Located at Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, Brookgreen Gardens has been a cultural center for its community since its founding in 1931 by Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington. Brookgreen Gardens is one of the few institutions in the United States to earn accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, as well as being designated a National Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its mission is to cultivate a display garden and to collect, conserve, and exhibit plants and cultural materials of the South Carolina Lowcountry, as well as figurative sculpture by American artists, which is exhibited throughout the gardens. It also seeks to educate a diverse audience about sculpture, horticulture, and the ecology and history of the Lowcountry.

Conifer History

There are records of conifer cultivation dating back to the plantation era of Brookgreen, including a very large Calocedrus decurrens which would have been extremely exotic for the time period!

The first organized conifer collection at Brookgreen Gardens was started in the 1960’s by then Director and Horticulturist Gurdon L. Tarbox. This collection was located in the current Arboretum, and featured plantings of Cedrus, Chamaecyparis, Cunninghamia, Juniperus, and Pinus. There are several specimens from this original collection that still exist, including a beautiful specimen of Pinus strobus that could have been planted as early as 1960, and a gorgeous 80’ plus specimen of Cunninghamia lanceolata believed to be planted in 1968.

Brookgreen is also home to gorgeous plantings of our native Taxodium distichum, Taxodium distichum var. imbricarium, and beautiful stands of Pinus palustris.

Awards and Honors

Named one of the Top 10 Public Gardens in the US by Coastal Living Magazine

Named one of the Top Five Favorite Gardens by readers of Southern Living Magazine

Charlotte Observer named Brookgreen "One of the seven wonders of the Carolinas"

Rated five circles from TripAdvisor reviewers and recipient of their Certificate of Excellence

Rated a Gem Attraction – recommended by AAA

Named one of the 10 Best (attractions in South Carolina) by USA Today

Named “one of the best things to do in Myrtle Beach” by AOL Travel

South Carolina Governor’s Cup Tourism Award

South Carolina Non Profit of the Year from the SC Association of Nonprofits

South Carolina Heritage Tourism Award from the Palmetto Trust for Historic Preservation

South Carolina Art Commission – Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Award

National Sculpture Society – Herbert Adams Medal for outstanding contribution to American Sculpture

Coastal Carolina University David Drayton Award – Preserving Gullah Culture

Historic Ricefields Association Carolina Gold Award

Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce – Business Image Award, Excellence in Customer Service Award, and Going Green Award

Georgetown County Chamber of Commerce – Excellence in Customer Service Award, Non-Profit of the Year

Visit Brookgreen's website

The State Botanical Garden of Georgia, located on a 313 acre preserve in Athens, is a unit of the University of Georgia tasked with the mission of teaching, research, and public outreach. While it is part of an educational institution, it is also a community garden central to the lives of, not just students, but the residents of Athens-Clarke County and the surrounding region.

SBG was the first garden in the American Conifer Society's Southeast Region to be awarded Reference Garden status in 2008. Since then, over 250 conifers have been added to the collection representing 160 species and cultivars. The ACS Reference Garden is housed adjacent to the Callaway Building but the conifer collection extends from tropical species in the Visitor Center, throughout all the themed gardens and to at-risk native populations in the natural areas.

In applying for the grant, the goals - consistent with the mission of the Garden - was to educate the public (including non-traditional Garden visitors) about conifers and encourage their use in southeastern landscapes. To do this effectively, the Garden needed to diversify and enhance its collection, broaden conservation efforts and improve educational signage.

Part of the ACS funding was used to expand the Cedrus collection in the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Section of the International Garden. Cedars are magnificent conifers native to the Middle East with decay resistant wood. Because of its economic value, cedar was extensively harvested resulting today in small remnants of original forests. Cedar of Lebanon was used to build Phoenician ships. Its sawdust was found in the tombs of the pharaohs where it was part of the mummification process. These kind of facts are woven into a narrative that facilitates the Garden's educational outreach to visitors of all ages. After all, what child isn't fascinated with mummies?!

The grant also funded the replacement of sapsucker-damaged Cedrus atlantica with a serpentine form-as topiary is an option-and added the cultivars 'Fastigiata' and 'Silberspitz'. Cedrus brevifolia was planted, along with four cultivars of C. libani. Twelve deodar selections, from 'Limeglow' to 'Electra Blue', 'Raywood's Contorted' to 'Twisted Growth' filled out the list.

