Published: January 20, 2008 01:27 am            

Garden memories can get you through cold winter months

EDMOND — For my husband, looking at gardening catalogs helps get him through the cold months. For me, it’s my photos and trip memories. When lawns are brown and trees are bare, I get out my photos of beautiful gardens I’ve visited. Here are some of my favorites.

• Callaway Gardens, Pine Mountain, Ga. — Fabulous azaleas in the spring and beautiful annuals and perennials. This is the home of Victory Garden South. Extensive exhibit buildings feature tropical plants, a learning center and a butterfly house. The gardens are just part of a larger property that includes resort facilities including golf and a spa.

• Bellingrath Gardens, Mobile, Ala. — April through December, roses rule. The rose garden boasts more than 2,000 roses of 75 varieties. In winter, the camellias reign and in fall, chrysanthemums compete with America’s most popular flower for garden bragging rights. The grande dames of the gardens, however, would have to be the azaleas. It was to allow Mobile residents to enjoy the azaleas that the Bellingraths used to first open their estate to the public. Visitors also can tour the elegant Bellingrath mansion.

• Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Mo. — Opened in 1859, this is the nation’s oldest, privately owned, continuously operating, botanical garden. Its conservatory, the Climatron, was the nation’s first geodesic-dome greenhouse. In addition to one of the country’s largest Japanese gardens, visitors enjoy woodland gardens, an English garden, Victorian garden, rose garden and a new children’s garden. This more than 2-acre garden was created with a 19th century Missouri town theme.

• Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens — The annual Dallas Blooms — this year March 8 through April 13 — is the most elaborate and colorful garden display I’ve ever seen. Though beautiful any time of year, the special displays during Dallas Blooms pushes it over the edge of extravagant. It’s truly a Texas-sized treat. Fragrant wisteria, showy azaleas, 100,000 pansies and thousands of tulips and daffodils make this event a photographer’s dream.

• Myriad Botanical Gardens and Crystal Bridge Tropical Conservatory, Oklahoma City — Not the largest or most impressive collection but the Crystal Bridge is an ideal spot on a cold day. Walk into the tropics and stroll across the skybridge to the desert. Best of all, you don’t have to settle for photos — just a quick drive downtown.

• Botanic Gardens, Singapore — Close to the equator, this garden provides steamy sight-seeing year-round. Almost 150 years old, this garden has a venerable history that includes introducing and encouraging the planting of rubber trees in the 19th century. This also is where the hybrid orchid, Vanda Miss Joachim, now the official flower of Singapore, was identified. Bridal parties, posing for photos, are as common as bees among the colorful flowers.

• Hong Kong Park, Hong Kong — Perched on the side of Victoria Peak, this tranquil spot in the midst of the crowded city boasts beautiful flowers and water features. The starring attraction, for me, is the aviary where the paths wind through the treetops.

• Trevarno Estate and Gardens, near Helston, Cornwall, U.K. — Towering trees, profuse rhododendrons, burgeoning hydrangeas, lush ferns, winding paths, a Victorian boathouse, peacocks and colorful pheasants — I love this place. It’s also the home of the National Gardening Museum.

• The Eden Project, Bodelva, Cornwall, U.K. — Not just your grandma’s garden, the Eden Project is a combination of outdoor gardens, conservatories that look like giant soap bubbles, environmental laboratory and educational facility. A million plants representing 5,000 species grow here. The architecture is cutting-edge both in construction and materials. One of the conservatories, the humid tropics biome, is the largest greenhouse in the world — tall enough for the Tower of London to fit inside.

Writing this article was like taking a mini-vacation. The great thing is, I’ve only touched the surface. There are many more gardens to see. Dale and Betsy Jones visited the Butchart Gardens in Victoria, B.C., last summer and recently shared their photos with me. It’s now on top of my “gotta go” list. I’d love to hear about your favorite gardens. Feel free to respond on my Web site www.okietravel.com. In the meantime, stay warm and enjoy sweet summer dreams.



ELAINE WARNER is an Edmond resident.

        

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