Wow! Talk about gardens on a grand scale! Brook Green gardens in South Carolina offers up over fifty acres of gardens, sculpture and excursions. From the whimsical Muses garden to the wildlife excursions, these gardens are well worth the trip. Feel free to ask the staff questions as you go through – they freely shared everything from planting tips to showing us the largest grasshopper I’ve ever seen! The best thing? Admission buys a ticket good for six days.
Gardens
Divided into garden “rooms”, the layout follows the same design Anna Hyatt Huntington envisioned in 1931. One of my favorites: the Live Oak Allee, filled with ancient oaks, Spanish moss and park benches to rest while plotting which room to visit next.
Each garden room includes at least one feature sculpture, and often has a number of plaques and sculptures on the side paths. Several rooms include large pools and fountains to showcase larger sculptures.
Plant identifiers are spotty throughout – you may have to track down a staff member to identify a plant you would like for your garden. That said, every person we encountered gladly shared the information, along with guidelines for care and planting.
Sculpture
The Huntington sculpture garden is America’s first public sculpture garden. Opened in 1932, it appears on the National Historic Register and now has over 1,200 sculptures in its collection. Workshops and events throughout the year may offer added interest for scheduling your visit. Our visit coincided the the 75th anniversary, so a special “75 sculptures for the 75th anniversary” was still in progress.
Most sculptures are on a grand scale – ranging greatly in style. Many art deco influences appear with the larger stone sculptures. The bronzes range from whimsical to more classic style. Several pieces by Anna Hyatt Huntington are installed.
Excursions
Our group didn’t take excursions – learn from our mistake: buy the tickets early! They sell out quickly, and excursions are limited. The available tours include a creek boat cruise past abandoned rice fields (now with river otters and alligators- oh my!) and the Trekker Excursion on all terrain vehicles tour the history of a rice plantation. The Lowcountry Zoo is the only zoo on the coast of the Carolinas accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. All of the animals in the zoo were either rescued or bred in captivity, and could not survive in the wild.
Other tips
The food throughout the park is definitely Southern, and the quality for the price was pretty good. The gift shop offers many unique items – everything from art prints, books, jewelry & the usual T-shirt offerings. It also had a good selection of fun things for your garden back home – definitely worth the time to look.
How to get there
Brookgreen Gardens is location on U.S. Hwy. 17 between Myrtle Beach and Pawleys Island, South Carolina. 1-800-849-1931 or Email: info@brookgreen.org