Did you know there is a holiday, native to Israel, that celebrates a new year in honor of plants? It’s called Tu B’shevat (TOO-bish-VAHT).  It’s sometimes called Jewish Arbor Day.

This agricultural holiday began in ancient times as a way to keep track of the crops and fruit trees that grew in Israel. Tu B’shevat is actually known as a new year for trees. You may be thinking -– but wait, it’s not spring yet. Well, in Israel it is! Israel has a rainy winter that transitions into a hot and dry summer.  This lends to great weather for the fruits of the earth. The custom of this holiday is to eat one of seven species of grains and fruit that are plentiful in Isreal, called shivat haminim:  wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates.

Ramona Brand, director of education at Congregation Beth Ahabah, explains that a modern twist to the traditional  celebration has created a sense of awareness for local eating and shopping smart in a way that’s good for the earth.

The Jewish Appleseed Foundation, further explains:

Today we celebrate Tu B’Shevat to thank God for the gifts of creation, especially foods that grow on trees and the beauties of nature we enjoy. The holiday also reminds us of our responsibility to care for the earth that God created in order to preserve it for future generations.

Of course the Garden’s take on it is secular, but in many ways it is similar. Part of our mission is to advocate for sustainability and stewardship of our planet.  And the Garden’s  vision is that we will reveal the unity and integration of human and plant life, celebrate the fundamental significance of the natural world, and enrich our community and beyond.

This year, in Richmond, Congregation Beth Ahabah  will celebrate this eco-centric holiday with a  Tu B’shevat Gala Celebration (being held this Sunday) at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. This is a private rental of the Garden, but the community is welcome.

Children and adults will take part in tikkun olam, or repairing the world, by planting parsley seeds, making all-natural bird feeders, and learning from a park ranger.  With recycled materials brought such as old toys, video games, and found things from nature, boys and girls can make jewelry, photo frames, and more. Plus, there will be a scavenger hunt, leading participants through the Conservatory to find crops of ancient worlds.

Image courtesy of: http://www.jerusalembaskets.com/Tu-Bishvat-Gifts_cat.html

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.

Awe & wonder at last year's GardenFest. Photo by Don Williamson Photography

I arrived at Lewis Ginter in early September, and even though  it was months away, it didn’t take long for me to hear about Dominion GardenFest of Lights, or GardenFest, as most folks call it around here.   For some, GardenFest  is the most anticipated event of the year.  GardenFest begins in just 7 days and I cannot wait to attend this year! GardenFest has been expanding in popularity and scale over the years. This year, not only will there be the usual favorites at GardenFest, there will be several new additions.

The theme for this year’s GardenFest is “Nature’s DeLIGHTS.” The illumination will be November 25 and is the perfect kick-off celebration for the holiday season, especially if you have family visiting for Thanksgiving.  Doors  open at 5 p.m. and the festivities start at 5:30 p.m.  Watch linemen from Dominion Power and the GardenKeeper “flip the switch” — the official start to GardenFest. This year on illumination night only, we have a special treat for you:  a laser lights show. The electric performance of enchanting visions, animation and music will captivate you.  After the laser show the Garden will be open for visitors to explore and enjoy.

The laser show isn’t the only new attraction at this year’s GardenFest. Another important addition to the display will be the illumination of Patrick Dougherty’s “Diamond’s in the Rough” stick sculpture. Since its addition in May, the sculpture has been a wonderful and whimsical addition to the Garden. During GardenFest, visitors will be able to approach the sculpture through a 250-foot tunnel of lights and see mystical characters who are calling the sculpture home during the holiday season.

Another new addition to this year’s GardenFest of Lights will be the oversized “LOVE” artwork provided by the Virginia Tourism Corporation and featured in the Rose Garden. The 8-foot tall and 16-feet wide letters spelling “LOVE” provide the perfect photo opportunity. Other notable features of the light display will include a dragon in the Asian Valley, “Spider Island”, oversized veggies in the Children’s Garden, and a larger-than life peacock with a walk-through tail arch. During GardenFest you may also enjoy  s’mores around the firepit , holiday train displays, family photos at the  grand holiday tree in the Conservatory, and two light mazes.

There is something special and unique happening at GardenFest almost every night.

Last year's GardenFest featured Hans Godo Frabel's glasswork. Photo by Don Williamson Photography

Monday’s during GardenFest will be “very merry”, featuring fireside story time with the GardenKeeper and visits from the Butterfly Fairy in the Library Reading Room. There are also chances for Santa “sightings” in the Conservatory. Tuesdays are “Caroling Tuesdays” with Barbershop quartets meandering through the Garden to serenade you. The music continues on “Musical Thursday’s,” when there will be acoustic musicians performing festive entertainment in the Library.

There will also be “Member Nights” when all Garden members are granted free admission to the Garden. As another special treat for members on Member Nights, the historic Bloemendaal House will be open for touring.

This year we’ll feature 3 full nights of “GardenFest for Fidos.” On select Thursdays leashed pets will be allowed to enjoy the festivities with a suggested $2 pet admission to benefit Richmond SPCA.

