Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

Snow & Shortys Take the Garden by Storm

Feb 4th, 2010 by Jonah Holland

By Jonah Holland, PR & Marketing Coordinator, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

It’s been a whirlwind week at the Garden. First, almost a foot of snow, which until this year, hardly EVER happened in Richmond. The Garden shut down for 3 days while we cleared the snow from the walkways. And, practically at the same time, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden was declared a finalist in the Shorty Awards — “the Oscars of Twitter.” Not only that, but thanks to Richmond’s incredibly supportive social media community, we were “seeded” in 1st place.

The Shorty Awards are an international competition that attract quite a bit of attention. In the #culturalinstitution category, we were up against some heavy hitters including MOMA, and The Royal Shakespeare Company. We’re not a tiny garden, but with just over 40 acres, and about 50 full-time employees we’re kinda’ small compared to MOMA. For example, on Twitter, we have about 2,750 followers compared to MOMA’s 75,500 plus! The Garden has only been on Twitter for 15 months. Well in the world of social media, everything is new. The #Shortys themselves are only in their second year. Which is why, I think, that there is some confusion about what the ShortyAwards stand for, and what it all means. I wondered that myself, in fact. What would the value be to go for such an award? What would it bring to the Garden? And why might I pursue it?

After reading the Shorty Awards website in more detail, it all became clear. If you look past the flashy judges (MC Hammer and Alyssa Milanno) you’ll see that this is a legit competition, sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. For me, all of a sudden it clicked why this contest is important. The Knight Foundation takes social media seriously, and that is why they sponsor these awards. More than most, they understand that emerging media, blogging and citizen journalism is the future, and that there is no going back. They also realize that the early adopters of emerging media need to be rewarded for taking risks, for being on the frontier and for doing social media well, so that they will continue to strive to be the best. As a former print journalist myself, who now runs a community news blog in addition doing social media for the Garden, I realized that these are folks who speak my language. The Knight Foundation’s mission is clear: They want to make a difference.

They, “…seek opportunities that can transform both communities and journalism, and help them reach their highest potential. We want to ensure that each community’s citizens get the information they need to thrive in a democracy.” They fund a lot of projects — to the tune of nearly $400 million dollars. And they expect projects that they fund, to show passion, among other things. They have such a beautiful vision.

We believe nothing big happens without a big idea, nothing new without a new idea. In every project we fund, the idea comes first.

Every day, we ask the question, of ourselves and our partners, “Is this the best there is?” We seek out leaders who ask the same, who can identify the best opportunities and turn the big ideas into action.

The five basics that all transformational projects seem to have:

Discovery of the facts

The vision to see what’s possible

The courage to push for change

The know-how to get it done

The tenacity that gets results

And so, when someone questions, why I would take my precious time to go for a #Shorty Award. Or why I would ask you, to take your precious time to go vote for the Garden in this contest, the answer is easy. It’s because I know that these forms of new media are critical in the transformation to the way we communicate with each other. And the Knight Foundation knows that too. They are taking the time to find out who are leaders in the new and wonderful world of social media.

And while the awards may be “trying the patience of many in the twittersphere,” the upside is that I have faith that The Real Time Academy will pick from the top finalists, not the person with the most votes, but the person with the best combined portfolio. They will look at what you said in your Shorty Interview. They will look at how you’ve helped people in your community, and if reached out to others in your field. They will look at your network, of who is voting for you and why. And they will pick the winner based on merit, not popularity. After all, the Shortys say they are, “honoring the best content producers on Twitter,” not deciding who can ask for the most votes. Because social media is not about me and it is not about you. It is about us. It is about our community.

As for me, I’m on Twitter because I know I can connect with people that I need to connect with that I cannot find anywhere else. Where else but via Twitter. would have I found out about Landscapedia.info’s free mobile phone application? Coming soon, because of this Twitter connection, you’ll be able to take a virtual tour of Lewis Ginter, on your phone. Landscapedia founder, Michael Franklin, was inspired by President Obama and created this application, so you can access 35,000 plants and a variety of public garden’s virtual tours, all for for free (which is very important when you are a non-profit garden like us!) Public gardens are talking to each other, getting advice, networking and helping each other on the #PublicGardens hash tag I created. Most importantly, the public can listen to the conversation, ask questions and connect as well. I know that even if the garden doesn’t win a #Shorty, that we are doing something right, here at Lewis Ginter. I know that we can bring the Garden to people who can’t get here today. And that maybe they’ll be dreaming about coming here all week because of a photo or a memory I shared with them. And when they have time, they’ll come to the Garden. And they will experience something special when they come, whether it is curling up with their laptop by the fire in the library, using our new free WiFi access on a rainy day, or building a fairy house in the Children’s Garden with their grandchildren. Yes, we have lots of plants and flowers here at the Garden, but we have so much more than that. We have a community.

