What a perfect Spring day! Rather than go to Lewis Ginter again, I decided to take a jaunt an hour and a half east to Norfolk. The map online made it look big, but I had no idea just HOW big! The brochure said it was 155 acres with over 12 miles of paths and walkways. I only saw about half there was to see. Which was just fine because not everything was blooming, so I plan to go back in a few weeks and see the other half, hopefully more will be in bloom by then.

Pretty daffodils and hyacinths greeted visitors at the entrance to the Visitors Center.

Japanese Garden

I normally try to avoid people in my pictures; I either wait for them to leave or I shoot from a different angle, but this was the angle I wanted and he didn’t look like he was going anywhere anytime soon. By the time I had moved for a different angle, he left. But I felt like keeping the human element in this one.

Boat Basin

Fragrance Garden

Daffodils! Lots and lots of daffodils!

The Hydrangea Garden was pretty barren, but I’ll be back!

There were some Magnolias in bloom though.

Friendship pond

Camellia Garden – I’m not sure if they had bloomed early, or they just didn’t do well this year. Judging by the amount of petals on the ground I have to assume they were bloomed out and done for the year.

Renaissance Court

I cut through on a path somewhere that wasn’t named on the map, so I’ll call it the yellow-moss road.

Statuary Vista

There was an overlook (Nato Tower) looking over just about the entirety of the gardens, this was one of several vantage points.

I love Forsythia!

Random monkey-holding-a-bowl statue…there were numerous statues around the various garden, all bird-themed, but I thought this one warranted posting because of the odd, uncommon nature of it.

I think I was in the Colonial Garden and had my camera pointed toward the Conifer Garden.

Nato Tower

Path leading to the tower

Flowering Arboretum

This bridge was in-between gardens so it’s the “no name” bridge.

Bicentennial Rose Garden – nothing bloomin’, but I bet it will be spectacular come Summer.

One of the boats as it toured the gardens from the water.

Can’t wait to go back and see it in full bloom!

Lewis Ginter is a rotating bucket of natural fun!

Each year, they deck the grounds in lights and stay open after dark so that folks can stroll around and Ooh and Aah at the sparkling splendor. I haven’t been in several years but thought this year was as good as any to head over and snap some festive light shots.

I arrived early so I could scope the place out before it got crowded and ended up catching the sunset. But I’m getting a little ahead of myself.

I checked out the conservatory first. One wing was decorated with cute little woodland creatures (and some cactus, an odd combination, but I’m not complaining).

And another had train tracks set up with little miniatures (and a big, gorgeous tree!)

After the conservatory, I started meandering around the grounds, catching the last bright rays of the sun.

Once the sun went down, the lights started to come on. I played with the settings on my camera for a bit waiting for it to get a bit darker.

Finally, it got dark enough to really start seeing some contrast. The next three sets are comparing right after the sunset to about 20 minutes later.

And now…the lights!