Ashton Gardens at Thanksgiving Point

Garden Highlights

• Fragrance Garden

  Sweet smells permeate throughout the entire garden, but the Fragrance Garden is where it all lets loose. Raised beds of fennel, rosemary, dill and lavender bring the scents closer to the nose, but this isn’t your average herb garden. Also on display are fragrant rhubarb, lemon verbena, Cardinal basil, Scarlet Runner bean, Malabar spinach and Cuban oregano.

• Gardening Classes and Events

  Locals know the gardens for the famed Tulip Festival, but beyond that attraction, Ashton Gardens offers visitors a variety of educational and community events. Among their programs are movies and concerts in their outdoor amphitheater, a Secret Garden book club, rotating national garden exhibits, veggie garden classes, self-guided tours and Dog Walk Wednesdays.

• Monet Lake

  Much like French Impressionist Claude Monet’s famous series of paintings, Monet Lake features water lilies, marshes, trees, bridges and koi fish. To the east, the view of Mount Timpanogos is less about Europe and more about Japan, a perspective reflecting the Japanese expression of shakkei for “borrowed landscape.” This technique incorporates a distant landscape into a garden design.

• Parterre Garden

  The Parterre Garden centers around an almost-life-size carousel structure holding topiaries of circus animals. The merry-go-round art marries formal garden beds — representing the four seasons — each built symmetrically around this garden’s centerpiece. Parterre comes from the French word ‘on the ground,’ which describes a formal garden on level ground made up of enclosed flower beds typically in symmetrical patterns.

• Rose Garden

  Is a garden truly a garden if it doesn’t have roses? This garden features the classic bloom in all shapes, sizes and varieties. Collections include favorites such as the coveted David Austin and Downton Abbey roses. Tea, shrub, garden, climbing and sprays grow happily inside a rotunda framed partially by a pergola, built with 20,000 pieces of timber.

• Secret Garden

  The Secret Garden is a shady nest tucked into the sprawling landscape. Based on the classic book by Frances Hodgson Burnett, the English garden showcases a honeysuckle-covered tunnel, arched wooden gates, worn brick walls and a small fountain. Carved benches provide resting spots below a towering canopy of Dinosaur, Ginko and Dawn Redwood trees.

• Waterwise Garden

  The Waterwise Garden educates visitors on Utah’s drought-tolerant native plants, such as penstemon, Mojave sage, allium and salvia. Signs educate visitors on how often and how much to water their Utah gardens. Here’s one important tip: Utahns should water every three days for 40 minutes, instead of every day for 20 minutes, to encourage roots to grow deeper and stronger.