Ginter Garden

Lewis Ginter Garden

in Richmond, Virginia

Lewis Ginter Botanic Garden just outside Richmond, VA, is a splendid 55 acre

oasis of conservatory and gardens.  We were there on the annual festival day and

enjoyed a delicious lunch in the lovely dining room and then wandered around

the gardens as musicians played and a barbershop quartet serenaded visitors.

It is well worth a visit.  This is the view of the conservatory as you leave the

dining room.

They have more than a million bulb flowers in their spring show,

especially tulips and pansies and daffodils.

A bed of yellow pansies and white daffodils.  Their beds all had interesting

combinations of flowers, in forms and color.

Tulips and pansies.  Different combinations of colors filled the whole garden.

This is what Spring should look like.  The blue and white pansies serve as

ground cover, while the yellow, peach, and orange tulips provide vertical emphasis.

An English cottage with pink "May Day" hydrangeas.

Lavender "Aunt Bess Hydrangeas" with "White Icing Geraniums" and

pink and white "Martha Washington Geraniums."

  

Double "White Crinolines" Tulips

Blue and white pansy courtyard.  The arrangement of buildings, furniture, low beds

of flowers, taller standing flowers, and bushes made a very impressive garden.

The building in back is the Horticultural Library, with books and magazines for anyone

to consult and enjoy.

Pansies in every color are very popular in the mid-Atlantic states.  I found many at the

National Airport in Washington, all over the city, and in Maryland, as ell as

here in Virginia.

Double Yellow "Mme de Pompadour" Tulips. Closer to the ground are

white and yellow pansies.

"Siren Call" Large Cup Daffodils, along with with white,  yellow, and orange pansies.

Large white "Cinderella Daffodils" with smaller "Thumbelina Daffodils" with

"Delft Blue" pansies close to the ground.

"Honeycomb Orchids" in the conservatory

 Pink Orchids in Conservatory

"Firebrand" yellow and red tulips

A planter with yellow and orange taper tulips and Blue and White Pansies.

"Franz Hals"  Orange  Tulip

"Mary Tyler Moore"  Peach  Tulip

 Fountain and Circular Garden

 Yellow and Red  "Dutch Painter" Tulips

 Barbershop Quartet Wandering through the Garden

 Pink  "Majesty" camellia on a large tree covered with camellias

 Blue Poppy Anemones

 Pink Poppy Anemones

 Lilac and White  "Grace Kelly" Tulips

Double Orange Tulips and White Pansies

Red Poppy Anemones

Red and Yellow Double "Sunburst"  Tulip

Daffodils and Pansies

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

I hope you have enjoyed this walk through the beautiful Ginter Gardens.

JB

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Mosaiculture Exhibition

[ News of next mosaiculture exhibition at bottom of page.]

International  Mosaiculture  Exhibition

  Montreal - Summer 2013



Even if you’re not into gardening yourself, the plant sculptures in the international Montreal Mosaiculture Exhibition will blow your mind. As defined in the official website of the event, mosaiculture “is a refined horticultural art that involves creating and mounting living artworks made primarily from plants with colourful foliage (generally annuals, and occasionally perennials).” It is also a highly complex form of art, requiring different sets of skills from all the participating artists: not only do they have to plan and build the framework of the sculpture and match the colors, it is also important to understand the maintenance of each plant they use.

The Mosaïcultures Internationale competition was founded back in 2000 by Lise Cormier after her visit to China: this is where Lisa saw an enchanting 40-feet-high sculpture of 3 doves and was instantly inspired to bring the idea back home.

Considered the world’s most prestigious competition of horticultural art, the 2013 edition of Mosaiculture is currently on display at Montreal Botanical Garden in Quebec, Canada. More than three million flowers were raised in greenhouses throughout Quebec, and then shipped to the gardens in May, where designers wrapped them in steel meshes to create living works of art. The sculptures are created using steel or aluminum forms that are wrapped in metal mesh, filled with earth and planted with flowers, ivies and grasses whose foliage provides texture and color. Interior watering systems and growing medium were added so that the flowers could last all through the summer till the end of the exhibition on September 29.

Some 50 works graces the 2.2 km circuit through the enchanting grounds of the Botanical Garden. The theme this year is “Land of Hope”. About 200 of the world’s most talented horticultural artists are taking part in this international competition, representing 20 countries. Entries have come from cities in countries as far as Turkey and Uganda, with China and Japan heavily represented.

  

Barn  Owl

Bird   Tree.  This huge sculpture is 40 feet high and they built  special high bridge at this
end so people could take photographs more easily.  Every branch becomes a different bird.
The wing span of the condor must be at least 8 feet.

Big  Flowers.  These are growing in the midst of the Exhibition Gardens, some of the
thirty gardens which comprise the Botanic Garden.  Notice the bee.

Butterflies.  They are about eight feet high and stand outside the Insectarium,
a building housing exhibits of insects.

Two Canoes.  The theme of this year's show is the unity of nature and the
importance of ecological planning.

The Old Man Who Planted Trees,  Horses,  Dog,  and  Sheep
The Old Man is about 20 feet high.

Flock  of  Sheep, plus one goat.  They are all part of a huge display around the
Man Who Planted Trees  (below). 

Single  Sheep

Caterpillar, outside Insectarium

Easter  Island  Heads

Clown Fish Swimming through Seaweed

Crouching  Frog and Lily Pond.

Frog  in  Lily  Pond

Goat  at  Well

Horses  and  Akita Dog.  The dog is very famous in Japan and everyone knows him.
He accompanied his master to the railroad station ever morning when the man went
to work, and then the dog met him again in the evening.  When the man died, the dog
continued meeting the train twice every day for ten years until he died.  He is made up
of various decorative grasses.  The horses' manes are also made of grasses.
The horses are twice the size of a normal horse; the dog is 8 feet high.

Closeup  of  Horse

Lady  and  Cranes  /  Chinese  Myth.   The lady is about 35 feet high.

Lady  and  Cranes  /  Chinese  Myth

Line  of  Lemurs at entrance to Gardens

Lemurs

Man  Who  Planted  Trees.  He is 20 feet high.

Pandas  and  Bamboo

Pandas

Piano  and  Tortoise /  The Arts  and Nature Support Each Other

Spirit  of  the  Woods.  The body of the serpent actually snakes around the woods
for more than 300 yards.

Phoenix  Bird - colossal and with flowers.

Mother  Earth

Water is a gift of Mother Earth, enjoyed by wild horses and eagles.

The sign said these are Swans.

Gorillas / Endangered Species

Moose  and  Squirrels  -  all made of moss.

Cobras

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August 2016

It has just been announced by the government of Canada that the next
mosaiculture exhibition will be held in Ottawa, Canada, 
at Jacques Cartier Park in Gatineau, from July 1 - Oct. 9, 2017, 
as part of the festivities to celebrate 150 years of Canadian statehood.
More information can be found on the internet.

You are all welcome to come and enjoy.

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