Tag: public garden

Insipiartion

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We went to the Denver Botanic Gardens on a recent vacation. It was beautiful and filled with different styles of gardening, good ideas, and lots and lots of plants. My husband was impressed with a crevice garden, I enjoyed the Bonsai. Here’s a sample of pictures.

I’ve always loved public gardens and recommend that people go to them. They are a great place to get inspiration and to see plants in person. If you go to one that is nearby or similar in growing conditions to what your own garden is, you can walk away with a great plant list, and know that the plants will probably do good in your own garden. It’s a far better way to find plants than just looking at nursery tags or even in books. I live in Utah, but we are very similar in climate to this Colorado garden. There were more short grass prairie plants than I often see around here, but I don’t think it is because they won’t do well here, just that people don’t utilize them as much as they could. I really want to put blue grama grass somewhere on my property; this plant was used in several different ways at the gardens.

My garden is nowhere close to looking like the gardens there. It was established in 1951, so it makes it 62 years older than my own garden. Gardens are just very slow to develop and establish properly. Even if you have lots of time and money (which I don’t anyway), plants can take years to establish, and re-evaluation needs to be done constantly. Gardening is an art with living forms, where the artist does not have full control but works within the constrains of environment and the results takes years to achieve.

Pictures from Red Butte Gardens

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This is a lucky picture. I love bees. 

bee
Good idea of the day was to take pictures of the flowers I didn’t know with the sign in the frame.
flower
I love the idea of this–it’s a pear tree trained over an arch.
fruit
This is mostly all natives, centered around a grove of natuuraling occuring oaks. Beautiful, and I can’t imagine it requires a lot of maintenance.
path
I loved this viburnum and lilac combo.
spring bush

Huntsville Botanical Gardens

I took advantage of the reciprocal admissions program  (I love that program), and visited Huntsville Botanical Gardens while visiting my in-laws. The actual gardens didn’t impress me as much as many that I’ve been to. I did visit in a bit of a slump…summer blooms are gone and fall has yet to fully mature.

But these gardens are first on my list of kid-friendly gardens. Not only did they have a dedicated children’s garden (which was large and fun), but scattered throughout all the gardens were kid-friendly places like a model train, fort, and swing set. The kids with us enjoyed ponds and fountains to splash in (it was hot), ball bins, and butterflies in the butterfly house.

Callaway Gardens

We went down to Callaway Gardens last weekend. If you are interested at all in visiting public gardens, check out the AHS reciprocal admissions program. Not only do you get free admission to all sorts of fun gardens, but it’s good way to find new ones.

The gardens were fun. If I go back, I think I would only visit in the spring when the azaleas are blooming. There was still a lot of pretty plants, see the pictures for some of my favorite.

Atlanta Botanical Gardens

Prepare to be bombarded with pictures. I went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens (and if you like visiting public gardens, become a member of AHS and use the reciprocal garden program). It was cloudy and the gardens were gorgeous so I was a super happy photographer. The only reason I am able to fit all the pictures from my trip into one post is because I had a nursing infant and preschooler along with me.

While there, I though about how beautiful everything is and how I like Atlanta. But although Atlanta is filled with fun stuff to do, has the most amazing wooded gardens, and has been a place I’ve been able to thrive, I also don’t considered it home. Home is Utah. Home is where I can actually give good recommendations on plants, I know exactly when the average last spring freeze is, and I know how to grow the biggest, juiciest melons. Home is where my family lives, where I grew up, and where the landscape is familiar and comforting even if it is covered in dry grass and sagebrush.

I wouldn’t mind if I did end up here, although that’s not the plan. Even if I do, Atlanta will always be an exotic location. It’s not the home base where I grew up and first grew a garden.

Atlanta History Center

At first glance, this place looks like a history museum. And it is…but it also has some incredible gardens. I’ve enjoyed them more than any other garden I’ve been to out here. The day I went there was a pretty good chance of rain. I planned on mostly looking at the interior exhibits and maybe ducking quickly outside if the weather cooperated. The rain never did show up and the weather wasn’t that hot, so we were able to spend lots of time enjoying the woodland gardens outside. We were out there longer than my little preschooler wanted to walk.

My mom was there with me, and as native Utahns we agreed that you couldn’t mimic this out west. The moist air, towering trees and moss growing everywhere creates an exotic feeling, as I grew up surrounded by sagebrush. I enjoy dense woods with a sense of oddity because they are the opposite of the steppe landscape I grew up in.

The batteries died in the camera, so I didn’t get as many shots as I would have like. Occasionally it is nice to not worry about pictures at all and just enjoy the scenery. There are six different gardens there, each with a unique style. The large formal gardens of the Swan House had a secret garden enchantment to them, surrounded by the more wild woods. My favorite was the quarry gardens, filled with native plants including burnt red rhododendrons in bloom.

The only downside to visiting the garden was it wasn’t spring with its blast of color, but it looked fantastic even in the heat of the summer. For more information visit their website.

Unexpected Garden Trip

I packed up the kids and went to the Fernbank Science Center, the goal of which was to entertain the toddler. I pleasantly discovered a small demonstration garden out back. The garden was enjoyable but not remarkable, unless you count the number of composters littering the pathway. (The composters compared methods of composting.) I miss gardening, noted by the fact that I was much too excited about finding a small demo garden. The pots out on the patio don’t cut it. I would love a home-grown heriloom tomato right now, but they are not lining my cupboards like they were last summer. Oh well, I guess I will take potted basil and finding gardens to tour.

The garden featured a small butterfly garden (complete with magnifying glasses), bog garden, wildlife habitat, and bees. There was a beehive in the garden, and bees in a narrow glass case. My kid and I spent a good portion of our time there peering at the busy bees. Bees are awesome. I was also happy to see not only a honey bee hive, but nests meant for native bees as well.

The DeKalb County school system operates the science center, and its main mission is education for schools. While there, I felt a little like an elementary school kid on a field trip. The place was not spectacular or modern by any means, but it helped me get into a learning mode. The Fernbank Science Center is low cost (free), so it makes a fun day expedition. In additional to science displays, they have planetarium programs and an old growth forest. For more information go to http://www.fernbank.edu/