Where is your favorite public garden in your area.

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Thought it might be nice if we started a thread with our favorite public gardens in our areas.  I like to visit these when I travel and have had mixed results with online reviews.  I think that true gardeners might have a better perspective.

In North Georgia, Ball Ground, there is a Gibbs Gardens that has been open for just a couple of years.  Mr Gibbs who is a landscaper had this property as her personal residence but developed it with the thought of opening it to the public.  It was planned to have different plants blooming in mass during particular seasons.  It is set in a woodland setting and is very informal. I love to go there and just walk and soak in the beauty. The daffodils will be blooming soon.  The bloom calendar is here.  www.gibbsgardens.com/tour_calendar.php 


Look forward to hearing about your favorite garden.

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We have Longwood Gardens of course, but there is also a much smaller, not well known place called Chanticleer www.chanticleergarden.org/ - it was an old Main Line estate, very manageable size but still lots of variety and lots of seating and benches to take a rest on. You can't see in the house except by group appt. and they tore down another old house on the property to build a "ruin garden" which bothers me more than a little. I am not a gardener, but a photographer and an appreciator of nature and of the outdoors, as well as the built environment.

ETA - this is Phila. suburbs.

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This one is about 5 minutes from me and we just LOVE it!  There is the estate, the surrounding gardens and the numerous assortment of trees.  If you like informal plantings and gardens and just like to meander on a lazy afternoon, this place is perfect. We especially like the café in the nicer weather when you can sit on the back porch of the estate and have a nice lunch overlooking the grounds and the river.

I do have to point out, though, that there is one minor irritation I have with it - and other similar public outdoor spaces - and that is the goose poop e v e r y w h e r e. I can't walk on the Great Lawn there without stepping on one of those land mines lol!

Bayard Cutting Arboretum

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Chanticleer looks lovely. I will have to put it on my must see list!

[val2525]

I live in the high desert, so there aren't a lot of gardens around here We do have a small botanical garden operated by the City. Unfortunately, there aren't a whole lot of pictures on any one site. So….

My favorite garden to visit is Bellingrath Gardens in Theodore, AL (Mobile).

www.google.com/search?q=bellingrath+gardens&biw=1836&bih=860&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=ANPqVIu4AYa3yATo4YKIBQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAg

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This is a true gem in the middle of St. Louis.  You could spend more than one day here.

Missouri Botanical Garden

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Feb 23, 2015 23:54:50 GMT @velvetcloset said:

This is a true gem in the middle of St. Louis.  You could spend more than one day here.

Missouri Botanical Garden

I'll give a hearty second vote for the Botanical Garden here in St. Louis.  There is also this (disclaimer: I've never been)

www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/visit/family-of-attractions/butterfly-house.aspx

Though it's owned/operated by the Botanical Garden it's at a completely different location.  It hasn't been part of the Garden for very long.

[SA]

Probably  not the type garden you were referring to, but Garden of the Gods here in Colorado Springs is beautiful--Even though it's a red rock formation.

Garden of the Gods

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That is stunning! I would love to visit.

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Garden of the Gods is beautiful! We stopped there after a Durango vacation.

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The Butterfly House is really nice too. The outside gardens specialize in butterfly landscaping.


If you like native and naturalized nature gardens, there is also the Shaw Nature Preserve which is part of the Missouri Botanical Gardens.

www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/visit/family-of-attractions/shaw-nature-reserve/gardens-gardening-at-shaw-nature-reserve/whitmire-wildflower-garden.aspx

[sunsetpainter]

Elly, I've never been to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens, but I was one of the eagle nest fans.  I cried when the mom eagle was killed a few years ago.  That would be a place I'd like to visit.

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We watched the eagle cam too. We were glued to it almost 24 hours a day when everyone was waiting for the eaglets to be born. They gave updates on the local news.

The gardens are really nice. There's much more to them than the rose garden. They do a holiday light display that you can drive through, or walk through. It's the only one in the area you can walk.