Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

Today's excursion brought me to the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, which I have been meaning to visit for quite a while. Growing up I lived very near to the Chicago Botanical Garden, and so we visited quite frequently. I was always partial to the Japanese gardens, as well as the miraculous one legged goose that I seemed to see every single time we visited.

While Richmond's Botanical Gardens can't boast a one legged goose - at least not that I could see - they do have a beautiful Asian garden among other things. Today was the perfect day to visit. It only got up to 85 degrees and was bright and sunny. I started by visiting the Four Seasons Garden, Healing Garden and Sunken Garden, all of which lead up to the Conservatory. As the website says, "the Conservatory is the 'Jewel of the Garden.'" While not imposing in any way, it's structure and the sheer amount of glass in the building make it quite awesome from a distance. I have always loved the earthy-sweet-green smell of conservatories, and that was the first thing to greet me as I walked in the door. There were two separate gardens in the building, one an English garden and the other more tropical. I could have spent all day soaking up the smell and bubbling-water sounds of the second garden.

After visiting the conservatory, I ditched my map and wandered aimlessly. I found myself noticing the uses of water in each garden. While I wouldn't go so far as to call it a theme, the garden planners have done a beautiful job incorporating different kinds of water into many of the gardens. Somehow everything seems more relaxing when standing next to a stream or on a bridge, I think. Walking around the gardens gave me a great urge to own my own home and spend every weekend gardening. There were many plants there that I don't think I could get to grow if my life depended on it, including the huge (bigger than my head) white water lily of some sort, which I fell in love with.

As soon I arrived home I decided to spend some time in my own fire escape herb garden. After transplanting two basil plants and a parsley, I realize that I will never have the time or the energy to have a garden with even one one-hundredth of the beauty of the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. Perhaps this is a good thing to know early on. Perhaps this is why such gardens exist.