Recognized as one of the Thirteen Best Botanical Gardens in America, Gibbs Gardens will offer visitors a new garden experiences, inspired by the work of the Monarch Joint Venture. Gibbs is re-inventing his 30-acre Wildflower Meadow as a butterfly and bee pollinator garden. The gardens also feature 5 gardens and 21 seasonal collections gardens for garden lovers of all interests.
Monarch butterflies living east of the Rockies migrate 3,000 miles each August to over-winter in Central Mexico. They travel down the eastern states—including Georgia—and curve west along the Gulf States toward Mexico. The process is repeated in reverse in the spring with monarchs leaving in early March to arrive in New England in May and June.
This spring Gibbs started his Wildflower Meadow transformation, clearing out invasive plantings to make room for five acres of cosmos and other new varieties that support and encourage pollination. He began by seeding literally millions of cosmos to color the meadows in wave after wave of vibrant color.
Thousands of monarchs are enjoying their rest stop at Gibbs Gardens—attracted by the cosmos bright flowers and enriched by their precious nectar stores. Cosmos—a tall annual with 3-5 inch silky, daisy-like flowers—is native to Mexico. Cosmos blossoms (cosmos bipinnatus and cosmos sulphorous) have yellow centers with a rainbow of petal colors including white, various shades of pink, crimson, rose, lavender and purple.
Gibbs’ great respect for the balance of nature is not new. In 2015, with growing concern about bees dying and/or disappearing, he contacted a local bee farm and arranged to have hives established in Gibbs Gardens’ safe, clean environment.
Today there are seven hives—with anywhere from 20,000 to 80,000 bees per hive—within the gardens’ grounds but away from areas where visitors walk. Italian bees, the majority of those in the gardens, are more docile and are located in the general area beyond the Wildflower Meadow with signage to alert visitors who might wander in that area.
