Favorite Arboretums and Botanical Gardens

The Arnold Arboretum on the Jamaica way in Boston.

It has many many trees and flowering shrubs under the watchful eye of the Harvard Horticultural Dept. It is actually owned by the city of Boston but run by Harvard. It is particularly noted for having hundreds of varieties syringa (lilacs) and features an event called 'Lilac Sunday' in May when all or nearly all of the lilacs are in bloom.

I'm with jjorge on the Arnold Arboretum - it's wonderful! Also in the area is the Mount Auburn Cemetery. Not an arboretum, but a cemetery with some old and well designed plantings. A fascinating place. The San Fran public gardens are also gorgeous, I'm a big fan of Japanese gardening.

When I was a kid in the 70s we'd go to more wild places: nature reserves and national seashores, etc. So, the path through nature is my meditation.

Haven't been to many, but I used to love going to the university arboretum in Santa Cruz. They've got an actual eucalyptus grove there -- not a couple of trees, but enough to form a canopy and leave the ground underneath naked except for their own fragrant leaves. Very nice place, with the sun coming through in little diamonds.

Other stuff, too, but I dig the trees.

One of the most amazing botanical gardens in the world is Kirstenbosch Garden in Cape Town, South Africa. They have over 4,000 varieties of plants - more than any continent in the world. Some of my other favorites are, Montreal (they have a Japanese and Chinese garden); the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon; the Japanese garden in Okayama, Japan; the Yuan garden in Shanghai; Kew garden in London, England; and the one in Victoria, Canada (I'm blocking on the name, but it starts with a "b"). c.i.

Butchart.

Thanks, pd, that's the one! c.i.

I saw it as a kid, when I didn't appreciate it as much as I should have. The gf was up there recently and loved it.

I like being in arboretums and botanical gardens myself. Not sure I know the difference, although 'arboretum' suggests that trees are emphasized.

I studied about Mount Auburn Cemetary in school...it was designed by someone whose name I forget this minute (Jackson?), but is well thought of for its whole design, and is a key place in landscape architecture history.

Arboretums are organized to showplace a goodly variety of trees, etc., and threrefore don't always have such coherence as a place like Mount Auburn. I love them anyway, love strolling around in them.

Then there are places like Descanso Gardens in Southern California. There is a grove of oak trees with an understory of camellias...that is quite an experience to see, and that, if I remember, is the primary feature of the garden, along with a tea house. Will check out some links today after work.

If anyone is going to london, try Kew Gardens

http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/

oak, Thank ye for the link to Kew Gardens. Brought back fond memories. The North Gallery alone is worth the trip. c.i.

Took a girl friend there one time CI, silly women got hay fever from the pollen, moaned the hothouses made her perspire and then it rained. Thank goodness there are some good pubs closeby

Some more links....

http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/56arnold/56arnold.htm

http://www.judithstock.com/Garden_Walk_with_Judith_Stock/Descanso_Gardens/descanso_gardens.html

http://www.butchartgardens.com/main.php

http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/84mountauburn/84mountauburn.htm

http://www.si.edu/oahp/spq/spq95sf8.htm re Mt. Auburn

http://www.virtualbirder.com/vbirder/onLoc/onLocDirs/BOSSPR/onLocMtAuburn.html
Birding tour of Mt. Auburn

http://www.gardens.com/garden/g_geo.htm Gardens and arboretums in the SF Bay area

http://www.booksatoz.com/homeandgardenatoz/gardens.htm
Oooooooh, a great list....

Pacific Northwest Gardens
I love touring gardens. My favorite is Kew Gardens. A couple of years ago I stayed at Crathes Castle in Scotland, which holds an incredible garden (the yews were planted in the 1700's). So, yes, I know that the gardens I'm going to list here are not the fanciest in the world, but they're still very enjoyable and worth a visit if you happen to be in the area.

The first arboretum I grew to know and love spans 200 acres next to the University of Washington. Compare that to the 50-acre Butchart Gardens which is wonderful (if costly and Disneyfied) and my all-time favorite, Kew Gardens, which encompasses 300 acres. Washington Park Arboretum has a nice Japanese Garden and loads of trees and woody shrubs, mostly of Pacific coast and Asian origins.
Washington Park Arboretum

The best Japanese Garden I've ever seen is the Japanese Garden in Portland, only 5 1/2 acres, but loaded with charm.
Japanese Garden of Portland

Another tiny gem is the Weyerhauser Company's Bonsai Collection -- just an acre in size, but there are a couple of mini-forests there.
Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection

The Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection is adjacent to the Rhododendron Species Foundation which covers 22 acres and is home to 10,000 Rhododendrons. Ho-hum, I don't like Rhodies, I'm just putting this in because so many people do.
Rhododendron Species Foundation

The 150-acre Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island is one of my favorite gardens. It is known for its magnificent prospect looking north across Puget Sound to Mt. Baker and the Northern Cascades as well as its huge natural stands of native Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedar and Western Hemlock. (Bloedel was a lumber baron.) Its unbelievable moss garden, 6 acres across, is said to be the largest anywhere. Tours are by reservation only.
Bloedel Reserve

Finally, Lakewold Gardens, ten acres in size, is another private garden that has re-opened for tours. An interesting bit of trivia about Lakewold -- its original owners were related to the owners of the Bloedel Reserve -- the wives were sisters. Lakewold's claim to fame is that it is home to the fabled Himalayan Blue Poppy, a strange plant with an incredibly sky blue blossom. My favorite at Lakewold are its magnificent copper beeches.
Lakewold Gardens

Piffka, That reminded me; my wife and I did visit the Japanese Garden in Portland. I vaguely remember a waterfall. c.i.

Mount Pleasant Cemetery here in Toronto is noted for:

The most wonderful greenhouse I was ever in was in Chicago - trying to find a link, but i'm falling asleeeeeeeeeep.

found it greenhouses at chicago botanic gardens

I am energized to study all these links. I have heard of Kew forever, and have semiantique postcards of some glasshouse (I love all of those, every one.)

I have had many friends who have seen and like Butchart a lot, but what I have seen from pictures doesn't attract me at all. Different strokes for....

I like more naturalistic design for botanical gardens, which is to say I don't go for the Disney look myself, but don't want to totally dump on it, since textured bedding color does charm. Plus, that is all I have seen of Butchart in photos.

Eventually I'll put all these links on the Helpful Links topic. I do them the old fashioned way, to make it easier for myself, as some sites will have different pages...well, it is easier to figure out what I have posted and what I haven't yet. But I'll try to add descriptions after the http business.

I know there are countless arboreta/gardens....and then we have places like Versailles and Villa Lante. Will try to control myself to the subject at hand.

Here's Kew's huge Palm House...




edited to replace image

Lovely, lovely.