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 in July, L. squamigera flourishes from Maine to Texas, but needs some winter chilling to bloom well.
“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
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 2018 at the age of 98. LSU Press published an oversized special folio edition of Native Flora of Louisiana in full color in the same year.
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 its common name.
Perry Mathewes is the deputy director, museum operations and director of gardens at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in Winchester, VA. He oversees the stewardship the museum facilities, historic structures, seven acres of formal gardens and almost 500 acres of grounds including a historic Civil War battlefield. Perry has more than 30 years of experience in the museum and public garden field. Previously he was education program manager and interim director of education and communications for Norfolk Botanical Garden.
In the fall of 2015, the Girl Scouts USA, now a corporate entity, sent out a letter asking for monetary gifts to redesign the garden area at the Birthplace. The corporate ideal was to remove the parterred garden, place bluestone pavers in the space, and line it with tropical plantings.
For the last four decades the Southern Garden History Society and Dumbarton Oaks have enjoyed a close relationship. Much of this relationship is based on the shared appreciation
Dr. Thomas Peter Bennett, biologist, author, scholar, professor, and SGHS member brings his passion for and in-depth knowledge of American natural history to his latest book
Elizabeth Lawrence (1904-1985) is best known as an American garden writer—one of the finest of the 20th century. Through a highly informative yet conversational style of writing, she encouraged her readers to embrace diversity in their gardens by trying something new. Even though she often wrote of her own experiences in her two Southern gardens in North Carolina (Raleigh until 1948, and Charlotte from 1948 to 1984), her audience and correspondences spanned the entire country
We welcome the following officers and directors of SGHS and know they will lead us forward with strength and wisdom. Our new president, Perry Mathewes, shares, “I am looking forward to serving as the next president of the SGHS. I am fortunate to follow in the footsteps of many great leaders for this organization and hope to continue the tradition of service they exemplify. As we move ahead in uncertain times, I know this group will continue to find ways to come together to explore and share the gardening traditions of many great Southern gardens and gardeners.”