Mum’s the word at Bellingrath Gardens and Home in November, when it’s time for the 54th Annual Fall Outdoor Cascading Chrysanthemums, the nation’s largest outdoor display of the signature blooms of the season.
 
The Gardens and Home are festooned with hundreds of colorful, four-foot-long cascades of chrysanthemums on bridges and balconies, as well as the traditional displays of mums in baskets and containers. Guests will also see columns of mums and bedded plants along the Great Lawn’s dramatic border in the rich fall colors of red, yellow, bronze, lavender and white. To plan your visit, check the Mum Watch page on bellingrath.org, which will be updated daily, beginning on Nov. 1.
 
Bellingrath’s Horticulture Staff works nearly year-round on the cascading mums, which are meticulously cultivated in greenhouses from January through late spring. The cascades are created when three plants are potted into five-gallon containers and then placed onto growing racks during the summer months. The mums are sheared every few weeks throughout the growing season in order to create fuller plants.
 
For details on the Fall Outdoor Cascading Chrysanthemums display, visit www.bellingrath.org.
 
 

Bellingrath Gardens and Home celebrates 22 Years of Magic Christmas in Lights

It’s one of the nation’s best holiday light shows, and it’s right here in south Alabama! Bellingrath Gardens and Home presents the 22nd season of Magic Christmas in Lights in 2017. The dazzling nighttime display features more than 1,100 set pieces, 3 million lights and 15 scenes, set out in a walking tour throughout the 65-acre Garden estate.

Opening Night is Friday, Nov. 24. The show will continue nightly from 5 to 9 p.m. through Dec. 31, 2017.

Magic Christmas in Lights has become a must-see tradition for visitors from the Gulf Coast region and beyond. Attendance has nearly doubled since 2000, rising from 35,309 that year to 70,000 in 2016. Families enjoy strolling the grounds together, taking holiday photos, drinking cocoa on Live Oak Plaza and visiting Santa Claus in the Magnolia Café.

Many of our guests do not realize that Magic Christmas in Lights is a made-in-Alabama attraction. Each year, the set pieces for the holiday lights are designed and handmade on site by members of Bellingrath’s staff. Three of our employees work full-time all year on the light display.

In 2014, Magic Christmas in Lights was ranked sixth in USA Today’s list of “10 Best Public Light Displays in America,” which was compiled with readers’ online votes. Click here for the link: http://www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-public-lights-display/

Magic Christmas in Lights also includes nightly choral performances on the South Terrace of the Bellingrath Home, which will be open for tours and decorated in full holiday finery. The Gift Shop will be fully stocked for the season, and guests may also have their photos taken with Santa Claus in the Magnolia Café each night through Dec. 23. The Magnolia Café will also have extended hours, 4 to 8 p.m., during the season; menus are posted on the website, www.bellingrath.org. (The Gardens will be closed on Christmas and New Year’s Days.)

Military Mondays are back! Military personnel and their immediate relatives will receive a 15 percent discount off regular Gardens admission on each Monday of the Magic Christmas in Lights season. The dates are Nov. 27 and Dec. 4, 11 and 18.

For details about Magic Christmas in Lights, or to order tickets, visit our website, www.bellingrath.org. Online ticket sales begin on Nov. 1, 2017.

Bellingrath Gardens and Home is operated by the Bellingrath Gardens and Home Foundation, a charitable, not-for-profit organization. Bellingrath Gardens and Home is dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of the 65-acre garden and estate home of Walter and Bessie Bellingrath. For more information, visit www.bellingrath.org or call 251.973.2217.