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Gabrielle Steinberg, 22 months old, digs in the soil and pots a baby plant. The activity was part of the Kids Area crafting section of the festival.
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A treetop dweller and the rest of the seated crowd of spring festivalgoers sit and listen to the thumping of African Drumbeat music. The festival lasted March 21 and 22.
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A flush of orchids could be found in multiple booths with varying price ranges. Dee’s Orchids carried a wide selection with 10,000 or more in Dee’s greenhouse.
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Lauren MacKay, 25, blends an all-natural, mango-banana-almond milk smoothie at the Free Lovin Foodery booth. The booth has served healthier versions of Mexican cuisine for the past four years at the Spring Festival.
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Air Plants hung along multiple booths at the Spring Festival, providing those with less-than-green thumbs with an easier alternative for plant growing. The Air Plants simply require a place to hang, warm temperatures and occasional misting.
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Jim Notestein, a fifth-year Floridian, botany and William Bartram enthusiast and avid member of the regional horticultural lifestyle, sits with his Notestein Nursery plants and his William Bartram cement foot mold. Notestein engaged with passerby in his flowered farming hat.
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The Lost Safari Drummers beat away at their bongos. They played on a bamboo-shrouded stage before a gathered audience of festival-goers.
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Children chase each other around the Kanapaha Garden Labyrinth, planted with a spiraling circle of Mondo Grass. There were various activities to keep festival goers, both old and young, occupied.
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Children climb a giant oak’s trunk and balance on the twisting branches overlooking the concert and crowd. Along with the giant tree, kids could enjoy the labyrinth and various crafts.
A surge of hues, scents and melodies filled the atmosphere surrounding Kanapaha Botanical Gardens March 21 and 22, in celebration of its 24th annual Spring Garden Festival.
Thousands were welcomed in, families and horticulturalists alike, to purchase auctioned plants, decorative garden pieces, eclectic trinkets and food from the more than 20 food trucks, all while strolling to the rhythm of live music.
Vividly hued orchids, Bromeliads, African Violets, shrubs and trees, Bonsais, Air Plants, herbs and every blossom and branch in between lined the paths in over 50 booths, all provided by regional nurseries and farms. All plants were available for purchase.
Unique crafts, handmade wooden pieces, unusual garden accessories, intricate stones, jewelry and art pieces were also available.
“We’re trying to help build the economy, based on history related to botany,” said Jim Notestein, operator of Notestein's Nursery, which used to be one of the only farms in Gainesville.
Notestein is a self-proclaimed "original father" to the festival and had only good things to say about the gardens he helped create some 40 years ago.
Beyond gardening and landscaping, there were social booths drawing awareness for environmental societies and causes in the area.
When they weren’t climbing trees or running around the grounds, children enjoyed digging their hands into the craft section of the festival.
The 24th annual Spring Garden Festival was a colorful display of what local farmers and nurseries have to offer this spring.
