Celebrate autumn with Scarecrows, Fest-of-Ale, Pumpkin Carving and Goblins

The exhibition of giant topiary-like sculptures is back by popular demand

Visitors are sure to think they’ve fallen down a rabbit hole this May when Imaginary Worlds: Alice's Wonderland springs to life at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. The exhibition of giant topiary-like plant sculptures, presented May 11 – October 27 at both the Midtown and Gainesville gardens, is back by popular demand after last summer’s blockbuster show, Imaginary Worlds: Once Upon a Time.  Featured are 16 installations of 38 individual sculptures, and many of last year’s crowd-favorites will make a comeback – some donning coats of different plant palettes than before. “The focus of the new show clearly is Alice and many in the cast of characters from Lewis Carroll’s classic novel,” Garden President & CEO Mary Pat Matheson said.  “But what will no doubt blow visitors away is the sheer size of these sculptures.” A giant White Rabbit, for example, towers at more than 27 feet tall as it floats inside an upside-down umbrella in the Skyline Garden pond.  That tops even the Garden’s resident Earth Goddess sculpture, at 22 feet.  On the Skyline lawn is an expansive chess board bordered by 10 heart “trees” each more than 12 feet tall, with a giant Cheshire Cat poised nearby.  Alice herself is on hand – just elsewhere in the Garden.  Who’s up for the challenge of finding her? Making encore appearances from 2018 are the Dragon, Mammoth, Mermaid, Phoenix, Camels, and Pegasus – many sporting all-new plantings.  At the Gainesville Garden, look for a return of the friendly Ogre along with Rip van Winkle, Bears, and Frogs. The Garden first introduced guests to Imaginary Worlds in 2013 when it presented the United States’ first major exhibition of mosaiculture – the horticultural art of creating giant sculptures using steel forms covered in thousands of living plants.  Mosaiculture is the creative genius of International Mosaiculture of Montreal®, a nonprofit group that has staged wildly successful exhibitions of its work around the world. The organization hosted its first major exhibition and competition in Montreal in 2000 to celebrate the Millennium and proved an instant hit with 1 million visitors.  Since then, it has extended its reach by participating in major exhibitions in Shanghai, Beijing, and Hamamatsu, Japan. In Atlanta, visitors may explore the new exhibition during evening hours every Thursday at Cocktails in the Garden, when the sculptures are dramatically lit.  Imaginary Worlds is presented with support from The Home Depot Foundation.

Atlanta Botanical Garden - FALL FUN!

Enjoy the cooler days and nights of October at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, where fall serves up a harvest of fun events. Throughout October, both the Atlanta and Gainesville gardens will be stuffed with more than 100 scarecrows created by artists, designers, schools, businesses, and families for Scarecrows in the Garden. Participants compete for prizes in one of two design categories:  professional and nonprofessional.  Registration is open from August 5 through September 6. On Thursday evenings at the Atlanta garden, visitors may explore the scarecrows under the glare of flashlights (which they are encouraged to bring) during Fest-of-Ale.  Each week, from 5 - 9 p.m., the beer fest features a variety of fine specialty ales at cash bars and live musical entertainment.  On the night of October 24, check out the Great Pumpkin-Carving Contest. For youngsters, harvest-themed activities will be on tap on weekends from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., and on Sunday, Oct. 27, they can wear their favorite costumes for a day of treats and activities during Goblins in the Garden, held at both gardens from 10 a.m  - 4 p.m. Scarecrows in the Garden is sponsored by The Home Depot Foundation.  For more information, visit atlantabg.org.

Pike Nurseries - Free Classes to the Public!

Pike Nurseries is providing local communities with an excuse to get outside and get hands dirty during free gardening classes taught by Pike Nurseries’ team of experts! Southeastern Native PlantsAugust 22 and 24 at select Pike Nursery locationsFREE! Guests are invited to discover what vegetation is native to the southeastern region with the certified plant experts at Pike Nurseries. In this class, participants will learn how to achieve an easy and efficient landscape with low-care plants that thrive in the local environment, while supporting pollinating species and wildlife populations. Southeastern Native Plants schedule: ·     Thursday, August 22 at 6 p.m. – West Cobb 3431 Ernest W Barrett Pkwy NW Marietta, Ga. 30064 ·     Saturday, August 24 at 10 a.m. – Holcomb 2955 Holcomb Bridge Rd. Alpharetta, Ga. 30022 ·     Saturday, August 24 at 10 a.m. – Ballantyne 12630 N. Community House Rd. Charlotte, N.C. 28277 For more information on the gardening classes and other events offered at Pike Nurseries, please visit www.pikenursery.com.

Atlanta Botanical Garden Launches Regional Conversation Program!

The Atlanta Botanical Garden has launched the Center for Southeastern Conservation, a program aimed at coordinating and collaborating with partner institutions to improve and expand their work with imperiled species and habitats of plants and animals.

Embracing the Garden’s mission and drawing upon its vast collections and expert staff, the center will be a hub of the Southeast’s large and growing conservation community. As a conduit for collaboration, the program focuses on conservation efforts in Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, protecting the natural heritage of one of North America’s most biodiverse regions.

“Commitment to conservation is a cornerstone of the Garden’s mission and identity, and the Center for Southeastern Conservation is one of the most important ventures in the last 40 years, encompassing imperiled species and rare habitat preservation, orchid conservation, urban habitat restoration, and education and training under one umbrella,” said Mary Pat Matheson, Garden President & CEO. “With the launch of the center, the Garden is staking a bold position, protecting this diverse and vibrant region for many years to come.”

The Southeast is home to many diverse and complex ecosystems, and the Garden contributes to the protection of many of them. The Apalachicola area is one of the oldest and most biodiverse locations in North America and includes plants such as Torreya taxifolia, one of the rarest conifers in the world. The wetlands of the longleaf pine ecosystem also include some of the most diverse habitats in North America, where many species of pitcher plants and orchids are found. Florida is home to more orchid species than anywhere in North America, and the orchid habitats of south Florida, such as the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, have a high diversity of tropical orchids. Refugial plant communities, isolated habitats where species established themselves during the Pleistocene glaciers (ending approximately 10,000 years ago), dot the southern Appalachian Mountains. The refugia’s incredibly diverse plant communities are vibrant but fragile in the face of encroaching development.

The Center for Southeastern Conservation is the first step in a multi-year expansion of the Garden’s conservation research and education efforts. This year, the Garden will host the Southeastern Partners in Plant Conservation meeting and introduce the center’s Orchid Conservation Institute, a venue for training both professionals and students. In its current capital campaign, the Garden is raising funds to expand its laboratories and facilities for research, training, and propagating rare plants, scheduled to open in 2017.