5 best places to see flowers in Atlanta

When you want to spend a day exploring Atlanta's best flower gardens, these Atlanta area locations are where you should go.

Atlanta Botanical Garden (1345 Piedmont Ave., Atlanta, GA 30309) – The garden is full of color throughout the year. There are suggested itineraries for visitors depending on whether you're bringing kids or you only have an hour or you're a hard core gardener and so on. You can also check on what's in bloom or find out about indoor and outdoor plant collections. There's often something special going on in addition to the usual greenery.

Visitors to Woodruff Park pass by some of the 20,000 blooms as part of the international efforts of the Daffodil Project to create a living Holocaust Memorial.

Credit: Curtis Compton

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Credit: Curtis Compton

Woodruff Park (Peachtree Street at Edgewood Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30303) – The Daffodil Project has planted daffodils all over the world in memory of the 1.5 million children who died in the Holocaust. Atlanta's Woodruff Park is home to many of those plants. If you haven't been downtown in a while you will be surprised when you see the park with all of its new features. Come on down!

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Flowers and fine sculpture “grow” side by side throughout the Smith-Gilbert Gardens in Kennesaw. Courtesy of Smith-Gilbert Gardens

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Smith-Gilbert Gardens (2382 Pine Mountain Road, Kennesaw, GA 30152) – On the grounds of the historic Hiram Butler House (ca. 1880), 16 acres are full of natural and sculpted garden landscape featuring over 3,000 species of plants. In addition to serving as a great space for an outdoor wedding, the grounds are also home to a beautiful bonsai garden.

Oakland Cemetery (248 Oakland Ave. SE, Atlanta, GA 30312) – The grounds of Atlanta's historic cemetery come alive with springtime blossoms each year. In addition to being the final resting place of many famous Atlantans, the garden has some beautiful memorials and lots of garden space.

Goizueta Gardens at the Atlanta History Center (130 W. Paces Ferry Road NW,Atlanta, GA 30305) – Six distinct gardens and 22-acres of trails are tucked into the landscape of the Atlanta History Center. From blooms of species that predate settlement of Georgia to an Asian Garden to a formal, sculpted array of plants, the History Center's grounds have it all.

Outside of Atlanta, visit Gibbs Gardens in Ball Ground where acres of sculpted, flowered landscape welcome visitors. South of the metro area, Callaway Gardens welcomes visitors to explore their many flower-filled gardens while Hills and Dales Estate in LaGrange offers visitors a chance to see the flower-filled grounds that inspired Cason Callaway to create Callaway Gardens.