SUPERnatural: Aerial Art in Motion

During my last visit to the Atlanta Botanical Garden, I once again felt like a tourist in New York City, craned neck looking up in awe at the towering skyscrapers. But there are no skyscrapers within the 30 acres of the Garden. But there's this...(video)...

The second part of this summer's SUPERnatural exhibition is Aerieal Art in Motion, by Poetic Kinetics based in Los Angeles. In particular, this piece is called Dream Flora, part of Patrick Shearn's signature Skynet Art Series. 

Dream Flora | Atlanta Botanical Garden | Photo by Travis Swann Taylor

Patrick Shearn is also the founder of Poetic Kinetics, which he launched in 2008 after a 30-year career in the film effects industry. Their large-scale works of art have been seen around the world. If this is your first sighting of one of their works, know that you are in for a spectacular treat!

Dream Flora | Atlanta Botanical Garden | Photo by Travis Swann Taylor

I hope you get to visit on a breezy day. Dream Flora is composed of red, orange, purple, and yellow nylon streamers attached to webs of transparent nets that are suspended by ropes in the trees. Even the slightest breeze will make this piece of art dance!

Dream Flora | Atlanta Botanical Garden | Photo by Travis Swann Taylor

SUPERnatural: Aerial Art in Motion - "Dream Flora"

Dream Flora | Atlanta Botanical Garden | Photo by Travis Swann Taylor

SUPERnatural: Aerial Art in Motion - "Dream Flora"

Dream Flora | Atlanta Botanical Garden | Photo by Travis Swann Taylor

At the point on the Canopy Walk where you find the Andrew Crawford stools, Dream Flora branches off toward Saffron Tower placed at the fartherest northeast point in the Garden.

Dream Flora | Atlanta Botanical Garden | Photo by Travis Swann Taylor

SUPERnatural: Aerial Art in Motion - "Dream Flora"

Atlanta Botanical Garden | Photo by Travis Swann Taylor

Almost at the end of the Canopy Walk, I realized that I'd not been looking down. I was so mesmerized by Dream Flora that I wasn't paying attention to the Garden. That was resolved by another walk along the bridge, as well as under it where I got some awesome views of Dream Flora!

Dream Flora | Atlanta Botanical Garden | Photo by Travis Swann Taylor

At 600-feet long, 40-feet high, the 12-feet wide serpentine elevated pathway known as the Kendeda Canopy Walk opened in 2010 is considered the largest tree canopy-level walkway of its kind in the United States.

Dream Flora | Atlanta Botanical Garden | Photo by Travis Swann Taylor

The two summer exhibitions, collectively called SUPERnatural, intersect near Sourwood Terrace. Glass Art in Bloom, by Jason Gamrath, continues in the more formal part of the Garden and all the way to the Skyline Garden.

Check out Dream Flora during the day or during the evening (or both!) during Cocktails in the Garden. This exhicit will be on display through September 19, but you know not to wait...see it now so you don't miss this spectacular opportunity!

Atlanta Blooms! Inspires

One of the goals of the Atlanta Botanical Garden's Atlanta Blooms! exhibition, a relatively new tradition with more than a decade of glorious beauty, has been to inspire Atlanta—her businesses and residents—to beautify the city with spring blossoms. 

I'm here to share with you that that mission is an emphatic success! Atlanta has always been beautiful in the spring, but since Atlanta Blooms! came onto the scene, blossoms throughout Atlanta have...well, they've blossomed!

Atlanta Blooms! 2015 | Atlanta Botanical Garden

The photos in this post are from two visits to the Garden, one last night and one last weekend. This time of year I typically visit the Garden almost weekly, if not more often. This time of year it's different every visit! 

The two gorgeous Cherry Trees in front of Mershon Hall in the Garden, I love! They also make me nostalgic for the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C., which I went to practically every year of the nine years I lived there. Hard to believe that only two trees can make me nostalgic for 3,000 trees, but they do...they're that beautiful.

I told my dear friend Shelley about the Conyers Cherry Blossom Festival, which I've not personally been to, and she told me the following week that she and her husband had a fantastic time there, despite the rain!

Atlanta Blooms! 2015 | Atlanta Botanical Garden

The color scheme and blossoming bulb varieties are different for every Atlanta Blooms! exhibition. This year's is magnificent! Not that any year's hasn't been, but just look at those blossoms! Tell me you don't want to tiptoe through them!

Atlanta Blooms! 2015 | Atlanta Botanical Garden

While most of the photos in the particular post feature tulips—which happens to be my favorite of all flowers—there are many other blossoms featured in Atlanta Blooms!, including quite a collection of daffodils! And they're displayed throughout the Garden in various formats. 

