Banksia, home to The Aiken County Historical Museum, is the setting for this year’s Aiken Garden Show, May 17 and 18. There are two featured speakers, a host of vendors, members of plant societies to answer your gardening questions, and nine beautiful private gardens to tour.
Plan your day
Begin your day at 8:30 a.m., and stroll the grounds of Banksia for a bit, in search of that one plant you’ve been searching for or the tool you need. There are garden furnishings, accents and home accessories as well. While you’re at it, have a look at the small garden toward the back of the Museum grounds. It is dedicated to the late Mrs. Sheffield Phelps, original owner of Rose Hill. Mrs. Phelps was the founder of The Garden Club of South Carolina and The Garden Club of Aiken, which maintains this garden.
At 9 a.m. Friday, Brie Arthur, author, horticulturist and speaker, will share her experience and talk about how to make the world a better place, one garden at a time. Afterwards, she will be at one of the gardens to sell and sign her book, Foodscape Revolution.
At 9 a.m. Saturday: Betty Montgomery, author of Hydrangeas: How to Grow, Cultivate and Enjoy, will provide expert advice for hydrangea enthusiasts. Afterwards she will be in one of the gardens for book signings and to answer hydrangea questions.
Also in the tour gardens, members of the Aiken Camellia Society, Aiken and Augusta Orchid Society, Augusta Rose Society, Day Lily Society, Aiken Master Gardeners, and SC Bluebird Society, will have information tables to answer questions with their regional garden expertise!
From 1 to 5 p.m. on Friday and from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, head to the parlor at Banksia where the Augusta Rose Society’s All-arrangement Rose Show will feature hundreds of locally-grown roses in traditional, modern and Oriental-style designs. Amateur designers who would like to participate in this show can contact Pam Kolb at 803-643-9542 for a show schedule and Linda Boland at 706-394-9075 for registration.
Often the highlight of the Aiken Garden Show is the private garden tour. Hop on a tour shuttle at the show, or drive a few miles to visit nine of Aiken’s beautiful gardens. Whether your garden is the size of an estate, or a postage stamp, you’re sure to find inspiration.
One Small Garden
Two of the largest crepe myrtles in Aiken stand on either side of the driveway that leads to this garden home. The welcoming garden is small, but it is packed with plants and memories. A path winds around one side of the home. Several large pink knockout roses stand along the path. There’s a pile of stones from the owner’s native Oregon and millstones from her husband’s father’s place in Kentucky.
The owner has made her garden a designated Wildlife Habitat, so it must, by definition, be a place for wildlife. There’s a thicket where small animals and birds can thrive. There is food for the birds, courtesy of Bob the Birdfeeder that hangs in a tree, his mouth gaping in welcome. There are also other birdfeeders and a birdbath.
I had trouble tearing myself away from this spot. Though it’s located in close proximity to other homes, it’s as peaceful a spot as you’ll find this close to town. The quiet is interrupted only by church bells.
One Large Garden
“The garden was a sea of Azaleas and Ivy – no paths, no beds, no plan.” When the owner of this large garden moved into her home with her husband in 2003, she hardly knew where to start. Ten thousand bricks and 10,000 hours later, the garden is now a show-stopper.
She began with the help of her husband and a local landscape designer, “We were from the North,” she stated. “We moved to Aiken, and found out we could garden even in the winter. We were thrilled! My husband spent that first winter just pulling up ivy.”
The next thing to do was lay out the beds, and by 2004, all the beds and paths were defined and the roaming azaleas were relocated along the fence and in beds throughout the garden. Over the next few years, a parterre garden was laid out on the garden’s west side. With 10,000 old bricks, borders and paths were established, along with a new fountain.
On the east side of the garden, beneath a snowball viburnum, are the hydrangeas, one of the owner’s favorite flowering shrubs. There’s the luscious ‘Strawberry Sundae’ with flowers that start off white, then change to pink, then finally deepen to strawberry red.
Around back are more hydrangeas and the pool, where a ballerina rose climbs the fence. In a quiet corner, enter through an arbor into a secret garden, surrounded by pierris and crepe myrtle.
Make the circle past the pool and there you can find the garden’s heart. There’s a potting shed where frost-tender plants spend the winter and a small patio where container gardens of annual and perennial flowers make a splash against the sea of green.
Through the gate, you’ll find the owner’s favorite spot, the garden that surrounds the screened porch that was added several years ago. There’s a small fountain with large stones and egret statuaries. “I like this garden because I like the porch,” she said. In her (rare) moments of sitting still, the porch is where she likes to spend her time.
Back at the start is one of my favorite spots, a bed where “Soft Caress” Mahonia is nestled among Grace Hendricks Phillips boxwood. Dwarf Hinoki cypress encircles the weeping redbud in the next bed with the Shishi-Gashira Camellias. Old-fashioned leatherleaf mahonia stands close by as well.
A garden like this takes a lot of work, but the owner is clearly up to it. “I’d rather be pulling weeds in the garden than doing anything inside,” she declared. The two men she employs to help, plant lovers themselves, sometimes nd it hard to keep up. I asked one his favorite spot in the lovely garden.
“The bench,” he answered.
“Which bench?”
“Any bench.”
Please remember…
Cameras are allowed in the gardens, but smoking, strollers, and pets are not. Please wear flat walking shoes and watch steps and uneven surfaces as you visit the gardens. (The Aiken County Historical Museum, Aiken Garden Club Council, its member clubs, and the owners of properties on the Aiken Garden Show tour are not liable for any accident or damages occurring on the tour.)
How To Purchase Tickets and Where
Ticket prices: $30 for a two-day ticket, $25 in advance. Garden Show tickets can be purchased online at aikengardenshow.org, by credit card through May 16th. Tickets purchased online will not be mailed but will be held for you at the Banksia entrance. Please print out your receipt and bring it with you to the registration table at Banksia.
All sales are final: the Aiken Garden Show will be held rain or shine. No strollers will be permitted in the gardens. This event is not recommended for children under 8.
Tickets will be available at the advance price of $25 each with cash or check at the following retail outlets through May 16. (Credit cards will be accepted only for tickets sold at the door or online.)
In Aiken
Aiken County Visitors Center –133 Laurens Street NW, Aiken
Antiques and Uniques – Centre South Shopping Center, 782 Silver Bluff Road, Aiken
Cold Creek Nurseries – 398 Hitchcock Parkway, Aiken
Plum Pudding – 101 Laurens Street NW, Aiken
In North Augusta
Nurseries Caroliniana – 143 Mims Church Road, North Augusta, SC
Parks Pharmacy – 437 Georgia Avenue, North Augusta
In Augusta
Bedford Greenhouses – 1023 Oleander Drive, Augusta, GA
In Columbia
Woodley’s Garden Center – 1067 Woodley’s Way, Columbia, SC
In Irmo
Woodley’s Garden Center – 2840 Dreher Shoals Road, Irmo, SC
Susan Elder is a former elementary school teacher and garden writer. These days she spends her
time babysitting for her adorable granddaughter.
