Member Monday: Julie Crews
by Jonah Holland, PR & Marketing Coordinator, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden
Hibiscus bloom in the Conservatory. Photo by Garden member Julie Crews.
Garden Member Julie Crews inspires me. She wrote me a short note about a recent visit to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, and it made me so happy I decide to start a new monthly feature here: Member Monday, as a way to honor Garden Members.
We love all of our visitors, but it’s our Members who come back to the Garden again and again, on a monthly, weekly or even daily routine. With Garden Membership, you get unlimited day visits to the Garden (and Butterflies LIVE!) each year, and that means that not only do our Members support us with larger gifts, but also they are our best customers, and biggest fans, coming again and again to see us. They are the ones who are specialists on our ever-changing Garden. They know that Lewis Ginter doesn’t just change seasonally, and monthly, but also weekly and daily. Really — nature is amazing that way.
Members have the inside scoop on how to bring guests for free with a “Plus One” Membership and they use it! Members have family traditions here at the Garden, they come each year for Mother’s Day, or Father’s Day, some come to roll town the terraced lawn above the Rose Garden for our annual New Year’s Eve Family Frolic, or visit and bring their relatives to Dominion GardenFest of Lights on select Member Nights. They are the heart of the Garden and we love them. Thank you for sharing your story with us Julie, and for giving us a chance to recognize Garden Members like you.
“I enjoy the Garden so much. I have Member “Plus One” card that lets me take a friend as a guest, or I can just pop over to gardens with my camera at any time. I was there this summer with six college classmates whose different homes dot the state of Virginia.
With a window of opportunity recently I took my older son and his little girls to see the butterflies before they had to head home to North Carolina. The younger girl kept pointing out different butterflies. I have emailed her several of the photos I took under her direction.
Before we left the Conservatory, I took this photo of a hibiscus. The sunlight hit the blossom in an interesting, random pattern. So I am sharing this one with you.”