A few weeks ago I was one of the lucky attendees at the annual Garden2Blog event in Little Rock, Arkansas with some of my favorite writers and bloggers in the gardening universe. Among that group were some of my closest friends and the time we spent together made the conference even more personal and special to us. As luck would have it, four of us were able to spend the final morning together before flying home in separate directions but not before an idea began to germinate.
Shawna Coronado lives just outside of Chicago. Christopher Tidrick lives within a reasonable driving distance from there in Champaign, IL. I live in Atlanta, just a few minutes from Carolyn Binder’s daughter. What if we were able to coordinate schedules so that we could see each other for a day and do something beautiful outdoors to share with our readers? On June 1st & 2nd, that’s exactly what we did, with Chris & Shawna visiting the Chicago Botanic Garden and Carolyn and I visiting the Atlanta Botanical Garden. What follows are just a few of the highlights from that incredible day.
With morning fuel provided by Starbucks, Carolyn and I set sail for Atlanta Botanical Gardens. June 2nd was Endangered Species Day, so immediately upon entering we got to see some up close.
While the gopher tortoise and bald eagle were incredible to see from such a great vantage point, we had just been handed a garden map and realized just how much ground we had to cover in a few short hours, so it was time to get started!
The first thing you notice about the Atlanta Botanical Gardens is that as soon as you drive in, you feel as though you are transported magically away from the city into a place where frogs sit on park benches with famous garden bloggers.
It is easy to get overwhelmed by the size of this place, but the map is clear and easy to read so you will be able to know at a glance where you are and what you still need to see. Just when you have forgotten that you’re in the heart of Atlanta, you’ll look up and see the familiar skyline beyond the trees and you will appreciate the amazing beauty that is the Atlanta Botanical Garden even more.
Check out some of the great photos I captured that day on my Flickr stream, then be sure to visit these blogs to hear about the day from their perspectives:
- Carolyn Binder, Cowlick Cottage Farm (Atlanta, 6/2/2012)
- Shawna Coronado, The Casual Gardener (Chicago, 6/1/2012)
- Christopher Tidrick, From the Soil (Chicago, 6/1/2012)
