| Botanical Garden Is Paradise in Huntsville |
A wealth of native flowers, plants, trees, water, and butterflies combine with almost a thousand green thumbs to make the Huntsville-Madison County Botanical Garden one of the most fascinating places in Huntsville. The Garden highlights several different areas: the Aquatic Garden, the Central Corridor Garden, the Perennial Garden, the Annual Garden, Constitution Walk, the Daylily Garden, the Demonstration Vegetable Garden, Compost Demonstration Site, the 100 year-old Dogwood Tree, the Fern Glade, Garden Railroad, Herb Garden, Nature Trail, the Rose Garden, and, of course, the Butterfly House. Recently a Tea Room was added on-site, specializing in Roly Poly sandwiches, salads, snacks and specialty teas. Dining is available in the Tea Room or on the Deck overlooking the Gardens. Southern plantation-style columns from the Old Madison County Courthouse (built in 1914) grace the entrance to the Gardens.
With the wonderful climate we enjoy here in north Alabama, there is truly something for everyone at this gardener's paradise on Bob Wallace Avenue in Huntsville. The Garden Shuttle is available Thursday mornings and Sunday afternoons to make getting around the grounds more comfortable and convenient. A reservation for the Shuttle is suggested as it only seats five passengers and the driver.
The Botanical Gardens was started in 1979-1981 from community support and enthusiastic local gardeners. A small, beautifully illustrated book called Wildflowers of North Alabama was published in 1987 to help fund the project. In 1990, the present 112-acre site was provided to the Garden by a 90-year lease from the U.S. Army through the Alabama Space Science Exhibit Commission and the City of Huntsville. With the help of over 900 volunteers, 19 full-time permanent staff and several seasonal helpers, the Garden is today one of the showcases of Huntsville's many and varied assets.
Community support is one of the keys to success for the Botanical Gardens. Eagle Scouts laid the tracks and buildings for the Garden Railroad, while the Bonsai Society provided the landscaping. The Huntsville Herb Society maintains the Herb Garden which features a Tea Bed, Medicinal Bed, Fragrance Bed, and an ancient Analemmatic sundial. The Fern Society sponsors the Fern Festival and the proceeds go to enhance the Botanical Garden's Fern Glade, which is home to over 180 varieties of hardy ferns. The Wildflower Society "rescues" native plants which would be destroyed by construction and plants them in the Wildflower Garden. The Master Gardeners of North Alabama develop and maintain vegetable gardens to demonstrate to homeowners how to plant and grow vegetables in a limited space. They also demonstrate the compost bin. The Botanical Garden Staff maintains a test bed at the Master Gardener site that contains new varieties of plants being tested for this area.
The Daylily Society plants and maintains over 800 varieties of daylilies and runs an Annual Fall Daylily Sale. All sales benefit the Garden. The Rose Garden was planted by the Huntsville-Twickenham Rose Society. Many of the trees in the Botanical Gardens have been labeled by the Society of American Foresters. The Dogwood Trail contains many varieties of dogwoods that were planted and maintained by a grant from Henry Chase, Sr. Area schoolchildren raised over $12,000 to move the 100-year dogwood tree to the Garden and save it from road construction. The dogwood is 23 feet tall and 44 feet broad, the root-ball was 18 feet in diameter and the tree weighed over 83,000 pounds. A group from Texas was hired to come and oversee the moving and replanting of the dogwood. The tree took to its new home and blooms each spring in the Garden.
