Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden Blog

Apr 29th, 2018

Mulch: Dead or Alive?

Grab your work gloves, wheelbarrow, and pitchfork. And don’t forget your sunscreen and water. It’s time, once again, to spread mulch! A light top-dressing will help spruce up the landscape […]

Apr 20th, 2018

A Northward Migration Sound Installation

It’s a magical feeling to be in a room surrounded by hundreds of captivating butterflies. This year we are taking the M&T Bank Butterflies LIVE! exhibition a step further with the installation of sound […]

Apr 20th, 2018

Spring PlantFest

Are you ready for this year’s Spring PlantFest plant sale? The greenhouse is chock full of plants that are ready and eager for spring and Spring PlantFest is a Richmond […]

Apr 13th, 2018

Kevin Box Explores Origami in the Garden

For fifteen years, Kevin Box ’s sculptures have been commissioned, collected, and displayed in prestigious art museums and private galleries around the world. Each sculpture is incredibly unique, beginning as […]

Apr 12th, 2018

Servant Leader
Randee Humphrey

The leadership team at Lewis Ginter is as varied as you think it might be, given all the diverse things the Garden does to connect people through plants for the […]

Apr 12th, 2018

Tulipmania!

When spring arrives at the garden, the phones start ringing with calls from hopeful visitors asking when the tulips are expected to bloom this year. We try our best to […]

Mar 31st, 2018

Spreading Seeds!

The average last frost date is an exhilarating milestone in any gardener’s year — it means that all of those winter day-dreams of bright zinnias and juicy cucumbers, fresh herbs […]

Mar 28th, 2018

Virginia Bluebells Bloom at Ginter

In April 1776, Thomas Jefferson noted “a bluish colored, funnel-formed flower in lowgrounds in bloom,” in one of the earliest entries of his garden book. Jefferson certainly wasn’t the first […]

Mar 27th, 2018

How to Control Aphids Without Pesticides

Using Beneficial Bugs Here at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, we rely heavily on beneficial insects and sustainable practices, especially in our 11,000 square-foot Conservatory. Since the Conservatory is a tropical […]

Mar 22nd, 2018

Connecting People Through Plants

Although they’ve only known each other for two days, 16-year-olds Honoka Sato and Olivia Appelrouth have become fast friends. Sato, a Japanese exchange student from Municipal Urawa High School (Saitama, […]

Mar 12th, 2018

Foodscaping

About a decade ago, Brie Arthur won a Yard of the Year award for her home landscape. That’s not unusual since she’s a professional horticulturist. What was surprising was the […]

Mar 4th, 2018

Therapeutic Horticulture: Soothing the Heart, Mind & Soul

Social workers are unique: we operate from the knowledge that a person’s overall well-being depends greatly on the conditions of his or her environment. The impact of nature and experiences […]

Mar 2nd, 2018

Quiet Greetings from the Hellebores

It was maybe two weeks ago when a couple of visitors stopped by the Admissions desk on their way out of the Garden to show us all pictures they had […]

Feb 21st, 2018

Winter Symposium: Gardening With Purpose & Passion

During this year’s Winter Symposium and CVNLA short course, we dug deeper into what it means to garden with purpose and passion through perennial gardens. Perennials offer a different gardening […]

Feb 15th, 2018

The Art of a Nature Journal

Q & A with Botanical Illustrator Lara Call Gastinger Lara Call Gastinger is a botanical artist and illustrator from Charlottesville, VA. Gastinger is the lead illustrator for the Flora of […]