New Orleans Botanical Garden — Attraction in New Orleans

If you are going to have events here AND sell tickets to the public to tour the gardens at the same time, please be sure to inform visitors BEFORE they make their purchase that parts of the garden will be off limits for these events.

Furthermore, if you are not going to rope off these areas that visitors otherwise have every expectation to see, then teach your employees to treat them in a way that does not make them feel like they're second-class citizens. Or worse, trespassers when they unwittingly enter these areas.

At approximately 3:30 PM, we were approached by a woman near the Rose Parterre who firmly told us, "You can't be here. This area is closed for a wedding." (There was no wedding going on at the time and no signs of any event. They were preparing the area for one later.) When we asked how to reach the other side of the garden, we were simply told, "You have to go around." She then turned to two park employees sitting by the lily pond and said, "You're not doing your job. Keep people out of here," before marching off.

We turned around and worked our way to another area of the garden where we met another woman standing guard to prevent visitors from crossing because guests for another wedding were arriving. We were told that we had to go around the other way. We explained that we were just told by the first woman that we could not go that way and asked if we could quickly pass to the other side. She snapped, "after the guests have finished arriving." We stood there with her for several minutes, and asked again if we could quickly pass when we saw a lull between guests. She relented, by telling us, "Ok, go quick."

We continued our tour, and as we made our way back around, we were forced to sneak through the area where guests for the second wedding were sitting.

Had we known that parts of the garden were closed, we would have opted to come at another time. Instead, the entire situation was poorly handled by your staff, who failed to treat ALL visitors of the garden with respect.

TL;DR: Call before you come to ask if any parts if the garden will be closed for an event. Unless you don't mind being treated like a child when you approach an area you...

On a nice spring afternoon we visited the Botanical Gardens. It is in City Park close to our home. The Park has many venues including the NOLA Art Museum, a Sculpture Garden, a golf course, tennis courts, many walking trails and many sports fields and 2 stadiums.

The Botanical Gardens are as nice as I have seen. We first went to the culinary garden full of vegetables and herbs. These were not planted in rows like my fathers vegetable garden but were in beds and laid out like a flower garden. The brightly colored Swiss Chard , a more decorative kale and the biggest cabbages I have ever seen. There was also a large outdoor kitchen where my daughter in law tells me there are cooking demonstrations.

Next we went to the Cactus House full of decorative cactus and succulents. We also visited the Train Garden which was a large outside electric train exhibit. The train ran thru areas that were like the neighborhoods of New Orleans, with replicas of house and buildings of those neighborhoods.

We went on to the Rose Gardens with old roses on one side and modern roses in beds. The Old roses were in bloom but we were too early in the season for the modern ones. But the plants looked strong and vibrant. So I am sure they will be wonderful in a few weeks.

At this point my feet started to fail me so we hurried back to the gate. We passed the Butterfly Garden, once again too early to be in full flower but we did see a yellow butterfly. We passed the Orchid House. On the way out we passed the water lily pond. It was not quite late enough for that either but we did see one bloom. Unfortunately we missed the Camellias but my feet were really paining me. They promised to take me back another day.

We went on Saturday so there was an admission but I saw a sign that Wednesdays were free.

The only disappointment was the Japanese garden which was very plain and grey. I would have enjoyed a Koi pond and ornate structures maybe some paper lanterns hanging from the trees. But maybe once again it was the time of year and it is more...

This past week my lovely husband and I were married in this beautiful garden. Before the day came I visited the gardens almost every other day for two weeks to make sure I was doing everything right. I contacted city park multiple times to make sure we had all of the permits in place. Staff of city park and the botanical garden continuously informed me that all I needed was a photography permit. So I happily retained a permit. Upon walking into the entrance hall to make my way to walk to my soon to be husband with my dad holding my arm, I overheard staff talking about me and looking at me as if I was a criminal. At this point I was completely upset and stressed so I asked what the problem was. The woman working in the gift shop told me I was a liar and that I should have gotten a $250 permit. If I would have known this it wouldn’t have even been a problem. I would have paid double if necessary. So my memory of walking in my wedding is of being stressed out due to the incompetent staff of the Botanical Garden. It doesn’t end there. As our ceremony was in process a woman who works at this garden interrupts the ceremony to speak to my father about payment! My father politely asked the woman to let us be and he would take care of anything necessary after the 10 minute ceremony. After the ceremony my father paid what was asked of us. Again, money isn’t the issue. The ill mannered antics of your staff that day was deplorable and disgraceful. Not how I imagined my...