Berry Dakara: DISCOVER GEORGIA: Atlanta Botanical Garden

Can you believe it took me a whole 15 years of living in the Atlanta area to visit the Atlanta Botanical Garden? I finally went over Memorial Day weekend with Coco, and we had a pretty good time exploring the grounds. I think we chose the perfect time to go - a little after opening time, which is 9:00am. I wanted to get there early for 2 reasons: 1) I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but I detest the summer heat, and it's cooler outside in the mornings; 2) the Atlanta Jazz festival was happening the same weekend, and I wanted to get there before crowds and traffic. The jazz festival takes place in Piedmont Park (another place I haven't visited - I know!!!!), which is right next to the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

I bought our tickets online beforehand, with a 15% discount from the company I work for. Overall, I paid about $50 for both tickets. Getting to the ABG was pretty easy, and it took us 32 minutes from home. We were directed to park at the SAGE parking deck, upon which we were given an Atlanta Botanical Garden parking card to make sure we were charged as ABG guests. I think the parking is typically open to Piedmont Park guests as well, but were very limited on the day we went.

The Atlanta Botanical Garden was opened in 1976 and is located in Midtown. It sits across 30 acres of land and includes a Children's garden, Canopy Walk, restaurant, Edible Garden, among other displays. Depending on what time of year you visit, you might see the Alice's Wonderland exhibit, Birds of Prey, Holiday Lights and more. There are also lots of events from cooking classes, to gardening (DUH), cocktails, live music, etc. Now that I think about it, I'm really not sure why I never visited before now.

I didn't do enough homework, as while researching information for this blog post, I realized that the ABG website has a Garden Guide to help you plan your visit based on whether you're looking for family fun, going solo, on a date, etc. Speaking of date, I'm pretty sure I saw at least 2 ladies who had just gotten proposed to at the garden! How do I know this? They were on their phones, gasping, and showing off their rings. Not at the same time, but at different points during our visit.

I think the ABG has something for everyone and is a fun activity to add to your itinerary if you're visiting or live near Atlanta. I had heard that you could cover the garden within 2 to 3 hours, but Coco and I spent almost 5 hours there - and we still didn't see everything. At different points Coco got tired, but thankfully, there are lots of benches and sitting areas sprinkled all over the many garden areas. I did stop at the restaurant to get her a snack and boxed water.

I'm a casual flower lover, in that I see the beauty in them, and love the scents of many - but I couldn't tell you the names of many a flower. That didn't stop me from enjoying the blooming blossoms and taking so many photos, that my phone actually died. Thankfully, I also had my camera and I hope you enjoy the photos below.

One of the biggest draws of the Atlanta Botanical Garden has to be the Earth Goddess. It was initially part of an exhibition in 2013 and became a permanent addition to the gardens. There are 18,000 annuals that make up the Earth Goddess. During the winter holiday season, she's lit up with thousands of lights - I'm sure it would be a very pretty sight.

Throughout the garden, we saw artificial plants, making up the Enchanted Trees exhibition by Poetic Kinetics. They range from 10 to 17 feet tall, and are made of acrylic. If you catch them in the sunlight just so, the colorful rays are a stunning sight to behold.

Again, I didn't properly research or plan our visit, so I didn't even know about the Children's Garden beforehand. Coco had so much fun! There's a splash pad to play in and cool off - prepared parents had swim clothes for their children. I had to improvise Coco's dress to allow her to play easily. Coco also got to do some arts and crafts that we happened upon. There was a slide, tree-house, waterfall, bee hive (YIKES), and even a rope bridge!

Below is the Dorothy Chapman Fuqua Conservatory, built to highlight the vast variety of flowers and plants from tropical and desert regions across the world.

I believe this was the Fuqua Orchid Center that displays all kinds of orchids that grow in different climates all over the world. I've heard that it's really hard to keep an orchid alive, and I'm no green thumb, but I may have to find a faux orchid to grace my desk at work. These flowers not only looked beautiful, but the smell - gosh, my sense came alive!

The Alice's Wonderland exhibit was what I most wanted to see at the Gardens, and the sculptures were well worth it! It was on this day that I realized that my child has not watched or read Alice in Wonderland!!! I feel like I've failed in this tiny aspect of motherhood. I resolved to change that the following day, and scheduled a Disney+ Alice in Wonderland movie day.