Southeast Region

Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center - Callaway Gardens
Pine Mountain, Georgia

The largest glass-enclosed tropical butterfly conservatory in North America is at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain. The Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center, which opened in September 1988, joins the ranks of the world's foremost butterfly conservatories in London, Melbourne and Tokyo. Guests are able to enter this tropical paradise and walk among plants and butterflies native to countries in Central and South America, Malaysia, Taiwan and Africa. The Day Butterfly Center is the first to incorporate world-class horticulture with butterflies.

The Center houses educational displays as well as an orientation theater which shows the award-winning film detailing the life of the butterfly, On Wings Of Wonder. Surrounding the Day Butterfly Center are one-and-one-half acres of wildlife gardens designed to attract native butterflies and birds. In this garden, guests can learn what to plant in their home gardens so they too can attract butterflies and birds. The Callaway Gardens Education Department schedules workshops for home gardeners interested in planting butterfly gardens.

The Day Butterfly Center challenges everyone to see the value of plants for more than just their aesthetic beauty, but also as an intricate part of nature's life cycle. Learn More about the Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center at Callaway Gardens.

John A. Sibley Horticulture Center - Callaway Gardens
Pine Mountain, Georgia

The John A. Sibley Horticultural Center is one of the most advanced garden/greenhouse complexes in the world. The center, which opened in March of 1984, was founded on two unique design principles. One was the expansion of the more traditional conservatory planting to a broader concept of horticultural display. The other was the creation of a floral display that integrates indoor and outdoor settings. The center's design produces a visual flow of garden areas from the inside to the outside and minimizes the visual impact of the actual structure. The center encompasses five acres with 20,209 square feet of indoor floral display area. In addition, there are 30,671 square feet of production greenhouse space. The building ranges in height from 18 to 40 feet and the roof material is a silicone-coated fiberglass fabric. More than 300 tons of Tennessee fieldstone were used in the rock walls.

The horticultural center is named for the late John A. Sibley, a Georgia banker, lawyer, civic leader and agricultural enthusiast. A close friend of the Callaway family, Mr. Sibley shared co-founders Virginia and Cason Callaways' commitment to thoughtful land conservation and stewardship.

For more information about the Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center, see Callaway Gardens.

Dorothy Chapman Fuqua Conservatory -
Atlanta Botanical Gardens
Atlanta, Georgia

A highlight of any trip to Atlanta Botanical Garden is a tour through the Dorothy Chapman Fuqua Conservatory. Inside this beautiful and inovative structure are collections of exotic tropical plants such as palms, cycads, ferns, orchids and epiphytes (air plants). There is also a fantastic collection of insectivorous plants and "ant plants".

The adjacent Desert House showcases Old World succulents including botanical rarities like lithops (living stones) and welwitschia, a bizarre plant with no living relatives.

For more information, visit Atlanta Botanical Gardens.

Rainforest Pyramid - Moody Gardens
Galveston, Texas

Step inside a ten-story glass pyramid. Experience the rainforests of Africa, Asia and the Americas. You'll find thousands of plants, butterflies, tropical fish and exotic birds. A full acre of natural wonders -- waterfalls, cliffs, caverns, forests, a Mayan colonnade and an ever-changing array of tropical plants. This is the largest exhibit of its kind in the Southwest! The 250 square-foot, completely enclosed exhibit is home to 60 Old and New World fruit bats native to Africa and South America. You can see this exhibit when you tour the Rainforest Pyramid.

Website: Moody Gardens