Spring Fling: Atlanta Botanical Garden in Full Glory

This week I braved record pollen to enjoy spring flowers at my favorite place — The Atlanta Botanical Garden. Daffodils and tulips popped early, as did dogwoods, azaleas, hyacinths, hellebores, redbuds, and some viburnum blossoms. A visit well worth wheezes on a glorious 80-degree day. If you're ever in our fair city, I recommend a visit. If not, here's a virtual one.

Spring sprang early — about three weeks ahead of normal bloom time. While the Dogwood Festival probably won't have dogwood blooms to celebrate, it's a treat to enjoy them now before humidity hits.

Gardens are much more extensive than 10 years ago. During expansion, designers compensated for impermeable surfaces from new construction — clever moves throughout, from a permeable grass road wide enough for emergency vehicles to this green roof atop the gift shop.

Upon entering, greeted by this view. Ornamental understory in full glory — dogwoods at peak with a carpet of daffodils, tulips, and azaleas beneath.

I always head right to the new canopy walk.

The new canopy walk is breathtaking. Suspended through awesome engineering, it takes visitors into Storza Woods' canopy. Walk it and you're up in the trees, close to canopy bases.

Garden furniture is artful, providing places to pause and enjoy surroundings. At this time of year, you may have a coat of yellow dust on your bum when you get up.

After the canopy walk, arrive at the Cascades Garden. The old entrance road used to curve up this spot, right up the fountain terraces. You'd never know it today.

Zoom in on that gorgeous mature dogwood.

Ascending from woodland gardens, an exuberant field of tulips welcomes you to the campus — snack bar with dee-lish treats, library, and classrooms.

After a fresh turkey and havarti sandwich at the snack bar, you come to this parterre — boxwoods ringing crepe myrtles springing from tulip beds. Natural crepe myrtle forms are beautiful; I'll never understand why people give them bizarre, severe pruning. Beautiful bark and sculptural silhouettes provide year-round interest, even without flowers or leaves.

The blue glass sculpture in the background is by Dale Chihuly.

Midtown Atlanta skyscrapers pop up beyond the tulip border. Green, deep purple, and white palette is beautiful — borrow this for your garden or a room.

A spectacular allée of crepe myrtles surrounds a path between the great lawn and campus buildings.

Smaller garden rooms are part of the original gardens, sinuous paths leading from one to the next. Pink flowering trees are Piedmont azaleas.

This whimsical garden gate is by Andrew T. Crawford. Gardens feature more of Crawford's gates through April; he'll guide a tour April 17, 2012. Make a reservation.

This interesting flowering tree is a Chinese fringe flower.

Get a closer look at the bloom.

One thing I love: when you're wondering what a plant is and can't find a sign, friendly garden experts let you know. This gardener identified a Styrax Japonica, Japanese snowbell tree.

Until this visit, I was unfamiliar with the Piedmont azalea — feathery flower reminding me of witch hazel rendered in pink.

This is the biggest crepe myrtle I've ever seen. I asked this 6'4" man to act as a living scale figure. He agreed because he's my dad.

Creeping phlox creates colorful ground cover.

A Japanese snowball viburnum hit its peak this week.

A smoke tree spreads sculptural branches over a field of white, pale pink, and purple tulips.

Canadian columbine in fiery orange popped up to say hello.

Vibrant mustard greens complement bull's blood beets in the relatively new edible gardens. Pansies add another bloom wave below. Contrasting stripes add a design element not often seen in edible gardens. Coordinating signs with recipes — neat!

Oh, of course I got a close-up of the wilted mustard greens recipe; don't be silly!

An ornamental orchard of Calloway crab apple trees provides transitional space between ornamental and edible gardens. Just starting to leaf out.

Is anything blooming in your neck of the woods? Let us know where you are and what you're seeing in the Comments.