Tags: lewisginter, richmond, rva, shortys, snomg2, twitter

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Winter Entertainment in the Children’s Garden: The Birds

Jan 28th, 2010 by ErinWright

by Erin Wright, Children’s Garden Educator, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

One of the favorite wintertime activities of the Children’s Garden staff is bird watching. We hang feeders outside of our office windows, and keep them well stocked. The most popular feeder is outside of the kitchen window of the Children’s Garden Carriage House, where we keep a field guide handy to identify all of the beautiful birds who visit.

Of course, the birds don’t know we are watching them when we are inside. When I went outside to get some photos, they were not sure what to make of me. I stood outside for a long time, waiting for one of them to visit the usually busy feeder. First, birds of all kinds gathered in the bushes.

Can you see the four different birds in these photos? They are pretty well hidden, but there is a Slate Colored Junco with a Purple Finch, a Tufted Titmouse and a Carolina Wren.

. Slate Colored Junco and Purple Finch in the winter shrubs at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden Carolina Wren in winter shrubs at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

Then one of the birds hopped around on the ground under the feeder…

and finally, one brave chickadee figured that I wasn’t interested in his food, and landed on the feeder.

Carolina Chickadee on feeder at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

Working in the garden itself leaves no shortage of bird sightings. The great blue heron (who I have named Ichabod) and several hawks have been quite busy of late. Not to mention the goose fight I witnessed yesterday, and the mockingbirds who taunt us endlessly as we work (all of them are named Marguerite).

We can hardly wait until spring, when the fruits of the Mulberry tree brings the more elusive and migratory species to our garden. The Scarlet Tanagers and Goldfinches are my favorites to see — their colors are so vibrant, they always take me by surprise.

I encourage you to hang a feeder outside of a window where you can leisurely watch all of the species that come to eat. I think you’ll be surprised at how many kinds of birds live in your neighborhood!

Tags: birds, birdwatching, children, children'sgarden, garden, lewisginter

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Leaves from the Library: You Can’t See the Forest Without the Trees

Jan 26th, 2010 by Jonah Holland

by Jane Hockaday, Library Volunteer, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

Each year, the Pocahontas Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society makes a donation to Lewis Ginter’s Lora M. Robins Library. They graciously allow our librarian, Maggie Southwick, to select the titles to be added to our collection so that we have a very comprehensive and current botanical book collection. Well, The Virginia Native Plant Society has donated some wonderful books recently, — and one in particular caught my eye. The beautiful cover alone, looks like a work of art.

In Teaching the Trees: Lessons from the Forest by Joan Maloof, the author asks us not only look up to the top of the trees but also to look down at their base. Maloof gives a wealth of information on the symbiotic interaction of each tree with the insects, soil, and even the air surrounding it. She encourages us to not only enjoy trees but to do our part in aiding in their preservation. I found her writing to be quite lyrical:

“I have been intimate with sycamore trees: my nose an inch from the bark, my arms wrapped around the trunk, my skinny schoolgirl legs stretching for the next branch. I am a climber of sycamore trees (Platanus occidentalis). The trees and I grew up together in the same suburban neighborhood.”

The Library has many books on trees and other plant life. They can be found listed on our catalog, which is available online. Books are available for 2-week loan to Garden Members and we have a cozy reading room, with WiFi and a fireplace just waiting for visitors to enjoy. The library is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. and on weekends from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Speaking of trees, if you love them, you won’t want to miss our Tree Care Symposium coming up on February 12th. Featuring Elements of Health, Highlighting recent research on essential elements of tree ‘feeding.’ Dr. Kim Coder, University of Georgia, and several other area experts, the symposium offers 5 continuing education hours for those who are seeking certification.

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NPR Features Lives of the Trees; Lewis Ginter Features…Trees

Jan 15th, 2010 by Jonah Holland

by Jonah Holland, PR & Marketing Coordinator, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

My husband came home from work the other day, telling me I had to listen to this story on NPR — about trees. NPR was interviewing Diana Wells, author of the new book, Lives of the Trees: An Uncommon History, exploring people’s relationship with trees and the stories behind their names. My husband knew this would interest me because, well, I love trees. But also because, part of our vision here at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is to reveal the unity and integration of human and plant life, and to celebrate the fundamental significance of the natural world in enriching our community, and this is exactly what Diana Wells does in her book.

