Take a Fall Day Trip to Gibbs Gardens

If you want to be inspired by a kaleidoscope of brilliant autumn colors, make Gibbs Gardens one of your “must-do” day trips this fall!  Located on 376 acres of rolling hills in North Georgia, near the quaint town of Ball Ground, Gibbs Gardens comprises over 300 lush acres, with 24 ponds, 32 bridge crossings, 19 waterfalls, six feature gardens, and 18 seasonal gardens, planted for color and interest in each season of the year. 

Gibbs Gardens’ Wildflower Meadow opens in September and features thousands of late-summer-through-fall pollinator flowers that attract bees and butterflies, including the endangered Monarch butterfly. Hillsides overlooking the valley gardens offer a sweeping view of thousands of zinnias and cosmos, in rich hues of orange, yellow, burgundy, white, pink and violet. Additional pollinator plants include coreopsis, purple coneflower, tickseed, bee balm and black-eyed Susan. For added color, 1,200 re-blooming Encore azaleas are interspersed throughout the garden.

From mid-October through November, the Japanese Gardens takes center stage, as over 3,000 Japanese maples (representing 200 varieties) show off their fall colors of red, burgundy, yellow, orange and lime green. Located on 40 acres in the valley, the Japanese Gardens are the largest in the country! You’ll wander around seven spring-fed ponds and enjoy wonderful Japanese sculptures, pagodas and bridges. Lichen-covered boulders are intermingled with shade plants including ferns, mountain laurel, native azaleas, dogwood and the stunning collection of Japanese maples. 

The gardens are lush and colorful anytime you visit, but fall is a great time to make the trip, with less crowds and cooler temperatures. For more information, go to gibbsgardens.com.