Another part of this project included enhancing endangered, relict, and safeguarded conifer collections beginning with the genus Araucaria. When a UGA student from Brazil brought back seed of Araucaria angustifolia from a home visit, the Garden began propagating it. Seven of the progeny of the critically endangered Paraña pine were planted in the International Garden. During an ACS regional meeting two more members of this genus, Araucaria montana and A. bidwillii, were acquired.

The grant has also contributed to ongoing conservation efforts such as safeguarding Torreya taxifolia through the work of the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance. In Florida torreya was once so abundant, settlers used it for fence posts and shingles, riverboat fuel, even Christmas trees. Today, only twelve individuals remain in the wild on the Georgia side of the Apalachicola River. Georgia has the only full set of all surviving wild clones in cultivation and two safeguarded populations are at SBG.

Also housed at SBG is a protected collection of Eastern Hemlocks. Tsuga canadensishas been under siege by the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) here as well and, according to the Georgia Forestry Commission, the annual spread of HWA is faster in Georgia than any other state in the southeast. Several species of Asian predator beetles are being released to combat this invasive pest with some promising results. Once HWA is controlled, SBG trees can be used as a seed source for re-establishing this species in the wild.SBG is also leading protection efforts of Tsuga caroliniana,the Carolina Hemlock, that is being attacked by HWA as well. As part of the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance, Garden staff, with the help of members of the UGA climbing club, are collecting cones from the only seven trees in Georgia. Germinated seedlings were planted back in the wild under the care of volunteer stewards and SBG is establishing a safeguarded collection of Carolina Hemlock at SBG.

Collections expansion, interpretive signs, seed collection- so many important projects have been facilitated by the ACS Southeast Region Reference Garden Grant Program. Thank you all for what you do! And special thanks to John and Becky Quackenbush, who contributed additional funding to allow us to meet our goals. Come for a visit soon!

Jeannette Coplin
Director of Horticulture and Grounds
State Botanical Garden of Georgia

The ACS Reference Garden program is a partnership between the Society and established gardens that feature exemplary conifer collections. Of the many ACS Reference Gardens across the country few examples of this partnership are better executed than this one, because the crown jewel of the Arboretum, the Coenosium Rock Garden, was conceived and largely designed and planted by Bob and Dianne Fincham, ACS founding members.

This small college has an arboretum and a dwarf conifer collection that is on a par with those at large universities and is a testament to the strength of the horticultural program and the dedication of Arboretum Coordinator Van Bobbitt and his students over the years. Tucked into the north end of the campus, the arboretum has been called ‘West Seattle’s Hidden Treasure.’ With its status as an ACS Reference Garden, perhaps it will be less hidden going forward!

The SSC Arboretum, on six acres at the north end of campus, functions as a living laboratory for the Landscape Horticulture program, which first proposed the development of an arboretum in 1972. A student petition spurred the Seattle College board of trustees to approve the concept six years later.

The site includes impressive views of downtown Seattle and is adjacent to the West Duwamish Greenbelt, the largest contiguous forest within the city of Seattle. But the site also posed a major challenge—terrible soil. A gravel pit once covered much of what became the SSC campus, and to make matters worse, the college’s heavy-equipment-operation classes used the area as a training site. Their machines further compacted what was already described as “unusable clay.”

With the help of Seattle Metro, SSC improved the soil before the garden was planted. Metro provided labor and machinery and the land was graded and covered with18 inches of sewage sludge and seeded ryegrass, which was later tilled in. Despite this amendment and the addition of topsoil as each new garden was developed, much of the arboretum continues to suffer from heavy, poorly drained soil. It is impressive that the college has been able to produce a garden of this quality with such poor soil. This should give hope and inspiration to those of us that struggle with difficult sites in our own gardens!

In spite of a shoestring budget and those challenging soil conditions, the arboretum has grown, especially due to the efforts of former horticulture instructor Steve Nord. Through the years, though, the arboretum has benefited from the strong financial and in-kind support of many individuals, businesses and service organizations, particularly in the West Seattle community.

Since the SSC Arboretum’s primary mission was to serve as an outdoor classroom and laboratory for horticulture students, all of the gardens in the arboretum have been installed by students in SSC landscape construction classes. Much of the irrigation system was developed by students under the guidance of their instructors. Pruning and landscape-management classes help maintain the arboretum. The garden renovation classes have updated many gardens in recent years. And there’s not a day in the academic year when you won’t find students using the arboretum for study or hands-on learning. The

SSC Arboretum contains two conifer gardens and a sequoia grove:

Sequoia Grove. Specimens of giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) reside here.

