When Husband and I met, we were both working in the Huntsville, Alabama area. 8 or so months later we were planning a wedding. I will tell you right now it was nothing resembling a church wedding, nor had anything to do with the usual church wedding things, so we wanted an outdoor venue, but something that guests in their finery could navigate sans muddy shoes and clothing tears. The Huntsville Botanical Garden was not such an obvious choice…even though it had been open for over a decade, we’d never previously visited.

It only took one visit to settle that, though. The aquatic garden was newly open, didn’t have very many mature plantings around it, but it was completely gorgeous, and we were married there on May 1, 1996.

As you can see we had a TERRIBLE wedding photographer. It’s like he shot everything with a frickin’ Holga! I still regret not sticking my foot up his…ahem. Onward!

The Garden was a regular visit for us after that, every month or so after the kids were born we’d schlep them over, from stroller rides to the times they were old enough to run around on their little legs, we took them there to soak in the pretty, and learn what we so much appreciated about nature and growing things.

When we journeyed back to the North Alabama area last month to vacation at my parents’ newly-purchased retirement place, a visit to the HSVBG was a given.

It was extraordinarily hot the day we visited, hotter than it gets down here in central Florida, so we did skip the vegetable and herb gardens (sorry!), but hopefully we’ve given you enough other interesting snapshots to pique your interest into a visit if you’re ever in the area. I must apologize for the lack of ID on some of the photos, as I said it was bloody hot, and in most cases, the plantings simply weren’t labeled.

Onward!

The old entrance to the main garden:

Dry streambed, miniature train area and gorgeous laceleaf maple specimen behind:

Rock garden with perimeter plantings:

The pergola over the outside cafe dining area behind the new entrance/Gazebo gift shop…the latter of which is a dangerous place indeed:

The new (to us) Bonsai Display Garden was a most welcome surprise:

The butterfly house:

Path around the back of the butterfly house:

Butterfly house and learning center entrance:

Children’s garden birdhouse:

Children’s garden rainbow:

Children’s garden path and fountain:

Gazebo behind the children’s garden:

Stream inside the butterfly house:

No actual butterfly pictures, sorry, brought the wrong lens for that.

Butterfly house fountain:

Knockout roses and columns:

The woodland path we cut through on the way to the daylily garden (which is why we missed the herbs/veggies). Blessed, BLESSED shade!

Japanese lantern and bridge:

Footbridge among the ferns:

Another lantern among the ferns and laceleaf maples:

Oak-leaf hydrangea, which is the state wildflower of Alabama.

I had never fully appreciated it until seeing it used as deciduous tree underplantings along the outside of woodland area:

The daylily garden is more impressive in spring, but it put on quite the show for us anyway:

The path to the end of the Dogwood trail, where resides the 100 year old dogwood tree.

Laceleaf maple with underplantings of dahlias and petunias.

A closeup on this lovely tree as we drew nearer:

And then, the 100 year old dogwood itself:

Of course we’re months late for the blooming season but it is still a magnificent tree. You can walk underneath the canopy, even give it a hug, as the Girlchild did.

This is the path up to the rest of the Dogwood trail. We skipped this area too, as we’d already lost about 5lbs each in water weight and it wasn’t dogwood-blooming season:

And finally, the aquatic garden:

In all our visits, this is the best it has ever looked. The plantings in the pond are a perfect sampling of various water plants, and the copper crane fountains are a beautiful accent:

Adjacent to the aquatic garden is an entrance to the woodland trail, and we gratefully took advantage of the shade:

Stone bench:

Path winding through the trees:

Back to the footbridge, maples, ferns and lanterns:

Did I mention the ferns?

Long shot of the huge willow by the bridge leading to the butterfly house:

The gates leading to the long entrance to the aquatic garden:

Crepe myrtle-lined path back to the main entrance:

They’ve done a really spectacular job with underplantings this year:

The other side of the dry streambed, back at the front of the garden:

And there you have it, a virtual visit to one of the best regional botanic gardens I’ve ever had the pleasure to visit…and be married in! The complete HSVBG picture set is viewable under our Flickr account here, it includes alternate views of some areas and plenty of individual plant closeups.

For the further curious, a video tour of the HSVBG is available here. Enjoy!

So, vacation was good. We stayed at my parents’ new 28 acre farm in north Alabama, despite its near-complete lack of furnishings (they won’t be living in it full time for a while yet)…the seven nights sleeping on an air mattress are what started this whole knee thing, btw, well, more specifically, the getting UP from the air mattress each morning. It was nice to have this as your backyard, coffee-having, waking-up view every morning though:

The kids had a blast on the obligatory country-backyard trampoline:

We fished at a neighbor’s catfish-stocked pond on Sunday, and were honestly too busy reeling in the fish to take any pictures. Cooking followed, of course, and visiting with more family.

Monday saw us (joined by Husband’s brother) visiting the Huntsville Botanical Garden, a favorite haunt of ours long before we were ever married there (12 years ago!). It was a pleasure to watch it grow over the years we lived in Huntsville, and an even bigger pleasure to see how it has grown in the 7 years since we left. If you’re ever in the area, it is more than worth a visit. Just maybe not in the 100 degree temperatures of mid-July… Spring, spring is nice. All the dogwoods will be in bloom, and the tulips…and you won’t lose five pounds just walking around.

Monday evening we caught up with our oldest friends at a local Thai place, then had the pleasure of visiting their house, dogs and wonderful backyard garden (pics forthcoming, of course). On the drive over to their abode, we showed the children the houses we lived in when each were born. Their interest was tepid at best, but it was nice to see where we’d been.

Tuesday was spent chasing fish around the Tennessee river. It’s called “FISHING” people, not “CATCHING.”

Wednesday saw a visit to the US Space and Rocket Center, also in Huntspatch, and also a regular haunt for us when we lived there. The new Davidson Center with the full size Saturn V rocket is a very nice addition to an already excellent museum. Afterwards, we journeyed out to Redstone Arsenal for a visit to Husband’s brother’s workplace, and the old Saturn test stands. More on all that when I get the pictures up.

Wednesday evening saw dinner again with friends at the iconic Big Ed’s Pizza. My father picked up a Big Ed’s pie every Friday after work during the years Big Ed actually owned it, and I am pleased to report it is every bit as good today in the care of his son Steve. Caitlin, please keep an eye on it for us and don’t let it close!

Thursday was a day of lollygagging, as the parents were having a tractor delivered and had to hang around to take instruction on the driving of same, so we took the kids around the Sand Mountain area and let them blow the rest of their souvenir money. A nice lazy day.

Friday we drove down to Lower Alabama for an all-too brief visit with Grandma, then moseyed on to Pensacola, where we deposited the children with Nana and took a hotel room for the night. Glorious, GLORIOUS bed!! It was too late for the knees, of course, but so very much better than an air mattress anyway.

Saturday we made the ten hour trek home and officially swore we were driving exactly no further than 30 miles from our house for the next six months.

We took a metric buttload of pictures at both the Garden and Space Center, which will trickle up here as I get them edited. It was a truly a simple and satisfying vacation, filled with family, friends and revisiting some fine old memories.

I’m a giver.

I’m a giver.

I’m a giver.

I’m a giver.

I’m a giver.

I’m a giver.

I’m a giver.

I’m a giver.