A few months ago, while on a mission to capture some fun photos for my Every Day is a Playday blog, I encountered a little friend.  He was so cute — set amidst the foliage and ornate shrubbery.  He was so completely out of place.  He was … a cement pig.  I took a picture of the pig, who is quite photogenic, consequently, and tucked it away for hopeful retrieval after the holiday hubbub.  And I have.

Pig on the jog...

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is many things to many more people.  And the story to unfold here only reinforces this concept.  My underlying mission:  why is there a little concrete pig along the path of the Lucy Payne Minor Garden?  I began with Jonah Holland, Public Relations and Marketing Coordinator; did she know anything about the pig?  No … but she suggested speaking with Shanna Chandler, Development Manager — she might have record of its donation.

Knock-knock on Shanna’s door:  did she know anything about the pig?  No … but she had heard something regarding a Richmond woman donating a menagerie of statuary critters to the Garden, although there is no actual record of the “adoption”.  Perhaps I should ask someone who may have been employed at the time — try Lucy Coggin, Group Tour Developer over in the Education department.

I emailed Lucy ( who has been at the Garden over 12 years); did she know anything about the pig?  (Is the reader sensing a “Little Red Hen” theme?  “Who will help me plant the seeds?  Who will help me cut the wheat?  Who will help me take the wheat to the mill….”)  At first Lucy had nothing to add to my investigation, and I sighed, resigning myself to the fact that the “lead had gone cold”.  But alas, as with many things, reflection often allows particulars to resurface, and she emailed a follow-up the next day:

Hello again!  As I mulled over your topics, a couple of details came to mind.  Elizabeth (Horticulture) once mentioned that little pig.  She may have some information to share.  Happy hunting …

Hunting indeed.  Elizabeth (Liz) Fogel from Horticulture (over 5 years at the Garden) proved to be a key to unlocking the secret:

I think Frank (Frank Robinson, the Garden’s President & CEO) will be the best person to tell you who gave us the animal statues … what I heard was that … a lady had all of these statues in her own yard for years and wanted to make sure they would end up in a place where children could still enjoy them.

… it was pretty much left up to us [the horticulture staff] to put what we wanted where we wanted.  There are several in the Childrens Garden and three through Streb and Minor [Gardens] — a metal pig with wings near the small sundial at the entrance to Minor, the cement pig I think you have seen, and a cement turtle hiding near the white gazebo in Streb….

And finally, from Frank Robinson:

Liz’s memory of the various animals is accurate … the donor was a charming lady who collected the animals and had them in various flower beds and pens in her garden.  She did invite the neighborhood children to come and visit, and I remember her saying they especially enjoyed climbing in the “pig pen” and sitting with the pigs.  She was transitioning to fairies and gnomes, so she was excited to have the animals come to Ginter.  Some were used in the Conservatory, as well, and they seem to come and go as themes change within the Garden.  Her donation was a delight and refreshingly unselfconscious, and it is an inspiration to have some unexpected fun at Lewis Ginter!

What has my journey taught me?  Behold the power and tradition of storytelling as a means of passing on what is known by some to others.  And, questions are the key to life … or in this case, pigs.  To the donor, rest assured that your gifts are appreciated.  They add whimsy and intrigue to the Garden, and they bring many smiles to the faces of children … and others, like me.

Life is a journey, not a destination.  – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Consequently, Emerson’s quote is my daily mantra.  But, in this particular case, I’m not certain as to whose journey this story refers … mine or the pig’s.

photo courtesy of Don Williamson Photography

The Lewis Ginter Community Kitchen Garden is now shut down for the winter. Volunteers in the garden produced 9,913 pounds of high quality produce for FeedMore’s Community Kitchen.

Weight distribution by type:

Tomatoes – 5,594.5 lbs.

Zucchini/ yellow squash – 3,035.5 lbs.

Cauliflower – 460 lbs.

Cabbage – 235 lbs.

Broccoli – 220 lbs.

Green Peppers – 18 lbs.

While falling just shy of the 10,000 pound goal, the 2011 yield represents an 8 percent increase over 2010 production. This excellent yield was made possible by the hundreds of hours of sweat equity volunteers invested in the garden throughout 2011.

The oldest red cabbage leaves produced a kaleidoscope of color.

The red cabbages were a bit of a disappointment by not fully maturing even after 100 days in the field. It’s probably due to getting them planted too late in September.

