A Tour of Gibbs Gardens Continued

I hope you joined us for the last post where we began our tour through the gorgeous Gibbs Gardens.  I am so impressed with the talent, time and effort which has gone into creating these beautiful gardens.  I have never seen anything that comes close to the size and beauty of this magnificent garden.  It has been one man's dream come true and here now in all it's glory for others to enjoy.

These gardens are also a true testimony to what one can do if they follow their heart and work toward creating their dream whatever it may be,  here on God's beautiful earth.

Entering the Japanese Gardens.

The Japanese Gardens cover more than 40 acres.  This is the largest Japanese Garden in the nation.

I thought this was one of the prettiest and most serene views in all of the garden areas.

Part of the fern garden.

More beautiful ferns in the garden.

What a cute little owl statue in the Japanese Gardens.

Can you imagine being so talented as to create this beautiful statue 

of what looks like Canadian Geese.

Another beautiful pond in the Japanese Gardens.

We passed by this interesting looking Bald Cypress.

In the below photo is a replica of the bridge in Monet's Garden at Giverny,  just outside Paris, France.

The bridge is covered with lilac and white wisteria vines,

There are more than 140 varieties of water lilies in the five ponds in this area.

Part of the fern garden.

There is also a Grand-children's Sculpture Garden.  Each one of the sculptures looks like and represents one of the Gibb's grandchildren.  The grandchildren must be so proud to have a statue of themselves represented in the garden. 

This first statue was on the veranda of the Manor House.

Another grandchild sculpture down just beyond the Japanese Gardens.

And another!

And another!  How adorable!

The tram delivered us back to the Welcome Center and as I walked in the door I saw someone placing this beautiful arrangement down on the table.  There had been a fashion show earlier outside in a tent area and these flowers were part of the decorations.  I just had to take a photo of these beautiful flowers.

Our tour lasted about three hours as we took our time enjoying the gardens.

We did not see all of the gardens, just the areas that were in bloom at this time of year.

You can purchase a yearly ticket enabling you to come back as many times during the year as you would like.  Not living very close to the Atlanta area we did not opt for the yearly ticket,  which would have been a real bargain if we lived closer.

Well! What a special treat to see these gorgeous gardens.  I am so glad you joined us today as we strolled along enjoying all of the beauty of these amazing gardens.

Thank you for coming along with us.

We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week wherever you may be.

A Tour of Gibbs Gardens

We were traveling on our way toward home from Washington, D.C. sightseeing all along the way.  One of the places on our list to see on the way home was the beautiful Gibbs Gardens.

Awhile back I had seen an article in Southern Living Magazine telling about magnificent new gardens, which had just opened north-east of Atlanta, Georgia.  The article showed photos of  daffodils in bloom and they stretched as far as the eye could see.  Gibbs Gardens shows a portion of that article, including pictures on their website: 

   

http://www.gibbsgardens.com/information_press.php

After seeing that Southern Living Magazine article we put the gardens on our "to do" list.  We felt this trip would be a perfect opportunity to stop by and see the gardens even though the daffodils would not be blooming.

Our GPS took us through the little town of Ball Ground, Georgia which is a very small little farming town with about 1500 residents.   The gardens are about a 15 minute drive north-east of Ball Ground and about an hours drive from Atlanta.

Gibbs Gardens

1987 Gibbs Drive

Ball Ground, Georgia

This beautiful tree-lined drive was such a nice way to arrive at the entrance to Gibbs Gardens.

Parking lot.

Walkway to the garden entrance.

Gibbs Gardens is a 300 acre estate garden with 220 acres of artistically landscaped gardens surrounded by forests, ponds, streams, waterfalls and bridge crossings.  There is a total of 16 different gardens in one, with four feature gardens which include the Daffodil Gardens,  Manor House Gardens,  Monet Waterlily Gardens and the Japanese Gardens.

The Gibbs family has more than 40 years of experience and 250 awards 

for their Gibbs Landscape Company in Atlanta.

Jim Gibbs, the owner, designer and developer of Gibbs Gardens,  is the founder of Gibbs Landscape Company, one of the largest and oldest and most successful landscaping firms in Atlanta.

Jim Gibbs dreamed of creating a world-class garden in the Atlanta area for more than 40 years.  After spending six years finding just the right property and another 30-plus years designing and developing Gibbs Gardens,  his dream came true with the opening of these beautiful gardens on March 1, 2012.

Welcome center,  gift shop and ticket information.

 

 

 Today the tram would be taking us to the Manor House Gardens,
 Rhododendron Gardens,  the Japanese Gardens,
and the Monet Waterlily Garden

Along the way we would see the beautiful rose arbors,
go past the daffodil garden which was not in bloom,
see the fern garden and the sweeping garden lawns.

 

Tram to different sections of the gardens. 

The Manor House gardens were the first stop on our tour of the gardens.  Located on the highest crest in the area, the gardens overlook the North Georgia Mountains and feature beautiful views of terraces, lawns, pools and undisturbed woodlands.

The tram took us to the Manor House and we began our garden walk from there.

Manor House pool area.

Lawn looking down from the Manor House.

A beautiful white blooming tree over-looking the lawn.

Terrace coming down from the Manor House.

 

Gate leading to the huge rose arbor.

There were so many beautiful eye-catching places to see as we walked through the gardens. 

It is truly a photographer's paradise.

Entering the Rhododendron Garden paths.

A pretty Koi pond along the way.

I hope you enjoyed walking through the gardens so far,  and I hope you will join us next time as we continue on the tour of the gorgeous Gibbs Gardens.

I hope you are having a wonderful day wherever you may be.