Today is Earth Day and as gardeners and garden lovers, we here at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden have a vested interest in “going green.“

It’s funny—some of the things we are doing are just so natural we don’t stop to think that much about them—but maybe we should. For instance, did you know we collect the rainwater off our buildings and funnel it into our irrigation lake?

And of course we compost, something you can do at home. In many cities, nearly a third of the volume hauled to the landfill is landscape refuse, such as lawn clippings, leaves, branches and wood chips. Homeowners who compost at home remove some burden off our landfills.

We’ve started a list of some more of our “green” initiatives—here are just a few:

The Garden’s caterer Meriwether Godsey has substituted reusable tumblers for disposable plastic cups, fully compostable hot cups and napkins made of 100% recycled material.

In the Garden Shop “green” merchandise includes Rich Earth and Eco Pots, reusable tote bags and helpful gardening resources.

In the Children’s Garden staff and young visitor help grow herbs for use in the Café and Tea House; fruits and vegetables are also grown and harvested for the Central Virginia Food Bank.

In the Lora M. Robins Library environmental stewardship is covered by a bounty of resources, including books for children.

Efrorts even extend to our holiday light show—GardenFest of Lights.  Last year, staff began replacing incandescent lights with LED holiday lights that are slightly more expensive, yet pay for themselves in the first year through electricity savings. For example, the electrical cost to light a holiday tree with LEDs is 13 to 17 cents per season compared to $6 to $10 for incandescent lights. Already, more than 25 percent of the GardenFest lights have been converted – totaling more than nine miles of LED strands in a 500,000-light display.

Let us know if you are incorporating any “green” practices into your home garden!

Beth Monroe is public relations director at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.

I didn’t know that rainwater was being caught and used. Wonderful.

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