Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in the Winter, always something green to see.

Very surprised to see Cherry blossoms!

A few weeks ago, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond offered FREE admission, so of course I had to go! One might think that January is a drabby time of year to visit but there is always something to see. Right now there are plenty of little shrub berries, ornamental grasses yellow Winter Jasmine, Camellia, Cherry Trees, Snowdrops, and even a few Daffodils opening. The bare deciduous trees provide a nice view of the bones of the garden.

My new discovery, The Woodland Garden

I wanted to see if there were Daffodils blooming on the far backside of the Asian Gardens as I remembered spotting them a few years ago in that area. I was happy to see a sign for the  Woodlands Garden, a little hideaway off the beaten path.

First Daffodil spotting of 2020

This trip I really wanted to make time to visit the extensive library. Normally I visit Ginter in Spring or Summer so I'm totally distracted by the glorious gardens. Winter is a perfect time to check out the books and the "seed library". I was really excited to see they have a seed loan. You have to pledge to "attempt" to grow the seed you take and harvest seed and return back to the library. I was quite greedy but I hope to have some success. I've been saving seed for 25 years and I've always wanted to start a seed library in Charlottesville. I'm sure someone else will eventually do this as it's becoming more and more popular.

Weeding and preening never ends!

I'll have to admit that not seeing even one rose in bloom is a bit of a downer but the bodies of water help make up for this loss. Volunteers were packing up the thousands of lights from the annual Light Show. It takes months to get the garden ready for the big Spring burst. There were certainly a lot of people involved with this effort.

Several varieties of Camellia popping open

I enjoyed testing out my new camera and look forward to having more to shoot soon. The birds outside are providing the most opportunity and I'm filming our continued home renovations and posting on YouTube.

Get outside and look closely and you will find those first signs of Spring!

~Rebecca