Although we’re always focused on “what’s next” here at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, at the end of the year it’s fun to take a few minutes and look back at activities and accomplishments. It’s not an exhaustive list by any means — just a quick overview.

Preparation for Orchids Galore!

The year 2011 marked our inaugural Orchids Galore! display in the Conservatory.  Orchids Galore! kicked off our spring A Million Blooms celebration and was so successful we are bringing the orchids back –  Orchids Galore! runs March 10 – April 22, 2012.

Spring brought A Million Blooms…and enhancements to the Central Garden.

Construction during enhancements to the Central Garden

After three weeks of intense work collecting, stripping and weaving sticks, the Diamonds in the Rough stick sculpture by world-famous artist Patrick Dougherty became part of the Garden’s landscape. If you haven’t seen it yet, the sculpture will be here at least through the end of 2012.

Diamonds in the Rough

Guests enjoyed looking for the elusive "Stick Man" throughout the Garden

Through extreme weather conditions, an earthquake and a hurricane, Garden staff and volunteers persevered.

Clean up after Hurricane Irene

Volunteers at the Plant Sale

Garden representatives on Capitol Hill receiving National Medal

The year ended on a very high note as Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden was recognized by the Institute for Museum and Library Services and the White House as one of the nation’s top museums.

All in all, there was a lot to LOVE in 2011. We wish you a very happy and healthy 2012 and look forward to seeing you at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden!

LOVE letters courtesy of Virginia Tourism Corporation

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is welcoming a new horticulture director today. Her name is Grace Chapman and she comes with strong public garden experience at premier gardens in the United States and United Kingdom. Most recently, she was horticulture supervisor at the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University in Ambler, Pennsylvania.

Director of Horticulture Grace Chapman

Grace’s resume reads like a bucket list of places I’d like to visit! She studied botanic garden education, practical horticulture and landscape design in England at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Royal Horticulture Society Rosemoor and the Chelsea Physic Garden; and in Scotland at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh. She also worked at the “Eden Project” in England. She did all of this as a recipient of the Martin McLaren Horticulture Scholar award presented by the Garden Club of America – an extremely prestigious honor.

With impressive degrees — Master of Science in public horticulture from the Longwood Graduate Program, University of Delaware, and a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural interdisciplinary studies from University of Florida – Grace also has interests that will fit right in at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. She enjoys organic vegetable gardening, beekeeping and volunteering in the community. She even writes a gardening blog.

I met Grace when she interviewed and was impressed by her experience, knowledge and enthusiasm. She joins a talented team of staff and volunteers here at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden – every day, I feel honored to be a part of this group. I look forward working with Grace as she helps lead us into a new and exciting chapter at the Garden.

Richmond orchid enthusiast Dr. Arthur Burke is one of the the forces behind  Orchids Galore! . An offer of plants from his personal collection helped make the display possible and he also kindly loaned the  Garden his copy of Reichenbachia antique chromolithographs for display during the exhibit. When the topic arose, Garden staff spoke in hushed and awed tones: “Ah yes, the Reichenbachia.” I nodded reverently along with everyone else. The truth was, I wasn’t sure what they were talking about or its significance.

I did a little research. What I discovered were stories of exotic orchids from around the world, royalty and wealthy patrons, family intrigue, and high-stakes financial gambles in fin de siecle England. Sounds like a great Masterpiece Theatre mini-series to me!

Vanda sanderiana from Reichenbachia

WHAT MAKES REICHENBACHIA SO SPECIAL?
Frederick Sander’s Reichenbachia: Orchids Illustrated and Described was published in London from 1888-1894. It is considered by many to be the greatest illustrated work on orchids ever published.

It is also rare. There are only a few complete sets of Reichenbachia in existence. The collection was published over a period of seven years in two series for a total of 192 plates. A special “Imperial Edition” edition was printed on larger and higher-quality paper; only 100 sets of the Imperial Edition were printed. Dr. Burke’s copy on loan to the Garden consists of an amazing 188 plates (out of 192) from the Imperial Edition.

ABOUT REICHENBACHIA
Reichenbachia was published by Henry Frederick Conrad Sander (1847 – 1920), a German-born orchidologist and nurseryman who settled in St Albans, England. Sander owned a large orchid enterprise and used publications to help sell his orchids – proving our  “modern marketing concepts” were alive and well in the nineteenth century. Reichenbachia was named in honor of Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach, a well-known German orchidologist.

