Day 4263: Botanical Gardens, Floral ParkHome Tour.

  

 

"Steps": collage, digital collage

 

  

Want music?

 

    

Click : Jon Batiste, Freedom

 

  

 

 

2GN2S

The Most Gorgeous U.S. Botanical Gardens 

There's something about visiting an enormous, carefully cultivated garden that brings a sense of peace. More meticulous than the national parks of the world, and more robustly floral than even the best city parks, the country's most stunning botanical gardens offer a chance to reconnect with nature amongst the blooms of the season.

Fioli, Woodside, California

Filoli looks like something straight out of Bridgerton and feels a little bit like walking through a floral-scented dream. Tended to by 14 full-time horticulturists, this is an ideal place for those who want to pretend they’re in a fairy tale.

You can essentially meet Mother Nature herself in the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

Atlanta Botanical Garden: Atlanta, Georgia

The 25-foot Earth Goddess sculpture at Atlanta Botanical Garden is certainly one of the park’s most impressive assets—not to mention most meticulously manicured, requiring daily maintenance to keep her foliage and more than 18,000 annuals looking immaculate.

More than 250 acres of natural beauty in the Bronx. 

New York Botanical Garden The Bronx, New York

Central Park is the most renowned urban respite for perpetually cramped New Yorkers, but nothing relaxes a city dweller like a trip to the New York Botanical Garden. The park spans more than 250 acres, including 50 acres of preserved forestland and 50 gardens with more than a million species of plants.

The garden's 75 acres are open to the public.


Missouri Botanical Garden: St. Louis, Missouri

Englishman Henry Shaw created an American botanical garden in the style of the great ones of Europe and open it up to the public. He did so by developing the 75 acres that surrounded his country home, and the results remain stunning to this day.

Find fields of prickly friends in the Desert Botanical Garden. | Desert Botanical Garden

Desert Botanical Garden: Phoenix, Arizona

This is a particularly fun one; botanical gardens don't actually need to be green and lush, so long as there are cacti involved. The folks at the Arizona Native Plant Society, who established this place in 1939, wanted to educate people about the unique plant and animal life of the Sonoran Desert, as well as the people who call it home.

The Huntington's gardens span continents and climates. | The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

At a sprawling 120 acres, LA County's Huntington is less a singular garden and more a Russian doll of landscape architecture spanning continents and climates. Here, you can stroll through an Alice in Wonderland-style interactive children’s garden and a miniature rainforest, saunter over to a fully realized Chinese garden complete with waterfalls and noodle bar under a pagoda, and transition through a bamboo forest to emerge in a Japanese garden with a koi pond, zen gardens, and bonsai.

Brookgreen Gardens boasts one of the most impressive collections of outdoor sculptures in America. | Brookgreen Gardens

Brookgreen Gardens: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

South Carolina's premier botanical garden might be the most educational in America. Not only is this place home to a vast array of Lowcountry vegetation, but it also boasts one of the most impressive collections of outdoor sculptures in America. These gardens are home to 1,440 works—550 of which are displayed at a given time—by 300 of the best sculptors the country has ever seen. Also, there’s a zoo!

The Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden has more than a dozen themed gardens and a conservatory. 

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden: Richmond, Virginia

With 50 acres of botanic excellence, the trails that winds through Richmond’s own Lewis Ginter will take you through more than a dozen themed gardens, including a Healing Garden, a Rose Garden, a Cherry Tree Walk, and a Victorian Garden.

Ponds full of giant Victorian water lilies at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens. | Kanapaha Botanical Gardens

Kanapaha Botanical Gardens: Gainesville, Florida

Located near Gainesville's University of Florida, the paths of Kanapaha Botanical Gardens wind through swamps with live oaks draped in Spanish moss, a rose garden, rock garden, and even butterfly gardens.

Known for for stunning flowers. | Franklin Park Conservatory

Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

Columbus, Ohio. Ohio's state tree is the Ohio Buckeye—which is why it comes as no surprise that the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens houses a buckeye tree incubator. That's in addition to  400 plant species ranging from tropical to Himalayan.

For more beautiful Botanical Gardens and further details, here.

If you are local, I thought I'd mention this great upcoming local event 

The 31st Annual Floral Park Home & Garden Tour

 

On Saturday and Sunday, April 27-28, 2024, the Floral Park Neighborhood Association (FPNA) will host its 31st Annual Home & Garden Tour. The event will showcase vintage homes from the 1920s through the 1950s for public viewing in what is known as Orange County's "Best Kept Secret."

Apart from the vintage homes, attendees can delight in charming gardens, a classic car show, culinary delights from local eateries, a wine and beer garden, and a plethora of shopping opportunities along our renowned "Street of Treasures."

The tour hours are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on both Saturday (4/27) and Sunday (4/28). The Wine Garden will be open on Saturday from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm and on Sunday from 11:00 am to 5 p.m.

Join the day filled with exploring homes and gardens, indulging in shopping, admiring classic cars, savoring culinary delights, and relaxing in our Wine and Beer Garden with live entertainment. Your attendance supports historic preservation, scholarships, and charitable efforts in Santa Ana and surrounding areas.

 

 

 

  

 

A  7 minute video, Makeover, here

 

 

 

  

 

Just because ...

  

 

Guatemalan quetzal

  

 

 Sunday's Smiles ...  

 

  

   

 

 

 

   

   

   

   

   

 

 

  Happy Birthday Raquel!