It has now been five months since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and as we continue to try to stay home as much as possible and avoid crowds, we continually look for ways to safely get out. So when my husband suggested the Atlanta Botanical Garden, I couldn't contain my excitement. Looking into it further, we learned that they are requiring timed tickets to reduce the number of people in the gardens at any given point and that they are asking visitors to wear masks. They also talked about increased sanitation of restrooms and hand sanitizer stations around the gardens. So we bought tickets for the first time slot of the day, hoping crowds would be even less first thing in the morning.
The gardens open at 9:00 a.m. eastern time (which is actually 8:00 a.m. our time) so our morning started very early as it is about a 2.5 hour drive from Birmingham. The benefit to getting up early is getting to watch the sunrise as you drive.
We arrived early enough at the gardens to get my husband's favorite parking spot.
We were the first ones in line and the first ones in the garden.
The Skyline Garden not only offers glimpses of the Atlanta skyline but also is temporary home to many of Alice's Wonderland Scenes.
We were able to watch a female ruby-throated hummingbird for a while. They are such amazing creatures!
The last part of the gardens is a forested, shady area with a really neat canopy walk and windy trails. It starts at the Cascades Garden where you can see the Earth Goddess and ends at the Glad Garden with this beautiful bright orange glass sculpture reflecting over a long pond.
By this point, we had been wandering the gardens about two and a half hours, the humidity was getting to us, and the gardens were getting more crowded than we liked so we headed back home.
