Mine would have to be Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC.
So many flowers and the colors are awesome. It is rather large, and takes quite a while to see it all, but well worth the time.

okay, this is going to sound lame, but I love taking the river tour in San Antonio. I nearly capsize the boat by twisting this way and that taking in everything that's growing and blooming. . . . and then looking up at the trees.

And then I take the tour at night!

I know what you mean about Vizcaya. It's one of those places that you want to shut the gates and fight off all intruders to keep it for yourself. Then, when you are turned out, you go home and spend your time trying to re-create it, like Richard Dreyfus building that dirt mound in his living room.

There is also a medieval monastery and garden in Miami, that I liked. but I wouldn't call it awe inspiring for the gardens.

The Los Angeles arboretum. They filmed "Fantasy Island" there. The bell tower where Tattoo was is there. It's a restored,gorgeous Victorian House. We went there a lot when I was little. My mom must have a thousand pictures of it. With perfect acid/loam soil and a mediterranean climate you just wouldn't believe what gets huge and gorgeous there. It really is like fantasy island! Did I mention it was enormous? There are a ton of public greenhouses and everything. I used to fantasize that we lived there! I kind of miss it but hadn't visited in a long time. With traffic it was a 5 hr each way trip!PJ

Here is a link that might be useful: LA Arboretum

I haven't been to very many gardens but I did like Moody Gardens in Houston.

I need to get out to more gardens. Durn it!!

There are several in Virginia that I love and a couple in the San Francisco area
Quite a few years ago I went on a garden trip with my favorite cousin and those were the most beautiful garens I've ever seen. We only made several of the Cotswolds and Borders but those were worth it

Here is a link that might be useful: gardens

There are many wonderful gardens, across the country, and in other countries.

Vizcaya is certainly one of the most impressive.

Biltmore Estate is another.

I have seen programs of some in Michigan that also very impressive. (One of those few states I haven't been to.)

Yet, it is hard to improve on places like Baden-Baden, Germany, (in the Black Forest area) where the entire town is more or less one big garden. Even the casino there, has huge tulip gardens.

The Europeans have been at this a relatively long time, you know. (smile)

The English have the rose garden down to a fine science.

I am still rather amazed at what has been done at the Dallas Arboretum, over the last 25 yrs. You would be hard pressed to even recognize the place, in the differences from then to now.

Yet, for all the fine gardens there are, there could be so many more, if the emphasis wasn't placed on ball fields, by the Parks and Recreation Depts. (Seems to me, that recreation should not be a part of the parks dept.)

Just another example of poor use of tax dollars.......not unlike the fact that we are still paying for the Dallas North Tollway......50 yrs. later.

Anyway......don't overlook the not so obvious, either. The Florida Everglades, is still one of the most amazing places in the world. Gazing out across the Pahayokee, is a rather grand sight.

California also has some pretty impressive stuff, and the Eucalyptus trees there, are stunning. (Only got to see the area from the Big Sur, south of Monterrey, north to about Santa Rosa, along the coast. Have been across the Mojave (which has its own special appeal), and into the central valley at Modesto.)

I love the wine country, of course, because it is so quiet and peaceful. (At least when I was there.)

It is also hard to beat the natural beauty of mountain forests, whether they be in New England, the Blue Ridge, or the northwest. You would be amazed at what you can find growing in an undisturbed forest area.

Obviously, tropical places are also a place to be, for gardens, as some of the most beautiful flowering plants in the world, are found in tropical areas.

Still, your own garden is the one you can enjoy, every day, and so, it is perhaps the most impressive of all......because it is the one that brings you constant joy.

Rick, thank you for that statement - I love my garden (even when it is not as pretty as usual), and since so much of my time is spent there, it is a special place for me.

Carrie named the one I most want to see: Butchart in B.C.

I'm like Rick - I like the natural scenes as much as the human-crafted ones. Most unforgettable to me I would have to say are Waimea Canyon on Kauai, and some little spot beside a river, right off Interstate 70 near Glenwood Springs Colorado. In both spots, I felt like I had suddenly floated into heaven.

All the years I lived in L.A., I never saw the Arboretum! Yep, coast along Monterey CA is enchanting - down towards Cambria and up towards Santa Cruz, too. The landscaping at the Hearst Mansion ("Castle") is inspiring. Kings Canyon had (has?) some awesome trees - but you'd better be in tip-top physical condition to hike up there. The Calif. wine country is soothing, expecially when all the spring green is out - you don't even have to drink to be intoxicated, if you let the scenery soak in! Last year, I stayed briefly at the Ritz Carlton in Pasadena, and found this "hidden" garden there that I enjoyed much - small, but appealingly designed. Going back to Monterey, there's a small but extra interesting cacti and succulents garden on the grounds of the Naval Postgraduate School. (If I didn't live in TX, I'd live in Monterey, or somewhere in Oregon.)

