Iconic Southern Garden
There are a handful of standard bearers in the ICONIC SOUTHERN GARDEN and Bellingrath Gardens is certainly one of them. The seeds of Bellingrath Gardens were planted in 1917 when Walter and Bessie Mae Bellingrath purchased a fishing camp on the Fowl River. Initially intended as a weekend getaway to allow Walter a reprieve from his busy job as owner of the Mobile, Alabama Coca-Cola Bottling Company, slowly evolved as upgrades were made along the way, and inside of a decade he began his transformation into a world-class garden.
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Formal Rose Garden
As the guys walk through the entrance of Bellingrath, one of the first gardens they encounter is the classic FORMAL ROSE GARDEN. Tell us a little bit about this plant collection. This Rose garden dates back to the 1930's. They have a rosarian who curates it today. She's been with Bellingrath Gardens for over 30 years, her name is Linda Guy. There are over 40 different kinds of hybrid tea roses in this garden and have a great spring bloom in late April, they then prune them hard, then do another hard prune late in the summer which gets another bloom out in the fall, but they also have blooms throughout the year.
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Hybrid Tea Roses
Eric would like to talk about the roses here. Most of these look like HYBRID TEA ROSES? Mostly they are hybrid teas. There are a couple of Floribundas. They are trying to grow hybrid teas that will do well in this climate. It's very humid here, you can feel it today, deep south, zone 9 so it's just not an easy part of the country to grow roses, or at least to have roses that actually look good in the landscape.
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Care Of Roses
Traditional TREATMENT OF ROSES here would be to cut them back in late winter and that is February. They try to finish by Valentine's day, actually. They were a little later this year. And then of course you'll get a great bloom out in April, usually late April here. And then you'll have them through the summer by just deadheading them and keeping them maintained. Then cut them back hard again in late summer, say September, and they get another bloom out in October.
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Heart Of Bellingrath Gardens
We next find ourselves at the HEART OF BELLINGRATH GARDENS. And it's probably not 50 yards from the house. There is a beautiful formal water feature and actually a really elegant little stream runs through this outlay. It's just something from a fairy tale. Todd loves this part of the garden. This is the runnel that leads to the mermaid fountain, it's just a beautiful spot. And dates back to immediately prior to when the home was built
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East Terrace
The next area is the EAST TERRACE overlooking the Fowl River. There’s the North terrace, which would have been the view the Bellingrath's would have seen from their bedroom windows. Then there's the south terrace immediately behind, which is a more recent addition, in the 1960's, because there used to be a lodge for the nieces and nephews but that has been torn down. What Todd particularly loves about this space is these beautiful oak trees.
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Azaleas
Of course GardenSMART is visiting at just the right time of the year because all of these AMAZING AZALEAS are in full bloom. Bellingrath Gardens has all these little winding trails that are flanked on either side with all of the beautiful azaleas that are in full bloom. And then it kind of opens up into the great lawn and then it opens up into these areas. It's just wonderful... Around every corner, there's a new surprise.
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Traditional Floriculture
As a horticulturalist, Eric would like for Todd to spend a little time talking about the plantings here because they're wonderful. These are all done in-house, it's a very TRADITIONAL FLORICULTURE which is kind of going by the wayside, but it's alive and well at Bellingrath Gardens and Todd and crew are doing a fantastic job with this. Let's talk about that. Todd thanks Eric. They have a very talented greenhouse staff, plus a director of horticulture and a garden designer in house who create all this. They have their our own Easter lilies, which they force. They have fuchsias they have grown. These are crops that only may last a little bit of time.
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Grotto In Front Of The House
Eric believes that one of the most majestic views, probably in the state of Alabama, is the GROTTO IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE, and we can't leave this part of the garden without talking about it. It's a very peaceful and yet grand place standing right on the edge of the river. He can definitely see why the Bellingrath's picked this location. Todd agrees, it is beautiful. Here they're about 30 feet above the Fowl River. In a big sand dome, basically.
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Rockery
The stonework is very, very impressive. Eric would like for Todd to talk a little about the ROCKERY, which is just around the corner from here. As he walked through this garden for the first time, there was a little, I guess you could call it, a little pocket allee, that blew his mind. It was so ingenious. And once again just a magical moment. Todd agrees, it's actually his favorite area. So on the one side of the garden, you have Fowl River, which we were just talking about. And on the other side, inland if you will, you have what they call Mirror Lake.
