Finding Friday- A Beautiful Botanical Garden

We have found our way to Friday again! We are tying up loose ends on the house. I’m hoping to be ready for the final reveal in the near future. There need to be more feet under my table. In the meantime, we’ve just returned from a beautiful spring trip to Gibbs Botanical Garden. I hope it will provide you with lots of inspiration and ideas for planning your own garden.

Travel truly wasn’t in the game plan this week, but when business calls, you whole heartedly say, “yes”!

Inspiration was what all of us need this time of year–whether spring break leaves you at home, the beach, the mountains, or a close to home view.

Beauty always inspires–and since part of this trip was filled with so much spring beauty, it just needed to be shared this with you.

Spring Beauty at Gibbs Botanical Gardens

Several days into the trip, we ventured to Gibbs Gardens. North of Atlanta, this beautiful botanical garden is a creation of gardener and owner, Jim Gibbs.

He has traveled around the world viewing gardens of every style and decided that he wanted to design and build a world class garden. He found this property that had both a strong source of water and beautiful mature trees covering a rolling topography. As he states on his website, it was “a dream come true” when he found the most beautiful site in the nation to construct the garden. The property is 376 acres and the house and gardens include 300+ acres. His residence is in the middle of this beautiful garden making it one of the nation’s largest residential estate gardens.

A Beautiful Botanical Garden

From the gardens to the gift shop and even lunch, it was unique and perfect.

As you entered the grounds, the most beautiful floral display lined the sidewalks and drew you in.

The garden structures and benches throughout added to the perfect walkway into the garden.

The spring blooms were beautiful.

From the walkway to filled container boxes covering the bridges and railings to the entrance. Stunning!

The beds around the gift shop were gorgeous as we entered.

The Daffodil fields were in full bloom.

Fields and fields of daffodils over long sloping hills were breathtaking.

15,000 steps in this garden took us through those beautiful fields of varying varieties of daffodils and led us to the top of the hill where the Gibbs residence began its flowering terrace.

And yes, the owners live here on site overlooking the gardens.

It was amazing that they share their residential gardens with thousands weekly.

As we meandered through the sidewalks lined with all types of flowering shrubs and bulbs, the statues were what drew me in.

Nobly standing among the flowers, they seemed to say, “we have guarded and held steadfast for generations”. I loved all of them.

Perfectly placed to be appreciated and highlighted among the blooms.

The planters were perfect in the botanical garden.

Situated around the pool area, there were lots and lots of beautifully filled planters with gorgeous spring blooming combinations.

It gave me lots of inspiration to add to my garden planning for spring blooms next year.

The color mixtures were perfect. They reminded me of my china in the Easter tablescape I shared with you…right?

And…there was this sign…

It just made me want to roll down that lush green lawn all the way down to the bottom.

Seriously!

I would never have considered rolling down that hill before seeing the sign—but, this hill was truly a long steep one that would have been fabulously fun for the littles in my life!

Then this little guy caught my eye…

Isn’t he perfect?

Back down into the lower level garden were the most amazing statues.

The story behind these?–they are depictions of the Gibbs grandchildren. They all show the children in a playful manner enjoying the garden.

Positioned among beautiful lawn and flowers, they were each exquisite.

The Japanese Garden

As we meandered through the garden, we came to the Japanese garden area.

The concrete statues, design pieces and plantings changed in nature.

The serenity was palpatable.

Want to know what caught my attention in every area of this garden?

Benches. Lots of benches were scattered across the landscape…thoughtfully positioned that just invited you to sit, pause and breathe in the beauty and serenity of it all.

Although we didn’t take the time to “sit” along the path, that would be in my plan for the next time. To allow time for “pause” and breathing it all in will have to be added to the next visit.

Although there are more areas available, we covered most of what was in blooming in the garden during our visit.

We ended our visit to the Gibbs Botanical Garden with lunch.

We enjoyed feet under a table in the outdoor courtyard with samplings of the best chicken salad sandwiches, pimento cheese and veggies.

I need the recipe for that chicken salad in my life!

It was a glorious day and the highlight of a perfect spring break adventure.

If you are near the Atlanta area, it’s worth the trip.

It makes me want to check out what’s blooming each season to return often.

Thanks for joining me today, friends, to share in my meanderings.

So very thankful for great business friends who invited me.

Hope that you have been inspired and enjoyed the beauty!

Perhaps this garden needs to be added into your travel plans. Don’t forget to look for beautiful gardens in your area, too.

Happy Friday! Have a great weekend, friends!