We come from the earth,
we return to the earth
and in between, we garden.
— Alfred Austin
The Hub of the Wheel — that’s how Virginia referred to her personal self; her professional self as Curator of all Living Things behind the fabled pink walls at Lotusland; her reputation as the gardening goddess who wrote intriguing, interesting, and informative columns for the Santa Barbara Independent from 2009 to 2016; and her world-renowned reputation as a leading authority on Nelumbo nucifera, the lotus — will live on forever in the hearts and minds of plant people of the world.