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Mirror Lake
As the guys make their way down the steps of the rockery, the garden opens up into this beautiful wide open area. We see MIRROR LAKE here, which is aptly named. It's reflecting all these beautiful fuchsias and pinks and the beautiful river birch that are growing on the banks of the area. And of course the amazing bridge ties in the gardens around the house over to the other side of the lake. Todd too likes the area, it has a different feel. It's more informal.
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A Garden Is Never Finished
Eric knows one of the projects that Todd has recently undertaken is the renovation of the Asian garden. It's a beautiful garden in its own right, but as is oftentimes the case, there are gardens that need a little more TLC. So talk about that process. Todd agrees A GARDEN IS NEVER FINISHED. Gardens are constantly evolving. Plants never stop growing. They never stop dying. So we have to constantly look at the garden as if we're shepherds, we're tending them.
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Azaleas
One of the most impactful, iconic color displays at Bellingrath Gardens are the wonderful AZALEAS. They're literally everywhere. As one walks in through the gates here, it's one of the most inviting grand entrances. And of course, it’s an enormous explosion of color that lasts for, what, maybe two weeks or so? These are mostly the classic Indica Hybrids that would have been part of the traditional Southern garden. These azaleas were introduced probably more so into Charleston in the 1800's. They made their way to Mobile over time.
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Future Plans For Bellingrath
Eric asks Todd - Bellingrath Gardens is a very dynamic garden and of course has these deep roots in history, but then there's also a lot of potential for what this garden's going to be IN THE FUTURE and a million reasons why visitors want to come back over and over again and see the progress that's going on here. Eric would like for Todd to talk a little bit about the future of Bellingrath. Where does he see this garden when we come back in two years, five years, 10 years for another visit? Todd has a great passion for gardens and believes gardens are ever changing, ever evolving. They are not static. They grow every day. If you're trying to keep the garden the same, you're going to fail miserably and Mother Nature will be the first one to let you know. Todd thinks when talking about a historic garden, it would be very difficult to truly maintain it exactly as it was for those reasons.
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In this Episode GardenSMART visits a beautiful off-the-beaten-path garden gem in the deep South that is truly stunning. Growing up in Georgia the southern garden has entranced Eric his entire life. With each changing season, there's a new wave of wonders that remind us of why we find ourselves continually drawn to the outdoors. There are a handful of standard bearers in the ICONIC SOUTHERN GARDEN and Bellingrath Gardens is certainly one of them. The seeds of Bellingrath Gardens were planted in 1917 when Walter and Bessie Mae Bellingrath purchased a fishing camp on the Fowl River. Initially intended as a weekend getaway to allow Walter a reprieve from his busy job as owner of the Mobile, Alabama Coca-Cola Bottling Company, slowly evolved as upgrades were made along the way, and inside of a decade he began his transformation into a world-class garden.
The Bellingrath's traveled to Europe to visit the finest sustained gardens, where they collected camellias and azaleas that became the backbone of their sprawling woodland garden. In 1932 Bellingrath Gardens opened to the public and a year later the permanent residence was built, cementing the family's tie to this little slice of heaven. Much has changed since then, but the heart and soul of Bellingrath has remained steadfast.
Eric meets the garden's executive director, Todd Lasseigne, a well-known planter that Eric met during his time as a horticulture student at UGA. Todd went on to earn his PhD from NC State, and since has become one of the leading experts in the field of horticulture. Today, we tour this historic garden with Todd and get a glimpse into his vision for its' future.
Eric welcomes Todd to the show. Thank you so much for joining us. Todd reciprocates -Thanks Eric, really glad to have you here. It's been so long since Eric and Todd have touched base but great to see each other once again. There's so much that's happened from then until now. Eric would like for Todd to tell us a little bit about his journey from UGA to, now, Bellingrath. What a great honor. Todd was working on a master's degree at Georgia under Tim Smalley, and had the chance to undertake a scholarship in England for a year through the Garden Club of America and a counterpart organization in the UK. He had decided to study for his PhD, and was looking at NC State University. When he got back from the England scholarship he was like, "I love horticulture, but I love public gardens.” Thus ended up working at the campus Arboretum. Then after he finished his doctorate he moved on to develop a small garden near Winston-Salem called Paul Ciener Botanical Garden. Then some folks in Tulsa heard about him, so he ended up starting the Tulsa Botanic Garden. Then six months ago he came here to take this job, so he's come back to the Gulf coast, because he is from Southeast Louisiana. It's weird how life treats you, but here he is. It's full circle.