So, if you too are a tree lover, you may enjoy this 6-minute interview. By far, the most interesting thing I learned was about the Japanese Cedar and the tradition that surrounds it, forest bathing. Apparently, today in Japan it is still common for Japanese businessmen to enjoy this ritual.

“You go into the forest and soak yourself in the trees,” she says. “I live where there are woods and I will [do that] quite often and let the trees feel as if I’m part of the forest. It’s very, very soothing — it’s beautiful.”

“It would help us if we were more familiar with trees,” Wells says. “I think if we did that, it would cement the bond, and it would help all of us. We need the trees and they need us.”

Tags: books, garden, npr, treebathing, trees

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The Spirit of Movement in the Garden

Jan 6th, 2010 by Jonah Holland

By Jonah Holland, PR & Marketing Coordinator, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

One of the things I really like about working at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is that the Garden is always looking at new ways it can serve the community and its members while staying true to its mission of horticulture and education. Like nature, the Garden is always in a flux of change. But I don’t mean just the changes of what’s blooming in the Garden. The leadership here is always looking for new ways to improve the Garden and to engage our members, by adding new features like Butterflies LIVE! and by keeping things interesting by adding new exhibits like Frabel’s Glorious Glass in the Garden exhibit, set to debut April 1st.

So, if the spirit of movement and change are at the heart of the culture here at Lewis Ginter, then it should come as no surprise that we are experimenting with a new series of workshops on movement and change. The Spirit of Movement in the Garden, will be taught by Richmond T’ai Chi legend Cas Overton. I first came across Cas when I was a student at VCU in the early ’90s and my friends couldn’t stop raving about the incredible T’ai Chi classes she taught through the VCU Dance Department. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to take her class. A few years ago, I finally got to meet Cas, in person, and was immediately struck by her warmness and openness. When I heard she was teaching our new class, I decided to give her a call. I guess I had a feeling that there was a remarkable story behind this remarkable woman. She explained to me that she started to study the Tao and become involved in T’ai Chi at age 25, shortly after she had been diagnosed with cancer.

“It helped me tremendously to quiet my anxiety and it gave me strength and tremendous focus,” she says. As she started to notice how great she felt, she immersed herself in the study even more. Doctors told her to expect the cancer to return within the year. It didn’t. And each year, the doctors continued to tell her to expect it to return. After 3 years, she says, she stopped listening to the doctors, and now, 45 years later, she continues to be cancer free.

In today’s fast-paced world, often, we don’t take time to stand back and reflect on our lives. Family, friends, work, commitments, TV, email and Facebook occupy more and more of our time. So, if you’d like some help in stopping to reflect on your life, or you are a bit curious, we hope you will embrace the Spirit of Movement in the Garden.

Welcome to a new three-part series planned to explore our spiritual connections to nature. The programs incorporate the Asian concept of the elements earth, fire, water, wood, and metal and how they relate to the yearly cycle of nature. Focus is on the action of breath, movement, poetry and personal discovery in nature. Techniques include movements from T’ai Chi, dialoguing, poetry readings and writing. Each session includes a vegetarian lunch and other refreshments. Leader is Cas Overton, a former adjunct faculty member of the VCU Dance Department and instructor in Ta’i Chi, and Feldenkrais method of movement re-education . $80/ $70 member per session

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

January 23

10 am – 3 pm

Earth Element: Enter the Cycle of the Earth

Earth is silent. The dark world of late rising and early sleep claims us. Seeds hidden by earth and snow wait. Through the action of breath, movement, poetry and personal discovery, we will wend our way in the garden through this moment toward the next.

June 26 Water and Fire (details TBA)

October 23 Wood and Metal (details TBA)

Tags: dance, Education, frabel, lewisginter, reflection, richmond, rva, taichi, vcu

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The Heart of Winter in the Garden

Jan 1st, 2010 by Jonah Holland

by Jonah Holland, PR & Marketing Coordinator, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

Happy New Ye Monet Bridge & Ice ar everyone!

In the cold of winter, and the hustle and bustle of the holiday, I found myself rushing to get everything done under the deadline of Christmas, a daughter’s 9th birthday and preparations for a holiday party. In an effort to cut corners to make just a smidge more time, I cut down on my walks through the Garden, labeling them an indulgence. I drove straight to my office, got out of my car and went to “work.” Wow, what a big mistake. I missed the Garden so much. I found it harder to concentrate and to connect to the work I was doing. Everything was harder. Walking through the Garden is a guilty pleasure of mine, and often my favorite part of my day. More than anything, it helps me feel connected to the Garden, to my job, and to nature. And just because it is winter, doesn’t make it any different.

