Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden
In the video at left, see spring’s A Million Blooms. Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden offers year-round beauty with more than 40 acres of spectacular gardens and the mid-Atlantic’s only classically styled Conservatory open to the public.
IF YOU GO
• Getting there: On I-95 North take Exit 80, Lakeside Ave. exit. Keep right and take the right at first light onto Lakeside Ave. Take a left at the garden entrance after crossing the intersection at Lakeside Ave. and Hilliard Road.
• Hours: Daily, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
• Costs: $6-10.
• Details: http://www.lewisginter.org or 262-9887
Phil Riggan/DiscoverRichmond.com
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden offers year-round beauty with more than 40 acres of spectacular gardens and the mid-Atlantic’s only classically styled Conservatory open to the public.
IF YOU GO
• Getting there: On I-95 North take Exit 80, Lakeside Ave. exit. Keep right and take the right at first light onto Lakeside Ave. Take a left at the garden entrance after crossing the intersection at Lakeside Ave. and Hilliard Road.
• Hours: Daily, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
• Costs: $6-10.
• Details: http://www.lewisginter.org or 262-9887
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Richmond Times-Dispatch Archives
Published: July 20, 2008
Check our photosfor a tour of the Conservatory
Check our photosfor a tour of the Asian Valley
Check our photosfor a tour of the Children's Garden
Check our photosof the Rose Belvedere
Check our photosof scenery around lake at Lewis Ginter
Check our photosof the Central Gardens
Check our photosLewis Ginter Botanical Garden, 1800 Lakeside Ave. Offers year-round beauty with more than 40 acres of spectacular gardens and the mid-Atlantic's only classically styled Conservatory open to the public. Includes the 3-acre Henry M. Flagler Perennial Garden, the turn-of-the-century Grace Arents Garden, a Children's Garden, the Lucy Payne Minor Memorial Garden, a water garden, the Asian Valley Garden, Healing Garden, Sunken Garden, the Robins Tea House, the E. Claiborne Robins Visitors Center, domed Conservatory and an education building. It's also the site of Bloemendaal House, a restored Victorian country home decorated with period furniture. The new Children's Garden opened in September 2005.
Hours: Daily, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Costs: $6-10.
Info: lewisginter.org or 262-9887.
HISTORY
Lewis Ginter bought the property in 1884 and built the Lakeside Wheel Club, a one-story structure that was later modified and incorporated into Bloemendaal House. The Wheel Club was a destination for Richmond bicyclists.
Grace Arents, Ginter's niece, bought the abandoned Lakeside Wheel Club in 1913. She remodeled the structure, adding a second story, and made it a convalescent home for sick children from the city.
In 1926, Arents died at the age of 78. She willed life-rights to her companion, Mary Garland Smith and stipulated after Smith's death the city of Richmond was to develop the property as a botanical garden honoring Lewis Ginter.
A group of botanists, horticulturists and interested citizens banded together in 1981 to form the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Inc. to uphold the will of Arents. A lawsuit ensued, and in 1984 an amicable settlement allowed the formation of the current garden.
[Credit: lewisginter.org]
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