You're in for a treat...and bring your wanderlusting enthusiasm when you come!

Atlanta Blooms! 2015 | Atlanta Botanical Garden

The Atlanta Botanical Garden is one of the most romantic places in our gorgeous city. The photo above was just last night. In such a splendid setting, how can you not be at least a little romantic? 

Of course you know the Garden is the site of many memorable weddings and special events, right? Of course it is! Check out the various destinations in the Garden for such occasions...Events and Meetings at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Personally, I'm fond of the Trustees Garden and the Alston Overlook, but share with me where in the Garden you'd host YOUR special event.

Atlanta Blooms! 2015 | Atlanta Botanical Garden

I'm not sure who is responsible for the pots throughout the Garden, but that person/team is to be commended. Throughout the year, these pots are home to seasonal and otherwise interesting plantings! And they add incredible interest to walkways and other areas of the Garden. Kudos!

Atlanta Blooms! 2015 | Atlanta Botanical Garden

Seriously, this is one of the most gorgeous spots in all of Atlanta and it's perfect for socializing. It's a great date night spot, too, as well as an wonderful destination for quality family time.

Atlanta Blooms! 2015 | Atlanta Botanical Garden

That's right...get up close and personal with the blossoms. Just don't touch. Remember that there are thousands of other visitors right behind you who want to enjoy the splendor that every flower offers. 

My absolute favorite flower in the whole world is simply a white tulip. However, these fringed tulips are rather magnificent, don't you think? Look for these in huge pots along the Crepe Myrtle Allée. This photo was made last week when I visited with my friend Barry, but they're still spectacular this week!

Atlanta Blooms! 2015 | Atlanta Botanical Garden

One of the things that I love about Atlanta Botanical Garden is that its visitorship is so incredibly diverse and even when there are thousands of people there in a single evening event, you're all a community...you're one big happy family!

When I see families playing together—like in the photo above with the kid doing a hand stand and the father twirling his daughter, and I saw another kid doing cartwheels—it makes me feel like a kid again. As beautiful and edifying as the Garden is, it's also a wonderful destination for some good old fashion fun!

Speaking of delightful childhood memories, at last night's Spring Member Evening event, volunteers were handing out Chocolate Chip Cookies coupons courtesy of Chef Linton Hopkins, who opened his new restaurant—The Cafe at Linton's in the Garden—on the first evening of last year's Garden Lights, Holiday Nights exhibition. 

I took three steps from the volunteer-staffed table at Alston Overlook (Thank you, Kathryn!) where they were gifting the cookies. Alston Overlook is the highest point in the Garden, and there I perched. Overlooking the Garden and the Atlanta skyline, I and my friend Luc savored our cookies and the view, basking in the setting sun.  

Atlanta Blooms! 2015 | Atlanta Botanical Garden

Being the "Peach State" and the land of more than 60 streets with the word "Peachtree"—the Garden would be remiss to not have at least a few Peach Trees. In fact, they have three Dwarf Peach Trees, appropriately in the Edible Garden. The blossoms on these trees are magnificent! 

Being dwarf trees, they may not be easily recognized. When you're in the Edible Garden standing in front of the Vertical Herb Wall, the three Dwarf Peach Trees are in the large pots just to the left of the Wall. 

If you've reached the Edible Garden without going through the Conservatory and Orchid Center, may I recommend turning around and going that route, especially right now. Orchid Daze is underway—another fantastic decade-plus exhibition. 

This year's show is Orchid Daze: Pop!, themed after pop artists Warhol, Haring, and Lichtenstein. That show finishes Sunday, April 12, so if you've not seen it, get there soon so you can enjoy Atlanta Blooms! AND Orchid Daze: Pop!

Atlanta Blooms! 2015 | Atlanta Botanical Garden

Now you know about Orchid Daze: Pop! and Atlanta Blooms!...but have you heard about this year's summer exhibition?

Bruce Monroe: Light in the Garden is going to be magnificent! It opens the first week of May and the largest of the site-specific installations will be more than 30,000 flower-like stems blanketing Storza Woods! As you've probably assumed, this will be an exhibition enjoyed best in the evenings, so the Garden will be open Wednesday through Sunday evenings throughout the summer.

If you've never been to Atlanta Blooms! at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, and even if you have, now is the time to experience its splendor!

Atlanta Botanical Garden: Oasis in the City

Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

I had been a member and frequent visitor of the Atlanta Botanical Garden from1987, when I moved to Atlanta (the first time), through 2001 (when I moved to DC) and vividly remember the opening of the Fuqua Conservatory in 1989, as well as other visits. My recent visit was the first time to the Garden in more than a decade. All I can say is, "Wow!"