The Garden is just as beautiful, and the search for beauty is perhaps more of a hunt, but just as rewarding.

This week I could stand it no longer — I had to walk though the Garden. No matter how much work I had to get done, I knew I just needed it. The fact that it was the coldest day of the year didn’t matter. I parked at the Robins Visitor Center entrance to the Garden and noticed the the weeping conifer on my way in. I walked through the warm lobby saying “Hi” to a few friends. Then, out into the Garden. It was just what I needed.

The brisk air woke my senses. Walking down the hill to the lake, I noticed the solemness of the ice-locked lotus stems, the Monet bridge and the icey lake reflected my mood exactly. Peaceful. Quiet, except for the birds. And a bit of longing. Winter is a sacred time. A time to reflect on the year, to cherish and remember the beauty and love of spring and summer, by reflecting on its absence. A time to view the beauty in the the sadness in the weeping conifer. A time to remember the sacred lotus in all its glory, now bending to the harshness of cold winter. But also a time to see the laughter in the fronds of feathery grasses when the wind blows, and joyfully discover the gorgeous beauty berry in the heart of winter with its perfect lavender circles reminding us that the days will be getting longer now, the Grape Hyacinth (echoing the beauty berry) and crocus will be emerging before we know it. We can take comfort in the value added to the things we love most — often the things we cherish most are those that we cannot take for granted because they must leave us, only to return again. The cycle of life echoed in nature for everyone to remember. Ice & Lotus Weeping Conifer Feather Grass

Beauty Berry

Tags: lewisginter, nature, playoutdoors, richmond, rva, winter

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Community Kitchen Garden: All Good Things Must Come to an End (But Only Temporarily!)

Dec 11th, 2009 by Janine Butler

By Janine Butler, Garden Volunteer
Sadly, this will be the last edition of blog posts about the Community Kitchen Garden for this growing season. We have harvested the last of the fall crops, and the vegetable garden is being put to bed until next spring.

Last week we delivered the remaining cabbages, cauliflower’s, mustard greens and broccoli to the FeedMore foodbank, that serves Meals on Wheels of Virginia and the Central Virginia Foodbank.

A Fridge Full of Cabbages!

After the final weigh-in the grand total weight of produce grown throughout the summer and fall was 9,166 pounds! That’s fantastic! Back in the spring we set a goal of growing 10,000 pounds to contribute to the Feedmore kitchen to help supplement the 4,000 meals they make each day. While we didn’t quite make that lofty goal, we came pretty close – close enough, in fact, to call it an outstanding success!

It’s amazing what can be accomplished with a little hard work (ok, maybe a lot of hard work!). Volunteering at Lewis Ginter has been a very rewarding experience for me, especially working on the Community Kitchen project. Knowing that people have directly benefited from what we have accomplished feels great and I am proud to have been a part of this community. There have been many volunteers that have contributed to the success of this project, and we thank them all for their time and effort.
Plans are already underway for next year! Tom Brinda, Assistant Director at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, is already working on coordinating the program again for next year. This weekend he will plant the ground cover that will help prepare the soil for next season.

We hope that you have enjoyed reading about the progress of the garden, and look forward to bringing you new veggie news in 2010!

Tags: foodbank, garden, lewisginter

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At Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden We Love to Teach!

Dec 4th, 2009 by Jonah Holland

by Jonah Holland PR & Marketing Coordinator Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

Here at Lewis Ginter, one of the causes nearest to our heart is education. Education of children, education of parents, education of gardeners (amateur and expert alike) and education of teachers. We love it that the Richmond community sees us as a valuable resource and uses us to further their knowledge about plants. After all, we have quite a few experts here! Maggie Southwick and our volunteers in the Library can help guests find books on gardening topics, and members have borrowing privileges. If you have a plant you need to identify, you can email digital photographs to library@lewisginter.org and the library staff will help you solve the mystery. Also, the library is a great place to find plant and seed sources and the entire library catalog is available online. Plus we do our best to make you feel welcome, with newly installed WiFi and a place to relax in our Reading Room by the fire. Did you even know we had a cozy Reading Room with a fireplace in the library?

The cozy library fireplace

Our new class & course catalog just came out. Not surprisingly we have some great classes on everything from how to create your backyard oasis to how to make an organic vegetable garden or how to make an expert cutting garden.

