Atlanta Botanical Garden: Fun grows on Atlanta
Published: Mar 4, 2009
The Atlanta Botanical Gardens will grow on you, from the scent of lovely orchids, babbling indoor waterfalls, serene Japanese Garden all the way to the whimsical Children’s Garden.
Located in a corner of Piedmont Park in Atlanta’s Midtown section, the garden offers visitors a living rainbow of flowers, plants and some animals collected from all corners of the planet.
At the entrance to the indoor Fuqua Conservatory, an ever-changing display of flowers welcomes guests. Nearby are glass cases filled with neon-colored poison arrow frogs, part of the garden’s frog conservation program.
The conservatory contains plants from several different climates, from lowland tropical forests to deserts. Exotic cacti and other succulent plants native to Africa and Madagascar are displayed in the Desert House, while the nearby special exhibits shows a variety of insect-eating Asian pitcher plants.
Ginger, cinnamon, tamarind, coffee and other tropical and sub-tropical plants housed in the Orangerie provide a delight to the smell, touch as well as the eye. A massive waterfall built of Georgia granite is the centerpiece of the High Elevation House, featuring such flora as carnivorous bromeliads, orchids, and insect-trapping sun pitchers.
You’ll hear frog trills and gecko mating calls in the garden, evidence of the many creatures who live there. South American saffron finches fly around the treetops as tropical wood turtles and tortoises drink from the water below.
Take a deep breath when you enter the Fuqua Orchid Center to get the full effect of the fragrant, blooming orchids from around the world. Delight in a varities of species of Vanilla orchids, the source of the flavoring, or enjoy Euglossine bee-pollinated orchids, such as the Stanhopea, Coryanthes and Gongora, with their pendant-shaped, intoxicatingly fragrant flowers.
Step outdoors, and the garden offers delights that change through the season. Check the garden’s website to see what’s in bloom this month.
The serene Japanese Garden, with a sheltered teahouse and small waterfall and pond, contains rare cultivars of heavenly bamboo, dwarf Japanese maples and dwarf conifers. The Rose Garden offers a colorful and fragrant variety of old-fashioned and landscape roses that peak in May and June, with later summer and early fall reblooming.
Cross a Flower Bridge to the two-acre Children's Garden of Atlanta to see a variety of play spaces, garden cottages, fountains and plants that will engage children as well as adults.
Clases and special events are listed on the garden website.
- by Diane Loupe, Atlanta Reporter for HelloMetro
(Click to leave a message)