The idea behind Reichenbachia was to depict orchids life-sized with accompanying text in English, French and German. Each of the four volumes comprising Series I and II were dedicated to royalty:  Series I/Vol. 1 to Queen Victoria; Series I/Vol. 2 to Augusta-Victoria, Empress of Germany-Prussia; Series II/Vol. 1 to Maria Feodorovna, Empress of Russia; and Series II/Vol. 2 to Marie Henriette, Empress of Belgium.  Evidence shows that Sander’s strategy was to publish each volume as a dedication to these royal women and wealthy patrons and collectors would not be able to resist also owning the collections held by the royal families!  Thus, the “Imperial Edition” was the grandest of all editions—there were other printings of the same content, but in smaller sizes intended to be mass-marketed to the “rest of us.”

Dendrobium aureum from Reichenbachia

Sander commissioned his future son-in-law, Henry Moon (1857-1905) to do the illustrations. The work that went into the drawings and the printing process was extraordinary. Illustrations were done from live specimens and often took several months to complete. The blocks were hand-made out of wood and the chromolithographs used up to twenty inks. The cost was so great that Sander later said the project almost ruined him.

YOUR CHANCE TO SEE THESE RARE PRINTS
If you visit Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden anytime between now and April 24 (Easter Weekend) – I invite you to wander over to the Education Building and take a look at images from the Reichenbachia hanging in Ginter Gallery II (the gallery space in that building.) The Garden is displaying four of the very best images. Thank you, Dr. Burke, for sharing them with us and making our “orchid experience” complete!

The year 2010 was a year of extremes for us here at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden:  the wettest spring, the hottest summer, and the coldest December.  We also had the extreme pleasure of exhibiting Glorious Glass in the Garden, which ends January 10, 2011, after a nine-month run. The glass sculptures by Hans Godo Frabel are just as captivating as ever and seem to have enjoyed four seasons in the Garden!

Clowns after installation in March

Clowns enjoying balmy days in June

Clowns against fall color in October

Clowns frolicking in the December snow

Below are a few more photos from 2010 of dazzling displays, exciting events and some of the people who make the Garden such a special place.

Staff pitch in for the arrival of Glorious Glass

Tulip border during A Million Blooms

Garden "Geezer" volunteers at Plant Sale

Mother's Day at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

Father's Day at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

Flowers After 5

Glass Blowing Demonstration

Fourth of July -- a day of free admission to the Garden!

A visit by Richmond Redevelopment Housing Authority residents during Families After 5

Going on a Bug Hunt during Families After 5

Staff and volunteers working together in the Garden

Getting Ready for Goblins and Gourds

We had an exceptionally beautiful fall this year

Planting Bulbs for Spring 2011!

Dominion GardenFest of Lights (photo: Don Williamson)

We look forward to seeing you in 2011 for more great times!

Garden Shop, Conservatory and Security Staff in the Conservatory

Splendor Under Glass 2010

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden’s Splendor Under Glass fundraising gala on November 19 transformed the Conservatory into exotic international locales with its “Orchids Around the World” theme. The theme was chosen in anticipation of the new Orchids Galore! exhibit at the Garden March 10 – April 12, 2011.

Eight hundred orchids helped create vignettes evoking the Great Barrier Reef of Australia; a South American orchid cloud forest; Hawaii, India and Japan. As Splendor Under Glass co-chair Peyton Wells explained, “Everything about the event was designed to be vibrant and interactive.”

More than 475 guests attended and $312,000 was raised to support the Garden’s educational mission. A new feature of this year’s live auction allowed guests to bid on a donation to Garden programs for under-served and at-risk children and youth, raising more than $38,000 toward those efforts. (The Garden serves more than 42,000 children each year through school-related and other activities.) Splendor Under Glass co-chair Martha Sherman pointed to the success of the event as proof that people recognize the Garden’s leadership role and thanked supporters, especially presenting sponsors Hourigan Construction Company and Albemarle Corporation. Mr. and Mrs. John H. Wick were honorary chairs; Mrs. Wick is a former Garden board president.

Garden volunteers Scott Martin and Chris Hinman made the Asian Arbor.

Here’s a look back:

Guests were wowed by an Asian Arbor in the Visitors Center which set the tone for the evening.

View of the Conservatory

The short walk from the Visitors Center to the Conservatory was THE first look anyone outside of the Garden has had of this year’s Dominion GardenFest of Lights show  – now up to more than 700,000 twinkling lights!

At the beginning of the evening, guests enjoyed mingling and admiring the fantasy-world décor, including many items that were part of the silent auction.

