Visit Six of the World’s Most Spectacular Gardens

Whether you enjoy arm-chair traveling or actually visiting, you’ll find yourself swooning at these breathtaking gardens. From brilliant, eye-catching flowers to intricate geometric designs fashioned with plants, the following captivating gardens are worth crossing oceans to visit.

1. The Garden of Cosmic Speculation - Scotland

Visit this unusual garden in Scotland—open to the public just one day a year—and you’ll feel as if you've fallen through the looking glass. The 30-acre Garden of Cosmic Speculation highlights the wonder of mathematics and science through sculptures and landscaping representing geometric forms and scientific concepts like fractals and black holes. This experimental garden was created in 1989 by Charles Jencks and his late wife Maggie Keswick.

2. Versailles - France

No doubt one of the most famous gardens in the world, this 250-acre masterpiece dates back to the time of Louis XIV. Designing and building the garden required immense amounts of work and a large staff. It features a series of fountains, as well as an Orangerie, manicured turf, hedgerow mazes, and knot gardens featuring low-growing evergreens planted in intertwined patterns. Much of the garden is designed to be seen from a distance atop various vantage points.

3. Butchart Gardens - British Columbia

Colorful flowers and foliage, skillfully woven into the fabric of verdant green, make these gardens living works of art. Encompassing 50 acres, the site features a wide variety of unusual scenery, from the sunken garden (which was a former quarry), to a well-designed Japanese garden, and a wide variety of statuary. Butchart Gardens is located near Victoria on Vancouver Island, and was started by Jennie and Robert Pim Butchart in 1904.

4. Keukenhof Gardens - The Netherlands

Dubbed the world’s largest flower garden, this floral wonderland features 32 acres that explode every spring with more multi-colored flower bulbs than you’ve probably ever seen in your life. The garden staff plants more than 7 million daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths, creating a sea of awe-inspiring beauty. Garden flower arrangers are even on hand at the garden to share their tips for making the most of homegrown flowers.

5. The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens - San Marino, California

This garden set in Southern California spans 120 acres and features an incredible 14,000 varieties of plants. There are 14 themed gardens; the Chinese garden is the largest of its kind outside of China. There are also lily ponds, a palm garden, and Japanese and desert gardens. Many of the plants at the garden are subtropical. And the Rose Garden is deservedly famous.

6. Kew Gardens - London

Open since 1759, when the garden was created by Princess Augusta during the reign of King George III, this diverse garden features more than 50,000 plants. It has a herbarium where about 7 million plant specimens are housed and used for research. A wide variety of additional destinations are located within the 132-acre gardens, including a giant water lily pond, treetop walkway, a Japanese gateway, a glass Alpine House, and, yes, Europe’s largest compost heap.