Incorporated in 1976, the garden's mission is to "develop and maintain plant collections for the purposes of display, education, conservation, research and enjoyment.

Within a year Bill Warner, previously employed at Holden Arboretum, was assigned office as the first executive director.

A number of promotional activities started taking place, including social events, major art exhibitions and the annual Garden of Eden Ball.

The Atlanta Botanical Garden welcomed its 50,000th visitor within a mere three years after the lease was arranged - this was even before any permanent structures had been erected.

The expansion plan encompassed the construction of a number of new facilities, the most noticeable of which are the new visitor center and 600-foot-long (180 m)[citation needed] canopy walk.

By employing an array of energy-saving strategies with environmental sustainability considered throughout the project and recycling any trees removed as a result of construction, considerable efforts were made to make this expansion eco-friendly.

The Atlanta Botanical Garden is home to the Kendeda Canopy Walk, a 600-foot-long (180 m) skywalk that allows the visitors to tour one of the city's last remaining urban forests from around 40 feet in the air through the treetops of the Storza Woods.

The Children's Garden features whimsical sculptures, fountains, and interpretive exhibits on botany, ecology, and nutrition.

The 16,000 square feet (1,500 m2) Dorothy Chapman Fuqua Conservatory contains indoor exhibits of plants from tropical rainforests and deserts.

The rain forest room of the Fuqua Conservatory is also populated by tropical birds, turtles, and several exhibits of poison dart frogs, the last of which is a collaboration in conservation efforts with Zoo Atlanta.

An Air Washer System, technology adapted from the textile industry, was combined with traditional greenhouse heating and cooling to create this environment and allows rare orchids to thrive.