And now Todd and Eric bumped into each other after all this time. It’s crazy. Well, this is a wonderful garden. It's actually one that has been on our list to visit for years and years and years, and finally we make it down here on a beautiful day. The azaleas are in-bloom and beautiful. Wide open bloom. Eric can't wait to see the garden.
As the guys walk through the entrance of Bellingrath, one of the first gardens they encounter is the classic FORMAL ROSE GARDEN. Tell us a little bit about this plant collection. This Rose garden dates back to the 1930's. They have a rosarian who curates it today. She's been with Bellingrath Gardens for over 30 years, her name is Linda Guy. There are over 40 different kinds of hybrid tea roses in this garden and have a great spring bloom in late April, they then prune them hard, then do another hard prune late in the summer which gets another bloom out in the fall, but they also have blooms throughout the year. It was laid out in the shape of the rotary club logo. Mr. Bellingrath, when he was working with the landscape architect, at one point kind of got fed up a little bit, dismissed the landscape architect, then threw his pin on the ground and told his guys, "Make it like that." And it actually makes for a really great rose garden design because you have these segmented beds going around this beautiful fountain, which was obtained from one of the local malls when they didn't need it anymore and beautifully reflects Mobile's history with the beautiful metal cast iron work found all over town.
Eric would like to talk about the roses here. Most of these look like HYBRID TEA ROSES? Mostly they are hybrid teas. There are a couple of Floribundas. They are trying to grow hybrid teas that will do well in this climate. It's very humid here, you can feel it today, deep south, zone 9 so it's just not an easy part of the country to grow roses, or at least to have roses that actually look good in the landscape. So they're testing them here, they change one or two out a year in an attempt at getting a few that can last three or four years and get a really great bloom out.
Eric wonders-For the horticulture staff here, is this an evaluation garden? It's not an evaluation garden in the sense that they have every different rose one could ever imagine. They have only 40, maybe more, but not testing them to the point of, "Let the ugly one stay." They really need to perform at some level because this is a formal show garden. So it's a little mix of both. Every year they rotate in several new varieties. As little as one and as high as maybe four. They buy them from growers on the west coast. They'll last for several years if you treat them right. Actually, they could last for many years in a cemetery or someplace one often finds old roses. But here under the regimen they have they find they can get really great performance for a few years, after that they move on to another one. So you get a really nice spring bloom. And then a fall bloom. And then intermittently on all sides of that.
Traditional TREATMENT OF ROSES here would be to cut them back in late winter and that is February. They try to finish by Valentine's day, actually. They were a little later this year. And then of course you'll get a great bloom out in April, usually late April here. And then you'll have them through the summer by just deadheading them and keeping them maintained. Then cut them back hard again in late summer, say September, and they get another bloom out in October. And here they'll bloom all the way to Christmas. For their Christmas light show they had roses in bloom because they didn't get a hard freeze till after Christmas. Eric finds that incredible. We'll mark our calendars, to make sure to come back and see the roses. It is a lovely place, particularly that time of year.
We next find ourselves at the HEART OF BELLINGRATH GARDENS. And it's probably not 50 yards from the house. There is a beautiful formal water feature and actually a really elegant little stream runs through this outlay. It's just something from a fairy tale. Todd loves this part of the garden. This is the runnel that leads to the mermaid fountain, it's just a beautiful spot. And dates back to immediately prior to when the home was built. So this would have been built in the late twenties, 1920’s, early 1930's, because the gardens opened on April 7th, 1932 to the public. The home was built a few years after in 1935 and beyond.
Todd puts the area in perspective-they were in the Rose garden earlier, then walked a couple of hundred yards to get here. Along the way they passed one of the other features they call the great lawn. It's about a four acre lawn that in Mr. Bell's days was persona non grata, you did not walk on it. And it was a beautiful lawn.They now use it for some events, for example they recently had a beer and blooms festival on the lawn. They have a classic antique car show that is held there and several other events. They're going to have an Easter egg hunt on it soon. So, today it's a multipurpose space.
