Memphis Botanic Garden

I got a photographer’s pass here in order to take people here. It’s a big place. I like the division of the different areas. The path through the forest is my favorite. I hope they expand and make it even bigger. It’s a fun place to have in the middle of a city. The staff up front is very friendly.

Hubby does a lot of his photoshoots here so we end up coming here often. It’s very pretty and huge. There are plenty of places to go and lots of different sections to visit– like the zoo but for plants. I think my favorite is the Backyard area (or maybe I have the name mixed up?). It’s the area with all the beds and other knick knacks mixed in the flower beds. There’s even a hobbit hole! It’s quirky. My second favorite place would be all the playhouses for kids. There’s even places for them to climb up and come out onto little balconies. It’s so cute (and yes I was able to fit up there in one of them at least) and I can imagine it’d be fun to bring kids too (I’m an adult and I had fun!). They always have little events going on so check back often.

If you love nature and walking around in the sun, you have to come check this place out. Every season brings its own flowers and plants, so there’s never a shortage of things to see. The geese there are a source of entertainment on their own! They also have giant gold fish in different ponds and you can buy a small bag of fish food for $ 1 to feed them. Kids usually go nuts for it, but I’ve done it myself and its quite amusing and relaxing. They’re also a great venue for weddings and other events, and they have a schedule of live music events as well.

This is not your perfect botanic garden. Not every plant is labeled, the beds weren’t perfect, but the grounds were worth seeing. The garden offers some great walking paths and was an enjoyable way to spend a spring afternoon. What we really were impressed with was the area for the kids. Wonderful! Saw many families taking advantage, letting the kids explore and get creative. Think if I had little ones, we’d be here all the time!

Very expansive and pretty place! We spent about 1.5 hours here soaking in some sun and walking around the gardens. There’s a lot of variety in plant life and beautiful flowers. However there was some construction going on which detracted a little from the experience. Price is $ 8 for adults and $ 6.50 for seniors.

Even though trees were not yet in bloom
Still very enjoyable afternoon in the Gardens!
Fantastic for Families and children
Will be back again soon

My dad has THE most incredible garden — with vegetables, fruits and flowers.
BUT, his daughter (yours truly) is a poor example of a plant proliferation protégé. As I work to reform my ways, the Memphis Botanic Garden is a godsend.
With that, I truly appreciate the MBG’s plant sales throughout the year, along with their education programs for both kids AND adults.
I’ve also been to many a concert on the lawn, events in the Grand Gallery, and I haven’t been let down once. NOT once.
Wherever you are on the grounds, there’s an intimate feel, despite the nearly 100 acre expanse. It’s due to the fact that the gardens are sectioned off into various different settings.
My favorite vista is the amazing Japanese Garden of Tranquility. It’s arguably one of the best settings in Memphis, aside from the views on and around the Mississippi River. The pond, the swans and the geese just bring me peace — within. Yes. It rhymed and I liked it.
If you are looking for an activity for children, My Big Backyard is for you. Woot!
In addition to the Live at the Garden concert series, I’ve really enjoyed different events in the Grand Gallery — an enclosed hall with a seated area and an outdoor water garden.
The cost ranges from FREE to $ 8 per visit!!!
Even if you don’t have enough time to visit this treasure of a 28-​garden experience, you can just do lunch at Fratelli’s Café.
Plain and simple. There is no excuse to miss out on the joy that is The Memphis Botanic Garden.

We had company in town and went here for an afternoon outing. I really enjoyed each section of the garden. The walking paths are relatively smooth and mostly paved so this is an activity that anyone could participate in, no matter the mobility level. We will return for sure.

Worth every penny just to visit my big backyard. We don’t have any kids and we still loved it! Kids and adults can have fun exploring all the different play houses. I definitely recommend springing the extra dollar to buy the koi fish food. Getting able to feed the huge swarm of fish in the Japanese gardens was the cherry on top. One of my favorite things about memphis!

Gorgeous.
Peaceful — and the smell of the magnolia just added to my wonderful visit in the south.
Incredible variety of trees — small flowers and shrubs which I had never seen. Well-​kept grounds. Well-​marked directions to different parts of the garden.
Hugest koi I have ever seen in my life in a small pond. They are definitely well-​fed here …
A place to go to when you want to de-​compress and breathe …
Loved it.

