Address:

3251 Panthersville Road
Decatur, GA 30034
(678) 891-2668

Admission:

Free to Public

Hours:

Open 7 Days a Week; 9:00am to dusk
Best time is on Wednesdays 10:00am - 2:00pm

History:

In the spring of 1990 and out of his love and dedication to the preservation of native plants of the Southeast, George Sanko established the DeKalb College Botanical Garden.  Several years later, the gardens’ name was changed to The Georgia Perimeter College Native Plant Botanical Garden.  Through propagation and years of rescue missions to save native plants indigenous to the Southeast, the GPC Native Plant Garden thrives today so that others may enjoy the beauty of these plants.  Also called the Wildflower Center of Georgia, it has the largest collection of native plants in Georgia. 

A few years ago George decided to add a major feature to the garden - Ferns of the World, which features, Georgia and US native ferns as well as ferns from temperate zones around the world. You are invited to see the largest selection of ferns in the US and probably the world at this garden. In addition, there are also zeric beds which have Georgia native ferns and ferns from southwestern US. Many of these ferns were displayed at the GPC Botanical entry at the 2007 Southeastern Flower Show. These ferns have proven they will survive in Atlanta. Good drainage is required to minimize the effects from rainy periods.

Features:

The GPC Native Plant Botanical Garden is situated in a flood plain near a tributary of the South River creek. There are two main garden areas - the GPC Native Plant Botanical Garden and the GPC Ferns of the World. The Native Plant Garden features several areas of interest including Shade and Sun perennials and shrubs. The Shade gardens are laid out with many trails are within the woodland area near the creek. There are over 4000 species of native, rare, and endangered plants indigenous to the Southeast and US. Also featured in the Garden is the new Ferns of the World exhibit. The Garden has bog plants, native trees, shrubs, vines, ferns, and perennial plants.  

Our goal at the garden is to have the largest collection of Southeastern native plants and we are well on the way to meeting our goal.

Size:

The garden is on 4 acres of land with approximately ¾ mile of easy walking trails. 

Special Events:

The Spring and Fall months are special times at the garden. On many Wednesdays in the Spring as the gardens are putting on their best show and the climate is often nice for relaxing and just walking around the gardens we have walks and talks.. When the weather cools in Autumn we again will have similar programs at the garden. As always everyone is invited to these activities. Wednesday is also our general garden maintance day; members of the Georgia Native Plant Society are often working in the garden. They will be happy to answer any questions. Lastly, we offer many native plants for sale at the garden in Decatur and at the GPC Dunwoody campus.

While we offer walks and talks during the Spring and Fall months, you can come anytime. If your organization would like to tour the garden, we also offer free tours with knowledgeable tour guides. We hope you can join us for a tour to learn and see the wonderful native plants.

Plant Sales:

Wednesdays only 10am-2pm, during our Lunch and Wildfire Series at the Decatur Campus. We also have sales on some Special Events and Saturday Sales.

Please see our schedule for details and special Saturday fall sale dates at the Decatur campus.

Volunteers:

The garden depends on volunteers who help maintain the garden, pot plants for the plant sales and many other tasks. If you are interested in gardening, learning about native plants and having fun with the volunteers at the garden consider joining them. We generally are there on Wednesday from 10:00am to 1:00pm with some coming earlier and some working later. If you are interested, please email Kathryn Gable. We hope you will consider volunteering. Many of the volunteers are members of the Georgia Native Plant Society, but this is not a requirement.