They have a beautiful 400 foot long perennial border that follows one side of that lawn and it's flanked by azaleas on the other side. It is lovely. So you get acclimated to the surroundings as you're walking through that area, then come to these beautiful water gardens that surround the home.
The next area is the EAST TERRACE overlooking the Fowl River. There’s the North terrace, which would have been the view the Bellingrath's would have seen from their bedroom windows. Then there's the south terrace immediately behind, which is a more recent addition, in the 1960's, because there used to be a lodge for the nieces and nephews but that has been torn down. What Todd particularly loves about this space is these beautiful oak trees. Some of them are original, one can see the curvilinear branches. They've had to replant some recently with hurricanes and all of that, but it's of more of a shady respite than some of the others. And you always have the sound of the water. Eric loves it. There is something that is almost magical walking through the garden.
Of course GardenSMART is visiting at just the right time of the year because all of these AMAZING AZALEAS are in full bloom. Bellingrath Gardens has all these little winding trails that are flanked on either side with all of the beautiful azaleas that are in full bloom. And then it kind of opens up into the great lawn and then it opens up into these areas. It's just wonderful... Around every corner, there's a new surprise. Todd agrees, it's neat. The designers would call it compress and release, At least he thinks that is the term. So you are kind of forced through almost a tunnel of azaleas, then you come out to the four acre lawn and it's kind of like, "Wow." And then before you know it, you're back through another little tunnel of azaleas, or if we were here in the winter it's camellias. Mr. Bell and Mrs. Bessie were huge camellia collectors. So the garden has a nice rhythm of a constrained view, and then a wide open view. Eric agrees it's beautiful.
As a horticulturalist, Eric would like for Todd to spend a little time talking about the plantings here because they're wonderful. These are all done in-house, it's a very TRADITIONAL FLORICULTURE which is kind of going by the wayside, but it's alive and well at Bellingrath Gardens and Todd and crew are doing a fantastic job with this. Let's talk about that. Todd thanks Eric. They have a very talented greenhouse staff, plus a director of horticulture and a garden designer in house who create all this. They have their our own Easter lilies, which they force. They have fuchsias they have grown. These are crops that only may last a little bit of time. Of course in the fall they have chrysanthemums, then later poinsettias. Right now they also have florist hydrangeas. These are not the outdoor landscape hydrangeas. These are ones that you would grow in the greenhouse and one could blue them or pink them by adding the right chemical. They have pot mums. They used to have pot azaleas, which is something one might see in the historic photos and Todd would like to bring that back. So it's very period to have seen this kind of horticulture all the way back to the thirties, forties, fifties, even, obviously, to the seventies, but it's been kind of dying out since then because it's more expensive to do it this way rather than just get some winter annual like a pansy that's going to last for months. But it's kind of a hallmark of Bellingrath Gardens that they can still pull off and then the public can see and enjoy it.
Eric believes that one of the most majestic views, probably in the state of Alabama, is the GROTTO IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE, and we can't leave this part of the garden without talking about it. It's a very peaceful and yet grand place standing right on the edge of the river. He can definitely see why the Bellingrath's picked this location. Todd agrees, it is beautiful. Here they're about 30 feet above the Fowl River. In a big sand dome, basically. When they hired the architect, George Rogers, who was a very noted architect here in the Mobile area to design the home, he also laid out these formal gardens, this is obviously an Italian inspired runnel and you can see that on the grotto. You can see there are other runnels, there are areas where the water will disappear. It actually runs under the house at one point. That is something that Todd probably would not do today if he were designing it. But it then reappears on the other side of the house. All of this is trickery, if you will, on how to use water play. Although they don't have dazzling jets like one would find in Las Vegas, they have their own type of water features and it all runs down to the Fowl River and all is surrounded by this beautiful bluestone and flagstone. It's, really, really nice. Eric thinks it's incredible.
