The Top 10 Public Gardens to Visit in the Southeastern United States
For the past year I've been compiling a list of Public Gardens for a gardening website I run. These gardens all look like fantastic places to visit, but what are the most popular? I'll continue with this list for the Southeastern region of the United States. The Southeastern states are states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and also Washington DC.
The most popular public gardens (based on online chatter) in the beautiful Southeast are:
10. Norfolk Botanical Garden in Norfolk, Virginia
9. Botanical Gardens at Asheville in Asheville, North Carolina
8. Birmingham Botanical Gardens in Birmingham, Alabama
7. Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, Florida
6. Key West Botanical Forest and Garden in Key West, Florida
5. New Orleans Botanical Garden in New Orleans, Louisiana
4. Memphis Botanic Garden in Memphis, Tennessee
3. Atlanta Botanical Garden in Atlanta, Georgia
2. United States Botanic Garden in Washington D. C.
...and by a wide margin the most popular public garden in the Southeastern USA is...
1. United States National Arboretum in Washington D. C.
Public Gardens not making my top 10 were River Farm of the American Horticultural Society in Alexandria, Virginia; North Carolina Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, Virginia; Huntsville Botanical Garden in Huntsville, Alabam; National Tropical Botanical Garden in Miami, Florida; Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo, Florida; Reflection Riding Arboretum and Botanical Garden in Chattanooga, Tennessee; Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest in Clermont, Kentucky; American Orchid Society Visitors Center and Botanical Garden in Delray Beach, Florida; Kalmia Gardens in Hartsville, South Carolina; Broadmoor Gardens Conservancy and Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvington, Kentucky; and Boxerwood Nature Center and Woodland Garden in Lexington, Virginia.
We really have a fantastic mix of public gardens throughout the Southeast with only Washington D.C. and Florida appearing on the list twice. I always like to see these regional lists diverse in geography so that anyone living in or visiting a region has something nice near them, and this is about as good as it gets.
So get out there and visit some of these magnificent attractions, and be sure to take the time to smell the roses!
I compiled this list by searching for each public garden listed on a number of search engines and ranking them by the number of web pages, discussion forums, photos, videos, etc that are available online. Check out my complete list of Public Gardens at www.GardeningWithLarry.com.
