State Botanical Garden of Georgia, The, Athens

We have visited these gardens several times and have always enjoyed what was blooming at that time. Most recently we walked through the beautiful formal gardens with their very well designed walkways and plantings. Be sure to also go into the conservatory and dont forget your camera!!

I just spent a week in Huntsville, AL, and visited the botanical garden twice. What an amazing place. I wish our botanical garden looked like that...flowers were everywhere in abundance. While our garden might have several of one type flowering plant, their garden had bunches. Flowers were blooming everywhere, there was so much to see. It was a truly beautiful place. Today I saw a sign at our garden that read "40 years...and still growing." I asked an employee at the Huntsville garden how long it had been in existence figuring 50 years or longer...and she said, "Twenty years." What a shock. Only half as long as our garden and so much more to see and marvel at and all accomplished in only twenty years. Visit Huntsville Botanical Garden if the opportunity arises, you won't be disappointed...I guarantee it.

We have a tradition of taking family photos here, it provides hundreds of great photo opportunities all year round. We are especially fond of the herb garden.

This is my Georgia touchstone; a place I return to again and again to connect with nature in this great state. I brought my first child here about once a week for the first two years of his life. Once he could walk I'd park the car and set him loose. I followed him wherever he went, and decided to never force him to choose one path or another. Every experience was different, and we never took the same path twice. Every direction is full of wonder and beauty.

I have visited the gardens numerous times, and I've seen one particular area disappear under a heavy growth of briers and bambles. The area about 150 yards passed the rose garden has three terraces where daffodils used to bloom by the hundreds and one could walk along the terraces and admire the beautiful flowers. Over the last several years that entire area has become overgrown with all kinds of sticker bushes and it's no longer possible to walk along the terraces. Why has that been allowed to happen? Surely the staff could see what was happening. I looked at that area on January 13 & 14 2007 and am dismayed that it has become a thicket of sticker bushes and an eyesore. Even if the daffodils can fight their way up through all those bushes, people will not be able to get close to them. What a mess! It has taken several years for this to happen and no one has done anything about an area that used to be so beautiful. It's a sad, sad situation. I can't imagine how that area can be recovered without extensive work.

The Bot Gardens themselves are wonderful. The Garden Room Cafe is a great location with great food, but the service is almost always terrible.

I just visited the Detroit Zoo (30 Jun 06) and was impressed by the quantity and variety of flowers on the grounds. Flowers were everywhere and it made the trip memorable. The entire time I was at the zoo I was wishing that the gardens in Athens could be something like that, and since I'm not privy to any details about the working of the State Botanical Gardens, I don't know why it can't be improved. One thing about the zoo versus the State Gardens - there was an entrance fee to get into the zoo and those funds are used in the upkeep of the facility. At least the State Gardens are free, but that's about its only positive. The State Gardens should be a show place since it represents the entire state of Georgia. It falls far short of being a show place in my opinion. It's okay and I do spend a lot of time there, but I wish more could be done to improve its overall appearance.

Athens Botantical Gardens is a great place to visit if you are in need of a place to unwind and feel calmer. It has herbs, plants, trees and flowers with a beautiful man-made rushing stream (back of building/outside). The sound of the water lowers your blood pressure. Points of interest: a Large water wall with a sphinx on either side of the falling water, also outside is a black marble orb that spins on a bed of water.

I've been a frequent visitor over the past 8 years and it seems the garden has stagnated as far as development. Used to see more staff working in the garden, doing things; now I don't see that. Needs more flowers throughout the garden and along trails. I don't see any new plants/flowers on the grounds. Nothing seems to change at the garden from one year to the next.

Nature Trails are excellent. No cost. Well Maintained.