I snap way too many pictures. So many that they don't find their way into a blog when planned while snapping! The Saint took me to the Georgia Botanical Gardens in July 2008 and I am just now weeding through the pictures I snapped that day. I will start off with the fact that it was to be a cool day for July in Georgia so I was really excited for this adventure. The Botanical Gardens are located in Athens, GA which is home to the University of Georgia, hence the Bull Dawg in the first picture. These Dawgs are all over town and strangely painted. I assume by the Art Department of the school but who knows. I had better things to focus on that day then painted dogs...
Before I take you to the Gardens, let me tell you a few facts that we found interesting when we hid from the heat in an Air Conditioned spot. The Ware-Lyndon House is a 1850 house which has been restored and furnished with period pieces and museum items as well.
Look at this beautiful tree on the grounds of the house! I am so small standing beside it...
If you read this, you will learn that The Ladies Garden Club of Athens was the first such club in the nation! I had no idea did you?
We also learned that Moina Belle Michael is the Poppy Lady. Moina was a school teacher in Athens, GA which founded the Memorial Poppy Flower. We still see them today handed out in memory of fallen in time of war. Read about the interesting story by Clicking Here.
You Flower lovers and Book Readers may find this book a interesting read as well.
Now off to the State Botanical Gardens of Georgia we go. This 313 acre preserve was set aside by the University of Georgia in 1968. It has 5 miles of woodsy walking trails, Vegetable, Herb, Shade and Bog Areas as well as other gardens. The 10,000 sq ft Conservatory is filled with lush Tropicals. And the Air Conditioning felt wonderful as the weather man was incorrect and the humidity climbed that day. We did not see but about half of the Gardens and do plan to get back there again some time in the future.
I spotted this beautiful Flower which I had never before seen. This Angel Trumpet bloom was about the size of a dinner plate! I was in awe of its beauty. Since seeing this one, I have seen many in other Gardens while visiting other Garden Blogs in the past year. To include seeing Tina's in person while visiting at Tiger Gardens.
These pictures are not in any order as some are in the Conservatory while some were snapped outside. I have no idea what most of the plants are as I did not take notes.
So lets just stroll along and admire the beauty while trying to guess the names of the plants and blooms. Ah, the water feature was so soothing to the soul.
Salmon is a beautiful color in a flower.
Such a full spot of greenery in different shades.
Yes, I sat on that bench and soaked up the surrounding beauty!
Is this a toad lily?
I did not see the bumble bee until I loaded the pictures. What a bonus!
It was hot in the sun that day.
The Lower Herb Gardens.
Beautiful Orchid!
Orchid or Lily? I think an Orchid but they do look similar don't you think?
I really liked the Bleeding Hearts. They are so dainty looking.
Have you ever seen a larger Fern then this one? I was captivated by its size and stood there in amazement until the Saint dragged me away from it.
I find flowers which bloom from the top to bottom and bottom to top interesting. If not for the tiny flowers, I would think this to be wheat! 
Hum, wonder if the birds like these?
Jack in the Pulpit.
Woodsy pathway with 5 miles attached. No, we did not walk much of it. Too hot that day but would be a great fall or springtime walk.
Some type of water plant as it was in the rain water run off ditch.
Red Beauty amongst the lush greenery.
I was shocked as to how these blooms stood tall with such a slender supporting stalks. What are they?
Are these poppy's or some type of Hibiscus?
My cats would love this inside jungle.
And last but not least, the Crepe Myrtles. I bet they were planted at the same time but look how different with their bloom times.It was a beautiful sight in the GEORGIA BOTANICAL GARDENS, but a bit too hot for me that day. On a cooler day, I hope to get back In the Garden...
Wow, you guys had a day. Such a shame it was humid. I love that house. So pretty with all the iron work with such a classic feel. Now to your plants. I think the first orange flower was candy lily or Bellacanda. I do not grow it but sure envy those who do. The flower opening from both the top and bottom is ever so cool! Those kinds of flowers are not too common. The water plant is a lotus. They have the coolest leaves and seed pods. The white flower is Annabelles. I do think the red is a type of hibiscus. I had heard the first garden club opened in Georgia. Your state is rich with garden history so it makes sense. Love the bull dawg. We have guitars here in Nashville. I think these statues are becoming most iconic across the country. Have a great day!
ReplyDeleteA beautiful place Skeeter! I love all the flowers, they are very beautiful! Tina beat me to the annabell, that's about all I know. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThat looks like a wonderful garden to visit. Wish we lived closer to it. It is miserable doing anything when it is hot! That five miles of wooded paths looks very inviting.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing ~ FlowerLady
Skeeter, Are you getting rain in your neck of the woods? The flooding is all over the news up here. Stay safe.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like there is a ton of stuff to see there! I always like looking around at University Gardens. We would stop in at UT when we lived out that way on occasion.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tour, Skeeter. Loved all the tropical plants, esp, Hibiscus and orchids. It is just what I needed after looking out my window at the snow. Brrr! Rosey
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pictures Skeeter. I feel like I have been on a garden adventure thanks to you! Great way to start my morning! :)
ReplyDeleteWow, that looks like a great place! I too have photos of things I've been meaning to post... a green roof planting in May 2008, my trip to MOBOT this July... my goal is to post them over the winter when I'm less distracted by real gardening! ;-)
ReplyDeleteHi Skeeter, what a nice tour of the gardens. The bulldog at the top of the post is like our (Norfolk's) mermaids and there is a mermaid at the Botanical Garden. The flower you asked about is not a Toad lily, as Tina said it is a Blackberry Lily. I really like it.
