LUX Travel: Breathtaking Botanical Gardens

Feb 14, 2013
Marisa Machak • Travel

When travelers get spring fever, they want nothing more than to visit the most attractive places on earth. While the winter days dwindle down, check out seven of the most breathtaking botanical gardens in the world. From Canada to France, these glorious gardens will help celebrate beautiful flowers and the blooming of spring with lush greens and flowers.

Château de Versailles

via Sightseeing-in-paris.com

The phenomenal lands of the Château de Versailles in France were first designed and created during the reign of King Louis XIV. These extensive gardens were created to magnify the glory of his palace at Versailles, which was a monument to his rule. The 250-acre garden estate are riddled with paths leading to flower beds, decorative classical statuary, ornamental lakes and a canal that the King used for gondola rides.

Giverny

via Giverny.org

Travelers can set foot in a living painting when they visit the grounds where Impressionist artist Claude Monet lived and completed his most famous work. Visitors will see the very setting of Giverny where Monet painted his world-renowned water lilies and floral landscapes while also visiting the Nymphéas-filled pond, flower garden, wisteria-draped Japanese bridge and more. Every part of the two-and-a-half acre estate adds to the gorgeous chaos of color inspired largely by Monet’s fascination with Japanese pastoral prints.

Butchart Gardens

via Butchart Gardens

Set amidst the lush landscape of British Columbia’s Victoria, the Butchart Gardens were once an abandoned limestone quarry. Slowly but surely, the Butchart family used inspiration from their travels to redesign the space into a world-class botanical achievement. Now consisting of the Japanese gardens, the Italian gardens and the Mediterranean gardens, the elegant and traditional scenery of the vegetal setting add charm and character.

Kenrokuen Garden

via Travelvivi.com

Classified as one of Japan’s three most beautiful gardens, the Kenrokuen Garden offers spacious grounds with a peaceful Zen ambiance. The landscape offers visitors various ponds, streams, waterfalls, bridges, teahouses, trees, stones and flowers for an endless array of attractive scenes. The name Kenrokuen translates to “Garden of the Six Sublimities,” referring to the six essential attributes that make up a perfect garden: spaciousness, seclusion, artificiality, antiquity, abundant water and broad views.

Chicago Botanic Garden

via Chicago Botanic Garden

The Chicago Botanic Garden is a magical living plant museum sitting on nine islands covering 385 acres. Featuring 25 gorgeous display gardens, the site covers four natural habitats: McDonald Woods, Dixon Prairie, Skokie River Corridor, and Lakes and Shores. The Chicago Botanic Garden strives to offer visitors the most beautiful greens and flowers while exemplifying the highest standards of horticulture and best gardening practices.

Atlanta Botanical Garden

via examiner.com

In the heart of Atlanta lies an urban oasis featuring 30 acres of outdoor gardens. The Atlanta Botanical Garden offers plant life and flowers from all over the world and the largest collection of orchid species, making this garden one of the most beautiful sites in all of Georgia. Visitors should arrive from February through April when the Orchid Daze exhibition showcases thousands of orchids in bloom.

New York Botanical Garden

via newyorkbotanicalgarden.com

Considered to be America’s premiere urban garden, the New York Botanical Garden’s living collections represent a museum-like kingdom of flowers and plants. Spread across 50 gardens and landscapes within the National Historic Landmark site in the Bronx, highlights are the Victorian style “crystal palace” greenhouse, the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden, a rock garden and a 37-acre conifer collection.