Alright, that's not all I have to say. Since returning to Atlanta (three weeks now) following an 8.5 year life in Washington, D.C., I've driven by the Garden numerous times and it kept calling to me—it was determined to be at the top of my list of places to tour in the near term. I am so glad I went.

The Garden is vastly different from what I remember. There's a new entrance, and many new gardens and vistas, including a Canopy Walk, an Edible Garden and Outdoor Kitchen, Cascades Garden and a new visitor center—all breathtaking.

On this particular visit, knowing that there had been some changes, I decided to attend one of the tours—offered Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1:30 p.m. Our tour guide, Angie, a native of London, greeted us enthusiastically and it was quickly obvious that she knows what she's talking about.

Canopy Walk

We'd arrived a little early and had already explored the Canopy Walk, which opened in May of this year (2010). The 600 foot long Walk takes visitors 40 feet above the floor of the Storza Woods forest. The Walk itself is recognized as the only reverse-suspension forest canopy in the United States. The views from the Walk and from the forest floor are quite 'lifting,' in spirit and sight.

Angie started with a brief history of the relatively recent additions and upgrade projects in the Garden, including a background discussion of the bright green, pitcher plant-inspired parterre hanging in the two-story Hardon Visitor Center. The parterre once hung in the carnivorous plant rotunda of the Fuqua Conservatory, but was moved to the Visitor Center when it opened in 2008 so more visitors could enjoy its beauty.

Levy Parterre

The first stop on this particular tour, tailored for the tourists in our group (five of us, all Atlantans), was the Levy Parterre, centered between the Alston Overlook, Day Hall, the Rose Garden and Mershon Hall. The garden hosting the Levy Parterre is one of the two best spaces in the Garden to catch a glimpse of Atlanta’s Midtown skyline. Parallel to the Levy Parterre garden is a walkway, leading to the Great Lawn, which is lined with towering Crape Myrtles…I'd never seen this species reach such heights!

Next, we visited the tranquil Japanese Garden, which we entered by passing through a Chinese Moon Gate. Remember to make a wish when you pass through the Moon Gate! Angie told us that one of the stone Japanese lanterns (near another entrance to this particular garden) was a gift from Atlanta's sister city in Japan and is more than 300 years old.

The Edible Garden has a design that I found particularly fascinating and amusing. Crop Circles! Although there was nothing "alien" in this section of the Garden (or any other section for that matter), it was amazingly well-designed and mature compared to many other fruit and vegetable gardens I've seen in other public botanical spaces. The Outdoor Kitchen, occupying one of the circles, is a fully-functional kitchen and is used for cooking demonstrations, mostly on the weekends and during special events. It even has an outdoor fireplace with a sitting area, presumably used in the fall and early spring.

Fuqua Conservatory

Next, and one of the most popular destinations within the Garden, was the Fuqua Conservatory, home to more than 2,000 species of orchids, desert plants and approximately 800 species of palm trees. I'm not sure how they got 800 species of palms in a relatively small space, but it's as dense as a tropical rainforest, so I shouldn't be surprised.

One of the Garden's conservation projects includes the preservation of frogs. Currently, frog life around the world is threatened, and in some cases endangered, and the Atlanta Botanical Garden, home to frogs for more than two decades (that I know of, maybe longer), is actively supporting the effort to return frogs to their native habitats. The bright yellow, blue frogs and the leaf frogs are particularly fascinating.

Vine Arbor

Our tour wrapped up with a visit to the Aquatic Plant Pond, a discussion on the creation of the Atlanta Botanical Garden relative to Piedmont Park and a walk around the Great Lawn through the Vine Arbor, where live music is regularly enjoyed by Garden visitors and tourists.

Is the Atlanta Botanical Garden on my visit-again list? I'll let the fact that I purchased a new membership speak for itself. There’s a lot more to see and do than what I’ve mentioned here, including classes, a Children's Garden, the Garden Cafe and special events. So be sure to ask for a garden map at the visitor center and plan ample time to see all the points of interest that pique your curiosity.

Visiting the Atlanta Botanical Garden

Date toured: Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Hours:
Tuesday-Sunday
April - October, 9 a.m. - 7 p.m.
November - March, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Thursdays, May - October, 9 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Closed Mondays except for Monday holidays such as Labor Day and Memorial Day. Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.

Location: 1345 Piedmont Avenue, NE (map and directions)

Cost:
- Members admitted free
- Children (under three) free
- Children (3-17) $12
- Adults (18-64) $15
- Seniors (65 and over) $12

Parking:
Drop-off (0-15 minutes) free
16-30 minutes ($0.75)
Each additional 30 minutes ($1.00)
Multi-visit parking passes available at the Gift Shop

Website: http://www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org/