Assessing the Bones of a Garden
Early March can be a tough month for gardeners- even in a mild climate like Charleston. The cold has left its mark—plants that died back haven’t had a chance to regrow, oaks are only now shedding their leaves, the grass is brown, and flowers are scarce. But with the sun shining and temperatures (sometimes) rising, everyone is eager to get outside. Let’s take advantage of this quiet time to assess the bones of the garden, which might be the only green thing in your yard right now.
The “bones of the garden” include trees, evergreen shrubs and understory plantings that provide structure and a backdrop for showier seasonal displays. Take a walk in some of our signature parks to be inspired by some examples of how you can add year round interest to your own space:
Rose Pavilion at Hampton Park (30 Mary Murray Drive) is designed as a classic southern style cottage garden and boasts a beautiful mature tree canopy layer including historic Live Oaks and Southern Magnolias. Below the larger trees is an establishing smaller tree layer installed in 2019-2020 and including Eagleston Holly, Vitex, and Fringe Tree followed by a shrub layer of heritage Camellias that are blooming right now. Depending on the severity of our winter, the semi-evergreen perennial layer thrives year round with a variety of ferns and Tractor Seat Plants. Finally, there is a structural layer of winter pruned, established shrub roses, Noisette roses and Panicle Hydrangeas that provide year round interest and a backdrop to a winter interest bulb layer.
Theodora Park (94 Anson Street) is a formal, monochromatic garden that relies on interesting texture and structure to provide year round interest (pictured above). Like Rose Pavilion, the park enjoys shade from mature Oak and Magnolia canopy layer. Twelve Sabal Palmetto – our state tree, five Saucer Magnolias and five Japanese Maples serve as the understory layer and provide winter sculptural interest with their branches. Finally, a dense, soft evergreen layer of Autumn and Holly Ferns ensure this garden remains lush and green year round.
Wragg Square (342 Meeting Street) an historic shade garden, has great bones in the mature Oak canopy (do you see a theme here?), established Crape Myrtle, Eagleston Holly, and Fringe Trees, and camellia and azalea shrubs. A 2024 renovation added many interesting and softer understory layers including rare varieties of Tractor Seat Plants, ferns and mahonia. Be sure to visit in the next couple of weeks to view thousands of ‘Ice Follies’ Daffodil bulbs, blooming right now.
Do you love our park gardens and want to bring some of these ideas home to your own garden? Don’t miss our next Design from your Parks class, Creating a Cottage Garden on Saturday, April 12 at Rose Pavilion in Hampton Park.