house, then called Sweetbrier for the wild roses that bloomed on the property. Although it isn't clear what trees Fletcher planted, those that survive may include the American boxwoods, honey locust, American holly, and magnolia. The origin of a distinctive, old weeping hemlock also is unknown.

In 1901 the plantation was remade into a women's college in accordance with the will of Fletcher's daughter, Indiana F. Williams. The gardens are maintained, but only a few areas have been renovated.

Since 1929 the Garden Club of Virginia has restored or renovated dozens of gardens at historic properties, from the University of Virginia's Pavilion gardens to the birthplace of Robert E. Lee at Stratford Hall. Each project balances historical accuracy against considerations such as plant hardiness and maintenance requirements. "We get as close as we can and still have it be a practical, working plan for today's gardens," Wood said.

The GCV implemented the first stage of Rieley's plan with the new front arrival court. The bricked circle is bisected by the Boathouse road and flanked by sorely needed parking areas that the College installed. The brickwork leads up a walkway through an outer tier of huge American boxwoods and across the lawn to the house. It winds around the inside perimeter of a second tier of smaller boxwoods that form a circle, known to generations of students as the site of Sweet Briar's annual May Day tradition.

Donna Meeks, SBC grounds supervisor, is pleased with the brick hardscaping. "It really is pretty," she said. "There is more access to the house and lawns. I think it enhances the front. [Before], you had this beautiful home and a landscape that struggled to match its elegance."

The GCV also planted several young trees in the front grounds to begin re-establishing the arboretum.