Callaway
Gardens
Pine Mountain, Georgia
June 2010
Callaway Gardens is a remarkable place.
It is a 14,000 acre resort set into the hills and forest of
Eastern Georgia. There are lakes, golf courses,
restaurants, shops and miles of hiking trails. Visiting for
just a couple of hours barely allows time to sample the
highlights. Callaway markets itself as a place to come to
escape everyday life and get back to nature. With
opportunities for biking, boating, hiking, golfing and
more, it would be a great place to spend a week long
vacation.
The Visitor Center is located in the middle of the site, so
it’s a long drive through forest to get to it. It’s a
lovely, rustic-feeling structure set in the woods on the
edge of a lake. Just wandering around the building gives
you a feel for what the rest of the place is like.
Nature trails lead out from the
Visitor Center into the surrounding forest. The trails
are well-maintained, there is good directional signage
to keep you from getting lost and there are lots of
large, handsome trees. Sadly, there is little
interpretation and few identification labels so I
didn’t find it as interesting as I’d hoped.
But there are beautiful things to see along the trails.
There are numerous natural water features, like this
waterfall, as well as wooden bridges over streams and small
ponds. Callaway is known for azaleas so in spring the woods
are probably beautiful with azaleas and wildflowers.
The trail leads you to another highlight of Callaway, the
Butterfly House. It is a nice looking conservatory and
there are plenty of beautiful butterflies inside. My
favorite part was glass case in which many pupa were
hanging, waiting to transform into butterflies. Seeing a
fully formed butterfly emerge from a jewel-like chrysalis
is an amazing thing. Lots of gardens have butterfly houses
and I find most of them slightly disappointing. They are
almost always about beautiful butterflies rather than about
the connection of butterflies and plants. To me this one
suffered the same problem. There was some interpretive
signage about pollination but the plants were given a very
secondary role. Gardens should do a better job of including
the plants in the story.
The next major feature is the Vegetable Garden. As
everywhere at Callaway, the directional signage is
impressive.
It’s a nice, big vegetable garden with lots of beautiful
crops being grown. There was very little interpretation
though so it felt kind of like a visit to any farm - a
great escape from the city but not terribly interesting.
There were some All-America Selection test plots with good
interpretation so maybe I’m being too harsh.
Our final stop, the Sibley Horticultural Center, turned out
to be a real treat. With greenhouses, plant displays and
formal gardens, this is much more what I consider a garden.
The succulent house has one of the nicest displays I’ve
seen. I love the canyon effect they’ve achieved by placing
the pavers on edge and planting in the crevices. Again I
was disappointed by the lack of signage, but as a strictly
aesthetic display it works very well. The plants looked
healthy and at home.
The tropical house is also beautiful. Not as striking as
the succulent house but with a lovely collection of
thriving plants. I especially liked these big screwpines.
Outside the greenhouse are lovely flowerbeds with
flower-inspired sculpture in most of the beds. It’s all
very colorful, well-maintained and delightful.
As I said in opening, Callaway Gardens markets itself as a
resort. I can imagine it being a great place to vacation,
but as a garden it left me unimpressed. When the azaleas
are in bloom it is probably spectacular, but a beautiful
walk in the woods is not enough for me to love a garden.
Visit Callaway if you want to escape from the pressures of
everyday life, but if a beautiful botanic garden is what
you want, there are other options I’d recommend.
To see more pictures of Callaway Gardens, click
here.
Click here to visit the official website of
Callaway Gardens.