But the really cool thing I found in browsing the class offering were the very special events planned for teachers this winter and spring. On Friday, January 15th, we ‘ll host a free class offered especially for teachers who want to bring more agriculture in to the classroom. In fact, this class is provided by a non-profit called Agriculture in the Classroom, to help get more teachers excited about teaching agriculture to their students. Also, this spring we’ll offer our seasonal Dinner in the Garden for Teachers. Last year, as part of our 25th anniversary celebration and symposium on No Child Left Inside, we hosted a dinner for nearly 200 elementary teachers. This year, we’ll host a smaller event and the focus is on middle and high school teachers. Our presenter, Lisa Taranto, of Tricycle Gardens, will talk about “The Dirt on Worms”

Here are the details — we hope you can join us!

Agriculture in the Classroom: A Day in the Garden

Friday, January 15, 2010, 9am to 3pm

Details:

For educators looking for new ideas, resources for the classroom and tips for your own instructional garden to grow strong learners, this FREE workshop is just the ticket! Instructors bring science, mathematics, and social studies together while presenting hands-on activities designed to introduce students to the importance of agriculture in Virginia. Enjoy a tour of the Garden and learn more about resources available to teachers. Workshops are provided free of charge by Agriculture in the Classroom, a nonprofit organization, www.agintheclass.org and sponsored by the Farm Bureau.

Free; complimentary luncheon and refreshments included. Space is limited; the deadline for registration is January 8, 2010.

Dinner in the Garden Workshop for Middle and High School Science Teachers

April 22, 4:30 – 7:30pm

Details:

Celebrate Earth Day at an enlightening late-afternoon workshop at the Garden, where you’ll acquire inspiring ideas for your classroom and enjoy dinner with fellow life science and biology teachers. Join Lisa Taranto and other representatives of Tricycle Gardens as they discuss vermiculture and the fundamentals of building healthy soil. The importance of healthy soil, current issues surrounding the health of our soils, and a demonstration of how to build a worm bin will be part of the workshop.

Presented in partnership with the Center for Life Sciences Education at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Limited to 20 teachers. While the workshop is free and includes complimentary dinner, registration is required.

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Lots of Fabulous Happenings at GardenFest!

Dec 3rd, 2009 by Jonah Holland

by Jonah Holland, PR & Marketing Coordinator, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

GardenFest is going full throttle right now — we’ve added a bonus Member Night tonight (members get in for free) and tomorrow you’ll have the unusual opportunity of getting to see the GardenFest of Lights from a hot air balloon! Yes, believe it or not, the first 100 people who purchase raffle tickets ($10) for our 25th Anniversary silver Subaru from Subaru of Richmond get to ride up and see the lights from the sky!

People are Tweeting about GardenFest (see the widget below), blogging about GardenFest and taking some amazing photos of GardenFest. Plus if you haven’t been to the Garden in a while, it’s a great chance see our brand new “ribbon of light” Lotus Bridge all lit up for the holidays. Also new this year is a giant purple coneflower in the Central Garden.

Here’s a round up of what a few people are saying:

“It’s Richmond at its best,” says one visitor in the Richmond Times Dispatch GardenFest of Lights article. “We’ve been coming since they were babies.”

Richmond.com has a wonderful slideshow.

John Sarvay is best known for his Buttermilk & Molasses blog, but wrote a nice piece about visiting GardenFest with his wife Nikole and toddler Thea, on his blog, Garden of Words:

By the time she was in the stroller and could see the glow of blue lights on the bushes outside the main building, Thea was clapping her hands, flailing her feet, straining forward and yelling, “Lights, yay! Yay! Yay!”

Matt Harrington, of RichmondInsideOut.com wrote about his sneak peek of GardenFest.

RVA TV (part of RVA Magazine) created a wonderful YouTube video with the RVA Hoop Lovers during GardenFest Illumination

In fact, there are so many people talking about GardenFest, it’s hard to keep up with it all. We’ve started bookmarking some of our favorite coverage on the Garden and on GardenFest so, if you are looking for the latest scoop, check out our bookmarks on Delicious.

Tags: gardenfest, lewisginter

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Dominion, GardenFest of Lights Sponsor, Shares Some Video Highlights of GardenFest

Nov 25th, 2009 by Jonah Holland

by Jonah Holland PR & Marketing Coordinator, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

Today we are thankful for our GardenFest of Lights sponsor, Dominion, who made us this very fine video featuring Lewis Ginter’s Executive Director, Frank Robinson, and highlighting some favorites from Lewis Ginter’s GardenFest of Lights.

My favorite: the blue LED dogwood blossom lights! Check it out: