Ryan Syrell Artist Bio Ryan Syrell is a painter whose work focuses on the interrelationship between haptics, perception, and the recollection of sensory information. He received his BFA from SUNY Purchase College in 2006, and has exhibited and performed internationally. Ryan’s work has recently been included in Baltimore Contemporary Cross-Section (Silvermine Arts Center, Connecticut) and […]
Read MoreUpdated 1/17/17 Awash in the Health Benefits of Nature My mother was right. She may not have known why, but she was right. When she sent me outside to play with my brothers and get some fresh air and sunshine, she wasn’t just brokering a bit of peace and quiet for herself. It was good […]
Read MoreOn this day in 1895 On January 2, 1895, the Richmond Dispatch reported that Richmond citizens enjoyed ice skating on the first day of 1895 and were fortunate to have three locations for skating: Forest Hill lake, the city reservoir, and right here in Lakeside at Clarke’s Pond. The pond is now known as Lakeside […]
Read MoreA Garden’s Role in Racial Healing & Transformation As Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden’s community engagement coordinator, I was honored to attend the W.K. Kellogg Foundation‘s Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) Summit in Carlsbad, Calif. earlier this month on behalf of Initiatives of Change/Hope in the Cities. As a participant, I learned how uniquely positioned Lewis […]
Read MoreMaking Spirits Bright with Light Toys from the Bling Shop As Dominion GardenFest of Lights casts its spell over the Garden each year, you may discover that even you are bedazzled by its magic. If that happens, and you find that you are longing for a little sparkle of your own, we’ve got just the […]
Read MoreSpinning Wheel Demonstration Spinning is an ancient craft dating back thousands of years that can be quite delightful to watch. If you want to add an unconventional — yet no less fun and mesmerizing — activity to your holiday schedule, join us for a spinning demonstration in the Lora Robins Library as part of the Natural Plant Dyes […]
Read More“Look to the wild,” suggested Thomas Rainer, co-author of “Planting in a Post-Wild World.”” His advice is intended for anyone who influences a patch of land, whether a sprawling backyard in suburbia or a micro garden squeezed between row houses downtown. Self-described as “a landscape architect by profession and a gardener by obsession,” Rainer challenges […]
Read MoreMonarch Butterfly Adoptions For about three years now, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden’s volunteer-led spring and fall plant sales have actively encouraged home gardeners to grow plants that support native butterflies and local pollinator populations. Each year, we feature butterfly habitat kits, each containing host plants (plants that caterpillars need for food) and nectar plants (plants that butterflies need […]
Read MoreEditor’s note: This is a timely post on an important topic. We are reprinting it with permission from the authors, noted below. Mind Your Holiday Decorations: Safeguarding Your Boxwoods from Boxwood Blight Guest blog post by Chuan Hong, Ping Kong and Xiao Yang, Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center Mike Likins, Adria Bordas, Kate […]
Read MoreUpdated 12/14/16 Ask Justin Brown when he and his team began work on this year’s light show and he replies, “We never stopped.” Brown is Operations Manager and External Team Leader for Dominion Energy GardenFest of Lights, responsible for setting out the lights that help turn Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden into a wonderland of Living Color for this year’s show. The […]
Read MoreLynne Munden Frailing & Botanical Art Grow your art as you grow your garden Botanical art student Lynne Frailing enrolled in the Botanical Illustration Certificate program so that she could draw her own garden. Commuting from her home in Virginia Beach to take classes at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Frailing, a real-estate agent by profession, […]
Read MoreDollhouses Return Just in Time for Dominion Energy GardenFest of Lights! There’s great joy across the land at the return of our biennial dollhouse exhibit in the Lora Robins Library at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. People are crazy about miniatures. Tiny chairs, tiny sinks, tiny dogs and cats and cars. What is so appealing about […]
Read MoreLiving Color at Dominion GardenFest of Lights This year, Dominion Energy GardenFest of Lights is an exploration of color: how color speaks to us, impacts nature, influences culture and even brings us joy. We can’t wait for you to explore all that we have planned: look through a teleidoscope that turns the real world into an exquisite picture […]
Read MoreGetting the Lowdown on Luffa Luffa sponges don’t come from the ocean. And they’re not from manmade materials. Rough-textured exfoliators originate from luffa: dried fiber from the vegetable of the same name. Luffa or loofah (botanically Luffa aegyptiaca) is a vine-grown member of the pumpkin, squash and gourd family, Cucurbitaceae. Centuries ago, the luffa plant was brought […]
Read MoreMessage from the Executive Director Right after lunch on the first Tuesday in August, the largest meeting space in the Robins Visitors Center was standing room only. Garden volunteers and staff had gathered to review the design and implementation of this year’s holiday light show, and those who arrived late were forced to pull chairs […]
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