How disappointing! So often I will look at a Unilocal listing and only view the pictures and the overall star rating. After my visit I came back too look at some of the lesser ratings and boy Kelly K. hit the mark. My mom had always wanted to visit the garden so that’s what we did for Mother’s day. We were very excited and even looked online at the gardens that are featured. She was looking forward to the rose garden the most. After purchasing our tickets the employee informs us that the rose garden in currently under maintenance. Great (: Oh well I’m sure there are tons of other pretty flowers to look at right? Nope. We start off trying to use the map and we got so turned around we almost walked out if the place?! We finally made it outside to where the rose garden was supposed to be and sure enough there is absolutely nothing there. The water fountain wasn’t even going! (a growing trend, countless fountains were turned off) We mingle our way around to the big backyard area. I had to convince my mom to go in there because she didn’t want to go to the kids area but me being me had seen all the cool pictures on Unilocal and wanted to check it out. Boy, did we waste a lot of time in there. Very pointless if you don’t have a kid. We try to carry on and follow the map but it is completely pointless if there aren’t signs saying what it what to know that you are following the map! We make it to the iris garden, half of them are dead, time to move on. We walk for who knows how long and don’t see a single thing except squirrels! I can see those in my yard. Finally we make it took another area that is supposed to be a sensory garden… but there’s nothing there except fountains, but hey at least they were going I guess. We walked for so long without seeing anything. I mean this garden is HUGE but whats the point if all your doing is walking but not seeing any flowers or anything that makes it worth while. Eventually we made it to the Japanese garden and there actually starts to be something (kind of) the pond with gigantic koi fish. Luckily little boy walks up while we’re their with some food so we got to enjoy how crazy the fish react to these little pellets. But seriously, where did he get the food. Was it the front desk or did I miss somewhere to get?! If it’s at the front desk they should as if you want to buy food because I had no idea it was even offered. We walk around the Japanese garden for the little while but we’re all tired by this point.
It was so hot and honestly I had bad shoes on so we were basically ready to go. My dad notices on the map (yeah he’s still trying to follow it) that there is some kind of photographers garden and yeah I remembered seeing it on the map and my heart wanted to go but my feet honestly couldn’t have carried me any farther. I barely made it out of there. Plus who knows if there would have any been anything to see?! I really don’t get why it is so huge and spread out the way it is! And the lack of flowers was just so disappointing! We thought that this would be a perfect time to go! But when it? Is it even worth it to go back at an earlier time to try again?! I know one things for certain, if we do we’re going to the Japanese garden first and skipping the kids area entirely. Hopefully the rose garden will be replanted by next March. Overall we wished we had stuck to our traditional Mother’s day plans and gone to the zoo!

I think the best part was seeing the animals that lived in the garden. I saw ducks, geese, turtles, fish and a swan. Some parts of the garden were beautiful while others were just okay.

SAD to say, but it has been many years since I had been to Memphis Botanic Gardens before my recent visit. GLAD to say — WOW! What a tremendous improvement — and continuing to improve. We took family from out of town who had wanted to come see what we have to offer. They were impressed.
The last time I went to Memphis Botanic Gardens, most of the current exhibits and attractions we saw were not there. Boy, I regret missing out on so much. We saw so many beautiful flowers, shrubs, trees, and the like. There are now numerous places for kids to experience Nature and learn much in a hands-​on environment.
The additions have been able to showcase different facets of this treasure we have in Memphis. There were some flowers that were not blooming at this time of year, but I saw many new flowers that drew attention to the new beauty of this treasure we have here.
Our group also decided to eat at Fratelli’s Café while we were there — man, what terrific food they have — but that’s for another review. For now, if it has has been some time since you were last at the Gardens, «plan a mini-​vacation» to treat yourself and come back and see what’s new.

I truly enjoyed the wonderful trails/​plant life at the Botanic Gardens! I saw a large selection of plants/​outdoor waterfalls. The grounds have a dining hall to hosts weddings, parties. I will be coming back herer because I was unable to finish my tour of the grounds! Highly recommended!

Once a month Memphis Botanic Garden has a «Vine to Wine» event, usually on Tuesday evenings from 6pm to 8pm. Guests mingle amidst the lovely gardens (or indoors if the weather is bad), sample a variety of wines, eat foods prepared by local restaurants, and enjoy live music. I’ve been to 3 or 4 of these events, and always find them delightful.

Beautiful, tranquil and we didn’t even visit in Spring! Though I’m sure it’s much nicer then.
My son had a blast in the big backyard (Okay, us parents did too!) The Sensory garden, though small, was beautiful and a pleasure to walk through. The Japanese garden was also lot of fun and a whole lot to look at, my son had a great time exploring :) Can’t wait to visit again.