It’s a bloomin’ cabbage! After the primary heads were harvested, we left the cabbage plants in the field and the plants produced these wonderful clusters of rosettes.

While not heavy or dense, the rosettes were tender and fresh.

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

We’re still truckin’ along in the Lewis Ginter Community Kitchen Garden. Although it’s now nearly a week into November, the broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower are not quite ready to harvest en masse. We harvested 26 pounds of beautiful broccoli and cabbage on October 31st, but only the few that were fully ready. The recent spate of relatively cold nights is retarding growth, but these vegetables should mature in the next couple of weeks as the weather warms a little. Today our nice group of volunteers focused on liquid feeding the crops with fish emulsion, dividing and transplanting some kale, and garden clean up. The volunteer crew included three generations of the Hooks family.

The mature zucchini plants showed nominal signs of frost burn, but it was clear the row cover fabric wouldn't suffice for any more sub-freezing nights.

We ended our “fall zucchini trial”, as the sub-freezing nights had burned most of the plants. The experiment was based on expecting the row cover fabric to add ten degrees to the zucchini bed air temperature, but the fabric wasn’t enough. I bet clear sheet plastic would have made the difference. We would be at the flowering stage by now, with daytime temps still warm enough for the bees to do their work.

The more immature zucchini plants, showing the effects of frost burn.

Lisa Wooten (left) and Jeannie Arnold (right) and the Hooks family dividing and transplanting kale.

CKG volunteers November 5, 2011 - left to right: Jeannie Arnold, Lisa Wooten, April Hooks, Joshua Hooks, Linda Wakeman, Josephine Hooks, Masen Hooks

Left to right: Josh, April (mom) and Masen on a balmy day in the garden three weeks ago.

The last Saturday in October, a group of seven Dominion associates worked at Lewis Ginter’s Community Kitchen Garden. What started out as a shiver-inducing brisk morning quickly turned into t-shirt weather as the team cleared a large area to prep for the winter cover crop. The team also continued our “manual intervention” pest management system by hand-inspecting the fall crop for cabbage worms. Happily for everyone, no worms were found.

The Dominion Power team with independent volunteer Laura Schumm (center). Laura has been volunteering in the CKG since September 10.

The team worked at a blistering pace to clear weeds from part of the garden, in preparation for a winter cover crop of annual ryegrass and red clover.

The group included Christine, Dawn, Iva, Pam, Kevin, David & Rob (names are not in the order shown in the photo).

That’s folksy talk referring to the fall vegetable garden. At Lewis Ginter’s Community Kitchen Garden we have all the old tomato plants cleared, the stakes & cages stacked, a winter cover crop of annual rye and red clover sown, and we’re just a couple of weeks away from beginning our Fall harvest for the Community Kitchen.

The stakes are stacked for the winter. No small task, made possible by the willing & able hands of volunteers.

We have some good-looking broccoli in progress - a total of 190 plants.

We have three types of cabbages: conventional Jersey, Early Gonzales (a "mini" cabbage) and a red cabbage. A total of 150 cabbages.

It was a gorgeous morning at Lewis Ginter’s Community Kitchen Garden. We took a day off from pampering the cole crops, and applied our energy to the incremental removal of some of the hundreds of tomato plants. The process of preparing the garden for the winter cover crop is well under way.

We had our third fun visit from a really nice group of Northstar Academy students, who whole-heartedly pitched in to help remove tomato vines. I’d like to picture them here, but since the students are minors it’s a complicated and lengthy process to obtain photo releases from so many parents.

We also were fortunate to have help again from Laura Schumm, an artist and horticulture student who has been a regular volunteer for several weeks, and three Dominion employees: Christa Vidonic, George Slayton and Kevin Barry. All three are Business Performance Analysts with Dominion Power.

Kevin, Christa and George take a break from pulling tomato stakes & vines. I don't know what it is about hard labor that makes the CKG volunteers laugh so much. I hope it's not simply the sight of the photographer wearing shorts.

Kevin, Laura, Christa and George with a mountain of old tomato vines. Sort of an "American Gothic" pose - but a whole lot more cheerful!

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.

In my last post, I wrote about my journey to the Children’s Garden, and my short vacation to the tree house in the Children’s  Garden. I also introduced Gourd Quest, the exclusive gourd-themed segment of Kids Quest held at the Children’s Garden throughout the month of October. Now, I want to bring you the news on  Weird Plant Lore — our first event in a month-long exploration of October Oddities, starting tomorrow.

