Where to see spring flowers near me
Where to see spring flowers in Atlanta
The best places to see spring flowers in Atlanta — including daffodils, tulips, azaleas, wildflowers, cherry trees, magnolias, and more. Visit these parks, gardens, wildflower trails, and old cemeteries for gorgeous displays.

Photo: 123RF

Metro Atlanta is just gorgeous in the spring! So where and when can you see spring flowers in all their dazzling glory?
The earliest daffodils start blooming in February, and the flower show continues through mid-May — with magnolias, tulips, cherry blossoms, dogwood, redbud trees, azaleas, wisteria and more.

You don’t have to buy that expensive ticket to the Atlanta Botanical Garden to enjoy a floriferous spring. There are plenty of other options on our list that are free or cheap. And most likely there are several you didn’t know about!

We believe this is the biggest list out there of great places to see daffodils, cherry blossoms, and other spring flowers around Atlanta.

7 tips for taking great photos of flowers

1. Cloudy days are best — the light is diffused and you won’t get harsh shadows or a washed-out composition.

2. Wait for the wind to die down — those blustery spring breezes will blow the blossoms around and make it harder to compose and focus your shot.

3. Avoid cluttered backgrounds — often the best way to do this is to change your position until you’re not getting fences, people, trash cans, etc. in the shot. When all else fails, shoot from a low angle and let the sky be your background (see our example, below.)

4. Move closer — instead of shooting a whole wildflower meadow every time, change it up and capture one perfect flower or a cluster of them.

5. Use “portrait mode” on your mobile phone — this gives you the effect of a blurred background, with your flowery composition in sharp focus up front.

6. Shoot at sunrise — and point your lens toward the rising sun to get backlit flowers and an artistic amount of lens flare.

7. Consider the rules of composition — and if you don’t know them, do a quick google search for tried-and-true ways to effectively frame your shots.

We eliminated a cluttered background in this shot by getting down low to the ground. The overcast sky was also in our favor. Photo: H. Brucker

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• The best things to do in March in Atlanta
• Atlanta Science Festival features dozens of free events
• Gibbs Gardens puts over 20 million flowering bulbs on display

Where to see spring flowers in Atlanta

You may also be interested in our list of butterfly gardens!

Oakland Cemetery

This historic Grant Park cemetery, sometimes called Atlanta’s first park, is one of the very best places in town to see daffodils — thousands of them!

Who says daffodils have to be yellow? They come in many shapes, sizes, and colors, like these white narcissus at Oakland Cemetery. Photo: H. Brucker

Woodruff Park & downtown Atlanta

 The Daffodil Project is a worldwide initiative to create mass plantings of daffodils, as a living Holocaust memorial. In downtown Atlanta, volunteers having been planting daffodil bulbs each fall since 2014. There are currently over 30,000 of the flowering bulbs there now, in a walkable central area.

You’ll find the sunny flowers outside major attractions, lining Peachtree Street, at hotels, and at many of the green spaces, including:
* Hurt Park
* Renaissance Park
* Mayors Park

But by far our favorite downtown destination for daffodils is Woodruff Park.The photo opps are just tremendous, and you can always find a pleasant place to sit or stroll in this well-designed green space (home to the famous ATL playground!)

View the Daffodil Project’s worldwide map — it includes many public green spaces in the extended metro Atlanta area, including the suburbs.
OR, View a map of Daffodil Project plantings downtown.

Daffodils and the iconic ATL playground at Woodruff Park. Photo courtesy of Central Atlanta Progress.

Gibbs Gardens

Gibbs Gardens, located just north of metro Atlanta in Cherokee County, has been named one of the top 20 botanical gardens in the country. Each year, the gardens open in early spring — putting over 20 million daffodils on display over a six-week period. While the late daffodils are still in bloom, millions of tulips join the colorful display.

In addition to the flowering bulbs, you’ll find cherry blossoms, dogwood, azalea, rhododendron, mountain laurel, magnolia, and colorful spring annuals.
Learn more about Gibbs Gardens

The Spring ColorFest at Gibbs Gardens. Photo: Shutterstock.

Brook Run Park

This is another Daffodil Project planting site, and it’s an especially accessible one! Brook Run Park in Dunwoody features a paved, multi-use trail that makes a 2-mile loop — and in the spring, there are hundreds of daffodils in bloom alongside the stroller-friendly trail. The city of Dunwoody also hosts an annual Daffodil Dash fun walk/run.
More info

Freedom Parkway & Freedom Park

Pay a visit to the Flowering Forest, a living memorial to the late congressman John Lewis. Each year, Trees Atlanta does more plantings along a 1.5 mile stretch of Freedom Parkway — until eventually the parkway will be lined with thousands of flowering trees, shrubs, and daffodils. It’s spectacular now, and will grow more beautiful with every passing year.

The flowering trees begin to bloom in late winter. They are intentionally chosen and planted for a long succession of colorful blooms, through late spring. The Flowering Forest includes redbud, dogwood, magnolia, yellowwood, buckeye, fringe tree, and other species.

