For the past year I’ve been compiling a list of Public Gardens in the United States for my gardening website.  These gardens all look like fantastic places to visit, but what are the most popular?

The most popular public gardens (based on online chatter) in the USA are:

20. New Orleans Botanical Garden in New Orleans, Louisiana

…a tie for #20…

20. Cleveland Botanical Garden in Cleveland, Ohio

19. Beaumont Botanical Gardens in Beaumont, Texas

18. Memphis Botanic Garden in Memphis, Tennessee

17. San Antonio Botanical Garden in San Antonio, Texas

16. Missouri Botanical Garden in Saint Louis, Missouri

15. Queens Botanical Garden in Flushing, New York

14. New York Botanical Garden in Bronx, New York

13. Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania

12. Denver Botanic Gardens in Denver, Colorado

11. Green Bay Botanical Garden in Green Bay, Wisconsin

10. Atlanta Botanical Garden in Atlanta, Georgia

9. Hershey Gardens in Hershey, Pennsylvania

8. Red Butte Garden in Salt Lake City, Utah

7. Birmingham Botanical Gardens in Birmingham, Alabama

6. Chicago Botanic Garden in Chicago, Illinois

5. Santa Barbara Botanic Garden in Santa Barbara, California

4. San Francisco Botanical Garden in San Francisco, California  Read more...

The fundamental nature of the Oriental garden lies in the re-creation of nature within the garden’s boundaries. Most people are familiar with the classic example of the raked sand and rock composition, in which the rocks form islands within a sea of raked gravel, with the gravel breaking as waves on the rocks.

Although China and Japan have some of the richest, natural floras in the world, only a relatively small range of plants are used in traditional gardens; this is largely because these gardens were conceived by poets, artists, and scholars rather than botanists or gardeners. Planting is limited and reserved, with each shrub or tree having a meaning or symbolic place in the overall composition.

The concept of an Oriental ‘dry’ garden, with its contrasting surfaces of stone, rock, cobbles and gravel, lends itself to perfectly to gardens all over the world.

The Principles of the Oriental Garden Style

Garden design in China is an ancient art going back over 3,000 years. Gardens were created by philosophers and scholars as quiet, peaceful places for contemplation and meditation. The elements used in design were traditionally simple and symbolic, reflecting China’s vast landscape of green valleys, rocks, mountains, lakes and falling water. Paths were winding or zigzagged, which enabled different prospects and views to be gradually revealed. Steeply arched bridges over water gave views of fish or simply reflections.

For the past year I’ve been compiling a list of Public Gardens for my gardening website.  These gardens all look like fantastic places to visit, but what are the most popular?  I’ll continue with this list for the Pacific Coast of the United States.  The Pacific Coastal States are Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington.

The most popular public gardens (based on online chatter) on the Pacific Coast are:

10. Oregon Garden in Silverton, Oregon

9. Quail Botanical Gardens in Encinitas, California

8. Bellevue Botanical Garden in Bellevue, Washington

7. Alaska Botanical Garden in Anchorage, Alaska

6. Filoli in Woodside, California

5. Koko Crater Botanical Garden in Honolulu, Hawaii

4. University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley in Berkeley, California

3. Huntington Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California

2. Santa Barbara Botanic Garden in Santa Barbara, California

…and the most popular public garden  on the US Pacific Coast is…

1. San Francisco Botanical Garden in San Francisco, California  Read more...

Wall Street Journal editor called New York Botanical Garden, “A Garden of Earthly Delights.” This garden was built in Bronx region, in 1891 and covers an area of 250 acres. Nathaniel Lord Britton was the first director of this garden. Different events are organized annually at the New York Botanical Garden, which offers the visitors to learn and explore about different plant varieties.

New York Botanical Garden not only has attractive hills, ponds and waterfalls, it also has vast ranges of historical buildings like century landmarks and Victorian conservatory (world’s largest conservatory). This garden is truly a center ecological preservation.

The Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden

This garden remains open from May to September and has more than three thousand species of rose. Both antique and contemporary roses are found here. The antique rose plants here are aged over 2000 years. This garden is an award winning rose garden.

The Home Gardening Center

This center is meant to offer its help and advice in making one’s own garden. Different garden samples are provided by this center along with handouts containing tips and instructions to understand the basics of good garden.

The Forest  Read more...