Flower lovers have many opportunities to stop and smell the roses, especially in Portland, Oregon, which calls itself the City of Roses. Many other cities have gardens of note, including Atlanta, Boston, Denver, New Orleans, New York, Seattle, and Tucson. Longwood Gardens in the Brandywine Valley is noted for its greenhouses as well as its grounds. The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, has a walled English garden on its 25 acres. Magnolia Plantation near Charleston, South Carolina, is famed for its azaleas, camellias, and 60-acre cypress swamp. If you like gardens from the Elizabethan era, head for Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia.
It's also a spectacular sight to see the commercial flower farms of Washington State's Skagit Valley. In the spring, tulips and daffodils carpet the farmlands surrounding the town of La Conner with great swaths of red, yellow, and white. In March and April, the town hosts an annual Tulip Festival; the countryside erupts with color in a display that matches the legendary flower fields of the Netherlands.
You may also be interested in seeing wildflowers in bloom out West. Springtime brings glorious color to the Texas Hill Country, just north of San Antonio. The deserts of New Mexico, Arizona, and Southern California (chapters 11 and 12) are also magical in the spring. Two of California's prettiest viewing areas are Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, near San Diego, and the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve, in the high desert near L.A. There are also beautiful spring blooms in the Washington Cascades, especially in Olympic National Park and throughout the Rocky Mountains.
A few travel companies have escorted tours of gardens, others include them on their general sightseeing excursions, and still others organize trips for local botanical gardens or gardening and horticultural groups. Check with those in your hometown for upcoming trips, or try Maupintour (tel. 800/255-4266 or 913/843-1211; www.maupintour.com).