Freedom Park itself is another Daffodil Project planting site, featuring 7500+ daffodil bulbs.
More info

Flowering Forest rendering courtesy of the Freedom Park Conservancy

BeltLine Eastside Trail

Did you know our beloved BeltLine trail is also an arboretum? That’s a type of botanical garden that focuses on tree collections. The BeltLine’s Eastside Trail was barely open to the public when Trees Atlanta stepped in, with plans to plant over 600 trees along the trails, parks, and neighborhoods that comprise this section of the BeltLine.

Our personal favorite is the collection of flowering magnolias that are clustered along the Eastside Trail between Piedmont Park and Irwin Street. You’ll find star magnolia, saucer magnolia, butterfly magnolia, native magnolia, and more, blooming in early February. 

You’ll also find dogwood, redbud, fringe tree, witch hazel, and flowering cherry in various spots along the BeltLine.

We photographed Magnolia “Butterflies” along the Eastside Trail in February. Photo: H. Brucker

Cherry Blossom Festivals

Think pink! Some of the earliest events in spring festival season are the cherry blossom festivals. You can check out our annual spring festival guide for all the details, but here’s a quick recap of the Top Four, in order of best flower-peeping opportunities.

1. Macon International Cherry Blossom Festival. If you’re looking to max out on the pink blooms, Macon is your destination. It’s well worth the drive. For two weeks each March, the city transforms into a pink-petal paradise as 350,000 Yoshino cherry trees burst into bloom. The festival itself takes place over two weekends, with a parade and a variety of events.

2. Conyers Cherry Blossom Festival. This is the biggest and oldest cherry blossom fest in the extended metro area. It usually happens over the fourth weekend in March, at the Grand Prix Plaza inside the Georgia International Horse Park. If you just want the flowers and not the funnel cakes, we recommend skipping the actual festival — instead, opt for a leisurely drive or walk. There are Yoshino cherry trees planted all over Conyers. Best viewing spots include Olde Town, City Hall, Rockdale Chamber of Commerce, and the long driveway at the entrance to the Horse Park.

3. Gibbs Gardens’ Cherry Blossoms Colorfest. These gorgeous gardens are located in Ball Ground, Georgia. Again, it’s a bit of a drive, but the spring blooms are truly spectacular here. The cherry blossoms are usually in full bloom by mid-March, along with millions of daffodils and tulips. 

4. Brookhaven Cherry Blossom Festival. We’re going to be honest here — nobody heads to Blackburn Park in Brookhaven for the flowers. We’ve seen very few Yoshino cherry trees in bloom at this festival. Like everyone else, we go for the music. Past headline acts have included Joan Jett, The Fray, Rachel Platten, Rick Springfield, Don McLean, Five For Fighting, and more names you recognize. As an extra bonus: It’s the only cherry blossom festival you can ride to on MARTA!

Cherry blossoms in the charming city of Macon. Photo: GA Dept. of Economic Development

Tulip Festival

You’ll think you’re in Holland, but it’s actually Stockbridge, Georgia. The good folks at Yule Forest Farm have added fields of tulips and a Tulip Festival to their seasonal offerings. The celebration takes place over two weekends in March. You can pick your own tulips, take memorable spring photos, meet the farm animals, browse the crafts market, and lots more.

Photo: Yule Forest Farms

Callaway Gardens

What blooms in April? That would be azaleas, of course! For bright pops of color, almost nothing can rival an azalea bush in full bloom. Callaway Gardens has a huge collection, including 700 different varieties. Peak bloom is early April. But the gardeners at Callaway have cleverly worked in early-blooming and late-blooming varieties to extend the show for a full four weeks (mid-March to mid-April).

A 1.5 mile walking trail loops around the Callaway Azalea Bowl, a 40-acre garden that features over 4,000 azaleas and 2,000 trees. Take in the surrounding beauty, and then stop to rest at the charming gazebo overlooking the lake.

Azalea colors include all shades of pink, red, lavender, and white. And since azaleas usually peak at the same time as flowering dogwood trees, the gardens become especially dazzling.

The Callaway Azalea Bowl

Piedmont Park

It’s no secret that this midtown green space has been home to the Atlanta Dogwood Festival for over 80 years. The creamy white dogwood blooms peak in early April to create a lacy canopy overhead. But you can also visit Piedmont Park in February and March to enjoy redbud trees, magnolias, flowering shrubs, daffodils, and more.

Photo courtesy of the Atlanta Dogwood Festival

Old neighborhoods

Many of the old intown neighborhoods come alive with flowers in spring. You can drive through them to take in the scenery, but we think there’s nothing better than a stroll in the early spring sunshine — just lock your car and set off on foot to explore.

The neighborhoods adjacent to the BeltLine are all good candidates for spring flower peeping. You’ll find glorious gardens outside both the grand homes of Ansley Park and the charming cottages of Cabbagetown. Best of all, wandering through charming old neighborhoods is completely FREE!

Our favorite neighborhoods to stroll through include:

• Inman Park (by far our top pick!)
• Kirkwood
• Oakhurst
• Virginia-Highland
• Great Lakes (Decatur)
• Cabbagetown
• Ansley Park
• Grant Park

Redbud and dogwood blossoms on a midtown street. Photo: H. Brucker

Atlanta Botanical Garden

If you want to spend money to see flowers, you can’t beat the Atlanta Botanical Garden. There is literally something blooming every month of the year — and you can check the What’s In Bloom page monthly to see what’s happening.