ReplyDeleteThe dog is very interesting indeed. What great gardens to visit. The salmon colored flower looks like an angel wing begonia, that is a hibiscus and not a poppy.
ReplyDeleteSkeeter - it's never too late to use photos and share stories! I have thousands on my computer, too!
ReplyDeleteWhat interesting facts! I did not know about the first garden club where that the lady who started the poppies was from there either.
Beautiful flowers! I once (at a previous house with shade) grew salmon and blue flowers together. Soft and pretty. Love the combinations.
Cameron
Beautiful photos! That home is so beautifully restored! What a strong sense of history one gets in places like this. I loved the bits about the poppy lady and the first garden club. Wonderful!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely place. When I see posts like yours I'm reminded of the botanic gardens in Chicago that I almost never make time to visit. Most of these gardens also keep and share information on how well plants perform in that area, which is a great thing for gardeners to take advantage of.
ReplyDeleteMarnie
Gorgeous photos Skeeter, thanks for the tour of a lovely garden. That orange flower is a Blackberry Lily (the one you questioned being a Toadlily) and the red blooms are definitely Hibiscus. :)
ReplyDeleteWonderful post Skeeter. So many points of interest and beautiful flowers. The university gardens looks like a very special place.
ReplyDeletePS Those plants are Pitcher Plants, which are carnivorous plants, not Jack-in-the-Pulpit.
I could quite happily spend hours and hours wandering that gorgeous place.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos and post Once a year a least I go to the Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus,Ohio usually in middle of winter. It is so nice to see all the flowers in the middle of winter in Ohio. All those wonderful pictures would make a great youtube video
ReplyDeleteGreat Post Skeeter. Thanks for the tour. I really enjoyed going along with you. I didn't know about the ladies & what they accomplished.
ReplyDeletevery nice pictures, they are beautyful ! hugh Kathrin
ReplyDeleteGood Afternoon everyone! Another busy day and so much that the Saint took the afternoon off. Yikes, we are so behind around here....
ReplyDeleteTina, You would love this garden! It is more natural looking then planted. They did a great job but with having College Students to do the work for free, it should be awesome. I did not know about the guitars in Nashville. Over the Savannah river in Aiken, SC they have horses everywhere since that is horse country. Really interesting but they can keep the silly paintings off them as I prefer them being more realistic. Thanks for your flower commentary for us. There were so many interesting things to remember and of course, I could not remember them all. Age and memory don’t go together LOL…
Dawn, We are not in harms way with the rain. We received over 4 inches as did our friends in south Atlanta where we were for the weekend. But north of their house, they really had a downpour. They had the interstate closed for flash flooding. We need the rain so not complaining in our neck of the woods as of yet. Am sorry for all the damage and injury related to the rain though. Strange thing, we normally don’t have rains such as this unless from a Tropical Storm! This is the Dry Season also. Strange….
Flower Lady, I just love strolling in such gardens but not in the heat. The weatherman really got us on that one. Before the day was over, I had that hair up in a pony tail :-) I would like to return some day in the fall to see the fall colors of the woods…
Dave, The universities have such wonderful gardens but so would we if we had all that free support in our gardens! Ha, I did spot a weed though. The Saint and I had to laugh that even Botanical Gardens are not immune from weeds. Hee hee..
Rosey, Oh My Goodness, Snow already? Arg, I am so ready for the humidity to leave but not the really cold stuff such as snow! Urg, glad to give you some warmth today…
Meadowview, I am so happy you joined me on a morning stroll today! I missed my coffee but had lunch with my sweetie instead so that makes up for the missed coffee…
Monica, So much to report on and so little time to do it! LOL, I have lots of fun stuff to post and one day they may all get into a blog. Ha, I keep telling myself that anyway. Tina once said she was afraid she would run out of stuff to talk about. I had to laugh as she and I both would never have a problem talking about something! :-)
Janet, Ah, I like Mermaids! They have horses in a horse town in SC near us. I think that is a neat way to brighten up a spot but wish they would leave off the wild themes on them and stick to more natural looking dogs, horses, etc but it is art after all. Ah, the blackberry lily is awesome…
Darla, I was thinking that was a begonia and such a pretty shade of salmon too. I was gearing more towards a hibiscus then poppy as well. So many neat pretties to view for sure. I must get back up there again…
Cameron, Ah, I knew I was not the only one with tons of pictures and subjects on the mind. They will come out one by one eventually. :-) We were not aware of the Poppy Lady or the Garden Clubs beginning until that day. My new stuff learned that day for sure! Ah, salmon and blue together is so pretty!
ReplyDeleteLzyjo, The house was magnificent to say the least. The tree was really nice too and I wish it could talk to me as I am sure it would have some wonderful stories to share….
