Aaryn P.
Yelp
The thing I enjoyed most about Clark Gardens was that while we visited, there was no one else there except for employees. I was able to get wide landscape shots without anyone in them, and that is a rare occurrence at a botanical garden. I spent a good several hours going through these gardens and got a lot of fantastic pictures.
I'm providing four stars for Clark Gardens, as it reminded me of the Oregon Gardens, right before they got bought and redone. The employee in the main office/gift shop was very nice and told me where to find the most flowers within the gardens. The main entrance is maintained very well - the big long fountain with landscaping to either side looks really fantastic. There are other portions of this garden that are starting to look pretty shabby though - I noticed a lot of ponds in other places throughout the garden that had stagnant, gross looking water, and that was somewhat unappealing. There were a lot of leaves on the rooftops that looked pretty deep as well as overgrown portions that look like they hadn't been cleaned up in a while. There were a lot of really great points, however, such as the massive fountains, lovely lakes covered in water lilies, an abundance of squirrels, chickens, peacocks, bees, and other wildlife that is thriving there. The roses and daylillies were in full swing, as well as primroses, hibiscus, daisies and echinacea. They have a ton of benches placed throughout the gardens, as well as picnic areas, gazebos, a church, and little islands you can walk out onto for great pictures.
While there is room for improvement at Clark Gardens, this is a garden worth seeing, especially in difference seasons - I'd definitely like to come back sometime, such as early spring or fall.