After two or three prior visits, this place does not get old. Spanning 118 acres off Bob Wallace Avenue, these gardens have a variety of indigenous and foreign plants, trees, annuals, perennials as well as a gorgeous butterfly sanctuary. Unfortunately, the butterfly rooms were closed due to re-population and renovations. I always have Hershey Gardens locally for my macro photography fix. All of the photos below were shot with my medium format Fuji GFX rig, where as I need my Nikon (preferably my Nikon D7200 crop) with my 105mm macro Nikkor lens for butterflies. So this will work out great when I venture to Chocolate Town whenever I please.
Just five minutes off the highway near the US Space and Rocket Center (also an amazing place to check out if you’re in town), these botanical gardens give guests a variety of plant-life, art and hiking trails sure to please everyone. The gardens were founded in 1979. At the beginning of 1980, Huntsville-Madison County Botanical Garden Society gathered amongst their peers and had meetings consistently asking for funding from the city and eventually raised $200,000 with the city matching this to start the acreage on the gardens. Six months later and 35 acres later Huntsville Botanical Gardens were started. Full history here.
As one of Alabama’s most coveted tourist attractions, they do charge admission and offer an awesome gift shop, super clean restrooms and a cafe for refreshments and snacks.
-Mike