Dancers from the Chinese Folk Dance Club and the Richmond Ballet added flair to the event.

International dancers performed as guests enjoyed cuisines from around the world, expertly prepared and served by the Garden’s caterer Meriwether Godsey. A successful live auction followed by dancing with music by Complete Desire rounded out the evening.

“More than 100 people came together to make Splendor Under Glass happen,” explained Peyton Wells, who has been working on the event since January with co-chair Martha Sherman. “Volunteers and staff put together the decorations, created and secured auction items and sponsorships;  many local artists also donated their work.”

Splendor Under Glass co-chairs Martha Sherman (left) and Peyton Wells (right)

This Splendor Under Glass will be remembered for its extraordinary support from the community and the fabulous job the decorators did highlighting the fabulous floral displays, showcasing the flowers and natural beauty of the Garden itself.

Garden Board President William King and his wife Grace R. Den Hartog.

Mr. and Mrs. J. Harwood Cochrane in front of the Orchid Cloud Forest

Artist Nicholai Jerome (left) and Mary and Ted Linhardt in front of one of Jerome's sculptures

Jan and Roger Tutton were an elegant vision on the dance floor

It’s Plant Sale time at the Garden again! I just came back from the employee/volunteer pre-sale and it occurs to me how my buying habits have changed in a dozen years as a Garden employee. These fluctuations are based largely on “life events” — maybe you see yourself in some of them, too.

Fall Plant Sale; Agastache 'Purple Haze' in center

I remember being totally overwhelmed at my first Plant Sale. My background is in communication, not horticulture. I didn’t know what was an annual or what was a perennial, what did well in shade or in full sunlight, etc. In the end, I bought nothing. Gradually, over the next several years, I learned a thing or two working here and began “collecting.” I’d get one of this and one of that – just because it was “pretty” or looked interesting, but with no real plan in mind.

 Then I had kids. Gardening with young kids is a wonderful activity, but it comes with some restrictions. If I took my eyes off my toddlers for one second, I’d live to regret it, such as the time my youngest pedaled his tricycle headfirst into the rose bush. Also, time was at a premium, so when I began buying items I never even got around to planting, I decided to scale back.

Our growing family meant a new house on the horizon, so in the past year or two my Plant Sale buying habits have been limited to herbs and annuals for containers – I didn’t want to invest in anything I couldn’t take with me.

Now we’re in that new house and my husband says we’ll never move again! The kids are bigger, too. I’m still getting used to the new yard (I’ve read you should live in a place at least one year before you plan the landscape), but I have ideas. I want something attractive to wildlife, so when I saw Agastache ‘Purple Haze’ – a perennial covered with bees – at the Plant Sale just now, I bought seven. And so begins the next chapter of my gardening life.

I’d love to hear if you’ve had similar experiences and which gardening “life stage” you are in now!

The Fall Plant Sale at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is Friday, September 17, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Saturday, September 18, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Trees often have a special place in childhood memories. For me, it was a dogwood I loved to climb in my parents’ backyard. About five feet up, the branches made a “V” providing a perfect perch to view the world.

Hopefully the mulberry in our Children’s Garden will provide the same kind of memories for our young visitors. We find it wonderfully ironic that with all of the well-planned features in the Children’s Garden, one of the favorite activities is climbing the mulberry.

Davey Tree professional pruning mulberry in Children's Garden

As you might expect, this affection has taken a toll. After all, we estimate the tree is more than 100 years old! Trees, unfortunately, do not live forever, but the Garden is doing what it can to extend the life of the mulberry. Yesterday, professionals from Davey Tree visited and carefully removed dead or compromised branches. “Mulberries are very tough trees,” explains Mark Bennett, manager of Davey’s Richmond office. ”The work done should help keep the tree available for people to enjoy for years to come. “

The next step will be placing “tree props” beneath it. If you’re familiar with the mulberry, you know low-lying, sprawling branches are part of its great appeal. The tree props will be placed strategically under the branches to take the weight of the climbers and to preserve the integrity of the tree. The Garden’s Geezers, a group of “well-seasoned” volunteers, are building the tree props, so look for them to appear soon.

Pieces of the mulberry tree removed yesterday will continue to play an important role in the Children’s Garden. They’ll be used for educational programs and also in Woodland Pointe, where children create fairy houses and other structures crafted from found objects. Chosen as one of the Remarkable Trees of Virginia , the beloved mulberry in the Children’s Garden continues to provide gifts to us all.

