Charleston, South Carolina, was a break into summer from a northeastern spring. Our visit in May missed the burst of spring bloom. The towering rows of Camellias flanking the entrance to Middleton Place had long since lost their winter flowers. Luckily there were some Magnolia blooms still clinging to the trees. A sure sign of the South. The other southern signs were the massive live oaks draped in Spanish Moss.
The Middleton Oak was most impressive, dwarfing the couple near its base. If only I had its clone back home in my garden, garlanded with moss. Alas, it could not survive its first winter here. Neither could the vast majority of the plants and trees in this formal garden. I remember a few years ago on another trip down south when I rescued some Spanish Moss from a fallen limb on the ground and saved it for my daughter Ann at her request. I kept misting it until it could be delivered to her. Happily it seems to have survived for a number of years although for this "moss" (really an Epiphyte) it is hard to distinguish between its live and dead states.
The gardens at Middleton Place are America's oldest formal landscaped gardens. Visitors to the 18th century plantation during its Ante Bellum rice growing days traveled up the Ashley River from Charles Town and were carried from the dock over the path between the Butterfly Ponds to the plantation house. Visitors to my house park in the driveway and are forced to walk to the front door, a trip considerably shorter than at Middleton.
The aerial view of the plantation's path between the symmetrical ponds, the terraces and small butterfly garden beds leading to where the plantation house used to be may be seen on the first page of their web site below. The balanced symmetry of these formal gardens is best seen in this view from overhead.
The gardens of Middleton Place have been in existance for 250 years. Gardeners in England may treat this age with wry amusement. For this side of the Atlantic, this is ancient. It has been designated as a National Historic Landmark. Middleton family members have included the President of the First Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
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