Qualla: Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eli Christman from Richmond, VA, USA, CC BY 2.0. In 1894, the bicycling craze that swept America washed over Richmond, and Lewis Ginter — a tobacco magnate with more money than ideas for how to spend it — bought ten acres of countryside north of the city and founded the Lakeside Wheel Club. Members would ride out from Richmond, eat lunch at the cottage by the lake, and pedal home in the evening. The fad lasted about as long as fads do. By the time Ginter died in 1897, the bicycle craze had moved on, and the cottage sat empty. His niece Grace Arents bought the property from his estate and turned it into a sanatorium for sick babies. Two years later she moved in herself, naming the house Bloemendaal — "valley of flowers" in Dutch — for her family's heritage. The garden grew up around the house. Today Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden covers fifty acres in Henrico County and was named in 2017 by readers of both USA Today and Condé Nast Traveler among the most beautiful botanical gardens in the country.

Image: Eli Christman from Richmond, VA, USA | CC BY 2.0

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden: Oughnum

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bobt54, CC BY 3.0. Before any of the European names attached themselves to this land, the Powhatan called it Oughnum and used it as a hunting ground — the rolling country north of the falls where the James River breaks the Piedmont. Patrick Henry, the Virginia orator and revolutionary governor, lat...

Image: Bobt54 | CC BY 3.0

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden: Grace Arents

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Photograph taken by Terren Peterson (Terren Peterson), CC BY 2.5. Grace Arents was a philanthropist with a particular focus on children's health. In 1912 she remodeled and expanded the abandoned cycling club cottage into the Lakeside Sanatorium for Babies, a children's convalescent hospital for infants suffering from tuberculosis, malnutrition,...

Image: Photograph taken by Terren Peterson (Terren Peterson) | CC BY 2.5

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden: The Modern Garden

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eli Christman from Richmond, VA, USA, CC BY 2.0. The garden as a public institution effectively began in 1984, though its current form emerged from a $41 million capital campaign completed in 2004. The campaign built the major facilities you see today: the Robins Visitors Center (1999), the Massey Greenhouses (1999), the Educat...

Image: Eli Christman from Richmond, VA, USA | CC BY 2.0

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden: GardenFest of Lights

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eli Christman from Richmond, VA, USA, CC BY 2.0. Each winter the garden hosts Dominion Energy GardenFest of Lights — an after-hours holiday display that draws thousands of visitors from across the region. The trees and paths fill with hundreds of thousands of bulbs, the Conservatory lights up like a green-glass jewel, and the g...

Image: Eli Christman from Richmond, VA, USA | CC BY 2.0

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden: Plants With Jobs

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Photograph taken by Terren Peterson (Terren Peterson), CC BY 2.5. The garden is more than a display space. In partnership with Virginia Tech and the Virginia Nurserymen and Landscape Association, Lewis Ginter runs a Plant Introduction Program that selects, tests, propagates, and distributes ornamental plant species suited to Virginia growing co...

Image: Photograph taken by Terren Peterson (Terren Peterson) | CC BY 2.5