Native Ferns of GA: a Botanical Garden Walk in SE Atlanta

We want to thank our friends in the GA Botanical Society for suggesting that we participate in this nice FREE event in the beautiful botanical garden at GA Perimeter College's "Decatur Campus" in SE Atlanta.  GPC's "Ferns of the World Garden" is said to contain more different species than any other fern garden in the United States, with specimens of virtually all of Georgia's lovely native ferns.

Our Atlanta Outdoor Club "subgroup" will gather at 10:00 AM at the garden entrance - see detailed directions & GPS info below.  After introducing one another we'll walk in together and first explore the greenhouse area.  A variety of potted native plants will be offered for sale to garden guests at very reasonable prices.

At 10:30 AM we'll join fern expert Mary Lou Cannamela for a leisurely guided "Walk through the Ferns." 

Bring a picnic lunch if you like, and we can relax in the shade at about 11:30 to enjoy lunch together.

Stick around with us if you like at 12:00 Noon for a fascinating talk entitled "Native Alternatives to Common Garden Plants," with practical tips about planting hardy drought-resistant Georgia "natives" in our own gardens.  The speaker Eddi Minche is an expert hiker, trail guide, beekeeper, and member of both the GA Native Plant Society and GA Botanical Society - a.k.a. the "Botsockers!"

We'll definitely go ahead with our AOC visit to the garden "rain or shine," even though the "fern walk" could possibly be postponed in the unlikely event that the garden paths are considered too wet.

Click on the following handy link for a schedule of all of GPC's nice "Friday open house" walks & talks in the botanical garden this fall.  Then click "Home" (at the base of that page) to access their other beautiful garden webpages and photos.
http://gpcnativegarden.org/sales13fall.html

1. From the I-285/ I-85 "Spaghetti Jcn" interchange (NE of Atlanta) take I-285 southward about 15 miles and get off at the Flat Shoals Rd exit (I-285 exit #48, 2 mi south of the big I-20 interchange).
2. Turn Right onto Flat Shoals Road and go just 0.2 mile (northwestward) to the traffic light at Panthersville Rd.
3. Turn Left onto Panthersville Rd and continue straight ahead for about 1 mile (southward). After passing through the traffic light at Clifton Springs Rd get in the rightmost lane of traffic.
4. Just before this rightmost lane ends, turn Right (westward) into the large parking lot. (There may be a small "Botanical Garden" sign here.)
5. Park in the far side of the lot near the garden entrance. Our AOC "subgroup" will gather here at 10:00.

For a zoomable map or satellite view of the garden entrance click on the rectangular blue & green "Event Location" icon near the top of this article.

You GPS Users may wish to augment the above directions by entering the following Lat/Lon coordinates of the garden entrance as your destination: 33.68706,-84.27415

The street address & phone number of GPC's "Native Plant Botanical Garden" are:
3251 Panthersville Rd, Decatur, GA    678-891-2668

FREE Event with free Parking and no Garden Entrance Fee!