Tour hopes to attract people to gardens 5 years after Katrina

Whether it is palms or camellias, native or exotic plants and trees, butterfly, Japanese or train gardens, New Orleans Botanical Garden in City Park is the place to begin a very special Odyssey of southern gardens. New Orleans has always been a “green” city, but has become even more so since Katrina.

Now the New Orleans Botanical Garden has collaborated with Gray Line Tours of New Orleans and Longue Vue House and Gardens to present the "Heart of the Gardens" tour, a motor coach tour that showcases the natural wonders of New Orleans and includes walking tours of the New Orleans Botanical Garden and Longue Vue House and Gardens. Heart of the Gardens is the first official Gray Line tour added to their roster since the Katrina Devastation Tours.

"What better a way to move forward as we approach the fifth anniversary of Katrina than with a new tour that celebrates life…life through the lush gardens that we are so blessed to enjoy year-round in south Louisiana," said Greg Hoffman, Vice President of Gray Line Tours.

The New Orleans Botanical Garden wants travelers to put New Orleans on the top of their list as a destination for a "green experience", in the traditional and more current use of the word.

"We have also learned how to suffer the consequences of a sudden deep freeze that may leave brown drooping elephant ears and other tropical plants, only to see them surge back in the spring weather that may follow in just weeks," said Dan Gill, with the LSU AgCenter.

The Grayline tour begins in the French Quarter and proceeds down Esplanade Avenue. It tours along Bayou St. John and de-boards at the Botanical Garden. Then it is off to Longue Vue Gardens. The tours can be booked for a minimum of 20 people.

 

For more information on the Heart of the Gardens, call Jeanne Nathan at 504.218.4807. To book a tour, call Jim Fewell at Gray Line Tours 504.569.1401 or  www.graylineneworleans.com