Make sure to visit the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Very beautiful and FREE!!!!

www.bbgardens.org

Huntsville: Huntsville Botanical Garden, Bennett Nurseries, and Across the Pond (next door to Bennett's & shares a parking lot).

In the B'ham area, three that you won't want to miss are:

The Plant Odyssey - 2912 6th Ave. S.
The Plant Odyssey Nursery - 2900 4th Ave. S.
Hanna's Garden Shop - 5485 Highway 280 E.

Of course the selection is likely to be way down from Spring, and not quite stocked for Fall, but I believe you'll find something at each one that you'll want to take back home!

Have a great time while visiting, and take home lots of good memories!

Thanks, guys. The Huntsville Botanical Garden sounds like something we'll want to do, for sure.

Outside, is Across the Pond a retail nursery or a public garens? I can only find one reference to it on the 'Net, and it is sort of vague.

On another site I found a reference to something called the "Dismals" that sounds interesting? Anyone know about this place?

Thanks,

Marcia

for sure do not miss Bennett's in Huntsville. It is a retail nursery, but really it's almost a tourist attraction! They have complimentary drinks for customers (coke, diet coke, dr. pepper, bottled water), and on Saturdays (by far the best day to go) they have live musicians (usually a guitar/violin duo) and free barbecue (OMG is it ever good--smoked chicken quarters). DH and I used to go over there on Saturdays just for fun (and it's really easy to drop some serious cash on plants in there).

Across the Pond is a retail water-garden center. They have all kinds of koi and beautiful fountains, planters, and landscape stone. I wouldn't go up there just for Across the Pond, but if you're going to Bennett's anyway, then you may as well go over and look at some huge fish, too!

HSV Botanical Garden is great, too.

angela w. who lives in hsv.

Huntsville Botanical Garden is right near the Space and Rocket Center on Bob Wallace Ave. You can't miss it right off of I-565.

Here is a link that might be useful: Huntsville Botanical Garden

Thanks, Angela and mlogsdon, and all. I know we'll be going to Bennett's and the Botanical Garden. The relatives we are visiting were already somewhat aware of Bennett's, and your description confirmed it was the place she had already scoped out. We visited them in Florence last year, but they had only been there a few months then, and weren't familiar with the area yet.

I'm also a water gardener, so Across the Pond sounds scrumptious.

We think northern Alabama is fabulous!

Thanks again for all your help.

Marcia