March 20, 2025 - Atlanta Botanical Gardens

 

Title: March 20, 2025 - Atlanta Botanical Gardens

Hike Info : Description : Trail Lessons : Menu : Extra Photo's : Animals : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type:MARTA

Gary and Tulips

Description:

All times are Atlanta local until we get back to the West Coast.

I got up at 8:45, and spent the time just writing up yesterday until Sherri got up a bit before 10. Today will be a low key day, We are both tired. So we will just ride MARTA, do some walks and get used to the place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gary has a new friend

One thing which we will need to get used to is the mix of ethnicities. In Fresno, we have a mixture where Hispanic and Southeast Asian are very evident, along with, of course, whites. But something we noticed immediately when we got on the MARTA yesterday as well as in Krogers, how African-Americans are quite evident. But isn’t that why we go to different places to become more well rounded? And to see different ways of doing things and different peoples? It is just a reminder to me that there are differences in different places.

Sherri made us pancakes for breakfast. I ate well-stuffed, but it was a good feeling. We are pretty slow getting ready. But today is going to be a slow day of recovery anyway from the time change and all of yesterday’s travel. I suggested the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Sherri thinks that is good. I had seen, as an added bonus, the tulips should be in bloom.

It is after twelve when we start out. Our first route is to walk back to the Brookhaven MARTA station. Instead of doing what we did yesterday, we crossed Peachtree and went on the other side, avoiding the construction we went around yesterday. We got to the station and got on the Gold train without issue. The ride was about 30 minutes and we got off at the Arts Center Station.

A word about MARTA since this will be a big part of our lives for the next couple of weeks. MARTA is the mass transit for the Atlanta Metropolitan area. It uses an app called Breeze. We were able to put a week-long pass on the app for $23.50 per person. When we wanted to use it, a bar code came up and the rail or bus scanned the barcode for admittance. During our stay we get a second week long pass. Pretty good that Sherri and I were able to ride around Atlanta for two weeks for less than $100.

 

Here we pick up our first bus ride of the trip. This is #27 which will take us from the Arts Center station to the Piedmont Park area. The system took my MARTA app OK, but Sherri’s it keeps going to the wallet. The driver finally lets Sherri on. It is about a ten minute ride to where we let off. This is on the driveway into the Gardens. We walked up the hill to the admission station. It is $28.50 admission. Will it be worth it? But then Allison, the person behind the window, talks to us about membership and that it would allow entry into other gardens, such as those in California. So we bought a membership for both of us.

We start migrating towards the orchid area. But before we went about 150’, we came across tulips in a pot. This is an immediate stop-the first of many-to take pictures. A short ways later, Sherri has me sitting on a bench next to a frog. The things I do for her. Every little bit we come across more flowers which attract our attention. But what really attracts us is the centerpiece of the Levy Parterre. It looks very much like what we have seen in Seattle at the Chihuly Gardens-later that night when I had the chance, I was able to see that it was, along with some other pieces around the Gardens.

 

After going around the Great Lawn, we enter into the Fuqua Conservatory

-or as we were told earlier that this is where the orchids are. There is an exhibit of orchids right at the front, intertwined by clear beads. While interesting looking, I was thinking this was looking a bit cheap. Then there was a terrarium with some frogs and chameleons from Mozambique. We looked at that for a while and then entered into a humid rain forest area. Lots of broadleaf plants and trees with some flowers. Going through this area is definitely not a racetrack experience.

After wading through the Conservancy portion of the building, we entered the Orchid Center. This is the highlight of the Fuqua Center. The Gardens has been advertising on Facebook that the orchids and tulips are in bloom and they are. And they are. The orchid area is large with a wide variety of flowers. There comes a point where I realize that unless I take pictures of each and every flower, which will be hundreds of them, that only a representative sample will be taken. So I only take a few and those are the ones which catch my fancy.