Just finished first visit here. It felt like a nice city park with an awesome Children’s playground rather than a botanical garden. The map they give you is confusing and there are not enough signs to direct you around the place. It is small enough that you figure it out after a few round abouts or just cutting through the grassy areas. Many areas are under repair. It is a nice spot for a walk. Could use a few more benches though. The children’s area is five star though. Best for kids!

I love this place! Everyone that visits Memphis needs to go here.
We spent an hour at the Japanese Garden feeding the fish, ducks, geese, swan, and turtles! Then we (adults!) proceeded to My Big Backyard to play.
Their staff is amazing, great whether you’re just visiting or having an event or attending an event.

My Review is only for the Christmas Light Show in the Gardens. We have not seen the gardens during the day, only at night.
My family and I stopped here for their Christmas light event and we were very pleased. We have an incredible light show at the Atlanta Botanic Gardens, but it is completely different, and I must admit I was comparing.
The thing I really enjoyed about the light show here is the different activities they had here, something ours does not have. The Atlanta one just has lights and hot coco.
My 3 year old was able to roast mash-​mellows for the first time at their fire pit, he created a gingerbread man, played in the snow that they create in the tent with his little brother, and was able to run around inside the little houses they had full of lights. This light show was well thought out and felt very cozy. The people who worked the event seemed like all volunteers and were extremely friendly.
We originally were going to the Shelby Farms light show, due to the rain on Saturday evening. When we saw the light there, which must of been 120+ cars deep and with what had to be a hour or longer wait to get in and leave, we decided to try out the Memphis Botanic Gardens instead, because it finally stopped raining. We were here for about 2 hours, as we left it started to rain again, so everything worked out perfectly.
We had a fantastic time here and really enjoyed ourselves. For $ 10 bucks a person, it was well worth it. We will be back next year when we visit our family up here again.

I enjoy the outdoors. Hell, I work on a dock with no doors. I am enjoying the breeze as we speak. Unfortunately, my views are quite limited except for the occasional truck driving by or a stripper slapping someone in the parking lot.
With that being said, I always love going to gardens and whatnot. I can do herb gardening, but when it comes to the whole nine, I can only appreciate it. I don’t know what blooms when, except I remember when my mom would get pissed when the flowers would frost.
I was playing tourist this weekend and wanted to give the MBG a shot. The fact it is open til 6 on Sundays and has free parking enticed me. Finding it wasn’t difficult at all, and was not crowded. However, as I walking up, I noticed everyone there had either a wheelchair or and oxygen tank. I thought I was about to crash a geriatric party.
I went up and paid the $ 8 admission, and grabbed a map, and went on. I had done my research, and knew there were 20 something different gardens here, I was excited. The first two I saw were the sculpture and the rose garden. Behind the rose garden were these beautifully place trees that make for great pictures. I didn’t bring my nice camera, so I couldnt really take the pictures I wanted to.
Moving on, the map was slightly confusing, as not all trails were posted. I kept hoping I was going in the right direction. The next area was believe it or not, a kids area. The fact I had no kids with me, I moved on. But it looked cool. The next area was an iris garden, with another nice sculpture and fountain.
Then it was on to the forest, where there were prehistoric plants and things of the such. While walking in the forest, I realized how muggy it gets in Memphis. I was pouring sweat, and I was even wearing lightweight clothing. Nice.
After walking through and seeing the herb garden and what looked like an area where they had concerts, I walked through more woods, and saw a nice pavilion and headed to a butterfly garden. That garden is in the corner, complete with a pond. It is nice and relaxing, but I saw no butterflies at the time :/​
The big part I was looking forward to was the Japanese Garden, and the lake. If you haven’t already noticed, I enjoy Asian culture on all fronts. So I saved this area for last. I took the lap around, and tried to get decent pics. As I was nearing a stone bridge, I stepped on a stone and I tell you what, it almost knocked me out! Ever see someone step on a rake? That was me, except with a 500 lb stone. So BE VERY CAREFUL when going over those rocks! Hopefully no one saw me.
After regaining my composure, I said hello to the swan and the koi, and headed on to the next area– which was the Sensory Garden. It had cool fountains and such, but by this point, it was so damn hot, I was just needing to get back to some AC.
I finally got to the visitor center, and checked out the local art they had for sale amongst their small gift shop. It was peaceful, and I enjoyed myself. I think the map was a little too confusing and those stones that almost took my life prevented it from being 5 stars. But, I think when it gets cooler out, I will surely be back, and better prepared :)