Marnie, It is amazing how close we are to such beauty and fail to visit more often. They had an entire area of all native plants and I should have been taking notes as they are the way for a gardener to go in their gardens. But it was so stinking hot that I failed to make many mental notes much less, take the time to jot them down on paper. Then I would have to research and see if they are deer and bunny resistant for my garden…
Racquel, Thanks for your input, I reckon I am the only one that does not know what a toad lily and blackberry lily are, but now I do but will my mind remember is the question…
Sweet bay, The Saint and I both were saying we thought they (Pitcher Plant) looked like a meat eating plant of some sort but then I thought they looked like the pulpit plants. There were tons of them growing so lots of bugs for them to munch on for sure!
Keewee, I would be strolling along beside you as well. If only the heat was less on that day. It was a beautiful spot to tour but so hot that we did not last nearly as long as we had planned. The woods were cooler but the humidity will not let you escape its hold even in the shady woods…
Joe Todd, Thank goodness for those beautiful conservatories to brighten up our dreary winter blues! We are lucky here in my part of GA as we don’t get harsh winters and rarely do we see snow but still it gets dreary in the winter. These places are so wonderful year round but especially during the winter…
Lola, I love visiting new places as you never know what you will learn! I had no idea about those ladies either until that day. I cant wait for my next adventure and things learned. So much to see and learn and I want to take in as much of it as I can…
Kathrin, Vielen Dank!
It's so pretty! I love all the varieties of flowers growing. Seeing how nice it is makes me wonder why I never made it to the Botanical Gardens near us this summer. They are such a great place to learn about new plants.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed seein all your gorgeous photos. It was almost like bein there. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteCatherine, We live within a one hour drive from the SC Botanical gardens and less then 2 hours from the GA Botanical gardens. Been here for 9 years and that was my first trip to the GA gardens. We go to the SC gardens at least every 2 years and wonder why we dont go more often as it is connected to our favorite small zoo....
ReplyDeleteTC, You are so welcome! I am glad you came over for a stroll today! It is fun to explore fun found gardens with bloggers. You never know what you may spot or learn along the way…
It's a beautiful botanical center in a great little college town. Our son was there for grad school and we never made it to the gardens, so i am very glad you showed us around. So many beautiful plants. I love the crape myrtles that are all over the campus, too, gail
ReplyDeleteGail, Oh, how I wish you could have seen the gardens in person! They are so beautiful and since we were there, they have added a new section. So we need to return for another trip to check that out. UGA is a good school and they sure like to party too :-)
ReplyDeleteGail, Oh, how I wish you could have seen the gardens in person! They are so beautiful and since we were there, they have added a new section. So we need to return for another trip to check that out. UGA is a good school and they sure like to party too :-)
ReplyDeleteI love the grand old tree and the grand old fern photos. Perhaps the giant white hydrangea is that new cultivar, Incrediball. It's supposed to have foot-wide blooms on sturdy stalks.
ReplyDeleteAnother great tour Skeeter with great photos and interesting tidbits of info.
ReplyDeleteThe salmon flower does look like a begonia but it is not an Angel Wing. Up here Angel Wing Begonia is an indoor plant and I have always had one till a year ago. The Angel Wings have a different leaf with red coloring coming from the bottom but a good health one will look all red.
We went to the Botantical Gardens a few miles from where I live when Christy was home before she left for Iraqi and it also was awesome. A great way to spend a day.
VW, large old trees seem to capture my imagination! I wish they could talk as they have been around for so many years and have seen a lot in their time. Maybe you are on to something with the giant snowball. And yes, it was huge and we were shocked the stalk could support the blooms...
ReplyDeleteJean, Thanks for the info on the Angel Wing. So many flowers look similar to others dont they? I have a difficult time identifying them at times. Heck, until I starting chatting with Tina here at In the Garden, I had no idea of so many different plants and flowers with the same name! I just thought a Lily was a lily then find out there are tons of different ones out there! Amazing. Am glad you had some time to spend with Christy before she took off to defend our great country. A stroll through a garden is a great way to enjoy time together. May God keep her safe...
Well worth the wait for the photos, Skeeter! I love visiting gardens like this, but like you, I don't enjoy the heat. I hope you get to return again on a cooler day.
ReplyDeleteRose, Thanks, I so hope to get back to Athens for another visit on a cooler day. That day was so sticky and I dont like the icky of sticky...
ReplyDeleteHi Skeeter,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the photos of your day. I'm assuming you had a confirmation of the red hibiscus.
I'm reading a book called, Grandmother's Garden". It's an early history of gardeners, garden writers, and artists in the United States. I want to find some of the old books it refers to. I just got a series of books written in 1915, and some other older garden books. I may do a post on them.
Sue, Yes on the hibiscus! How exciting it must be to read those garden books from the early 1900s! I bet they are full of fun facts...
ReplyDeleteNo that is not a toad lilly. Blackberry lilly is my guess. If it gets black seeds that look like blackberries then it is a Blackberry lilly.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I think you are so right! Thank you for letting us know.
ReplyDelete