Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

This morning we went to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. I decided not to take my camera because I didn’t want to have to think about anything except enjoying the gardens; I wish I’d taken the camera so that I could show you what I’m writing about.

Glass and steel, steel and glass; steel and glass, glass and steel. Trees and flowers and birds and the occasional snake are not enough; fragrances are not enough; honey bees are not enough; we must have glass and steel, and steel and glass to filter and distort our perception of Creation.

The conservatory was populated with glass flowers interspersed among living flowers and trees; were they Martians? A quiet pond surrounded by Iris and interesting trees had a giant steel and glass cube in the center of the pond with glass figurines atop it; were they refugees from Neptune?

We walked by plant beds intertwined with poison ivy, past signs indicating the species of plant that were lying on the ground or leaning like a liquored-up sot; is this neglect or is Lewis Ginter so enamored with its “art” that it can’t see the nature for the art?

Whether what I’m speaking of is your idea of art or not, its reasonable context is the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts or Bush Gardens or King’s Dominion, take your pick, but it is not a botanical garden. If you need an example of Postmodernity then welcome to Lewis Ginter.

Of course gardens from time immemorial have had sculptures and structures integrated within them, but they have been integrated to enhance and not to distract; they played a supporting role, not (for the most part) an intrusive one and certainly not one that demanded center stage.  After all, the delight of a garden is that it is a garden.

Below are some photos of an earlier exhibit at Lewis Ginter, perhaps I should go back with my camera…but I have little motivation.