It was my mom's birthday right towards the end of August. I thought it would be a good idea to have a sort of mom's day out as celebration. I decided to include a trip to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens since we had talked about going for the longest. I made sure to go over the plans with my mom the night before and she was like finally!! Since, again, she's been trying to go for forever.

We decided to go early in the morning to avoid both the crowd and the sun. The gardens are adjacent to Piedmont Park so it was quite an easy find. We found our parking, put our caps on and made our way to the ticket booth.

photo is as we were leaving

As a gift, and because it was a good deal 😜, I got my parents the year membership. Because it is close to fall, maybe the plants were not all in full bloom and it would be nice to return in Spring or Summer, or even just to enjoy a day out with the flowers and plants.

The garden is separated into quite a few sections, we first entered through the more woodland side, that was. . ..  well woodland/forest-y. You could say it was more natural and unattended bit still maintained. Lucky for us, there has been blown glass art installations throughout the garden. As you can see in the promotion picture above, it is by artist Chihuly. The woodland area was fun, but a little bare. I blame the fall season.



At one part though there was one absolutely beautiful installation! The woman is there year round,  and only the glass is temporary. We really enjoyed reading about the projects.

We then moved on to the edible garden where they plant and grow fruits and veggies.




After that came the Orchid Center. WOW. I absolutely loved it. My mom is a big fan of orchids and we've always had them at home, and do you ever notice how your parents taste will rub off on you? Anyways, it was absolutely amazing. Orchid is a flower family and there are so many kinds! The center was also full of Spanish Moss which is absolutely one of my favorite plants since I was little. I will try out my green thumb, bring the Spanish Moss to Muscat and force it to grow there. Maybe in Salalah during monsoon season.... if that's even close to the appropriate season. OMG what if it became an invasive species and I am become solely responsible for Oman's ecological demise. . . . . anywho. . . look at these beauties.

















After the Orchid center we entered glasshouse exhibits that showcased plants and flowers from both tropical, desert, and high elevation climates. When I entered the first house which was the high elevation, I was blown away! Just how accurate the feeling was and the tropical sounds that accompanied it.










And of course there was more throughout the gardens, but you can see it all for yourself 😊.













melissa