After learning about all of the exciting events at Lewis Ginter during GardenFest, I am having a hard time deciding when to come. I do not want to miss next week’s opening night laser lights show. I would also love to bring my dog (a Westie named Maggie) to see the Garden and I definitely want to bring my family to see the Garden. Of course, I would like to tour the illuminated and historic Bloemendaal House during a member night. But really, there is no wrong time to visit GardenFest. You may even see me walking around the Garden taking photos, trying to find my way out of a maze, or walking my dog Maggie. I hope to see you there.

Here’s a video that from last year’s GardenFest to get you in the mood:

Last week we told you all about our new addition in the Conservatory – “The Old Tree”.   We are happy to announce that volunteers Nancy Butler and Alexandra Slusher have created a masterpiece.  The Old Tree  is ready for  holiday visitors!  The inhabitants have moved in and are ready to greet their fans of all ages.  We can’t wait to see you at GardenFest!

"The Old Tree" at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

Mail call!

Little families find a home in "The Old Tree".

Come see us this season - our door is open!

The air grows cooler, the days darken in late afternoon, and the trees portray nature’s brilliant autumnal portrait.  Here at the Garden, the word is GardenFest and the magic it brings each year via more than a half million outdoor lights.  But before all the hoopla and festivities, tucked in between Veterans Day and the abbreviated Thanksgiving work-week/Black Friday frenzy, is a wonderful, lesser-known endeavor:  the Every Day is a Play Day Challenge by Active Kids Club.

Flagstone leaf imprint at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

As a child, I recall being bundled up and shuffled out of the house, along with my siblings, in order to expedite house-cleaning, cooking, decorating,  or any of the myriad of to-do’s that the holidays entail.  We ran in the brisk air, jumped in puddles, and oh those autumn leaves!  It didn’t take much to set our imaginations afire – a stick on the ground, a pile of acorns, a chattering squirrel — and we were off and running, literally.  Every Day is a Play Day is just that — a challenge to get your children outside, every day from Monday, November 14 through Saturday, November 19, no matter the weather.

Constructing at Woodland Pointe

Active Kids Club and organizations such as the Children and Nature Network, Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign, and the Children’s Garden at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden all share a common cause for today’s youth:  promoting the health and welfare of our children by encouraging healthy eating, daily activity, and connecting children and their communities to nature.  In fact, Active Kids Club cites the philosophy that,

There is no bad weather, only bad clothing.

Dawn Lipscomb, Children’s Program Instructor at the Garden, has no shortage of suggestions to please and employ your busy bees here at the Garden during Play Day week.  But if you can’t make it to the Garden, just head out to your front (or back) yard, as long as the little ones are out in nature; that’s what matters most.

Inlaid vintage steps lead to the Wildside Walk.

Busy hands:  the Carriage House Breezeway is open through Thursday, November 17, after which it will pack up ’til April.  Take advantage of the multitude of self-guided, hands-on activities available for families to learn and enjoy together.  Next week’s theme is ”The Legend of the Silver Pinecones”;  come read the tale of the poor family, a magical elf, and some prosperous pinecones, 10am-4pm Saturday and Sunday, 1-4pm Monday through Thursday.

Busy feet:  explore the Margaret Streb Conifer and Lucy Payne Minor Gardens via their secluded, woodsy paths.  They offer room for little feet to explore and gorgeous views for photo ops on the way to the Anderson Wildflower Meadow and Diamonds in the Rough, the ultimate play house.  Wildside Walk is a longer foot path behind Bloemendaal House. Get great views of the historic structure as you traverse behind the Carriage House and past the Children’s Garden.  Beautiful stone steps add to the vigor.

Busy minds:  the Children’s Farm Garden offers a plenitude of late autumn greenery.  Have a crafty one?  They will no doubt enjoy Everyone’s House, Stickwood Studio, and Woodland Pointe where they can explore weaving and natural material construction using mosses, wood pieces, and leaves.

Traditional Garden fun:  SandPlay and children are familiar friends. International Village is premium playing-house real estate.  Climb 100+ year-old Mulberry Tree and its horizontal traipsing limbs.  As always, keep an eye out for that sneaky Stickman – he’s about somewhere, high above and watching all ….

Busy hand, busy minds, back to basics ....

Building character:  preparations are underway for GardenFest.  Everywhere you look, there are people scurrying around building, gardening, stringing lights, trimming the trees with ornaments, and putting together train displays.  At any moment of the day, innumerable Garden volunteers give of their time and expertise; take a stroll with the little ones and watch them work and lead by example — giving back to the community for a greater good.  And if your children are a bit older — 13 and up — share with them that even youth can volunteer at the Garden.  

Life goes on:  the geese honk and squabble; the turtles compete for log-space to sun themselves; the fragrance of roses permeate the breeze.  Hear the trickling brook.  Take a break from the day, the week, the season, and spend time in the sun or the rain.

The Children’s Garden is one of more than a dozen themed gardens at Lewis Ginter.  It strives to provide a safe and universally accessible environment where children and their families can explore, using their senses to make meaningful interactions with nature and understand their interdependence with the plant world.  So take time each day next week, don your hats, raincoats, boots, or shorts — whatever mother nature dictates, whether it be Indian-summer warm or Winnie-the-Pooh blustery – and head outside to make some memories … nature awaits….

Lucy Payne Minor Garden path

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.