Photo Credit: Glacier Gardens Rainforest Adventure

Alaska Gardens & Arboretums

The growing season in Alaska may be pretty short, but its days are very long—and the enthusiasm is high. Because Alaska has such long winters and everything remains buried under snow for months, gardening is definitely a passion for some Alaskans. The reward, for waiting through winter, is that our extremely fertile soil makes for enormous vegetables and gorgeous, eye-popping gardens around the state. Just strolling through Anchorage, too, you’ll see plenty of gardens and hanging flower baskets—an explosion of colors.

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Gardens & Arboretums

Season: May 1 - October 25 $26.95

Tucked inside the lush Ton­gass Nation­al For­est, dis­cov­er an Alaskan botan­i­cal gar­den unlike any­where else in the world. A 2012 Read­er’s Digest poll chose Glac­i­er Gar­dens out of thou­sands of entries as the Most Inter­est­ing Land­mark in Amer­i­ca! Vibrant hang­ing gar­dens spill from 15-foot-tall upside down tree Flower Tow­ers” and ele­gant­ly designed land­scapes com­pli­ment the nat­ur­al beau­ty of the rain­for­est. Explore these unique gar­dens on a guided  ...more

Season: Year Round $14 1 - 2 hrs

Walk, hike, watch for birds or paint a pic­ture at this liv­ing field guide of Alas­ka flo­ra and fau­na. The 110 acres are set in a birch and spruce for­est, where you might even see a bear or moose. Walk the Wild­flower Trail, relax in the Herb Gar­den, delight in the peren­ni­al gar­dens, or explore the 1.1 mile Lowen­fels Fam­i­ly Nature Trail.

The first Sun­day of August brings a spe­cial event to Homer: the oppor­tu­ni­ty to step into pri­vate gar­dens that show­case the unique­ness of Alaskan gar­den­ing and get some real insight into what it’s like to work the land in a place where the grow­ing sea­son is short and the days long. Some 400 peo­ple come to Homer from all over, some of them gar­den­ers from oth­er parts of Alas­ka, and oth­ers from out­side the state who sim­ply have an inter­est in  ...more

Ever won­dered what would hap­pen if your gar­den had non-stop sun­light dur­ing the grow­ing sea­son? This is your chance to see what’s pos­si­ble as you view every­thing from 50-pound cab­bages to pan­sies the size of small children.

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