In celebration of this year’s 50th anniversary, the Atlanta Botanical Garden will treat visitors to a display of floral fireworks this spring with tens of thousands of colorful and fragrant bulbs.
ABG has doubled the number of spring bulbs it normally plants for its annual Atlanta Blooms!, and throughout March and April the grounds will explode with more than 200,000 tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, and crocuses.
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Dubbed Atlanta SUPER Blooms! for the anniversary, the display will feature huge swaths of nearly 140,000 bulbs blanketing the Great Lawn, the grassy oval in front of the Fuqua Conservatory. The effect is expected to create an immersive experience in blooms – including a popular photo op.
The lawn will feature 51 varieties of bulbs, with a warm-color blend of tulips and hyacinths circling a cool-color blend of tulips and daffodils. Longtime favorites like Tulip ‘Daydream’, ‘Blushing Beauty’, and ‘Sunlover’ will join new beauties, including ‘Dafeng’, ‘Paleis Het Loo’ and ‘Jennie Butchart’. Tulip ‘Paul Sherer’, considered the darkest tulip available, will return this year in the lawn display.
In addition to the Great Lawn, more than 69,000 tulips and other bulbs will be displayed as usual in annual beds throughout ABG. Royal Horticultural Society award winners Tulip ‘Ballerina’, ‘Menton’, and ‘Foxtrot’ will be flowering in some areas. The Anne Cox Chambers Flower Walk will be awash in an ombre display moving from warm colors to cool. And the Edible Garden will return to Holland-style rows of tulips, which are edible.
On Thursdays from March 12 to April 9, visitors can enjoy the displays during the soft light of evening at Tulips at Twilight. The new event, included with regular Garden admission from 5 to 8 p.m., will include cash bars with specialty cocktails, live music, a local artists market, and lawn games.
Atlanta SUPER BLOOMS! displays are weather dependent, so guests are encouraged to check the garden’s website, atlantabg.org, for bloom updates before planning their visit.
