The Botanical Gardens at Asheville

On the second day of my stay in Asheville I took a trip to the Botanical Gardens. Founded in 1960, and designed by landscape architect Doan Ogden, the gardens are a ten-acre natural sanctuary featuring over 700 plant species and a refreshing creek which I could not resist from dipping my feet.
It was a sunny hot day and had some energy to burn since I had just finished eating a very good late breakfast at Bistro 1896. This little eatery was charming with the flare of a true French cafe. As we approached the place I noticed that this must be the place to eat since the tables outside were full of people having a good time and a good meal. The cafe next door looked nice but it was empty. When it comes to food you have to go were the crowd is.
We sat inside on a little corner next to the front widow looking out into the outdoor tables, street and these three cool lanterns hanging from the owning outside. Inside the place was cute, with butter yellow walls and cherry wood tables and chairs. I loved the blue tiled floor on our end of the restaurant, it definitely made me feel I was out of the country.
We drove down to the gardens, which are located not too far from downtown Asheville. In all honesty, everything is very close to downtown Asheville. Upon our arrival we were greeted by quietness. For a moment I thought the place might be close since I couldn't see any one around. Didn't even see any employees, but the cars in the parking lot told me that they might be open. The gardens are open year round and free of charge. When walking in though the front walk way you come face to face with the visitor center and in front a tube with a little slot for people to deposit donations. After dropping a few dollars in the donation tube we were on our way with our expedition.
After walking for about two minutes I noticed this garden wasn't what I expected. I thought Botanical gardens had displays of flowers divided by different categories displayed in an outdoor museum like setting. At the start of our walk there was small area with many local flowers, but that seemed to be it. The rest was a park full of bushes and trees. The tour continued since the day was great and I was just happy to be surrounded by nature as opposed to concrete and steel. I loved this creek, which runs through the whole park. I took advantage of my flip flops and decided to walk down into the water and refresh myself. It was nice to feel the cold water running through my toes.
Further in my walk I came across this creepy log cabin. It looked haunted and I didn't like being near it, but curiosity always wins. Hayes Cabin is an original dog-rot cabin which was moved to and reconstructed at the Botanical Gardens from Madison County. After hiking some more through the small hills the path took me back to the beginning of the park. I didn't get to explore the whole place but I thought it was time to go.

Comments

Parisbreakfasts said…
More Gold fish please.
Luis Colan said…
Hi Carol, unfortunately I did not see any more gold fish in my trip....the previous post is all.

luis
Anonymous said…
The vastness is really America to me. We have an amazing victorian botanical garden in london called Kew Gardens, and I always thought they are enormous, but now I know, there are some amazing things in the US.

C x
Luis Colan said…
The US is a very big place...about 80 something percent of the country has not been developed yet. That's a contry full of wild life!
cheers!

luis
Jeffrey Hayes said…
Hi Luis,

I just came across your blog and spent some time reading your archives. It's a great blog and I love what you're doing with your still lifes; I can't wait to see more!

Best wishes,
Jeff
Luis Colan said…
thanks Jeff for dropping by! There's no set agenda with my blog, I'm just showing all of you who I am and what my life is like.

luis

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