Powerscourt Fountain IrelandThe days are getting longer, and with flowers blooming in the yard along with a few peeks of the sun in the sky, it’s a great time to be in Seattle. Spring is finally here!

Since the flowers in my garden are not terribly impressive yet – things will be in full color in another few weeks – I turned to some of my blogger friends to get a take on some of their favorite gardens around the world. I selected a dozen of them, one for each month of the year, and hope you can work a visit into one of them during your next vacation.

1.Springtime tulips at Araluen Botanic Park, Western Australia

Western Australia conjures up images of red desert, barren gorges and rugged wilderness, but half an hour’s drive from Perth we found Araluen Botanic Park. Araluen is one of the state’s best kept secrets. In a hidden valley, sheltered from the harsh West Australian sun, the park has a micro-climate perfect for tulips, camellias, rhododendrons, magnolias and roses.

2.Gokseong Rose Festival: There’s a Massive Garden in the Middle of Korea

If you happen to be passing through Korea in May, one of the events you should try and catch is the Gokseong Rose Festival. Head down to Jeollanamdo and between seeing Damyang’s bamboo forest, Boseong’s green tea fields, or Suncheon’s beautiful bay, carve out a morning to wander around Gokseong’s old train village and enjoy roses from around the world in full bloom.

3.Discovering the Real Secret Gardens

Rather like Mary Lennox stumbling across her secret garden in Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic, the Lost Gardens of Heligan were discovered accidentally having been forgotten some 80 years previously. Generations of the Tremayne family, who owned the Heligan estate in Cornwall, poured years of love and attention into creating and maintaining magnificent gardens from 1766.

4.Hamilton Gardens – from the tropics to Tudor England to Te Parapara and back

Hamilton Gardens is very structured and determined to lead visitors through a multi-sensory garden experience. This is not just a vast area of parklands, of towering trees and thick shrubs, selectively interrupted by flower beds and benches. Hamilton Gardens is all of that, but it is also so much more.

5.Roses and Modern Art at Borde Hill Garden

The vast area of woodland is great for taking long walks under the shade of the giant trees carpeted with bluebells. The garden has over 70 champion trees that are the tallest or largest girth in Britain, and during the autumn months they transform into a spectrum of reds, oranges and golds.

6.Gardens in Golden Gate Park at San Francisco

Springtime in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and it seems like everything is starting to bloom all at once in the park. It’s a great time to go out and explore the park and see what is blooming now. Come and join me for an afternoon stroll and lets enjoy a day visiting these lovely gardens.

7.The Small But Perfect Cheyenne Botanic Gardens

The garden is small by botanical garden standards and occupies only 9 acres. I’m sure keeping this garden lush takes some serious effort in the High Plains climate. Starting off as a small community garden in the 1970’s, the botanic gardens are still the state of Wyoming’s only public garden. The garden, however, is free to the public and run and maintained by volunteers.

8.Missouri Botanical Garden – How to Relax in Paradise

It’s worth noting that the Missouri Botanical Garden focuses on a global concept with their ideology of a ‘Garden for the World’. You quickly notice this as you explore the grounds of the botanical garden, with distinctive areas from all around the world providing seasonal beauty and emphasizing their desire to express an international plant diversity.

9.Kew Gardens, a day out in London

Officially known as the Royal Botanic Gardens and located in Kew (Southwest London), these botanical gardens founded in the 18th century are home to the world’s largest collection of living plants and use around 120 ha of space next to the Thames river.

10.Quinta da Aveleda: Delightful Gardens And Delicious Wine

If you’re in the mood for enchanting gardens filled with flowers and follies followed by wine and cheese tasting, read on. You’ll find all these treats at Quinta da Aveleda in northern Portugal.

Read original article here: Quinta da Aveleda: Delightful Gardens And Delicious Wine

11.The wonderful and not so secret gardens of Mount Usher, Wicklow

Complaining about the weather is a national pastime, here in Ireland, and one I have turned into a fine art since moving here over ten years ago. Our average of 150+ days of rain per year, however, has a silver lining: it makes for the emerald, romantic landscapes Ireland is famous for. Some of these are wild and windswept, while others are the result of the joint work of powerful nature and the caring hands of expert Irish gardeners.

Read original article here: The wonderful and not so secret gardens of Mount Usher, Wicklow

12.Peace in Monet’s Gardens at Giverny, France

An hour from Paris, but world’s apart, Claude Monet’s gardens in Giverny, France are the most tangible location to experience French Impressionism in real life. Monet’s Home and Gardens still exist today, largely as they did when he passed away in 1926. Giverny is just as beautiful as the paintings would make it seem.

And to make it a Baker’s Dozen of gardens, I’ll include my favorite – Powerscourt Estate in County Wicklow, Ireland. It’s an easy day trip from Dublin, about 30 minutes away from the city center, and is known as the Garden of Ireland. That’s a photo that I took of the fountain in the gardens up top. You can read more about my visit to this beautiful garden here.

Do you have a favorite garden you’ve discovered in your travels? Leave a comment and let us know!

Pint to your favorite Pinterest boards and start dreaming of Spring!