Martha Stewart once quipped, “If you want to be happy for a year, get married. If you want to be happy for a decade, get a dog. And if you want to be happy for the rest of your life, make a garden.” Comedy aside, gardens have been a fount of inspiration and joy throughout human history.
Chances are, when you think of iconic gardens, Claude Monet’s water lily wonderland in Giverny or the magnificence of Granada’s UNESCO-protected Alhambra Palace, with its blankets of bougainvillea and gurgling fountains, may come to mind. However, you need not travel far to experience some truly spectacular horticultural sanctuaries. Below we’ve rounded up 10 incredible American gardens that will delight the most seasoned garden lover and nature enthusiast. Here are the gardens in America worth adding to your travel bucket list.
Lotusland: Montecito, California
Lisa Romerein
(Lisa Romerein)
Stepping foot inside Lotusland feels like stumbling on a secret. Today, the 37-acre campus—which is the first organic botanical garden in the country and visitable only by reservation—is an absolute paradise filled with flowering lotuses and water lilies, aloes and ancient cycads. Guests might feel like Alice falling through the rabbit hole as they pass koi ponds and garden labyrinths, animal-shaped topiaries and one of the largest functioning astrological clocks in the world.
Every year from February to November, 20,000 visitors flock to this spectacular site, located in a residential corner of Montecito, California, to experience the legacy of its inimitable founder, the late Polish opera singer and socialite, Madame Ganna Walska.
Dumbarton Oaks (Washington, D.C.)
Photograph by Alexandre Tokovinine – Getty Images
(Photograph by Alexandre Tokovinine – Getty Images)
Situated on the highest point in Georgetown awaits the historic Dumbarton Oaks estate. The venue was established in 1920 by Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss, who worked with world-class landscape gardener Beatrix Farrand to design the intricate sloping gardens over a period of 30 years.
Today, Harvard University has a research institute on-site for Byzantine Studies, Pre-Columbian Studies, and Garden and Landscape Studies, while guests from far and wide come to experience the living landscape and cultivated terrain, with its blooming rose gardens, herbaceous borders, reflecting pools, and terraces.
Oak Spring Garden: Upperville, Virginia
Michael Dunne
(Michael Dunne)
Visitors to the Oak Spring Garden estate and garden get a unique peek into the extraordinary life of Rachel “Bunny” Mellon, one of America’s finest tastemakers and horticulturalists. Today, this picturesque garden is maintained by the Oak Spring Garden Foundation as a place for enjoyment and learning, with scholars, artists, and writers passing through. Though not open to the public, the venue hosts internships, special open days, and guided tours through advanced registration, along with workshops and short courses that allow people to experience the color, form, and texture of Mellon’s ever-evolving gardening style.
The Gardens of Golden Gate Park: San Francisco, California
photoquest7 – Getty Images
(photoquest7 – Getty Images)
Despite its location in the heart of San Francisco, visiting The Gardens of Golden Gate Park feels a world away from the City by the Bay. The park is composed of three remarkable sections, including the Conservatory of Flowers, set within the oldest public wood-and-glass conservatory in North America, and the 55-acre San Francisco Botanical Garden showcasing more than 8,000 different kinds of plants from around the world. Finally, stroll along the Japanese maples, blooming cherry trees, and twisting pines at the Japanese Tea Garden, which remains the oldest in operation in all of North America.
Gibbs Gardens: Ball Ground, Georgia
Carol A Hudson – Getty Images
(Carol A Hudson – Getty Images)
Jim Gibbs always dreamed of creating a world-class public garden. Today, that dream is realized at Gibbs Gardens in Ball Ground, Georgia, his 300-acre award-winning sanctuary located one hour north of Atlanta. Thirty years in the making, this is one of the nation’s largest residential estate gardens, with designated plots including a 40-acre Japanese Garden that’s the largest of its kind in the country. Visitors will also find one of the largest ferneries in the United States and the largest daffodil festival too, taking place every March through April.
Brookgreen Gardens: Murrells Inlet, South Carolina
RiverNorthPhotography – Getty Images
(RiverNorthPhotography – Getty Images)
This 9,000-plus-acre landmark north of Charleston—described as “the floral jewel of South Carolina’s coast”—is steeped in history and is home to the largest and most comprehensive collection of American figurative sculpture. Brookgreen Gardens was founded in 1931 by Archer Huntington and his wife, the notable sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington, and became the first public sculpture garden in America.
Artworks aside, the centuries-old live oaks dripping in Spanish moss are a sight to behold, as are the butterfly gardens and shaded pathways of perennials, roses, and shrubs. The larger property is also home to a Lowcountry Zoo and four historic rice plantations, not to mention a rotation of events, like the popular holiday light display, “Nights of a Thousand Candles.”
The Biltmore: Asheville, North Carolina
Wirestock – Getty Images
(Wirestock – Getty Images)
At more than 175,000 square feet, The Biltmore House, designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt, is America’s largest home. Apart from this architectural grandeur, however, it’s the 75 acres of gardens designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the legendary landscape architect behind New York City’s Central Park, that attract a cohort of visitors from around the world. The on-site conservatory and 20-plus miles of nature trails only add to its appeal.
San Antonio Botanical Garden: San Antonio
BackyardProduction – Getty Images
(BackyardProduction – Getty Images)
The Lone Star State has no shortage of dazzling green spaces, among them the world-famous Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden. Lesser known, however, is the San Antonio Botanical Garden. Rising over the 38-acre landscape is The Lucile Halsell Conservatory designed by Emilio Ambasz, with its five striking climate-specific glasshouses. The site’s authentic Japanese garden, gifted from San Antonio’s sister city, Kumamoto, might be the best-kept secret in the Alamo City. The garden was designed with tranquil ponds, stone paths, and motifs representing both Japan’s Mount Fuji and the Texas Hill Country.
Hillwood Estate, Museums & Gardens: Washington, D.C.
Barry Winiker – Getty Images
(Barry Winiker – Getty Images)
Visiting Hillwood Estate, Museums & Gardens, the beloved Washington, D.C., home and final resting place of the American art collector, businesswoman, social figure, and philanthropist Marjorie Merriweather Post, is a veritable treasure trove. Once the wealthiest woman in the country and heiress to the company that would become General Foods, her property is now a private museum and remains home to the most comprehensive collection of Russian imperial art outside of Russia, along with a monumental 18th-century French decorative art collection.
Equally special to the rooms glimmering with Fabergé eggs, Beauvais tapestries, and Sèvres porcelain are the treasures awaiting outdoors, where 13 acres of sweeping gardens, including French parterres and an orchid-filled greenhouse, inspire guests of all ages, much as they did in Post’s lifetime.
The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Austin, Texas
Amy Sparwasser – Getty Images
(Amy Sparwasser – Getty Images)
The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is named for the former first lady of the United States and the founder of the organization (originally called the National Wildflower Research Center). This popular attraction in the Texas capital is on a mission to protect and preserve native plants; the 284-acre site features over 1,000 native species, along with a 16-acre arboretum, and has solidified its status as a true Texas treasure.
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