Milton Sutton Conifer Gardens. This garden has two distinct parts that straddle a gravel road. One side is built adjacent to a dry streambed and combines many larger conifers with complementary shrubs and ground covers to create a woodland feel. Across the road is a collection of dwarf conifers interplanted with heaths and heathers. It is one of the most colorful sections of the arboretum in the winter. The Milton Sutton Conifer Garden also includes an impressive collection of Tsuga canadensis cultivars that was written up in Conifer Quarterly (Winter 2007) by former student Peter Maurer.

Coenosium Rock Garden. Dedicated in June 2005, this is arguably the best public collection of dwarf conifers in the region. It also contains a scree garden, many non-coniferous alpine species, and a naturalistic water feature. Dianne and Bob Fincham first conceived this garden with Steve Nord. The Finchams wanted to develop a garden that would help both students and the gardening public appreciate of the value of dwarf conifers. After Nord retired, the Finchams, landscape construction instructor Steve Hilderbrand, Yuki Kato—a landscape design student from Japan—and horticulture instructor Van Bobbitt developed a plan for the future. It took six years to complete with landscape construction classes tackling a new phase each year. The Finchams generously donated all of the conifers in the Coenosium Rock Garden from their nursery. Their friend, Rick Lupp, owner of Mount Tahoma Gardens—an alpine specialty nursery—donated a large number of alpine plants. Hilderbrand and his students worked overtime in spring 2005 to have the garden completed by its dedication in June. The dwarf conifers offer year-round appeal, due to their various forms, textures and colors—blues, greens and golds. Many offer seasonal color changes, such as Thuja orientalis 'Morgan': yellow-gold most of the year, it turns an intense orange-bronze with the arrival of colder temperatures in November, and returns to yellow-gold with March’s warming temperatures.

What does the future hold for the SSC Arboretum? The Coenosium Rock Garden filled the last undeveloped land in the arboretum. Major renovations of older gardens are being considered. About half of the original arboretum site will be occupied by the Seattle Chinese Garden, being built by the Seattle Chinese Garden Society, which will be one the largest Chinese gardens in North America. Combined with the Landscape Horticulture Program’s greenhouse, nursery and garden center, South Seattle College should be a major destination for gardeners. The future looks exciting, and the ACS Reference Garden status should prove beneficial to both partners going forward.

The garden is open to the public seven days a week from dawn to dusk.

Ed. Note: This material was adapted from an article by Van Bobbitt, SSC Horticulture Instructor and Arboretum Coordinator in the Fall 2005 issue of the Washington Park Arboretum Bulletin. In September 2013, Bob Fincham conducted a tour of the garden for ACS members Jan LeCocq and Sara Malone who wrote about it in their blog Form and Foliage.

San Francisco Botanical Garden became an ACS Reference Garden in 2014. In the Garden’s own words, ‘conifers are among [our] cornerstone plants…framing our vistas and truly setting the tone for our 55 acres of plant life’.

SFBG has a mild, maritime climate that allows a wide range of species to flourish. The native Pinus, Sequoia and Cupressus grow side by side with a large and diverse collection of Podocarpaceae and Araucariaceae; there is a lush and extensive redwood grove, a dwarf conifer collection and a grouping of Metasequoia glyptostroboides that was planted from seed in 1950, making them some of the earliest plantings of this species in the U.S. All told, the collection includes over 250 conifer species.

The Garden started as an arboretum, and the conifer collection began in the mid-1800’s with the planting of over 450,000 canopy trees to provide shade and protection from the wind. Two of the three species (the third was Eucalyptus globulus) were conifers: Cupressus macrocarpa (Monterey cypress) and Pinus radiata (Monterey pine). While the size and stature of many of the remaining specimens is impressive, due to their age they frequently fall prey to high winds and winter storms. Large limbs and indeed even entire trees are lost with increasing frequency. In 2009, the Garden created a canopy succession plan to coordinate the replacement of the three main species. Several hundred new taxa have been identified as appropriate. Some of the conifers in the plan include Abies bracteata, Agathis australis and Pinus torreyana ssp. insularis.

