Personally I’m not much one for gardens. I love to visit them occasionally, mostly to get pictures, but it’s pretty rare that I seek out a trip to see gardens.
One notable exception is the Norfolk Botanical Garden in Norfolk, VA. When I was younger, I didn’t appreciate all that the Norfolk Botanical Garden had on offer, but now that I’m older, there’s almost always something great see and do, year-round.
During our Hometown Takeover series, Truffles and I put the Norfolk Botanical Garden on our list because of a very special exhibit: Barkitecture! This was an exhibit of bespoke, community supported, tiny dog houses! We (Truffles, my mom Tammy, and I) met up with our friends, Sally, Kelsie and Jewels for a doggone good time!
Norfolk Botanical Garden isn’t usually dog-friendly, but on Sundays during Barkitecture season pups are welcome to help vote fur their dream dog houses. You arrive and make your way through the gardens to the Enchanted Forest. The way is well signposted and you can even get directions from one of the Norfolk Mermaids on your way. You get to see a sneak peek on your way to the forest area; probably since these are solar powered houses they’re out in the sunshine!
Here’s most of the houses we saw (it turns out I missed a few!) and you can see which ones Truffles and Jewels pawticularly enjoyed.
Barkitecture is a pawsome community event and we loved that you could bring dogs with you. I’d love to see the Norfolk Botanical Garden allow well-behaved, leashed dogs on Sundays year round. Truffles and Jewels loved their day at the gardens – they even ended up having a little photoshoot. They especially liked meeting this big, beautiful friend – Ivy.
Norfolk Botanical Garden, as I mentioned earlier, holds events throughout the year. Here are just a few times we’ve visited over the years.
We took our moms on Mother’s Day in 2012.
They had a special exhibit of Asian Lanterns a few years ago.
They even have holiday lights and an annual 5K through the darkly-lit gardens!
There’s a lot to see when the Norfolk Botanical Garden is in bloom. This is just a taste of how large the gardens are – I didn’t get to take pictures of it all and it’s fall, so the gardens aren’t fully blooming at the moment.
One other feature on the grounds of the Norfolk Botanical Garden is the airport viewing area where you can watch the planes take off and land from Norfolk International Airport. It’s also a great picnic spot to steal your Grammy’s water and spill it on her jeans.
Tickets for Norfolk Botanical Garden at the time of writing were $12 for adults and to visit with a dog on a Sunday for Barkitecture it was an additional $5 for a dog ticket. Truffles and Jewels highly recommend you make the trip to Norfolk Botanical Garden, especially during Barkitecture season if you’re in the area.
Address
Norfolk Botanical Garden, 6700 Azalea Garden Rd, Norfolk, VA 23518
Very inventive tiny houses – your favourite looks like a mini Hobbiton house!