Atlanta Botanical Garden

Located in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, The Atlanta Botanical Garden is home to one of the world's largest permanent displays of orchids.  There are also 15 acres of outdoor display gardens, and the Fuqua Conservatory which houses rare tropical and desert plants.

The Children's Garden is quite impressive.  Kids learn that plants help us LAUGH, LIVE and LEARN.  Special attractions include the Laugh Garden, where kids can wind through a cocoon tunnel and come out as a butterfly.  There's a Dinosaur Garden where kids can dig for fossils and learn about carnivorous plants in the Soggy Bog.  They can slide on a leaf, listen to story time reading of Peter Rabbit, and then walk through the story's scenery. There's even an Indian hut and a giant tree house.  This is one of the best children's gardens I've ever seen!


The gardens are open Tuesday through Sunday from 9:00 - 5:00.  Admission is $12.00 per adult and $9.00 per child.

Wuhan Botanical Garden

Wuhan Botanical Garden, located in Hubei, China, covers over 150 acres and contains over 4,000 species of flora.  It was formed in 1956 as a place for scientists  to study plants native to China.

There are several gardens on the property.  These include an Aquatic Plant Garden, Rare Endangered Plant Garden, Chinese Gooseberry Garden, Ornamental Garden, Tree Garden, Pine and Cypress Garden, and Bamboo Garden.

The garden is open daily from 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM.  Admission is 30 yuan.

UBC Garden

UBC Garden, located in Vancouver, British Columbia, is Canada's oldest university botanical garden.  It was founded in 1916.  Today it covers over 100 acres, and contains about 12,000 plants from temperate regions all over the world.

There are several gardens within the garden.  These include the Alpine Garden, Asian Garden, Carolinian Forest, Food Garden, and Native garden.  Visitors will see magnolias, rhododendrons, dogwood, roses, and a plethora of Alpine flora.

The garden is open daily from 9:30 AM - 5:00 PM.  The best times to visit are April and May, or September and October.  Cost of admission is $8.00 for adults and $4.00 for children.

A Splash of Winter Color

I saw these lovely flowers by the entrance of my neighborhood in northern Atlanta, Georgia.  It's the middle of November, a balmy 27 degrees Fahrenheit, and these plants are doing well.  I thought I'd share this with you, so that you can see it is possible to still have a splash of color in your garden, even when the temperatures are dropping.

What are these plants?  Let me tell you.

The back, tall gray plants are dusty millers.  You can also see some larger greenish purplish bluish clumps.  Those are ornamental cabbages - a perfect fall plant.  The lovely red and white flowers are cyclamens. They flower almost all winter.   The yellow flowers near the front are pansies, and the purple, vine-like plants are called weeping loropetalum.

Hope you enjoyed the little splash of color.  If you're experiencing winter, stay warm!  

Pirianda Garden

For today's garden, we're going to take a trip down under to Australia.  Pirianda Garden is located in Victoria, Australia within the Dandenong Mountain range.  If you go, be sure to wear good hiking shoes, because this place has some seriously steep inclines.

The twenty-five acre garden was built in 1962 by Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Ansell of Ansell industries.  The gardens were open to the public in 1977.  If you're looking at these pictures and thinking that this doesn't look like Australia, it's because most of these plants were imported from overseas.  You'll see hydrangeas, Blackwoods, Mountain Ash, rhododendron, azaleas, magnolias, and one very unusual tree, the Chinese Handkerchief tree, which flowers in November.

For those of you who like a little trivia, the word, Pirianda, is an aboriginal word that means, "sufficient" or "enough."  I'd say it certainly has enough inclines!  If you don't mind that sort of thing, it's a lovely place to walk -especially in the fall.  The colors are just gorgeous!

The garden is open daily from 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM June through September.  Hours are 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM the rest of the year.

Flowers Deer Won't Eat

After I moved to Georgia, I discovered that there was a rather substantial deer population residing in the woods behind my house.  Sure enough, they invaded my flower garden, and ate just about everything in it.  I decided to do a little research and find out which flowers they won't touch (unless of course, they're starving).

Here's the list:

Daffodils

Forget-me-nots

Lavender

Larkspur

Foxglove

Butterfly bush

California poppies

                                                                  Snapdragons 

                                                                 Blue Salvia

                                                                         Marigolds

Zinnia

 

 

 

If you have a deer infestation, and you like to garden, you might just want to plants some of these in your yard!