This year Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is hosting the Museum Stores of Richmond’s Holiday Shoppers Fair (Friday, Nov. 6 & Saturday, Nov. 7). Fifteen Richmond-area museum stores in one place for two days!

Talk about interesting gift ideas. When I glanced through the list of participating museums and what they’d be selling, I saw items such as gurglepots, Buddha boards,  roboticHexBugs and Edgar Allan Poe action figures. I don’t know exactly what some of these are, but I am curious to find out! In addition, there’s always great selection of interesting and well-crafted items: home decor, jewelry, holiday items, prints, books, garden accessories and more.  

Why do I love Holiday Shoppers Fair? I can always find something for the “hard-to-buy-for” people on my list (i.e. — my husband. ) I’m also always on the lookout for cool presents for the kids. They’ve enjoyed the toys, books and stocking stuffers so much from previous Holiday Shoppers Fairs that they didn’t even realize the gifts were (shhhh!) educational.

Holiday Shoppers Fair is also a big deal for the museums. Shop revenue is a major source of income for the museums and all of the proceeds from Holiday Shoppers Fair goes directly to the participants. It’s the original “Shop for a Cause.”

(Secretly, I have another reason for wanting to go to Holiday Shoppers Fair. On Saturday, Nov. 7 from 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. the Miller & Rhoads Snow Queen will be there signing her book. For anyone of a certain age who grew up in the Richmond area, a visit to Santa and the Snow Queen was a favorite holiday tradition. I wonder if she’ll recognize me?)

See a list of the Richmond-area museums participating in Holiday Shoppers Fair and some of the items they’ll be selling.

Last call! This is the final week of Butterflies LIVE! at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden and the butterflies are going out on a high note. Just last week a new shipment of chrysalides came in – including some species we’ve not yet had. (The last day of the exhibit is Sunday, October 11.)

 Last Friday, Garden volunteer Caroline Meehan was hot glue-gunning the new chrysalides (don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt them) to foam core. The foam core is then placed at the top of plastic bins so the chrysalides can hang. It is in these bins that the butterflies emerge. Due to strict USDA guidelines this process has to take place behind-the-scenes at LGBG’s facilities.

But we can show you here what some of the chrysalides look like. Arrayed here is last week’s shipment before they were glued. Some were actually jumping around as I took this photo – ready to come out!

 
The beauty of some of these is  just indescribable. They look like miniature jewels. Check out these silvery Tithorea harmonia. I am curious to see what the butterflies look like — it’s hard to believe they could be more gorgeous than the chrysalides!

 
In addition to hot glueing the chrysalides behind the scenes, volunteer Caroline Meehan has been greeting the Garden’s guests in the Butterflies LIVE! exhibit throughout the summer and answering many questions about the butterflies. 

 What’s the number one question these days?: “Where will the butterflies go?”

The butterflies get a “free” (for them, anyway!) trip to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., and will join the Butterflies + Plants: Partners in Evolution exhibit. See 360 degree views of their new home in the Butterfly Pavilion. 

So, if you find yourself missing the butterflies, all you have to do is “fly” up Interstate 95. Tell ‘em we said hello!

While most people think of spring as the best time for planting, avid gardeners know fall can actually be the best.

First of all, it helps to know the difference between an annual and a perennial. Annuals typically only last one season, while perennials come back year after year. Since they last more than one season, perennials are attractive to many gardeners because they don’t have to be replanted, which saves time and money.

Fall is good for planting perennials because the cooler temperatures and increased rainfall help the plant’s roots become well-established. The soil is still warm in the fall and allows roots to grow until the ground freezes. (With mild weather, roots may even continue to grow throughout the winter.) If the same plant is put in the ground in the spring, it gets a slower start because soils are cooler. If planted in the summer, it may become extremely stressed due to heat, drought and an insufficient root system.

For the same reasons, turf grasses are often planted in the fall. Fall is also the time to plant spring-blooming bulbs and “cool crop” vegetables.

And just because mid-September is not the beginning of the spring season, don’t rule out annuals. They can be used to give your garden a “boost” and can be enjoyed until frost hits. In our area that can sometimes be until late October or early November.

If you’re not ready to hang up your gardening gloves just yet, check out the Fall Plant Sale at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden on Friday, September 18 (10 a.m. – 6 p.m.) and Saturday, September 19 (9 a.m. – 3 p.m.) More than 25 vendors will be there, plus the Garden volunteers have some great plants for sale in the Bloemendaal’s Best tent, including a selection of disease-resistant lilacs.