The stonework is very, very impressive. Eric would like for Todd to talk a little about the ROCKERY, which is just around the corner from here. As he walked through this garden for the first time, there was a little, I guess you could call it, a little pocket allee, that blew his mind. It was so ingenious. And once again just a magical moment. Todd agrees, it's actually his favorite area. So on the one side of the garden, you have Fowl River, which we were just talking about. And on the other side, inland if you will, you have what they call Mirror Lake. At one point if there was any erosion it would just run down to the lake from this high spot. The architect, Mr. Rogers, came to Ms. Bessie and said, "Well, clearly what we need here is a set of stairs going right down, very classical design." And she said, "Oh no, actually I would like to see something a little more curvilinear with maybe a water feature, like some of these rockeries we saw in our travels in the 1920s to England and Europe." And he said, "Well, that's going to be much more expensive.” And the story goes, she said, "Now who's paying the bill, mind you?" So it turned out to be a lovely space, and one is just enveloped by the stone. The plants are overflowing. Todd can't wait until they put in new, little treasures that Mrs. Bessie would have had in her day that may have been shaded out over time. Just by management coming through and putting in some really cool plants they will restore it to its glory days.
As the guys make their way down the steps of the rockery, the garden opens up into this beautiful wide open area. We see MIRROR LAKE here, which is aptly named. It's reflecting all these beautiful fuchsias and pinks and the beautiful river birch that are growing on the banks of the area. And of course the amazing bridge ties in the gardens around the house over to the other side of the lake. Todd too likes the area, it has a different feel. It's more informal. In fact, the bridge is purposefully rustic. It's always been a rustic bridge, so even when they rebuilt it 10 years ago, they did not do painted wood or any kind of metal. It has this almost English landscape feel when you're looking around, with the reflected colors. The walk on the west side of the Lake is shrub borders with trees. A lot of older camellias are there and they have some flowering Magnolias. It’s very much of an informal setting but it's lovely in its own way. And Todd thinks they can do some really cool things with shade perennials in the future, which will be a lot of fun.
Eric notices they also have some bulbs. And presumes it's kind of a nod to the history of this part of the garden. Correct. This was a saw mill runoff pond when they were logging bald cypress from this area prior to the Bellingrath's' times. So, they planted some bald cypress. This area was basically denuded in 1979 when Hurricane Frederick came through. It used to be what they call coastal hammock forest, so laurel oaks and live oaks and bald cypress and longleaf pine. And so now it's different, it's more open, but it's still equally beautiful.
There are several other parts of Bellingrath Gardens that Eric would like to talk about. There is an really amazing nature estuary, it's kind of a vaulted walk with little bat homes along the way. Todd agrees they've had this boardwalk over the estuary for years and years now. It was originally funded by a grant from ExxonMobil and is just lovely. One may see all kinds of bird life and aquatic life here, you might even spot an alligator. It showcases the vegetation right at the shore. It's a great counterpart to the planted style of the gardens. And people really enjoy it.
Eric knows one of the projects that Todd has recently undertaken is the renovation of the Asian garden. It's a beautiful garden in its own right, but as is oftentimes the case, there are gardens that need a little more TLC. So talk about that process. Todd agrees A GARDEN IS NEVER FINISHED. Gardens are constantly evolving. Plants never stop growing. They never stop dying. So we have to constantly look at the garden as if we're shepherds, we're tending them. The Asian American garden was built in the 1960s after Mr. Bellingrath died, but it was built in an area that really fits that motif. And it has all kinds of interesting elements - a little tea house, a moon bridge, a pavilion that is aptly in honor of Coca-Cola in Japanese characters. So it's actually a blend of Chinese and Japanese styles, but some of the pieces need a little bit of restoration. The sidewalks need a little bit of work. Those are some things they're going to do now because it's one of the most beloved spots overall in Bellingrath Gardens. Todd loves it too, and going to keep it going.
