A Treasury of Glorious Public and Private Gardens for Garden Lovers to Visit!

FROM RAGS TO . . .

Often gardens are created in the unlikeliest of places, like the South Coast Botanic Garden in California which was built on a landfill...and the Idaho Botanical Garden built at a former state penitentiary.  Will Alcatraz someday be a rock garden?

FROM SEA TO SHINING . . .

From the Beatrix Farrand Garden at College of the Atlantic in coastal Maine to the Mendocino Botanical Garden of California, America gardens range from coast to coast -- and then beyond!

EXTREME GARDENING

Gardeners are not hot house flowers!  They’ll rise to the challenge of any climate!  Too cold?  Not for the Alaska Botanical Garden.  Too dry?  Not for the Arizona Cactus Botanical Garden.  Too wet?  Not for South Carolina’s Magnolia Plantation Gardens.  The air too thin?  Not for the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in Colorado at 8,200 feet.  Gardeners -- and plants -- can thrive anywhere!

EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT . . .

Bonsai -- Detailed information about the fascinating world of bonsai at the Pacific Rim Bonsai Garden in Washington.

Solar Greenhouses -- Conservatories are blessings in winter climates and, if constructed to allow for passive solar heat, need not be energy guzzlers.  See how the Cheyenne Botanic Garden uses solar heat.

Arboreta -- A “nutshell” history of arboreta is provided by the Louisiana State Arboretum. 

Japanese Gardens -- The Missouri Botanical Garden explains the philosophy behind the design of Japanese Gardens.

Creating a botanical garden from scratch -- The Riverbanks Zoo and Botanical Garden in South Carolina is an enthusiastic group of people who just got rolling!

Labyrinths and Mazes -- McCrory Gardens in South Dakota will tell you the difference and how to create them.

The New American Gardening Style -- This school of landscaping is nicely explained at the Allen Centennial Garden in Wisconsin.

Butterfly Gardens -- The Smithsonian tells you how.

SPECIAL EFFECTS

The most spectacular?  This blooming rose at the Elizabeth Park Rose Garden in Connecticut.  New Hampshire provides us with butterflies at The Fells and shimmering water at Lost River.  You can see plantation buildings evolving (and burning) at Virginia’s Sherwood Forest Plantation.  At the National Ranching Heritage Center in Texas you’ll hear, naturally, cows.  The bells ring out at the Old Mission of Santa Ines in California.  You may enjoy a babbling brook at Lost River New Hampshire or a riot of birds at the Bloedel Reserve in Washington.  And, for a variety of music, check out the websites of the Butterfly Place,  the Meadow Garden in Georgia (guess what they play?), and the Society of the Four Arts in Florida.

GREAT   CYBERTOURS

While away those winter hours taking these great cybertours:  the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in New York, the Desert Demonstration Garden in Nevada, the Allen Centennial Garden in Wisconsin, Matthaei Botanical Gardens in Michigan, Lakewold Gardens in Washington, Winterthur Gardens in Delaware, and, offering hundreds of lovely photos, Lithia Park in Oregon.

THE BEST LAID PLANS

Nothing speaks of exciting possibilities as much as well-drawn garden plans.  The plans of the Japanese Friendship Garden in California are a pleasure to view.  At the Utah Botanical Center you’ll find plans for a whole botanical garden!

NICE SITES

When gardening talent is teamed with programming skill and thoughtful copy, the result is a site that is gratifying to visit -- with just the right amount of information and images and a balanced layout.  While we are thrilled with all garden sites (keey them coming!), these are our personal favorites:  Descanso in California, Botanica The Wichita Gardens in Kansas, the Atlanta Botanic Gardens, in Georgia, the Morton Arboretum in Illinois, the Reiman Gardens (with a live web cam) in Iowa, Meerkerk Rhododendron Gardens in Washington, the Franklin Park Conservatory and Stan Hywet Gardens in Ohio, the Stephen Austin Arboretum in Texas, the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Caribbean Gardens in Florida, and Tower Hill Botantic Garden in Massachusetts.

PRETTY PICTURES

Where to begin?  We’ll nominate but a few of the many heart-stopping pictures of gardens we’ve found.  You can put your favorite on your desktop by right-clicking it and selecting “Set as Wallpaper”.  Voila!  Our list:  Middleton Place in South Carolina, the Tyron Palace in North Carolina, topiary at Green Animals in Rhode Island, a garden bench at the Tuscon Botanical Gardens, Maclay State Gardens in Florida, Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens, the Conservatory (inside and out) at the Botanic Garden of Smith College in Massachusetts, a wildflower path at the Shaw Arboretum at the Missouri Botanical Garden, the rose garden at Dunbarton Oaks in the District of Columbia, flowers for every week of the season at Chanticleer in Pennsylvania, and the gardens at Monticello in Virginia.