Featured Image: Courtesy Cheekwood Estate & Gardens
Spring hit the South, and with it came wildflowers, cherry blossoms, tulips, daffodils, and magnolias, turning every corner into a flowering postcard. If you’re itching to get outside and see what all the fuss is about, these parks and gardens are worth the drive.
Cheekwood Estate & Gardens | Nashville, Tennessee
Cheekwood sits on 55 acres in Belle Meade, one of Nashville’s prettiest suburbs. The estate was built in 1929 and now functions as both a botanical garden and art museum. More than 400,000 people visit every year, and while there are annual events all year long (millions of holiday lights, a pumpkin and mum takeover in fall), spring is a pretty special time to visit.
Cheekwood in Bloom is now in its eleventh year and is a Nashville tradition. The show includes 250,000 blooming tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, and violas, plus concerts, Sunday Jazz, and a weekend Beer Garden. Morton Arboretum’s magnolias, redbuds, and dogwoods bloom in March and April.
Ridgeland Wildflower Field | Ridgeland, Mississippi
Ridgeland’s Wildflower Field is how it sounds… acres of wildflowers painting the ground in vibrant colors. The field blooms heaviest in spring with native Mississippi species: black-eyed Susans, coneflowers, coreopsis, and whatever else decides to show up that year.
It’s free and gorgeous for photos and nature walks. The field sits near the Natchez Trace Parkway, so you can hit both in one trip if you’re planning a drive.
Birmingham Botanical Gardens | Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham Botanical Gardens opened in 1962 and has been free ever since. That’s right… Sixty-seven acres, more than two dozen garden spaces, over 330,000 visitors a year—all free.
Birmingham sits in one of the most biodiverse areas in the United States, and the gardens certainly reflect that. The Curry Rhododendron Garden showcases a collection of the beloved bush, the Ireland Old Fashioned Rose Garden features antique roses, and Southern Living even once contributed a replica Southern home garden. There’s also an Herb Terrace if you want to smell things and a Hill Garden with sculptures if you don’t.
Atlanta Botanical Garden | Atlanta, Georgia
The Atlanta Botanical Garden’s 30 acres of intrigue draw people looking for nature, horticulture lessons, or just a break from one of the South’s biggest cities. Classes and workshops run year-round for all ages. Adults can learn to improve home gardening skills or try their hand at botanical art, while kids’ classes focus on the natural world.
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden | Richmond, Virginia
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden covers 50-plus acres on a historic Richmond property, and this May, a massive expansion will wrap up, drastically increasing the footprint. Roses, cherry blossoms, magnolias—all the South’s best spring blooms can be found onsite. The Conservatory is the only classical domed conservatory in the mid-Atlantic. Known as the “Jewel of the Garden,” it’s divided into wings: palm and cycad collection in the center, tropical plants and orchids in the East Wing, cacti and succulents in the West Wing, rotating seasonal displays in the North Wing. In late spring, the butterfly exhibit typically returns to the North Wing.
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens | Sarasota, Florida
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens line the shore of Sarasota Bay in downtown Sarasota in one of the most stunning scenes I’ve yet found in the South. The gardens comprise two campuses: the 15-acre Downtown Sarasota campus and the 30-acre Historic Spanish Point campus. Together, it’s forty-five total acres of bayfront sanctuaries.
The Downtown Campus is the only botanical garden in the world dedicated to the display and study of epiphytic orchids, bromeliads, gesneriads, ferns, and other tropical plants. There’s a significant focus on botany, horticulture, education, historical preservation, and the environment.
Grandfather Mountain State Park | North Carolina
If manicured gardens aren’t your thing, Grandfather Mountain State Park offers the South’s natural beauty without the curation. The mountain towers almost 6,000 feet above North Carolina and is one of the region’s most ecologically diverse nature preserves. Spot bears, cougars, otters, a bald eagle, and deer in their natural habitats, plus plenty of trails for meandering adventure
Admission to the park is free, but the Mile High Swinging Bridge, which, you guessed it, suspends one mile off the ground, has a fee for its high-flying panoramic views.
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