Friends Spring Trip Gibbs Gardens

Friends Spring Trip

$60 Non Members, $50 Members

Registration deadline is March 6, 2019, contact us about any wait list options.

Gibbs Gardens began in 1980 as a dream of Jim Gibbs, founder and President of Gibbs Landscape Company in Atlanta. It was a “dream come true” when he found the perfect property in Ball Ground and began construction of what has become one the largest residential estate gardens in the nation.

The first feature built on the site was the house, which resembles a European Manor and sits on one of the highest crests in Cherokee County. Mr. Gibbs then began designing and installing the major landscape features, including 24 ponds, 32 bridges and 19 waterfalls around which the gardens were developed. He took advantage of the natural beauty of the site, preserving millions of naturalized ferns as well as native dogwoods, azaleas, mountain laurels, trees and shrubs by using them to complement the gardens.

Today the property includes 16 themed gardens and three feature gardens – the Manor House Garden, Japanese Garden and Waterlily Garden. The Japanese Hill and Pond Garden is over 40 acres in size, making it the largest Japanese garden in the U.S. It displays over 3,000 Japanese maples along with flowering cherries, azaleas, weeping willows and highly manicured topiaries. The Waterlily Garden has five ponds that showcase over 140 varieties of waterlilies in their natural environment.

If you like daffodils, over 20 million daffodil bulbs were planted throughout Gibbs Gardens, and they should be in peak bloom during our spring visit. Southern Living magazine describes the daffodil display as “the largest this side of Holland”!

Lunch is on-your-own and is available in the Arbor Café near the Visitor Center. Trams will take you from the Visitor Center to the entrance of the Japanese Garden and the Manor House Garden, but a moderate amount of walking will be required to see the gardens.

Registration deadline is March 6, 2019, so register early to reserve a space.