Spring Has Sprung: Head to a Botanical Garden

Spring Has Sprung: Head to a Botanical Garden

Spring has sprung, the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming and all we want to do is get outside and bask in the glory of this season of renewal.

After the year we’ve had, we deserve it!

From collaborations with international artists to beautiful, blossoming flowers, there’s no time like springtime to revel in one of these botanical gardens.

 Dallas Arboretum & Botanical Garden

Discover the contemporary art of Zimbabwe at the Dallas Arboretum & Botanical Garden when their ZimSculpt exhibition opens on May 1 as the signature event of their Summer of Sculpture. Running through August 8 with more than 100 curated works by several Shona artists from Zimbabwe, the monumental sculptures are sited throughout the gardens and made from precious stones. Opening day will include a Black Heritage Celebration showcasing local Black-owned businesses and artisans with performances by the Dallas Black Dance Theatre and others. On special days throughout the exhibition, sculptors will create works live for guests to witness the creative process in action.

Find Dallas Arboretum & Botanical Garden at 8525 Garland Rd at 175 N Ada St., just a 16-minute drive from Virgin Hotels Dallas.

Nashville’s Cheekwood Estate & Gardens

Artist Sean Kenney has made a name for himself creating playful sculptures and installations with a very specific medium—Legos! His imaginative works land in Nashville’s Cheekwood Estate & Gardens on May 1 through September 5 with 38 sculptures made from more than 800,000 Lego bricks. Think, an enormous tortoise, dragonflies and bunny rabbits spread across Cheekwood’s 55 acres of botanical gardens and arboretums. You’ll stroll through a woodland sculptural trail and 12 distinctive gardens with over 150,000 blooming spring flowers and enjoy Cheekwood’s dramatic vistas from its picturesque 1930s Georgian estate and museum.

Find Cheekwood Estate & Gardens at 1200 Forrest Park Dr., just a 23-minute drive from Virgin Hotels Nashville.

 Chicago Botanic Garden

Situated about 25 miles north of downtown, the Chicago Botanic Garden spans 385 acres with six miles of lake shoreline and nine islands, making it the perfect nearby springtime escape from the city. It’s renowned for its bonsai collection, including a 100-year-old Japanese white pine on display in a peaceful, zen-like courtyard from April through October. As you explore the 27 gardens and four distinct natural areas, you’ll be surrounded by fragrant and colorful blossoming springtime flowers, including gardenias, magnolias, daffodils, passionflowers, jade vines, great marsh marigolds and lilies.

Find Chicago Botanic Garden at 1000 Lake Cook Rd., just a 36-minute drive from Virgin Hotels Chicago.

New York Botanical Garden

One of the hottest tickets this spring is Yayoi Kusama’s “Cosmic Nature” at the New York Botanical Garden. The uber-popular Japanese contemporary artist, known for her trippy monumental spotted pumpkins and immersive infinity mirror rooms, has sited her works throughout the garden’s 250 acres now through the end of October. Celebrating her lifelong fascination with the natural world, her glittery pumpkins and sculptural creations interplay with the garden’s more than 1 million plant species throughout its specialty gardens, water features and Victorian-style glasshouse conservatory.

Virgin Hotels New York opening in late 2021.

Written by: Shayne Benowitz