The Southern Garden History Society is an active membership organization that raises awareness and promotes scholarship of historic gardens, cultural landscapes and horticultural history across the U.S. South. We welcome individuals, families, historic sites, public gardens or organizations interested in southern gardens and landscapes.
Landscapes of Slavery, Landscapes of Freedom
Image courtesy of the Gibbes Museum of Art – View of Mulberry, House and Street, ca. 1800, By Thomas Coram (American, 1756 – 1811); Oil on … Read More
COVID Disbands the Choir
Something happened around the first of May and the fog began to lift as well as my spirit and the entries and their titles in my journal. “Yucca Earns its Name-Bright Edge,” “Spreading Goodness,” “Small... Read More
Landslide 2020: Women Take the Lead
For years the contributions of American female landscape architects have been rec-ognized, but perhaps never so poignantly as now. During months of lockdown and pandemic-related upheaval, many people across our country have rediscovered the joys... Read More
The Curious Cushaw
The holiday dinner menu was classic American - turkey, cornbread dressing, cranberry sauce, yams, various green vegetables, congealed salad, freshly toasted salted pecans, and the family favorite cushaw made sweet and scrumptious with sugar,... Read More
Peggy Singlemann Receives Award
The Richmond, Virginia-based public media program “Virginia Home Grown” recently received a Silver Telly Award for a unique “Tips from Maymont” segment on pond plants. The … Read More
Ladies and Lubbers
Another beautiful species of Lycoris to surprise Southern gardeners in late summer is L. squamigera, known as the magic lily or naked lady. Hardy farther north than L. radiata, which was described on this website... Read More
Garden Restoration at Stratford Hall
“In Stratford Hall: An Early Garden Restoration Revisited” Will Rieley, PLA details a project that concluded with returning a significant section of a Colonial Revival garden to a well-informed eighteenth-century configuration. The setting was the Read More
Louisiana’s Natural Treasure: Margaret Stones, Botanical Artist
Margaret Stones was an Australian botanical artist known for her remarkable watercolor drawings published in Curtis’s Botanical Magazine (Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew), Endemic Flora of Tasmania, and Native Flora of Louisiana. Ms. Stones died in... Read More
Spider Lily (Lycoris radiata)
For many Southerners, the red spider lily (Lycoris radiata) is a wonderful surprise in the late summer garden. A delicate red flower of fine petals and long stamens perches atop a naked stem, giving it... Read More