SFBG recognizes four key conifer collections in addition to the canopy: the Nobel Dwarf Conifer Garden, the Dawn Redwood Grove, the Conifer Lawn and the Redwood Grove. Many of the trees in the collection have grown to significant size. Among some of the oldest specimens (in addition to the canopy) are the Sequoia sempervirensin the Redwood Grove, which were planted around the turn of the 20th Century and the enormous Monterey cypress in the middle of the conifer lawn, which stands over 100 feet tall. The Redwood Grove is the only place to view a redwood forest in San Francisco and it includes a rare albino form of the species. The Conifer Lawn includes over 30 species of conifers, including Abiesand Piceaspecies as well as a stately Sequoiadendron giganteum (giant sequoia). The oldest Sequoiadendronspecimen has developed a spreading windswept appearance as it grew in strong ocean winds for the first 50 years of its life. Later planted specimens, more protected by the more mature canopy, are very upright.

SFBG also has one of the oldest collections of dwarf conifers in a large US botanical garden. The James Nobel Dwarf Conifer Collection was created in 1960 with the gift of 372 dwarf conifer species by Effie V. Nobel. Mrs Nobel’s late husband, James, had amassed this collection over many years and at the time this was one of the most important collections of dwarf conifers in the country. Currently there are over 100 species remaining and ACS members accustomed to the very latest and most unusual cultivars will find many here that no longer are considered rare. However, it represents a good opportunity to observe much older specimens that most of us have in our gardens!

Although not recognized as a separate conifer collection by the Garden, one of the most interesting places to view key specimens is in the SFBG’s Ancient Plant Garden. This Garden is laid out so that visitors move chronologically through five periods: Early Devonian, Pennsylvanian, Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Eocene. The Jurassic epoch is of the most interest to conifer lovers, as this was when seed plants began to dominate and before Angiosperms evolved and ‘stole the show’. Here we can see Podocarpus, Araucaria and Agathis. There are wonderful specimens of Araucaria heterophylla,numerous Ginkgo biloba, a Retrophyllum rospigliosiiand lovely Wollemia nobilis, the Australian conifer that was thought to be extinct until a small grove was found in a remote area in 1994. When wandering in this area, without too much imagination, it is possible to travel back to a time before flowering plants existed!San Francisco Botanical Garden

Golden Gate Park
1199 9th Avenue
San Francisco CA

Open all year from 7:30 am – 4/5 pm depending on season

See website for admission fees, directions, maps, etc.

(Note: this entry is adapted from a Winter 2013 ConiferQuarterly article by Alan Branhagen)

Powell Gardens, Kansas City’s Botanical Garden is a young garden (it celebrated 25 years in 2013) that was well-planned from inception. Nationally renowned landscape architects from Environmental Planning and Design and its spinoffs planned the 970 acre garden. Major gardens include Perennial, Rock & Waterfall, Meadow, Island, Fountain and Heartland Harvest Garden (America’s largest edible landscape). Powell Gardens’ architecture is classic prairie style by E. Fay Jones and Maurice Jennings Architects – in fact, Powell Gardens contains the largest collection of their works at a public facility, and Mr. Jones was voted the 4th most influential architect of the 20th Century bythe American Institute of Architects. However that may be, sometimes the seedof a garden is not sown by a master plan or designer. A garden’s staff, board or major donor can influence plans, but Powell Gardens has been careful not to letthis create a hodge-podge collection out of touch with the mission: quality design and premier horticulture standards.

The Conifer Garden at Powell Gardens was never on a master plan, but a garden whose creation was beautifully inspired by the involvement and generosity of a master in his avocation, past president of the American Conifer Society, Marvin Snyder. It’s hard to describe the evolution of the Powell Conifer Garden. It oddly began with a seasonal display in the conservatory which included a garden railroad, which in turn required plantings in scale with the trains. What is better than dwarf conifers? Through acquisitions for that display and donations from Marvin, Powell all of a sudden had quite a collection of conifers with no home once the railroad display’s time was up. The theme of the landscape around the new E. Fay Jones-designed Visitor Center was “evergreen” as a place to see beauty in the winter landscape without having to venture out too far into that season’s inclement weather. Many of the first conifers were thus planted on the east side of the Visitor Center, including a trial, the magnificent 'Hazel Smith' giant sequoia.

In 2006, a major fountain garden was constructed to the north side of the Visitor Center and it unearthed the site’s sandstone subsoil, beautifully drained with a slightly acidic pH -- so different from the wet, poorly drained clays of the gardens' topsoil. The new Fountain Garden required an extensive change of grade with new walks from the north end of the building. An existing bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) at the northwest corner of the building’s terrace walls and a trio of wonderful lacebark pines (Pinus bungeana) at the northeast corner of the building’s terraces were retained and these plants anchored the new garden’s plantings. The landscape fill required for the new beds would be from the fountain construction sandstone rubble subsoil which would allow the perfect soil for most conifers and plants requiring well-drained soil. So, the new north end bed of the visitor center, raised and constructed with well-drained soil was planted to a beautiful border of conifers with emphasis on varieties which would take the site’s windswept location (there was at that time an open field to the north). Initial plantings were Juniperus formosana, Juniperus rigida ‘Temple’, Juniperus communis 'Oblonga Pendula', Pinus strobus 'Pendula, Taxodium disticum 'Peve Minaret' and Peve Yellow, and a beautiful blue-needled Abies concolor 'Candicans'.

