it was amazin'....

...and much more successful than the trip we made a couple of weeks ago, when the gates were locked. (Closed on Monday.) We could not get in to see the gazillion daffodils and ended up making a stroll around Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield National Park, as a poor second choice. Interesting enough, especially for someone interested in military history, but not at all what I had planned for the day.

So we went back to try again to get in the gate at Gibbs Gardens. I've been listening to Georgia Public Radio when driving, and heard a little blurb for Gibbs, as a sponsor of some of the radio programming. Reporting that the Gardens have two million daffodils in bloom. I don't doubt it one bit. It was gorgeous. Even seeing is hard to believe. My eyes were filled. I might try to make a comparison, but until you see literally acres of daffodils in their blooming glory, you really can't fully comprehend. It was better than I had expected.

The day was bright and sunny, but windy, so a bit chilly: the breeze had the thousands of bright yellow blooms bobbing their heads. Some solid yellow, some a pale yellow, nearly cream color, with darker orange 'cup' sitting on the pale saucer. Some with blooms nearly as large as the palm of my hand. Some with blooms smaller than my thumb. But all together: (the most over-used word in the English language) Awe-and-then-some.

And beds filled with hellebore: a little plant that pops up in the early spring with various colors of bell shaped blooms. And some huge forsythia bushes, covered in hundreds of wee little bright sunshine-y flowers, looking like a huge swarm of tiny yellow butterflies. Plus great swaths of pansies in a wide array of colors, being consistently maintained/carefully dead-headed by grounds crew to keep them constantly blooming ofr the paying public.

Unlike the more local Callaway Gardens, there is apparently no option for a one-day/one time visit: you can buy an annual pass or wait in the parking lot. I bought two of the annual passes last April, and have definitely gotten my money's worth, with this being the third time we've been since the first trip nearly a year ago. Reminding me of a family trip to Chattanooga, probably twenty years ago, when the Aquarium there first opened. Standing in an interminable line, we were told a 'family pass' would get us in the door much quicker. As opposed to waiting, inching along to get to the window and purchase individual tickets. Which meant we had to return again, within a year, to feel like we had gotten full value/bang for our bucks.