Gardens

Building gardens inside a high-elevation forest poses unique problems and requires a sensitive approach to the task at hand. Please click the links below to learn more about each individual garden, or click this link to learn about our approach to garden design at the Reserve: design principles and approach.

Vaseyi Trail and Pond

At the right time of year, the trail leading to Vaseyi Pond is pure magic — a fairy tale walk through a thicket of 12 foot tall Rhododendron vaseyi bathed in bright pink blossoms. Wait three weeks and the pink petals are underfoot — more magic. By mid-June, when the ferns have banished the brown of winter for another season, the banks of Vaseyi Creek are carpeted with thousands of white Galax candles that light up the now dark tunnel.

Waterfall and Cliff Communities

The waterfall and cliff communities are the heart and soul of the Southern Highlands Reserve.

These natural areas, comprising 100 acres and a change in elevation of 1000 feet (4700’–3700’) in a distance of 2000 feet, are the upper-most face of the Blue Ridge Escarpment as seen from the piedmont of South Carolina.

Azalea Walk

The Azalea Walk is truly a garden for the future. Although thousands of Trillium catesbaei, Bellworts and Clintonia that occur here naturally provide a delightful early spring walk, a surprise is lurking among the carpet of ferns that take over in late May. Hundreds of Gregory Bald hybrids have been planted in a color sequence along this naturalistic path.

Chestnut Lodge Roof Garden

Although established in Europe for many years, roof gardens are a recent introduction to the green movement in the United States.

Most roof gardens are really ‘green roofs’ — planted with sedums and grasses in soil about four inches deep. The roof garden built over the shop and classroom area at the Chestnut Lodge, however, is an intensive design with soil from 8” to 12” deep and planted with not just native plants but plants from the immediate Southern Highlands Reserve woodlands.

Maple Entrance and Woodland Glade

The Woodland Glade is the vestibule of the Core Park.  Entering the Woodland Glade from the Maple Entrance you may follow the stone steps to the Wildflower Labyrinth and The Azalea Walk or stroll down the path to the Vaseyi Pond and Viewsite.

In spring, however, you will be tempted to linger in the glade a little longer to enjoy a carpet of blue Phlox stolonifera accented with white spikes of Tiarella cordifolia and a little later, Heuchera americana. The oak and maple canopy has been lifted here to provide a more spacious and open feeling.

Wildflower Labyrinth

The Wildflower Labyrinth, located at the center of the Core Park, is a riot of color and interest in late summer. Based on a traditional seven ring labyrinth, Gary Smith, our Landscape Architect, designed the plantings to emulate life's journey. In places, the going is easy as low growing plants brush along your knees. In other spots, the going is more difficult as grasses and taller plants lean out into the walkway.