Sunday, July 6, 2008

Virginia Holliday Mitchell, 88, a homemaker and gardener who was the widow of former Washington Post columnist Henry Mitchell, died July 5 of an intestinal infection at Sibley Memorial Hospital. She lived in the District.

Throughout her years in Washington, Mrs. Mitchell proudly identified herself as the wife of The Post's popular longtime columnist, who wrote about gardening and the everyday fancies of life from 1970 until his death in 1993. She brought order to his chaos, in gardening and in life, her daughter said.

Helen Virginia Holliday was born in Wilmington, Del., and grew up in Charlottesville and Staunton, Va. She lived in Washington in the 1940s and was a doctor's secretary for several years. Her husband worked at the Washington Star in the early 1950s before moving the family to Memphis for almost 20 years.

Mrs. Mitchell had a gifted touch in the garden and was able to get some plants to grow, including clematis, that her husband could not. Her favorite flowers were orchids, irises and lilies.

She was a member of the Sulgrave Club and Metropolitan Washington Garden Club. She had what her daughter called "an uncanny ability to make lifelong friends," who included ambassadors, senators, college students and fellow gardeners.

"She had four to five visitors on any given day," her daughter said. "She cultivated friends with more enthusiasm than her garden."

Mrs. Mitchell and her husband were married for 45 years.

A son, Clay Alexander Mitchell, died in 1993.

Survivors include a daughter, Katherine Mitchell of Washington.

-- Matt Schudel