Besides the millions of flowering trees, shrubs, and plants in the ground, there are elaborate seasonal container plantings all over the grounds. Visit the Storza Woods for wildflowers, and the Azalea Walk for colorful native azaleas in shades of yellow, orange, and pink.

A planting at Atlanta Botanical Garden. Photo: H. Brucker

Goizueta Gardens

The Atlanta History Center includes a 33-acre landscape that encompasses nine distinct gardens, collectively known as Goizueta Gardens.

The Rhododendron Garden starts its season in early February with winter-blooming shrubs. It peaks in a burst of color each April, with blooms from rhododendrons, flowering trees, and ground covers. The grounds also feature an architectural gazebo, small pond, and a dry streambed.

The Swan Woods is a 10-acre woodland garden featuring a Fern Circle and spring wildflowers that are native to the Georgia Piedmont. A walking trail meanders through the woodland.

Trillium grandiflorum is among the showiest of the trilliums, emerging in early spring.

Wildflower trails

There is something magical about the spring wildflowers that push through a carpet of leaf litter in late winter and early spring. They tend to be delicate and  understated — you can easily miss a small cluster of trillium or bloodroot on the forest floor.

These spring beauties come and go quickly, emerging early to soak up the sunlight before the trees leaf out and block it. They also provide an important source of food to the early pollinators that are coming out of hibernation.

This is a short list of parks and nature trails where you can see wildflowers in spring. They all tend to be clustered near the northeast corner of the Perimeter, because that’s the area we’re most familiar with. If you know of a wonderful wildflower trail, please email us about it or send photos!

• Murphey Candler Park nature trail
• Woodlands Garden
• Mary Scott Nature Park
• Mason Mill Park
• Morningside Nature Preserve
• Frazier Rowe Park nature trail

Bright yellow butterweed blooms at Murphey Candler Park in April. Photo by H. Brucker.

Smith-Gilbert Gardens

This Kennesaw botanical garden is perhaps best known for the summer Butterfly House that lets you have a close encounter with butterflies. While you’ll nearly always find something in bloom here, peak flower season is March through May. (And if you don’t make it in March or April, plan a visit for May or June when the rose garden is in its full glory and the hydrangeas are in bloom.)

In the spring, Smith-Gilbert Gardens is a great place to see unusual varieties of daffodils, many types of magnolia, camellia, flowering quince, witch hazel, paper bush, and fragrant daphne.

The woodland garden includes flowering dogwood and stewartia trees with an understory of rhododendrons, virburnums, and deutzia. There are also huge colonies of ephemeral spring wildflowers — including bloodroot, trillium, epimedium, jack-in-the-pulpit and more.

Lake Claire Land Trust

Our list would be incomplete without this quirky neighborhood green space. While it doesn’t have the same level of splendor as mass plantings and formal gardens, the Lake Claire Land Trust is chock full of eccentric charm. If you’ve never been there, plan to swing by and explore this improbable oasis at the end of Arizona Avenue.

Besides the gardens, there is kitschy yard art, a small amphitheater, kids play area, and a pond. Don’t miss the mulched, woodsy trail that leads to the sanctuary of Big Lou, the resident emu!

And it’s worth the climb to the “lookout” point — a pair of tall Adirondack-styled chairs on a wooden platform. Before the trees leaf out in spring, there’s a fun view of the Atlanta skyline in the distance and Dekalb Avenue’s traffic just below.

Photo: H. Brucker

Cator Woolford Gardens

This 39-acre estate surrounds a 1920s-era mansion and includes an old-growth forest. Cator Woolford Gardens is a hidden gem in the Druid Hills neighborhood, largely because the website stresses event rentals rather than visits from the public. Yet the info is buried on the FAQ page that the gardens are open to the public every day of the week from dawn to sunset, whenever there is not a private event taking place there. And you can check the calendar page to see which days there is nothing booked. We confess we know very little about this garden, but we hope to explore it soon.

State Botanical Garden of Georgia

First things first: the State Botanical Garden is completely FREE, including parking (although you might consider a donation). It’s located just a short drive from downtown Athens.

Like most curated and carefully maintained gardens, the grounds are gorgeous. It’s the perfect spot not only for flower peeping, but for photography, picnics, cheap dates, trail walks, relaxation, and connecting with nature.

Barnsley Gardens

You’ll find Barnsley Gardens just a short jaunt up I-75, in Adairsville, Georgia. The property has been rebranded as Barnsley Resort. and if you stay overnight you can visit the gardens for free. The ruins onsite here are the remnants of an old manor house built by Godfrey Barnsley for his bride. And who doesn’t love a ruin? A formal boxwood garden gives the garden structure, and spring bulbs bring a dash of bright color.

 The Barnsley ruins and boxwood parterre. Photo credit: Wikimedia, under a Creative Commons license

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• Atlanta Fair returns to Turner Field this spring
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