In TX, the rainforest at Moody Gardens is fascinating. I need to do the River Walk (or ride) in S.A. again, to remember it. Many other places in TX I need/want to see.

It truly is easy to feel richer than a billionaire, when you can make your own garden and feel at peace out there. We keep trying...but the skeeters keep biting!

I have a wierd feeling we're all just plantaholics and we like it ALL! PJ

I love looking in magazines and books at gardens that pro's built, especially fine rockwork & water features.
I prefer to relax and absorb nature in a more humble garden that's been built with love and awe of what mother nature provides for us.

Well, I've been living under a rock cause I haven't see many gardens outside of Ft. Worth. Oh, I've searched all over the net and seen many I'd love to go to but money and time are not on my side - Dang it. But if I was able to go seek out gardens to go see all of the above would be on my list cause I've seen them on line.
Only one other place I'd like to go see is Holland during their tulip bloom time.
Dreaming about beautiful gardens is nice too guess that's why I have so many books and mags LOL.

Barb, you have hit upon the major problem with everything today. It just costs too much, to go and do, almost everything.

My disposable income/purchasing power, has been in decline, since about 1963. Example:

New Home 1961: $16,400.
New Home 1998: $134,500. Net gain......didn't have to totally remodel to update the wear and tear. (Real estate really isn't that good an investment, when wear and tear, taxes, escalating cost of improvements, etc. are given full consideration.)

New Car 1969: $3200.
New Car 2002: $20,600. Net gain.....nada. Cars are totally a depreciated item, with no significant residual value. Net increase in cost....almost 7 times the cost over a 30 year period. (The rate of increase continues to accelerate, on an annual basis.)

Income 1969: $9600.
Income 2006: $39,700. Net gain......negative.....purchasing power has actually declined.

Natural gas high monthly bill 1982: $85.
Natural gas high monthly bill 2006: $221.

Automotive gasoline 1961: $0.17 per gal.
Automotive gasoline 2006: $2.93 per gal.

Loaf of Pumpernickel bread 1961: $0.39
Loaf of Pumpernickle bread 2006: $3.49

Just a few examples of how much we have gained over the past 45 yrs. or so, off the top of my head, that I can actually recall.

Forty-five years ago, I could afford many more things, including travel, than I can afford now. We are moving inexorably towards the lifestyle of Japan, where people work up to 14 hrs. per day, and live in tiny little apartments, where you can hardly turn around, and spend all their energies making money for large corporations, who give all the profits to their top management people, rather than to their stock holders.

Today's corporate world is no longer about growing a business, or providing jobs, it is only about maximizing the stock value, so that management executives can cash in their options, and make a financial killing, at the expense of the company's employees and stock holders, alike.

So......travel to exotic places, or overseas places, or even more than a day's drive away, has become a prohibitive thing, as it requires too much of the resources that have become increasingly scarce, over time.

Scary isn't it?PJ

Rick......My wacko brother (old hippy-pot head-patriot-totally nonconformist)has been predicting predicting all these negatives for years. Scares me that he is right on so many issues. Hope he's wrong on some of his other governmental & financial predictions.

Psst, Moody Gardens is in Galveston.
Butchart gardens in Canada was amazing. All those plants you see in the magazines and books that simply won't grow here... Amazing.
I was impressed with Hawaii until I took some classes and found out that so many of the plants are invasive introductions! And that one guy and some helpers lugged thousands of plants up and down Oahu to replace what had been destroyed when they harvested trees.

I found a site one time, you could enter your wages for a certain year then your wages now, it computed inflation, blah blah and told you how you stood. I was making about 1/2 what I was when I first graduated from nursing school! I know over the past few years that we have less and less "disposable income". Just filling up the truck costs more than I used to pay in rent!
Tally HO!

I can't believe I forgot Muir Woods!

Everyone should see them before they die. (Both: everyone, and the woods, I mean.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Muir Woods Home Page

OH I would love to see Muir woods.
Rick my dad purchased his home in 1955 cost 3,500 .
My ex FIL once told me to never count on a home as an assist, this was in the 70's and once he explained it to me it made since once you've paid the home in full with interest and done all the up keep to keep it livable you just don't come out ahead. The first time I started making payment on a home and seen 99% going to interest I was floored to say the least.
We work hard to try and have something in our lives, to have a roof over our heads in old age then some big wig can come along and take it from you, Like they did to those poor folks over in Arlington, many of them were retired and just knew they'd live there till the end of their days.
As for cars that's why I buy used cars LOL cheaper. I don't need a new car, just one that looks good and runs great and with the price of gas now days I'm sure glad I have a small car but I'm still gripping at paying 30 bucks to fill it up when it use to cost 10 to 12 bucks.