Garden Tours for 2010
Worldwide Donna Dawson achieved her master gardener certificate in 1995, through the University of Alberta Devonian Botanic Garden. She is a current member of the Royal Horticultural Society as well as the Garden Writers Association, Affiliate Member Canadian Institute of Travel Counselors and member of the North American Travel Journalists Association.
In 1998 Donna began organizing and hosting gardening tours to England and Europe . Her custom designed garden tours, which can include destinations such as Paris, London, Amsterdam, Belgium, Nice, Florence, China, Ecuador and Dublin as well as flower shows in Florida, Chelsea, and the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, change yearly due to repeat guests. The tours have become well known for bringing gardeners together to share in the joy of seeing how others garden and to go home with both great memories and new found friends, which is why some gardeners travel with Donna year after year.
2010 Tours
Gardening Tours Gardening Tours Travel Website 866-642-7120
Cameroon
The Limbe Botanical and Zoological Gardens (LBZG) are internationally recognised as one of the most active gardens in tropical West and Central Africa. It serves as a natural gateway to the Mount Cameroon region, one of the world's biodiversity hotspots. Nestled at the foot of Mount Cameroon, Limbe Botanical and Zoological Gardens (LBZG) are the natural gateway for tourists, environmental scientists and all those interested in one of the world's 25 'biodiversity hotspots'. LBZG's peaceful and natural surroundings are ideal for reflection, workshops and conferences. Mount Cameroon is the only mountain in Africa rising direct from sea level to over 4000m and the survival of some forest through the range 0-2500m is an especially important feature. This unique location offers easy assess to various habitats including volcanic landscapes and high altitude grasslands, montane and evergreen rainforests, coastal mangroves and wetlands.
Limbe Botanical and Zoological Gardens Limbe Botanical Travel Website +237 333 2620
England All days are carefully constructed to balance beautiful gardens with historical fact and allegory, amusing anecdotes in an informal group setting. Each day is packed with superb gardens, a great lunch and the opportunity to meet with like-minded garden enthusiasts from all over the world.
Let Franki McCabe and British Garden Tours show you some of the enchanting gardens of the British Isles. The gardens of Britain, unsurpassed for their beauty and variety, are a continual source of pleasure and surprise. Thanks to the benign influence of the Gulf Stream, the gardens of Western Scotland enjoy very mild weather. Logan Botanic Garden is planted with semi-tropical tree ferns, cabbage palms (Cordyline australis) and many rare and exotic plants from the southern hemisphere. These conditions contrast sharply with southeastern England where Beth Chatto has created a 20th century garden that flourishes in low rainfall and chilly easterly winds.
British Garden Tours http://www.britishgardentours.co.uk/index.htm
Victoria, BC, Canada With Victoria's mild climate, gardening is a year round passion which has resulted in an abundant array of gardens world renowned for their beauty and individual charm. Joan Looy, of Victorian Garden Tours, taught at and headed a Victoria Community College department for over twenty years. She then decided to follow her passion for gardening by offering garden tours featuring wonderful private gardens that were only rarely available to visiting garden enthusiasts.
Victorian Garden Tours http://www.victoriangardentours.com/index.php 250-380-2797
Holland Expo Garden Tours was established in 1988 to provide individual garden enthusiasts an opportunity to visit and explore the world’s finest public and private gardens.To enhance the travel experience, knowledgeable tour managers accompany our tours. Local horticulturists, head gardeners and garden owners are often scheduled to join us to offer additional insight and perspective. Art and Gardens of Holland: covering the top private gardens, museums and floating markets in the Netherlands.
Expo Garden Tours http://www.expogardentours.com/tour3.htm 800-448-2685 April 19 - 26, 2008
Santa Fe, New Mexico At Santa Fe Greenhouses, we have over 500 varieties of plants to explore on our 5-acre oasis including hardy perennials, ornamental grasses, trees and shrubs, ground covers, cacti and succulents. Stroll our peaceful garden paths and charming greenhouses to discover our many unique and interesting plants. Learn what it takes to grow a beautiful and successful waterwise garden.
