The Garden Spaces of Charleston

In general, most gardens I saw in Charleston (or anywhere else in the lowcountry South) seem to have small elements of formal design which are allowed to burst beyond the boundaries and completely fill any available space with lush, vibrant life.  This leads to some incredible spaces which truly are retreats from the hustle and bustle of the urban environment, despite most such refuges being just a little off of the beaten path.  As is the case with any older North American city, Charleston is a place where space is at a premium.  Such restrictions, combined with the penchant for intense growth, give the city gardens which mystically combine the courtyard with the subtropical forests she is surrounded by.  I think that I will leave the rest of the post in the hands of the pictures, and provide us with a gallery of cultivated Charleston, captions provided for highlights.  To see how things got this way, read up on the previous posts in the last week.

Even simple alleyways here are bedded and then seemingly left to their own devices.

Washington Park in downtown features Live Oaks (Quercus Virginiana) planted in an orderly fashion, yet encouraged to sprawl in their own individual habits of growth, almost like a natural oak savanna.

Here the Live Oak is allowed to grow to its own pleasure, nearly covering the entire street and turning it, with help from small strip plantings in the side yards, into a garden of sorts in its own right.

Some home owners take full advantage of the really long growing season, mild winters, and powerful levels of moisture and go nuts with the subtropical plants.  Here it is very possible to have a pretend jungle in your backyard and just let things go without it looking entirely out of place.

Many gardeners do apparently try to occupy space in this fashion, with some choosing to maintain a basic level of formality with a tasteful balancing of free growth.

And for sure, some of those Old World formal influences do remain here, complete with Boxwood (Buxus Sempervirens) hedges, symmetrical paths, Italianate fountains, etc.  Nevertheless, things remain relatively well covered and the best word to describe this space is not "formal" so much as "abundant".

And on other places were are reminded that this is indeed a colonial city with pleasant Georgian architectural features like the arched courtyard entryways lit by those period scones.  That said, I doubt very much that a gentleman of 1770 would have let his entryway become so dominated by greenery.  No, I think like the case is with the picture above, we have a fashion of development that built on the old culture and merged with the growing power of the land and the unrestrained decorum of the passing generations.