While a visit to Gibbs Gardens in any season provides you with an array of beauty, the Daffodil ColorFest is particularly spectacular.
I first visited Gibbs Gardens soon after I finished Chemo treatments for Breast Cancer. I had been confined to my home because of the winter cold and a compromised immune system. I longed for spring.
Surfing the internet, I found Gibbs Gardens and learned about the Daffodil ColorFest. It was only a couple of hours from my home, and I promised myself that as soon as I was able, I would visit there.
My daughter came home for a visit the weekend after I received my MRI scan results. The scan showed no evidence of disease! To celebrate I donned my “hat with hair,” and my daughter, my husband, and I made the drive to Gibbs Gardens.
It was a beautiful day, slightly cool and not too sunny — the perfect day for pictures. We arrived around 10:00 am. After purchasing our tickets, we received a brief history and description of the gardens, along with a map of the gardens. With our map in hand, we ventured off.
Gibbs Gardens is a 300-acre estate garden that was built in 1980 by Jim Gibbs. Mr. Gibbs has spent his life working in the landscape and gardening industry. His dream was to design and to build a world-class garden that would last for generations to come. He has done just that.
On the property, you will find a beautiful English manor house (the Gibbs family home), 220 acres of elegantly landscaped gardens, 24 ponds, 32 bridges, 19 waterfalls, and numerous statues and other garden art.
And during February and March, you will find the daffodils in bloom. Lots of daffodils! Over 20,000,000 flowers cover 50 acres of the property. According to Southern Living Magazine, it’s “the largest display of daffodils this side of Holland.”
Scattered throughout the property are more than 150 different varieties of daffodils, designed to keep the gardens in continuous bloom for six weeks.
The Daffodil ColorFest begins with the early-bloomers (February 16-March 2), followed by the mid- bloomers are two weeks later (March 2-16), and finishes with the late-bloomers two weeks after that (March 16-30).
We visited Gibbs Gardens at the beginning of the late-bloom cycle. The colors were spectacular! In addition to all the daffodil blooms, there was an abundance of tulips, dogwoods, flowering cherry trees, and forsythia blooming along the garden paths.
We spent several hours walking the quiet trails and gardens. We finished our visit with a late lunch at the garden’s Arbor Café. I was pleased their menu featured healthy choices using locally sourced products. I ordered the Chicken Salad Wrap. It was delicious!
Words and pictures can’t begin to describe the beauty of this place. We were amazed at the attention to detail exhibited in each of the gardens. It is also a place of peace and serenity. Gibbs Gardens’ Daffodil Colorfest was the perfect place for me to celebrate the end of a long hard winter and to welcome a new season in my life.
Here is what you will need to know if you plan to visit Gibbs Gardens:
Gibbs Gardens is located in Ball Ground, GA – about an hour north of Atlanta.
Plan on spending 3-4 hours there if you want to see all the gardens, or if you are short on time you can spend a couple of hours and visit just the Manor House Gardens or Valley Gardens.
Tickets are $20 per person with discounts for seniors and children. ,
Depending on the season, there is a tram you can ride through much of the gardens for an additional $5.00.
The Daffodil ColorFest is only the first of many events Gibbs Gardens features each year. Check their website before visiting. There you can view the calendar of events, days and hours of operations, and other information you need to plan your visit.
Looking for more great places to visit in Georgia? Check out my post about American author, Flannery O’Connor’s hometown, Milledgeville.
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