The north border of the Visitor Center became the Powell Gardens’ Conifer Garden when Marvin made another contribution: a collection of conifers from a garden that he had designed that had to be moved. Horticulturist Richard Heter, in charge of this area of the Gardens, handdug the specimen conifers and delivered and planted them in their new home. These beautiful specimens provided instant impact: Picea abies ‘Acrocona’, ‘Elegans’ and ‘Mucronata’; Picea omorika ‘Elizabeth’; a pair of Pseudotsuga menziesii ‘Fletcheri’

Picea orientalis ‘Shadow’s Broom’ and ‘Connecticut Turnpike’; and Pinus sylvestris ‘Nana’. The new conifer borderattracted so many positive comments from visitors that it became its own garden, separate from the Visitor Center’s beds and soon needed more space. Of course, the Conifer Garden displays more than just conifers and has a beautiful tapestry of several groundcover-type sedums, some smaller perennials which require well-drained soil conditions, and other dwarf companion shrubs from boxwood to Weigela. The garden was mulched with pea gravel for a finished look and to hold in moisture. The garden was again increased in size in 2008, to include Thuja occidentalis ‘Rosenkranz’ Pinus densiflora ‘Umbraculifera’, Thuja plicata ‘Virescens’, Picea orientalis ‘Skylands’ and even a trial Cunninghamia konishii ‘Samurai’ China-fir.

2012 brought another extension of the Conifer Garden by creating a bed alongside the east side of the garden. Paths which lead north from the Visitor Center to the Fountain Garden and the new Heartland Harvest Garden pass along this east side of the Conifer Garden. A new bed, constructed with remaining sandstone rubble besidethe path, provided the last “east wall” of the outdoor room which is the ConiferGarden. This (final?) conifer bed includedmany specimens donated by Marvin and Iseli Nursery including Pinus bungeana ‘Rowe Arboretum’ Cupressus nootkatensis‘Sparkling Arrow’, Juniperus virginiana ‘Pendula’, Picea omorika ‘DeRuyter’, Taxus baccata ‘SilverSpire’, and others.

The Powell Gardens’ Conifer Garden is maintained by horticulturist Richard Heter and gardener Peggy Batman. Its 110 cultivars of conifers and gymnosperms are curated by Marie Fry, who manages the plant records. It was designed by Alan Branhagan. It wouldn’t be what it is without the inspiration and generosity of Marvin Snyder, and plant donations from Rich Eyre and Iseli Nursery. The garden survived the 2012 season which was the driest growing season ever recorded for the Kansas City region and as well as being the hottest year (as of the end of September).

The Conifer Garden did lose a very few choice plants and have some needle burn on a few others, but the garden is overall a resounding success with many positive comments by visitors. Gardens are never static, but constantly evolve as plants grow larger and extremes of our heartland climate test the adaptability of all the unique conifers we grow. As some specimens become too large for their space, they may be transplanted to other locations at Powell Gardens. New conifers will continue to be added to fill spaces and create new color, texture and shape compositions. The hope is that visitors to Powell Gardens are inspired by the garden, and will think differently about conifers beyond standard foundation plantings to the incredible wealth and beauty of unique cultivars available at nurseries.

Powell Gardens was designated an ACS Reference Garden in 2012. There are approximately 800 conifers to be found throughout the extensive gardens. Nut pines can be found in the Heartland Harvest Garden including the rare Pinus gerardiana. The Mediterranean inspired vineyard landscape in that garden utilizes ‘Taylor’ junipers (Juniperus virginiana) in place of columnar Italian cypress, which are not hardy here. Bald cypress, dawn redwoods, pines and spruces are widely planted as part of a total of 22 genera and 81 species of conifers found at Powell Gardens. More obscure species include Florida torreya (Torreya taxifolia), Floridayew (Taxus floridana), northern hiba arborvitae (Thujopsis doltsopa var. hondai) and Cathay pine (Cathaya argyrophylla). All conifers are clearly identified by plant labels.