A Traveler’s Guide to Iconic Flower Gardens

Not every great place is known for its skyline or its museums.

Some of the most special places in the world are best appreciated for their colour, their scent and their natural cycles. While dedicated Florans might first be drawn to a garden destination by a simple love of flowers, the gardens they find along the way are anything but ordinary. Whether you’re interested in a field of Dutch tulips or a botanical masterpiece created by an artist, these gardens are the perfect destinations for travellers who prefer to experience landscapes along with their landmarks. All you need is a sense of inspiration to get planning.

Keukenhof, the Netherlands: when spring pops in full colour

Close to Lisse, Keukenhof is an annual rite of passage into the European spring season. Millions of bulbs display tulips, hyacinths and daffodils in long sweeps of grass, while indoor pavilions show intricate floral displays at their finest. Open only for a few weeks in the spring, the garden’s calendar is one travellers will need to heed.

Catch Keukenhof from late March to early May. Head early in the morning, especially on a weekend, and plan to spend a few hours riding bikes around the tulip-growing district nearby.

Butchart Gardens: the garden that grew from a quarry

Butchart Gardens was started when someone looked at an abandoned limestone quarry and had an idea. From those first few blooms in 1903, the gardens in Brentwood Bay, close to Victoria, now sprawl to 55 acres of gardens whose most famous feature is its Sunken Garden. But don’t stop there. The Japanese Garden and Rose Garden are worth a few extra minutes.

Kew Gardens, London: botany meets history

Kew Gardens is an urban garden whose displays, both in the gardens and in the glass, are only a bit smaller than the institution’s chronological record of botanical history. Let’s start with the garden’s most famous features: its Victorian Palm House, its newly restored Temperate House, its Chinese Pagoda and its annual trails.

In the spring, go for the magnolias, followed by the tulips, wisteria and the rhododendrons. In early summer, the Rose Garden takes the spotlight. Kew is easy to reach by public transit. It’s hard to finish seeing, however, thanks to the garden’s larger size. Consult the map and choose only a few areas to explore.

Provence, France: when lavender spreads itself across the palette

The area around Provence is a little different when it comes to its flower display. Here, villages nearby to the Valensole Plateau, the Luberon and the crest-line above Sault provide the perfect spot to watch the world change colour. These stone villages of lavender offer an open-air palette. The ribbons of purple colour change with the landscape. Higher fields bloom later than low fields.

Giverny, France: stepping into Monet’s landscapes

Claude Monet’s home and garden of Giverny offer an experience of nature and painting coming along. Visitors can walk from colorful Clos Normand to the Japanese bridge on the water-lily pond that inspired the painter for plenty of his artworks.

The garden is open for a few months each year and the Japanese bridge remains closed to crossing, but the bloom season, with the water lilies especially, happens in midsummer. Giverny is a classic Paris day trip and quite crowded: booking ahead and visiting as early as possible will make your experience more enjoyable. The village itself is also worth a visit, and forgetting for a moment it’s a very touristy place, with the local landscapes helping in understanding of the artist’s obsession with nature and l