 

 

 

By the time we exit the orchid area, it is after 3. There is an edible garden where we exit and we wander through there. Sherri comments about the trees and shrubs which are trained to be against a wall.There is a name for that: espalier

. I guess I learned something on this trip. We continue our wandering through the perennial and Japanese gardens. The Japanese gardens are the original gardens for Piedmont Park. These look a lot more dominant than other places. Maybe it is because we are here at the beginning of Spring.

For our final excursion around the Gardens today, we decided to do the Woodland Ramble. This is an area across the access road from the rest of the Gardens. We had seen it when we walked in and had wondered how to get there. We still are wondering about that. But eventually we made our way over to where the Kendeda Canopy Walk crosses the road and takes us on an elevated arc into the Woodland. It drops us onto the Southwood Terrace.

 

 

 

 

 

From there we circle around to the Ramble. While it appears this part of the Gardens is still in deep Winter hibernation, there is one thing which looks alive. A man was watching something and being naturally curious I tried to pick out what he was looking at. He points out a red-shouldered hawk. It is motionless except for his head, That is until the man walks off and then the hawk flies towards us and perches within 20’ of us. I guess there is a reason why Atlanta’s basketball team is called the Hawks.

We continue our walk around the Woodlands until we get to the Glade Gardens. There is another arresting glass sculpture here called the Radiant Yellow Icicle Tower. A yellow prickly column, rising out of a pool of water. The pool is called a water mirror. I suspect on a clear day, it would make a great reflection And yes, it is another Chiuly art piece. It is hard to get a good picture which gives a true impression of this. Maybe I am spending too much effort on getting a picture and not enough and taking it in.

What is more impressive to me is when we circle around the Glade, it looks out over a creek-artificial, I think. Still the stillness of the waters, the brownness of the earth and the step falls into the Creek all create a place of peace.

Now we continue on the path to where we first entered the Woodlands. But instead of going over the Canopy Walk, we go through a tunnel to the Cascade Gardens. There is a pond there with a large sculpture called the Earth Goddess. A sign explains that each Spring, gardeners come in and implant the sculpture with thousands of flowering flora creating a colorful fountain in the shape of a woman. This must be quite a scene when fully in bloom. Right now, it is a grayish sculpture with long flowing mossy looking hair. I wonder about this goddess thing. In some ways the sculpture fits into the flow of the garden, but in other ways it seems very pantheistic. But that is how gardens operate. It can either point you to a Mother Earth narrative or back to Eden and our Creator.

By this time, we are getting hungry. We had seen a restaurant in the Gardens called LongLeaf. But it is closed right now. I think there must be a reception tonight. But there is something they call the Quick Cafe close by. When we look at it, it is pre packaged sandwiches and no seating. We decided that we want something more.

When we exited the Gardens about 4:15, we noticed another Chihuly sculpture hanging over the entrance. We then walk down to the bus stop to put up #27 to take us back. The stop is the entrance to Ansley Park. Looks like it has interesting buildings.

#27 takes us back to Arts Center Station. I had seen that there is a Maggiano Little Italy restaurant close by to Buckhead Station. This sounds good. We travel the Red train to Buckhead.Unfortunately, when we get out, I took us off in the wrong direction. But only a block or so. Once I get reoriented we enjoy a good chicken dinner. Sherri has Chicken Francee and I Chicken Marsala. Both are very good. We took home half of it for dinner tomorrow night.

Now to catch #110 back to our AirBnB.We started walking, but saw a bus coming and are able to get to the stop in time. In looking at Google Maps, we are heading in the wrong direction. So after a mile, we get off, cross the street and wait for the bus to go in the opposite way. Did I say how cold and windy it is? We are glad when the bus comes. Sherri still has troubles with the ticket reader, but the driver lets us on anyway.

We get back about 7. A bit tired, but content with our first day in Atlanta. A little before 10, we turn in-that would be 7 Fresno time.

 

 

Trail Lesson:

Different places have different things and people. Different may not mean wrong or bad.

Menu

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks
Krutzwitz protein pancakes. Mrs Butterworth syrup, milk		Maggiano Little Italy-Chicken Francee and Chicken Marsala

Extra Photo's

Animals

 
Flowers and Plants