Because this weekend is both Rose Fest and October Oddities  we’ll feature activities on both days.  So for the first October Oddities event, Weird Plant Lore, you will have two opportunities to join in the fun,  Saturday from 10 am. to 3 p.m.  and Sunday from noon to 3 p.m.

I spoke with Suzanna Stone, of Sacred Plant Traditions, to find out a little more about what she has planned for her demonstration. Stone will be teaching us about the healing benefits of roses.  She says, ”Roses have a long and historical and mythological tradition. Originally from Asia, they have traveled the world and become renowned for their ability to ease sadness, heal the heart, nourish and sooth the skin and provide overall health…”

Stone says she’s  excited to share lots of activities with our visitors — making rose beads with clay and dried rose petals, powdering herbs with a mortar and pestle, and sampling rose petal tea.

Our other guest is Sabrina Walters, owner of Umami Tea. After speaking with Walters, I learned that many herbal teas contain rose petals, and others contain rose hips. Rose hips are considered the fruit of a rose.  Rose hips have high levels of vitamin C, which strengthen the immune system, and also contain other healing properties.  Walters will have samples of several teas if you’d like to sample a few and learn more about teas blended with rose hips.

Both Walters and Stone will have their displays set-up in the Rose Garden this weekend, but don’t forget to drop by the Children’s Garden. There is a special Investigation Station themed activity for Weird Plant Lore being held in the Children’s Garden. With the help our our  Children’s Garden staff, kids will be making tissue paper roses with pipe cleaners and can add a finishing touch to their creation with a spritz of rose water. The featured book for the Investigation Station is Wanda’s Roses by Pat Brisson. While you’re in the Children’s Garden don’t forget to pick up a scavenger hunt sheet and try out Gourd Quest, the gourd-themed segment of Kid’s Quest that makes its debut tomorrow.

After this weekend, October Oddities will continue each Saturday from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., so stay tuned for more information on October Oddities events. The Garden has a lot planned for this weekend, so I hope that you decide to join us this weekend for Rose Fest, and the kick-off October Oddities event, Weird Plant Lore.

Hi, I’m Garrett McLees, the new PR & marketing intern here at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. A hardworking and studious graduate of Virginia Tech, I take every job seriously and do my best in whatever I do. Last week, my first at the Garden, I headed tothe Children’s Garden to learn about a new event that the Garden is starting — October Oddities.   As part of the month-long celebration of everything “odd” I found out that instead of the traditional KidQuest, treasure hunt that the Children’s Garden staff creates,  we’ll  have a Gourd Quest instead. And this was my first assignment and the topic of my very first blog post. As I drew nearer to the Children’s Garden, I realized there was something else I had to do first. The Children’s Garden Tree house was calling my name.

During my childhood, my parents had never taken me to the Children’s Garden at Lewis Ginter.  Even if they had, I wouldn’t have seen it — it wasn’t built yet.  As I climbed the ramp to the accessible-to-all CWD Kids Tree House, I thought about how silly I might look. Here I am all grown up, having just begun my very first internship, and I am winding my way up to see a tree house at the Children’s Garden.

But, I didn’t care.

As soon as I entered,  I was transported back to the simpler days of my childhood. I rushed to the window to take in the view of Syndor Lake, and snapped a few pictures, then I looked up and took note of how high the ceiling was.  I walked around the Tree House a few times, sat in the rocking chair in the middle of the room, taking it all in, until I remembered my original mission. I needed to learn about Gourd Quest.

My view from the tree house in the Children's Garden.

I made my way back down from the Tree House and met a few of the of the Children’s Garden educators. They were all very friendly and happy to share with me the exciting details of the upcoming October Oddities events — specifically Gourd Quest.

I learned that Kid Quest, the engaging scavenger hunt activity for our younger visitors, is featuring a very special fall theme this year.  Starting October 1st, children and families can explore the Children’s Garden while keeping an eye out for interesting and unique gourds, including the mini white boo pumpkin, caveman’s club, and apple gourds.  Once kids find all the gourds, they can turn in their Gourd Quest sheet for a prize. As part of October Oddities, Gourd Quest is free with Garden admission.

As I left the Children’s Garden, I took one last look back at the tree house and thought about how much fun it would have been for me to have been able to enjoy Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden tree house and events like  Gourd Quest when I was growing up.

Look for more updates about other features of October Oddities in my next blog post.

This October, I hope that you’ll bring the kids by for some “odd” fun.