Santa Fe Greenhouses www.santafegreenhouses.com 877-811-2700
Milwaukee, Wisconsin Tours available April 15 – October 15 Forty plus acres of formal gardens Extravagant display of over 500 varieties of roses Wheelchair accessible Garden paths
The setting for Boerner Botanical Gardens is reminiscent of an English country manor with glacial fieldstone walls and historic, handcrafted limestone statuary. The Friends of Boerner Botanical Gardens offers groups of 15 or more an opportunity to view Milwaukee County’s "Living" Museum with a one-hour, docent-guided tour at a special group rate of $7.00 per person.
Friends of Boerner Botanical Gardens www.boernerbotanicalgardens.org 414-525-5650
New York Founded in 1891, the Garden is one of the world’s great collections of plants, the region’s leading educational center for gardening and horticulture, and an international center for plant research. The Garden is alive with opportunities for discovery, from an "ecotour" of the world in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory to an innovative indoor/outdoor science museum for kids to 50 exquisite gardens and plant collections, all on a 250-acre National Historic Landmark site in New York City’s Bronx borough. Now in its second century, the Garden is growing more ambitiously than ever, in order to build knowledge and apply new technologies to better address today's and tomorrow's challenges. Be sure to include this one on your visit to New York.
New York Botanical Garden http://www.nybg.org/ 718-817-8700
Chicago, Illinois The 385-acre Garden features 23 display gardens and three native habitats, uniquely situated on nine islands surrounded by lakes. Since 1984, Garden curators and scientists have made plant collecting trips to the Republic of Georgia, Russia, South Korea, China, England and Wales, Hungary, Japan, Germany, the lower Piedmont area of the southeastern United States, southern Illinois and local areas to acquire optimal germplasm.
Seeds and plants are accepted only if their provenance is known and documented and only if they have been collected and imported legally. Plants that have the potential for invasiveness, genetic pollution or introducing pests or diseases are carefully screened or evaluated by the Plant Evaluation Program before acceptance.
Chicago Botanic Garden http://www.chicagobotanic.org/ 847-835-5440
Kazakhstan/Tien Shan Mountains A 13-day holiday in the Tien Shan Mountains of Kazakhstan in search of alpine plants. Although Kazakhstan is still largely unknown to Westerners, it is the ninth largest country in the world and, since gaining independence from Russia, has become a most exciting new frontier for travel, particularly for botanical and ornithological exploration. The Tien Shan Mountains, our focus of attention on this tour, is the Central Asian extension of the Great Himalaya, and extends along Kazakhstan’s southern border all the way to China. We begin our holiday with a flight from London to Almaty. After a day in the city we travel by rail and road to the village of Aksu Dzabagly. By early evening we arrive at our comfortable guesthouse to be welcomed by our hosts. In order to explore the area as widely as possible during the following days, we will have the use of 4WD buses, but will travel primarily on foot (although, for those happy to ride at times, ponies will gladly be provided).
Nature Trek http://www.naturetrek.co.uk/wildlife-holidays-in-asia/detailsdb.asp?ID=58 01962 733051 Sat 21st June - Thu 3rd July 2008
Costa Rica The Robert and Catherine Wilson Botanical Garden is an internationally recognized collection of tropical plants from around the world. Aroids, bromeliads, ferns, gingers, heliconias, marantas and palms are broadly represented on the 10 hectare (30-acre) site. Tropical fruits, trees, shrubs and bamboos also add to the expanse of this valuable plant museum. Over 1,000 genera in more than 200 plant families form the unique collection that is part of the 266 hectare (657- acre) Las Cruces Biological Station. The garden and biological station are extremely rich in native plants and animals, including 320 species of birds, 800 species of butterflies, abundant mammals and an impressive diversity of reptiles and amphibians. Over 5,000 species of plants have been planted and are cultivated throughout the garden, while an additional 2,000 species have been introduced by other means such as animals and birds. The Wilson Garden boasts the second largest collection of palms in the world.
Botanical Garden Excursions, S.A. http://www.crbgtours.com/index.html 011 506-777-5149
Slovakia Gardening & Botanical Tour
Visiting Botanical Garden in Bratislava, guided tour. Botanical Garden of the Comenius University Bratislava was founded in 1942. It serves scientific, educational, cultural and popularising tasks. The area of about 5 hectares comprises a collection of over 5 000 plant species. The exhibits in glasshouses take the ecological needs of species into account. The tour lasts 5 days.
Discover Slovakia Tours http://www.discoverslovakiatours.com/index.php?page_id=169 +421-45-5361 156 Available from 1st April till 31st October
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