How Long To See Gibbs Gardens

A Day at Gibbs Gardens

"My Little Buttercup, has the sweetest smile", spend a day at Gibbs Gardens with us. Enjoy the beautiful floral clad country side and discover the difference between buttercups and daffodils.

Join us as we explore the miles of rolling hills filled with buttercups with a day at Gibbs Gardens. See one of the most sought after Easter picture venues of North Georgia. Learn about different types of buttercups and when to plant for the best spring showing.

Over the past weekend we took our annual spring journey to Gibbs Garden's to see the Daffodils, which is really quite magical. If you have never been, I highly recommend that you make a trip soon while they are still blooming. There are literally thousands of buttercups, covering the north Georgia hillside. A total feast for your eyes. It is no secret to any north Georgia native that Gibbs Garden's is the perfect garden spot to take pictures. Whether you are a trying to get the perfect family Easter photo, hone your photography skills or just create a cute seasonal profile picture, Gibbs's has you covered. We love to go for gardening inspiration for our own yard and we get a little exercise at the same time. My husband and I are garden members, and have the 4 season pass so we can explore the gardens at all times of the year. Honestly, it just makes senses to purchase the 4 seasons pass, the cost is the same price of two single day visits. So if your go to the gardens at least twice your pass pays for itself, plus you get two free one day visitor passes, which I use for out of town guests that come to visit.

Garden Tip: The gardens offer summer concerts, featuring local bands, with a option to purchase a light picnic dinner and drinks. This is by far one of the best ways to see the gardens for a date night. Take a pretty stroll have a little dinner, some vino under the stars and musical entertainment.

What is the difference between a Buttercup and a Daffodil? Actually, there is a huge difference between the two. Everything you will see at Gibbs Gardens are Daffodils, also known as Narcissus or Jonquils, depending on variety. There is not a single buttercup. As a southern girl, I grew up calling all these pretties, "buttercups". Truth be told Buttercups are actually a completely different species of flowers that looks nothing like daffodils Although, I do think most of the confusion for me comes from the movie Willie Wonka…. I know random, right? You know the scene where Gene Wilder picks a daffodil and drinks butterscotch out of it like a teacup. Then proceeds to eat the cup, which by the way are poisonous to humans and animals. Way to go Hollywood, you ruined an entire generation!!! Obviously that stuck with me, as I am still guilty of calling them buttercups to this day, as you can see by my catchy little title above.

Let's take a more in depth look at the types of beautiful daffodils that grow at Gibbs and are available to plant in your own yard. First of all, in Georgia it's best to plant your bulbs in the fall. Bulbs need that freeze of winter in order to produce the pretty flowers. If you missed planting it's ok go ahead and buy some pre grown bulbs in containers at your local garden center. Just remember at the end of their season as the foliage dies off to put them into the ground so they will return next year.

This is probably the most recognized, and common daffodils known as February Gold. It's a top-notch choice and one of the most reliable of daffodils, it's provide fast early color in the garden. This early-blooming gem offers clear golden-yellow single blooms with rounded petals and long trumpets. (Trumpets also called cups and are located in the center of the daffodil's star shaped petals.

Ice Follies is another favorite here and in the South. This single bloom, large flowers has white petals and wide, frilled cups that open lemon yellow and will fade into a creamy white. Thus the name Ice Follies since they will end up all white. It's vigorous heavy bloomer, and has a light scented, too.Canaliculatus or aka Avalanche, is a robust miniature daffodil. It will grow 8-10 clusters of white flowers with small lemon yellow cups per stalk. It is strongly scented, making an excellent choice for cut flowers. It grows best in a slightly sheltered environment where it will not be damaged by early strong winds. It's a particularly good choice for Southern gardeners.

This is one of my personal all time favorites, the rare Narcissus Romance. I just love these beautiful ruffled pink-cup daffodils. This single bloom charmer has an unusual rosy pink cup against beautiful large creamy white petals. They usually bloom mid spring and are the only pink cup daffodil variety available.Now this variety looks very similar to the previous one, as you can tell. Except this is a small-cup miniature variety known as, Merlin Narcissus. The Merlin's offer a crisp white petal and a tiny yellow cup ringed in a bright orange-red. The single bloom flowers will last a long time, and are considered statement flowers. The Bantam daffodil, is another one of my favorites. This delightful dwarf daffodil has small neat very rounded bright yellow petals with a brilliant red rimmed cup. The petals are slightly reflexed or blown back. It is a regular winner among floral grower's competitions with a sturdy and upright stiff stems.These beauties are common known as Jetfire Narcissus or Cyclamineus. They are gorgeous when blooming, as the Jetfire offers clear golden petals with a contrasting orange trumpet. They usually bloom early spring and are very reliable while offering a bold color combination to your garden. Easily mixed with other early bulbs like crocus and grape hyacinth for beautiful color combinations. Jack Snipe is another type of dwarf hybrid daffodil. The swept back creamy petals give the flower it's nickname of "sailboat". The dark yellow primrose cup makes a striking contrast. This vigorous daffodil is perfect for borders in sun or shade and is excellent for naturalizing . This is the most common southern mini daffodil, known as Little Gems. In England they call them Johnny Jump Ups. This early-blooming gem offers clear golden-yellow blooms with long trumpets, 'Little Gem' is a vigorous dwarf trumpet daffodil. It's a very reliable choice among daffodils, it's provides extra early seasonal color in your garden.

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**These beauties contains the toxin lycorine in their bulbs. While the level of the toxicity pretty low, and it isn't lethal for humans, eating petals will cause diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea. It can also cause liver damage and cardiac arrhythmia in pets, especially dog that like digging and ingesting bulbs, please keep this is mind before adding them to your yard. For more information about Toxic Plants for Pets See my post 12 Pet Safe Houseplants.

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PLANT YOUR OWN DAFFODIL GARDEN: