Floral Delights: Visiting Botanical Gardens
In the northern parts of the country, spring is the season to view the colorful arrival of daffodils, tulips, and hundreds of other flowers.
But in the warmer sections of the nation, flowers are abloom much of the time. So virtually anytime is flower time-somewhere in the nation.
In this feature, we have picked out just a few of these floral delights, some exceptional gardens you might like to visit. Perhaps, you will pick up some ideas for your own garden-large or small.
Mohonk Mountain House
This Victorian hotel overlooking a lake just about an hour or two drive north of New York City is also my favorite garden spot.
Not only is a colorful blend of flowers lovingly tended by the staff in beds around the lake and in the woods, but you can stay a day or two at the hotel if you wish. Don't expect a glassy modern facility, though. This is definitely a trip into the last century-with modern conveniences, and even a massage.
But for me, the most soothing part is wandering around the gardens. In spring, Mohonk even hosts a weekend where you can learn flower arranging and how to plant a woodland garden.
Chicago Botanic Garden
This is a year round pleasure. In winters, pavilions blend flowers, plants, and antiques. April is the time for the annual Antiques and Garden Fair.
The outdoor gardens also have a vast array of flowers, from crocuses to irises.
Longwood Gardens
Perhaps one of the world's best known gardens, Longwood Gardens in the Brandywine Valley, a few miles south of Philadelphia, boasts 20 outdoor gardens featuring 11,000 different types of plants-everything from a topiary garden where shrubs are shaped into animals to an Italian water garden. Nearby, are the renowned gardens at Winterthur on the estate of the late industrial giant, Henry du Pont. Winterthur is laid out in an English countryside setting.
Missouri Botanical Garden
A few minutes from downtown St. Louis, the gardens offer narrated bus tours daily from April 1 to Nov. 30. They range from a Japanese garden to a center for picking up your own gardening tips. A plant doctor is available at the Kemper Center for Home Gardening.
Huntington Botanical Gardens
These century-old gardens, begun by philanthropists Henry and Arabella Huntington are located in San Marino, California. Over 150 acres are divided into a variety of themes, such as a rose garden, Shakespeare garden, desert garden and a Japanese garden. About 15,000 plants from all over the world make up the collection.
The Huntington is also developing a Chinese garden, which will eventually be the largest classical Chinese garden in the world outside of China. The garden will include a lake, tea house and Chinese architecture set among a landscape of Chinese plants.
Denver Botanic Gardens
The Denver gardens opened in 1951 and now contain more than 32,000 plants on 23 acres and have various plants on display any time of the year. The gardens specialize in plants from the Rocky Mountain region. Its website can tell you what is blooming at any give time.
Belllingrath Gardens
If you want to see outdoor floral exhibits all year, these gardens near Mobile, Alabama are the place to go. Monthly exhibits offer an immense variety. For example in February, Bellingrath's 50,000 tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and pansies begin to bloom. March is azalea month and May brings roses--130 different varieties.
Summer at Bellingrath features not only roses, but marigolds, hydrangeas, and tropical flowers, followed by a fall festival of crepe myrtle and roses.
Online Resources
Books
Find these books online at Barnes & Noble.com.
Recreating Eden: A Natural History of Botanical Gardens
Mary Soderstrom, Vehicule Press, July 2001
The Botanical Gardens at the Huntington
Don Normark, Walter Houk, Huntington Library Press, March 1996
The Botanical Garden: Volume I: Trees and Shrubs
Roger Phillips, Martyn Rix, Firefly Books LTD., September 2002
The Botanical Garden: Volume II: Perennials and Annuals
Roger Phillips, Martyn Rix, Firefly Books LTD., September 2002
The American Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden
Plants
Christopher Brickell, Judith D. Zuk, DK Publishing, Inc.,
September 1997
