Long overdue visit to outstanding Atlanta Botanical Garden

11.08.2019

Phoenix is just one of 31 mosaicultures; mosaiculture first became popular in Europe in the 16th century as wealthy land owners commissioned elaborate three dimensional gardens

One of the 3 best botanical gardens I've visited (Butchart Gardens in Canada and Keukenhof in the Netherlands); gardens can vary so much by season that one visit isn't enough

There were plenty of hummingbirds visiting the colorful plants; they don't realize hundreds of millions of dollars helped create this fantastic urban oasis in the heart of Atlanta

Dragon is 20 feet tall and 25 feet long and contains almost 25,000 individual plants; the garden hosts a packed calendar of events including concerts, festivals and lots of food and drink

Camel; the garden has begun the curation and DNA barcoding of its 2000+ orchid species; the Atlanta Botanical Garden is closed on Mondays

27 foot tall White Rabbit; the 30 acre garden, founded in 1976, seems much larger and is adjacent to Piedmont Park in the heart of Midtown Atlanta

I was perplexed by these flowers; it was as if one of the petals had morphed into something else entirely (maybe one of my intelligent readers can enlighten me on what this is)

Alice and the Cheshire Cat; the garden is a popular place for weddings and seems to have been designed with Instagram in mind

The garden and its partners have installed seven pollinator gardens across the metropolitan Atlanta area, providing pockets of beauty and ecological resources for pollinators

Shaggy Dog was one of my favorite mosaicultures; having visited in 1986 it is amazing to see how the gardens have been transformed into such a world-class facility

You reach the Water Mirror in Storza Woods via the canopy walk; Storza Woods is one of the few remaining secondary growth mature hardwood forests in Atlanta

The current exhibition of mosaicultures ends October 27 but several pieces are now permanent like the one behind me; admission is $21.95 plus they charge for parking

The Fuqua Orchid Center is home to the largest collection of species orchids on permanent display in the U.S. and hosts a wintertime display known as Orchid Daze

Chessboard; Atlanta has a wealth of great tourist sights including the Georgia Aquarium, the World of Coke, Carter Center, MLK National Historic Site, Stone Mountain, the Beltline and more

The garden doubled in size in 2010 and encompassed the construction of a number of new facilities, the most noticeable of which are the new visitor center and 600-foot-long (180 m) canopy walk

Water Lily; despite dozens of visits through the years to Atlanta , this was my first visit to the Atlanta Botanical Garden and I definitely should not have waited so long

Mermaid; the Garden's Conservation CryoBank is a cryostorage facility for long-term germplasm storage of seeds and tissues of endangered plants, including Torreya taxifolia

In 2011, the garden hosted its first Garden Lights, Holiday Nights show in which millions of lights decorate the grounds; it's been a huge success with the show now including music and choreography

Pegasus; in 2011, the garden partnered with the Florida State Parks District in a large-scale restoration initiative at 3 of the 7 globally imperiled coastal dune lakes in the Panhandle

The gardens has secured federal grants to conduct much of its conservation research on endangered species, such as the Apalachicola rosemary in Liberty County, FL

In addition to restoring lost orchids in the Caribbean and helping preserve a rainforest in Ecuador, the garden has also established thge International Plant Exploration Program, which aims to evaluate, preserve and disseminate seeds from plants in SE Asia

In addition to the whimsical mosaicultures, kids also loved the specially designed Children's garden; there were lots of kids visiting but the steep admission would keep many Atlanta families away

The garden hosts photography, art, cooking and gardening classes in addition to offering myriad volunteering opportunities

Mammoth; a 100,000-gallon cistern was installed underground to aid in water conservation; it fills with only an inch and a quarter of rain and waters about 40% of the new gardens

The Water Mirror; Chihuly in the Garden was first presented in 2004 and then again in 2016 with some pieces being retained for the permanent collection