One of the most impactful, iconic color displays at Bellingrath Gardens are the wonderful AZALEAS. They're literally everywhere. As one walks in through the gates here, it's one of the most inviting grand entrances. And of course, it’s an enormous explosion of color that lasts for, what, maybe two weeks or so? These are mostly the classic Indica Hybrids that would have been part of the traditional Southern garden. These azaleas were introduced probably more so into Charleston in the 1800's. They made their way to Mobile over time. The local stories say that people saw them in Charleston, wanted to bring them here because they saw tourism there. Miss Bessie fell in love with azaleas, was known both pre-depression and during the great depression to pay much higher prices than she should have as her way of supporting people. So she would buy the azalea from someones' front yard for a larger than normal price. But what they were buying was these old fashioned, by today's standards, Southern Indica hybrid azaleas. And they're still around, but they get big. You can cut them back to the ground, they don't care. They'll come back. They're almost indestructible. But what you see now in the azalea market is a largely different plant. The dwarf kinds called the Kurume azaleas or even the Satsuki azaleas were introduced decades after these. These came from more like China, although they were also bred in Europe, and the Satsukis and the Kurumes came from Japan in the 1930s. Now they're breeding them and breeding re-blooming ones like the Encore azalea. So there are all kinds of cool things happening in the azalea world and Bellingrath Gardens is one of the big show places for them. Eric thinks it's nice to come to a garden that does showcase these traditionals. These azaleas are part of the history of this garden. Todd agrees and part of the the history of Mobile. After all Mobile is known as the azalea city.
Another plant or category of plants that Eric would like to talk about, one that has an enormous color display that Bellingrath is also known for is the chrysanthemum. And these are all greenhouse grown mums, just like the many other greenhouse crops that are produced on the grounds here. Todd confirms, there are two kinds. There's the florist pot mums that you would see at the grocery stores. Todd calls them the meatball mums, because they're pruned or self-pruned to those shapes. They also grow what's called the Korean or the cascading mums, which are a much later introduction from Japan and the Korean peninsula. Longwood Gardens is famous for their display. Bellingrath Gardens has the largest outdoor cascading mum display in the U.S. and they grow thousands of them. They grow them into pillars, grow them and train them to hang down from balconies. They can be like Technicolor. They tend to bloom later than the pot mums, so you'll get chrysanthemums in the florist pots in September, October. These will bloom in late October through November. And it's just great, it's just an incredible show, and takes a lot of craftsmanship to be able to train these to grow into these different shapes. Eric thinks these plants are a great way to usher in fall.
Eric asks Todd - Bellingrath Gardens is a very dynamic garden and of course has these deep roots in history, but then there's also a lot of potential for what this garden's going to be IN THE FUTURE and a million reasons why visitors want to come back over and over again and see the progress that's going on here. Eric would like for Todd to talk a little bit about the future of Bellingrath. Where does he see this garden when we come back in two years, five years, 10 years for another visit? Todd has a great passion for gardens and believes gardens are ever changing, ever evolving. They are not static. They grow every day. If you're trying to keep the garden the same, you're going to fail miserably and Mother Nature will be the first one to let you know. Todd thinks when talking about a historic garden, it would be very difficult to truly maintain it exactly as it was for those reasons. So what one is really looking for is a timeless quality. It has to be at some level period, but also some level timeless to the founders. Bellingrath’s founders loved plants, they were collecting plants. So if we choose to bring some new materials in, in their spirit, Todd thinks that's okay. As long as we're not wholesale changing it. The biggest problem, though is maintaining it. Because especially here in the deep South, things just grow. So it's oftentimes renovation, literally cutting those Southern Indica azaleas back to six inches tall when they've grown to 12 feet and maybe grown out of their space. But look at an area and see, what was the kernel? What was the idea? And then what decade was it, that type of thinking? Because even though the Bellingrath's were here for about a 30 year period of time, Mr. Bellingrath outlived, Mrs. Bellingrath, but still roughly 30 years. Well, that's still 30 years. It's a long time and new plants were being created. They got interested in camellias later, after they became interested in azaleas. He became the gardener after she died, but he really had a passion for the garden because Miss Bessie died young in 1943, and he lived into his eighties. So there's just so many stories to tell, but we have to be very deliberate, very careful, very thoughtful about how we do it, but not be slave to it at the same time. And that's a delicate balance.
Bellingrath Gardens is an amazing place. It has been great catching up with Todd. Eric compliments Todd, Bellingrath is truly a pleasure and a treasure. Congratulations on your appointment here. Eric can't wait to see how this garden grows and continues to mature. Bellingrath Gardens is an amazing place. Todd in turn thanks Eric and GardenSMART for visiting. It's been great having Eric over after so many years.
By Laura Root
Photos courtesy of Jackson & Perkins
Gardeners are always thinking ahead to the next season or the next year. And, fall is the ideal time to think about spring. Flowering shrubs, perennials and spring bulbs are great choices.
Click here for an interesting article about spring bulbs.
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