Kentucky Gardens

 Ashland, the Henry Clay Estate: 120 Sycamore Road, Lexington, KY 40502 (859)266-8581.

The gardens are but a glorious remnant of the original 600 acre estate, yet are true to the tastes of Ashland's first owners, Henry and Lucretia Clay. The formal garden, a six parterre garden, features boxwood hedges and roses, while a second garden showcases hybrid peonies.

 Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest: State Highway 245, Clermont, KY 40110

 (502)955-8512.

Two thousand acres of the 14,000 acres are open to the public with 20 miles of hiking paths, of which 250 acres is an Olmstead-designed arboretum exhibiting over 18,000 plants (1,800 labeled) and 15 acres of gardens. Special collections includes hollies, beech, conifers, nut trees, crabapples and ginkgoes. The Quiet Garden, perennials, works of sculpture, a water lily pond, a small nature museum, animal, game and turtle pens, a labeled nature trail and a waterfowl refuge are further attractions.

 Big Bone Gardens: Kentucky 338 (across from Big Bone Lick State Park), Union, KY (859) 384-1949.

This six acre private garden, including seven water gardens, herb gardens, a gnome garden and other theme gardens, is generously open to the public on weekends during the growing season.

 Boone County Arboretum:  9190 Camp Ernst Road, Union, KY  41091 (859) 384-4999.

The Arboretum encompasses 121 acres with over 2 miles of paved walking trails winding through the collection of 2,700 trees and shrubs. Special attractions include the Children's Garden, Butterfly Garden, Trial Gardens, a Wildlife Viewing area in the Native Kentucky Prairie, and a new Woodland Walking Trail.

 Broadmoor Gardens and Conservatory: US 60 East, Irvington, KY 40146 (270)547-4200.

A visit to the Kukenhoff Gardens in Holland was the inspiration for this lovely and varied garden, which includes water gardens, a tropical plant conservatory, a rock garden, animal topiaries, an iris garden, a lily garden, an all-white moon garden and a two-mile trail through wildflower meadows.

 Brown-Pusey House and Cunningham Garden: 128 North Main, Elizabethtown, KY 42701 (270)765-2515.

General Custer slept at this fine example of Federal architecture. The landscaped garden in the rear of the house was a gift to the community.

 Farmington: 3033 Bardstown Road, Louisville, KY 40205 (502)452-9920.

Abraham Lincoln slept at this historic plantation, designed by Thomas Jefferson.

 Floral Clock: West Lawn, State Capitol Grounds, Capitol Avenue, Frankfort, KY 40601

 (502)564-3449.

13,000 Alternanthera and Santolina foliage plants decorate the face of this remarkable attraction. The planter is 34 feet in diameter and weighs 200,000 pounds. The minute hand is 20½ feet long and weighs 530 pounds while the hour hand is 15½ feet long and weighs 420 pounds. Time weighs heavy in Frankfort!

 Hunt Morgan House: 201 N. Mill Street, Lexington, KY 40507 (859)233-3290.

This Federal-style house is a living museum representing the days when Lexington was known as the "Athens of the West" for its highly cultured lifestyle. A small "city" garden with a bridge gazebo graces the premises.

 Kentucky Public Rose Garden: Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center, 937 Phillips Lane (Near

 Junction of I-65 and I-264), Louisville, KY 40209 (502)267-6308.

This All America Rose Selections accredited garden maintained by the Louisville Rose Society displays 1500 rose plants representing 98 varieties. The garden is located in front of the West Wing of the Center.

 Lexington Cemetery: 833 West Main Street, Lexington, KY 40508 (859)255-5522.

This 170 nationally recognized arboretum and cemetery, serving as a public park in the late 1800s, features a sunken garden and a three-acre flower garden. The tree walk features 42 of the 200 different species of trees found within the grounds.

 Liberty Hall Historic Site: 218 Wilkinson Street, Frankfort, KY 40601 (502)227-2560.

The grounds of this elegant Federal-style mansion contain the largest formal boxwood garden in Kentucky. Comprising nearly 3 acres, it showcases beautiful perennial and annual borders.

 Locust Grove Historic Home Museum: 561 Blankenbaker Lane, Louisville, KY 40207 (502)897-9845.

This 1790 Georgian mansion situated on 55 rolling acres up river from Louisville, showcases elegant formal quadrant gardens, cutting gardens and an herb garden.

 Mary Todd Lincoln House: 578 West Main, Lexington , KY 40501 (859)233-9999.

This late-Georgian-style brick house, where Abraham Lincoln's future wife was raised, displays a newly created period formal garden with perennials and herbs.

 McDowell House Apothecary and Gardens: 125 South 2nd Street, Danville, KY 40422 (859)236-2804.

The home of a pioneer apothecary includes, naturally, medicinal herb gardens and a wildflower garden.

 My Old Kentucky Home State Park: 501 E. Stephen Foster Avenue, Bardstown, KY 40004-

 0323 (502)348-3502.

Stephen Foster visited his cousins at this stately 1818 mansion and wrote the ballad for which this park is named. The beautiful grounds (285 acres) includes formal gardens. For a 1939 rendition of this song, click here.

 Nannine Clay Wallis Arboretum: 616 Pleasant Street, Paris, KY 40361 (859)987-6158.

The Garden Club of Kentucky is headquartered at this four-acre arboretum. Seventy varieties of trees, including many varieties of flowering dogwoods, a fish pool, a rose garden and numerous flowering plants grace the site.

 Scotts County Native Plants Arboretum: Main Street and Giddings Drive, Georgetown College, Georgetown, KY (502)863-7063.

This half acre garden emphasizing native flora displays formal perennial gardens that include a butterfly and hummingbird garden, a prairie and savanna garden, a prairie medicinals garden and a woodland medicinals garden.

 Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill: 3501 Lexington Road, Harrodsburg, KY 40330 (800)734-5611.

This restored Shaker community, consisting of 33 restored buildings and 2,800 acres of original land, exhibits herb and vegetable gardens as they might have been in the 19th century.

 University of Kentucky Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government Arboretum: Alumni

 Drive, Lexington, KY 40506-0033 (859)257-6955.

The 100-acre site includes a 2 acre home demonstration garden (ornamental and edible plants), the Walk Across Kentucky (a two-mile trail displaying native flora of the seven physiographic areas of Kentucky), a rose garden (with over 500 rose bushes of numerous varieties and ornamental grasses), and a restored 16-acre savannah woodland called Walnut Woods. Planned for the future are a Visitor's and Education Center, additional gardens, an amphitheater, a lake and a children's garden. "Yours to enjoy all year long." .

 Waveland State Historic Site: 225 Waveland Museum Road, Lexington , KY 40514-1601 (859)272-3611.

This impressive Greek Revival mansion, built in 1847 and now a living history museum, displays antebellum herb and flower gardens on its 10 acres of lovely grounds.

 Whitehall House and Gardens: 3110 Lexington Road, Louisville, KY 40206 (502)897-2944.

This 1855 Classic Revival antebellum mansion on just under 10 acres includes an extensive Florentine garden including an Entrance Garden, the Ralph Archer Woodland Garden, Annie's Garden and the Formal Garden.