ATLANTA BLOOMS Explodes This Spring at the Atlanta Botanical Garden

Welcome spring with a colorful bang of flower power throughout March and April as Atlanta Blooms explodes at the Atlanta Botanical Garden with hundreds of thousands of tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and crocuses.

While tulips are certainly the stars of the show - with more than 30,000 in a wide variety of pastel pinks, peach and yellows planted last fall -- thousands of lesser known bulbs, annuals and flowering perennials also will round out the Garden's spring collection.

Most visitors are surprised to learn it takes an entire year to plan such an amazing show of bulb color. For this spring's spectacle, the work began in spring 2016 as tulips were in full bloom. Flowers were collected and mixed and matched with other tulips in the Garden to determine which colors complemented each other and which ones should never be caught dead together. Through trial-and-error, color combos made the cut for the following year.

Every spring the Garden also experiments with new bulb varieties to test the latest color craze and keep the show fresh from year to year. This spring's trials include tulips such as the red 'Spryng' and red and orange 'Avignon' as well as lesser known bulbs such as the multi-colored Fritillaria.

Look for two new areas in Atlanta Blooms. Longleaf restaurant becomes a stunning backdrop for a tried-and-true staff favorite tulip combination of yellow 'Big Smile' and orange 'Big Chief'. And the Children's Garden is all about fun with pops of hyacinths and tulips throughout.

The mission of the Atlanta Botanical Garden is to develop and maintain plant collections for display education, research, conservation and enjoyment. The Garden is located at 1345 Piedmont Ave. NE in Midtown, between 14th Street and Monroe Drive. The Garden is open from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sunday. Admission is $21.95 adults, $15.95 children 3-12, free to children under 3 and Garden members. For more information visit atlantabg.org or phone 404-876-5859.