I haven't been here in about 3 or 4 years so I thought I would stop back by and see what's changed. They've really done a lot with the place in a short amount of time, and it is definitely worth a visit on a cool spring day. The Rose garden is an excellent shape. As always. There is a nice little walking trail that has some Forest foliage along the way.

There is a wonderful little tropical exhibit that has all of these tropical plants and the pitcher plants are truly amazing and I just love looking at them, I just would love to bring an insect one time here and try to feed one of these plants. Personally for me this is my favorite part of the exhibit because on the left hand side they have those neat little carnivorous plants down the center. They have at least truly alien plants that I'm just not familiar with at all now the right hand side. They have these other hanging plants but not the carnivorous plants and they're all just so great to look at.

They have a new butterfly garden where there are many butterflies flying about. The Butterflies look beautiful and are fun to watch, however the staff hand out these little sugar Sponges on a stick to people to try and feed the butterflies. And I'm not quite sure why they do this because there are flowers everywhere in this little greenhouse and people will literally walk up to these butterflies and shove this stick into their face and force them onto the little sponges. I have been to butterfly gardens or conservatories all over the world and I have never once seen any place that will let you do this. In fact every other one that I've ever been to strongly discourages you from touching or interacting with the butterflies and you just have to hope that one lands on you naturally. But I want to say that I am by no means an expert. It just seems weird to me because these butterflies are eating from a flower and then someone comes up and shoves a giant sponge in their face, that's like if you were to eat Olive garden and someone just come up to you and shoved food right in your face, you really don't need it and it's got to be stressful for the butterfly. All of the above is especially true with the kids. The kids just don't understand how delicate butterflies are and I saw A few get stepped on or be bludgeoned to death by the sponge because kids just don't understand.

Anyway, sorry to go off on such a long-winded rant about that. I just want to say that the botanical gardens in Dothan are a truly wonderful place and it seems like every time I go they've added something to it or improved it in some way. The people that work here truly have a great love and passion for flowers and the outdoors. I would definitely recommend this to anybody looking for something cheap and relaxing to do.