Middleton Place - Charleston, South Carolina

Middleton Place - Charleston, South Carolina

About the Garden
Middleton Place is a National Historic Landmark and home to America’s Oldest Landscaped Gardens. The Garden Club of America has called the 65 acres “the most important and most interesting garden in America.”  Centuries-old camellias bloom in the winter months and azaleas blaze on the hillside above the Rice Mill Pond in the spring. In summer, kalmia, magnolias, crepe myrtles and roses accent a landscape magnificent throughout the year. The Gardens have been planned so that there is something blooming at Middleton Place year-round.


About the Camellia Collection
Total number of camellia plants:   3,000
Number of distinct camellia cultivars or species: 1,000

Camellias, a southern landscape favorite, show off a blaze of color throughout the winter months. Middleton family history holds that in the year 1786, French botanist Andrè Michaux, gave the Middletons some of the first camellias to be planted in an American garden. Today, Middleton Place has over 4,000 camellias, many over 220 years old, including one of the four original Michaux plants, which is known at Middleton Place as the “Reine des Fleurs” or “Queen of Flowers.”

Blooming during the depths of winter, the fragile beauty of camellias enhance the Middleton Place Gardens with thousands of blossoms, from pristine white to all shades of red and pink. Guests may learn about this magnificent plant and thousands more on a Camellia Walk, held every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday beginning February 10 and continuing through March 21. The camellia-focused guided Garden tours will begin at 11 a.m. at the Garden Market & Nursery and last approximately an hour and a half.

The 2015 Camellia season kicks off with a weekend of events highlighting the camellia. Beauty & History: Celebrating Camellias at Middleton Place begins on Saturday, February 7. Master Gardener and Middleton Place VP of Horticulture Sidney Frazier will lead a workshop discussing growing camellias, from propagation to care and maintenance. The workshop begins at 1 p.m. in the Garden Market and Nursery and will be followed by a special Camellia Walk and unveiling/removal and potting of a new air-layered branch of the “Reine des Fleurs.”

Air-laying is a method of propagation that produces an exact replica of the mother plant, and thus the new plant will carry on the legacy left at Middleton Place by Andrè Michaux nearly 230 years ago. On Sunday, February 8, the celebration of camellias continues with a special Camellia Walk at 2 p.m. followed by a reception and a lecture by Jan MacDougal, an expert garden guide and Master Gardener. Jan has been a volunteer with Middleton Place for over 30 years and has been the Camellia Walk trainer since its inception over 15 years ago. Special camellia items will be for sale during the reception, as well as in the Museum Shop and Garden Market throughout the weekend including plants propagated at Middleton Place.

Come see the flower that has captured the hearts of Southern gardeners for generations. Camellia Walks, the Camellia Workshop and Camellia Lecture are free with paid admission to Middleton Place, but reservations are required.