HENRICO, Va. — Over 2,000 people attended the first Pokémon Go night at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. The reception was so fantastic that the Garden decided to host PokéMondays every Monday in August and two extra Thursday events.
These Pokémon Go nights are part of the Flowers after 5 series, when the garden is open late with food for sale and music.
As part of the event, from 6-8 p.m. there will be music at the Bloemendaal House by Cook County Bluegrass.
From 5 – 6 p.m. there will family activities in the Children’s Garden, including water play until 8 p.m., weather permitting.
Keep in mind that the Garden opens at 8 a.m., so you can arrive for Pokémon GO night early, and enjoy the evening hunting.
For Pokémon Go there will be at least four lures set at a time until 8:30 p.m., when guests start making their way to the Visitors Center because the Garden closes promptly at 9 p.m.
The four lures will alternate between four Pokestops near the Central Garden and four near the Children’s Garden.
The Garden hosts a wide array of beautiful things on their 50 acres of property, and they also host over 20 Pokéstops, two gyms, and lots of Pokémon.
A charging station is next to the info table at Bloemendaal House. For those wondering, WiFi does not extend out into the Garden.
Their unique ecosystem of grasslands and water features attracts a wide variety of rare and uncommon virtual “pocket monsters.”
Some of the more common Pokémon found at Lewis Ginter includes; Caterpie, Krabby, Magikarp, Paras, Pidgey, Pidgeotto, Poliwag, Psyduck, Rattata, Spearow, Venonat, and Weedle.
The Garden writes that they also have some more uncommon Pokémon, like:
- Clefairy (# 035)
- Vulpix (# 037)
- Oddish (# 043)
- Gloom (# 044)
- Venomoth (# 049)
- Golduck (# 055)
- Growlithe (# 058)
- Poliwhirl (# 061)
- Abra (# 063)
- Tentacruel (# 073)
- Slowpoke (# 079)
- Slowbro (# 080)
- Gastly (# 092)
- Voltorb (# 100)
- Exeggcute (# 102)
- Horsea (# 116)
- Seadra (# 117)
- Goldeen (# 118)
- Seaking (# 119)
- Scyther (# 123)
- Jynx (# 124)
- Pinsir (# 127)
- Tauros (# 128)
- Lapras (# 131)
- Eevee (# 133)
- Vaporeon (# 134)
- Dratini (# 147)
- Dragonair (# 148)
** Please note this list is not comprehensive, nor is meant as a guarantee that you will find any of the listed Pokémon during a visit to the Garden.
The fountains and sculptures throughout the Garden serve as great meeting spots for players, or places to sit and enjoy the view while waiting for Pokémon to appear.
Regular Admission: $13/Adults, $11/Seniors 55+, $8/Children 3-12. Children under 3 free. FREE for Members. Click here for online tickets, or purchase at the door. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. except for the Flowers After 5 events.
The “Nature Connects” exhibit is still up, which only adds more delight to everything else happening! The project consists of half-a-million LEGO bricks to make giant flowers, birds, insects and more. You can’t catch ’em all but you can snap some pretty pictures of the masterpieces.
The next Pokemon Go night will be on Sept. 1. The hours will be extended from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. because they’re showing the LEGO movie that night in addition to all the other activities.
If you want to plan your strategy, the Garden put together ahandy map.
Map credit: Lewis Ginter
