Over the decades since our founding in 1982, SGHS members have visited scores of landscapes and gardens covering a wide expanse of the southern United States, ranging from Texas to Maryland, Florida to Kentucky and all in between. Some spots have been small and intimate, while others are recognized as internationally important. We are creating and populating this page as a means of recalling those gardens and their significance with those who joined in, as well as with Society members who were absent. As well, some gardens may be those not yet toured but which we hope very much to add to a future itinerary. An additional goal is that any visitor to our website, member or not, will find these verbal sketches, images, links, and book recommendations a welcome boost to their understanding of the richly vibrant garden history of the American South.
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January 17, 2025
Bayou Bend | Houston, Texas
To those not from the Deep South, the word “bayou” can carry an element of mystery not found in...
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January 2, 2025
Bellingrath Gardens & Home | Theodore, Alabama
The first twenty seconds of experiencing the Bellingrath website proves the timeworn adage “a picture is worth a thousand words”...
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December 21, 2024
Stratford Hall East Garden | Westmoreland County, Northern Neck of Virginia
Like Middleton Place (see November 30, 2024 post), the original Stratford Hall East Garden dates to the mid-1700s. Though limited...
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December 13, 2024
Hills and Dales Estate | LaGrange, Georgia
Georgia’s Hills and Dales Estate presents the unusual situation of a house site determined by an existing garden instead of...
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December 6, 2024
Ashland | Lexington, Kentucky
Deemed “the Great Compromiser,” Henry Clay stands high in the pantheon of prominent Antebellum American political leaders. In 2017, Society...
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November 30, 2024
Middleton Place | Charleston, South Carolina
Before the Civil War, rice, not cotton, was “king” for Low Country South Carolina planters. Middleton Place endures as a...
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November 22, 2024
Blount Mansion | Knoxville, Tennessee
The Society has yet to visit Knoxville’s Blount (pronounced “Blunt”) Mansion. It achieved lead article attention, however, in the Winter-Spring...
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November 15, 2024
Oatlands | Loudon County, Virginia
Set in the rolling terrain of Northern Virginia, the house and gardens at Oatlands have graced their Loudon County hilltop...
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November 8, 2024
Longue Vue | New Orleans
Longue Vue ranks among the truly stellar gardens of the American South, representing a crowning achievement of landscape architect Ellen...
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November 4, 2024
Reynolda | Winston-Salem, NC
Though Reynolda never appeared on a Society meeting schedule, many members have walked about house, grounds, and gardens during...
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