At Botanical Garden, scarecrows that grow on you

If you think the rise of Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and the rest of her "Jersey Shore" reality TV show crew is a sign of the imminent fall of Western civilization, you'll get a chuckle out of one of the more than 100 scarecrows on view at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

Behind cartoonishly oversized sunglasses, Snooki Scarecrow (created by a group called Girls of Summer) is scary indeed, outfitted in a tacky, too-revealing zebra-print dress and topped by a beauty queen ribbon proclaiming her the "Princess of Poughkeepsie."

The ninth annual Scarecrows in the Garden display is mainly aimed at kids, who race from one display to the next along the winding paths of the Southern Seasons and Children's gardens. But some of the best scarecrows (created by businesses, schools and individuals), like a Pixar movie, offer a little something extra to engage the adults who are trying to keep up with them.

Sure to be a hit with the whole family this year is the Howling Poker Pooches -- four cigar-smoking, beer-swilling skeletons around a card table, modeled on the nostalgic dogs-playing-poker images that have adorned black velvet painting for eons. Parents on opening day last weekend had to pull kids back from joining the poker-playing tableau (produced by the Swan Princess).

Other highlights:

• Spark the Dragon (by the city of Atlanta's Springdale Park Elementary, a.k.a. SPARK), a mythical monster (and the school's mascot) covered in hundreds of tiny plastic toys such as the Incredible Hulk and Buzz Lightyear. It's one of a number that conveys a message of recycling and protecting the Earth.

• Come Fly with Me (by J. Witzel Interior Design), a scarecrow farmer stretched out on the ground, surrounded by gourds and pumpkins, with a mobile of butterflies twirling above him.