Great gardens can evoke powerful emotions in horticulture buffs who are dazzled by design and color and form and rarity. Even ordinary garden-variety travelers can appreciate the beauty that springs from dirt and will want to incorporate visits to fabled gardens into their traditional itineraries.

Superb, upscale journeys with a worldwide horticultural focus are offered by pre-eminent Coopersmith Garden Tours, 415-669-1914, or www.coopersmiths.com. At www.gardenvisit.com, you'll find a comprehensive list of tour operators and botanical institutions featuring specially crafted garden itineraries.

Add these garden gems to your "gotta see before I die" travel list:

Allerton Garden, Kaua'i: One of the nation's premier gardens is in our own backyard. Admirably managed by the National Tropical Botanical Garden, Allerton is deemed a masterpiece of garden art. Its beauty blossomed under the direction of Queen Emma, followed by a sugar plantation magnate and most significantly by an artist and an architect. Towering rainforest trees, a grove of golden bamboo, rare palms, heliconias and gingers are graced by sculptures, pools, miniature waterfalls and fountains. European influence married to a Hawaiian sensibility distinguishes this lush tropical paradise in Lawa'i Valley on the south shore of Kaua'i. www.ntbg.org.

Katsura Imperial Villa, Kyoto, Japan: This site constitutes one of the finest examples of purely Japanese architecture and garden design. The villa and garden — designed by the renowned Kobori Enshu — in their present form were completed in 1645 as the residence for the Katsura family, members of Japan's imperial family. Katsura is the earliest known example of a strolling garden. Its unique charm is that it offers different views at every turn and is replete with carefully planned horticultural surprises and literary allusions. The all-green gardens boast water bridges, small villas, moss, stepping stones, and other subtle delights to the eye. http://japanguide.com/e/e3914.html.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn, N.Y.: The 52-acre garden is known, among other attributes, for encompassing the first garden designed for the visually impaired and the first children's garden, which became the prototype for such gardens worldwide. BBG's lovely lily pools attract herons and egrets, and 10,000 different plants captivate visitors. Distinctions range from 45,000 bluebells blossoming in an oak, beech and birch wood, to a collection of rare tree peonies, to the largest and most diverse flowering cherry collection outside Japan.

Also popular is a meandering celebrity path honoring famous Brooklynites, including Walt Whitman and Wendy Wasserstein. www.bbg.org.

Sissinghurst Castle Garden, Kent, England: This world-renowned National Trust Property provides an intimate setting on the grounds of a handsome Elizabethan mansion. Among the most visited gardens in England, Sissinghurst was created in 1938 by noted and notorious British writer Vita Sackville West and her husband, Sir Harold Nicolson. The six-acre site comprises a soaring castle tower and 10 box garden "rooms" that include the celebrated white garden that has inspired landscape designers around the globe. http://nationaltrust.org.uk.

Old Westbury Gardens, Long Island, N.Y.: Designed in 1906 by George A. Crawley for the prominent Phipps family, Old Westbury's 160 acres of formal gardens, woodlands, grand allées, architectural follies and lakes surround a Charles II-style mansion. Carefully maintained and impeccably manicured, these gardens are lavish and irresistibly beautiful to serious as well as casual garden buffs. www.oldwestburygardens.org.

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Cape Town, South Africa: Founded in 1913, Kirstenbosch sprawls across more than 1,300 acres climbing up landmark Table Mountain and exhibits only plants native to the country. It boasts the richest wildflower collection of any garden in the world, including proteas — the South African national flower — unusual ground orchids and a collection of cycads, which flourished during the time of the dinosaurs. www.sanbi.org/frames/kirstfram.htm.

Filoli, Woodside, Calif.: Thirty miles south of San Francisco, Filoli represents the Golden Age of American gardens, with the historic 1917 house and 645-acre grounds designed as complementary units. Created from gold-mining wealth, this imposing estate displays outdoor garden rooms, parterres, terraces, lawns and pools set between walking paths, plus 16 meticulously groomed acres of formal gardens. You may recall that the house was used as the impressive backdrop for the 1980s TV show Dynasty. www.filoli.org.

Keukenhof Gardens, Lisse, Netherlands: The most photographed spot on the planet every March to May, Keukenhof celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. Big, bigger and biggest is the pride of this 70-acre park near Amsterdam that boasts 7 million brightly colored tulips, lilies and other spring flowers in bloom. Despite the hordes of visitors, the park's gorgeous plantings, greenhouses and floral exhibits deserve a day's worth of your admiration. www.keuken hof.nl.

Chanticleer Garden, Philadelphia: Chanticleer is a classic pleasure garden covering 30 acres of well-designed botanica that include gardens of perennials, tropicals, container plantings, woodlands and wildflowers, and unique water features. Sculpture, homemade seats and benches, wrought-iron fences and bridges offer an enticing, eye-pleasing combination of natural and artistic elements. www.chanticleergarden.org.

Irene Croft Jr. of Kailua, Kona, is a travel writer and 45-year veteran globetrotter. Her column is published in this section every other week.