Do you LOVE Norfolk Botanical Garden but find yourself visiting the Children's Garden, Butterfly House, and Airport Overlook over and over again? If you haven't had the chance to ramble, and making your way through the map seems a little daunting here is a quick list of five of our favorite kid-friendly places at NBG.

Baker Overlook: The coolest place in the whole of NBG, in my humble opinion. Literally and figuratively -- it's always five degrees cooler there than anywhere else. There's a two-tier deck/tree platform in a giant oak that makes you feel like Swiss Family Robinson, comfy padded porch swings, and a view of the waterway, to watch the tour boats go by. (The photos in this post were taken at Baker Overlook on a Sunday Pokemon hunt a few weeks ago.)

Hunter Savage Colonial Garden: Part ornamental garden of the 18th century, part medicinal and culinary garden. The walkways are paved in oyster stones, and each herb and plant is marked with tiny handmade markers. We love to run our hands over the herbs and name each smell. Speaking of scents...

Fragrance Garden: Located next to the main building, each plant in this garden was selected because of its scent. Each season has something to stop and smell, from Allspice in summer to Bayberry in winter. We like to do a sensory tour of the garden and find as many different things to touch, smell, and see in this spot as we can.

Tropical Display House: the Tropical Display House is a riot of color year round. It's a steamy spot (going in there always makes Anouk's hair extra curly), which is nicer in winter than in summer. BUT there is so much to see in there, palm trees, birds of paradise, strangler figs, and even that kid-friendly fave: BANANAS. A good place to practice your monkey sounds. Be careful of wet floors.

Enchanted Forest: Two easy trails wend through this secluded spot (one is paved for strollers). Among the tall trees, it's almost possible to pretend that you're somewhere else entirely. There's a picturesque footbridge, whimsical tree-stump benches, and a magnificent fountain spiraling up into the middle of Lake Whitehurts! One of the best places in the Garden to look for turtles.

Honorable mention (Anouk told me to add this, so it's straight from the horse's mouth): Fern Glade, which can be found adjacent to Baker Overlook. "It looks like there are elfs there, Mom."

The Norfolk Botanical Gardens being closed for a month to set up for Lantern Asia really put a cramp in our style. I never realized how often we go or how much we depend on the Garden as a place to play on warmer days! But now that we've walked through the Lantern Asia exhibit, I can safely say without any doubt that the wait was worth it.

Lantern Asia is a traveling lantern festival put on by the China-based Tianyu Culture Communication, and features a mile of incredible lanterns to explore. The 36 lantern installations are made of silk and steel and represent Asian traditions and landmarks found in China, Japan, India and Korea, among other Far East nations. There's a giant color Taj Mahal, an elephant parade. Dozens of kawaii pandas tumbling over lighted flowers, and a child-sized ladybug parade. By day, the lanterns are sculptural works of art, detailed and colorful and lovely. But at night -- they're magic.

Our big kids -- Anouk and her two-year-old buddy, T. -- had an amazing time running around each exhibit and exclaiming over all the tiniest details (caveat -- it was increibly hard to keep them from touching and in one case, T. almost ran over an electrified rail (!) so just a strong tip, keep to the path). Even Baby Gus had a good time watching the lights (when he wasn't snoozing). All in all, our walk took about two hours, and this is including the time spent standing in line at the food truck court.

Lantern Asia will run through the end of April, with daily admission free for Garden members from 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM. After that, all garden guests have to pay, though admission is discounted for members ($15 versus $20). Kids 3 and under get in free! Worth pushing back bedtime a few hours (and we take bedtime super seriously in this house).

Just a quick update to say that in case you didn't know, the weeping cherry trees are in bloom at Norfolk Botanical Garden! We were there yesterday and the place was a wash of white filmy blooms, so pretty. One of the things we liked about living in DC was cherry blossom season -- it's nice to have a little taste of that close to home this year. The trees are scattered throughout the garden, but we found the boat basin and NATO tower are especially good places to see them.

If you visit, the perennial garden is also worth a stop this time of year, and the sprinklers in the children's garden have been turned on for the season, so if it's warm enough bring your towel and swimsuit! If you're a camellia fan (like me), now is the time to catch the tail end of their bloom, too.

Happy Tuesday!

A few weeks ago, Anne and I visited Norfolk Botanical Garden with some friends and stumbled across this gorgeous wildflower meadow. It's on the way to the Butterfly House, which is one of our favorites, so we must have passed it a million times but never in full bloom. What a surprise! We immediately stopped and explored -- the little gazebo and fountain bubbling away in a corner, the handmade homes for native bees tucked here and there, and thousands of gorgeous orange and purple flowers in between. We've already tested it, it's the perfect place for a picnic, and just to soak up some beauty before the cold weather comes and turns everything gray and brown.

Have a great weekend! And if you're looking for something to do, stop by the base for the Norfolk Fleet Fest tomorrow! There will be ship tours and live entertainment and best of all, it's free! More details at Fun and Free Hampton Roads.

I wrote a while ago about Norfolk Botanical Garden's Mission Monarch -- a project designed to highlight the recent decrease in monarch butterfly populations and educate both kids and adults about ways to protect them. As part of Mission Monarch, NBG has erected a 600-ft Monarch Migration Flyway to illustrate the incredible journey that the butterflies undertake when they migrate to Mexico each year. The trail runs between the WOW Children's Garden and the Butterfly House, and is a nice walk for a little one. There's even a scavenger hunt you can complete to earn a prize (handed out at the front desk in the Information Center).

We're frequently at the Garden and have seen everything a dozen times by now; it's always fun when they put up something new for us to experience, especially when it's interesting information presented in a new and fun way! We highly recommend stopping by if you get the chance (don't forget to check out the beautiful stands of pink and orange milkweed scattered throughout to see the butterflies hard at work!)

My friend M. picked up this milkweed plant for me at Norfolk Botanical Garden's annual plant sale last week. It doesn't look like much now, but in a few weeks, (hopefully) it will be a blaze of tiny, fluted orange flowers.



Milkweed was the signature plant of NBG's plant sale this year, for the simple reason that it's the most important plant in the life cycle of the monarch butterfly. Milkweed provides nectar for adult monarchs and is the only food source for monarch butterfly caterpillars. But because of loss of habitat, milkweed is disappearing at an alarming rate. And so are the monarchs.

Enter Project Milkweed, which encourages people to plant this simple, flowering shrub to help rebuild that habitat and thus rebuild butterfly populations. Over the course of the summer, NBG is going to host several events on the monarch butterfly, and on how to plant and care for milkweed (click here to find upcoming butterfly-themed events).

Anouk and I are still deciding where to plant our milkweed, but we're already looking forward to seeing butterflies around our yard this year. If you're interested in planting some milkweed in your own garden, you can contact NBG or check with the Butterfly Society of Virginia to find out where to find it. Besides orange, it comes in white and purple too -- I think it would be beautiful to have a huge patch of all the colors intermingled.

Do you have many monarchs in your neck of the woods?