(orchestral music) - [Announcer] This is a production of PBS Charlotte.
(piano music) - [Jason] The garden, a place for flowering plants, shrubbery and trees.
The concept of gardens goes back thousands of years, offering an Oasis to those who wander them.
During the 20th century, several individuals in the Charlotte region left their own gardening legacy that visitors can still enjoy today.
From backyards turned into bird sanctuaries, an industrial coal yard turned to rose garden.
A challenge to grow azaleas resulting in an 11 acre city park.
And a textile executive's love of orchids results in the preservation of 300 acres in Gaston count.
All that and more on "A Trail of History."
(upbeat music) (gentle music) Bumper to bumper traffic.
New construction all around.
The fast paced world leaving its mark on the earth.
But as buildings go up and green spaces disappear, you might feel a bit of despair and yearning for a place to escape into nature.
A place like a garden.
These planned horticultural displays add the beauty of Mother Nature and a place to find a bit of peace.
They also offer wildlife some refuge in a world where concrete and steel is quickly replacing their habitats.
Fortunately, there are individuals with a love of nature and a passion for creating beautiful gardens.
(upbeat music) Live or travel through the Southern United States and in you've almost certainly come across an azalea in one variety or another.
These flowering shrubs often add pops of red, pink, and white to many Southern gardens.
Make a trip to Rock Hill, South Carolina, and it's there you'll find a special place to enjoy the azalea's beauty each spring.
- We're sitting here at Glencairn Garden.
It's a City of Rock Hill Parks Recreation and Tourism facility - [Jason] Rock Hill Park Recreation and Tourism Operation Supervisor Mark Sexton knows the rich history of Glencairn Garden.
- All began really in early twenties.
I think it was 1921 to be exact.
It was the house of Dr. David and Hazel Bigger.
The Bigger House as it's known today.
And it was their own private garden.
They had a six acre garden, early twenties.
There's some folklore out there stories that he had turkeys and he had deer.
- [Jason] To learn how Glencairn got its name, we asked City of Rock Hill horticulturalists Whitner Bailey.
- Dr.
Bigger, his family's from Scotland.
And Glen is where the trees meet the meadow.
And a cairn is a stack of stone that originally was left in a battlefield to mark the fallen.
And so he joined Glen cairn together - [Jason] But why the fascination with azaleas?
- In 1928, somebody kind of challenged Dr.
Bigger, if you will, and brought him azaleas.
Challenged him to say, "I bet you can't grow these azaleas in this climate."
- Eventually ended up with close to 12,000 plants mostly Azalea, some camellias in a six acre lot.
So it was quite a show.
We still have some of the original azaleas and we do have quite a few of the original camellias.
- [Jason] Initially the garden was kept private, but that eventually changed.
- So in the early forties, Mrs.
Bigger kind of opened it up.
So in the spring every year with Winthrop University, they kind of opened up their garden to the public and that the ladies and men would come over here, enjoy the garden.
- [Jason] According to Mark Sexton, Dr. Biggers passed in 1951 leaving the large six acre garden to wife Hazel.
But that's a lot for any one person to maintain.
And after a few years after her husband's death Hazel received a visit from the mayor of Rock Hill hoping to make a deal.
- Mayor John Harden for the City of Rock Hill at that time approach Mrs.
Bigger and said, "You know that's a lot of ground to maintain.
Would you be interested in maybe selling it?
And so she thought about it, you know, she said, yes.
And so they struck a deal and he actually signed it that day on a napkin from what I understand for $1.
He was gonna pay her $3,000 a year.
She could live in the house, the city would maintain it, $3,000 a year for 10 years and she could live in the house until she passed away.
(gentle guitar music) - [Jason] Over the decades, the city expanded Glencairn and the garden today encompasses close to 12 acres.
It takes constant attention to keep up.
- Purpose is to make it a four seasons garden not only in bloom, but in aesthetics in general.
So the guys are out here constantly tweaking, constantly manicuring.
- [Jason] But to see those azaleas in all their glory, - it starts anywhere from mid March.
With some of the varieties the azaleas bloom all the way through June with some of the later blooming varieties.
The Camellias start and actually October with the camellia sansanquas and then you go straight into January through March with the japonicas, the Camelia japonicas.
Those are still in bloom right now.
- [Jason] Each year the City of Rock Hill hosts several events at Glencairn, the largest is the Come See Me Festival.
The now 10 day long festival dates back to 1962 and it's mascot Glen the frog was first drawn by American illustrator and longtime Rock Hill resident Vernon Grant.
He's the guy perhaps best known for drawing those familiar characters on the box of Kellogg's Rice Crispy cereal, Snap!
Crackle!
and Pop!
(gentle guitar music) As a physician, Dr.
Bigger's worked to heal people.
And in the age of COVID-19, the garden he and his wife built became a place many sought for relaxation.
- What we saw were a lot of people that maybe didn't have the opportunity to spend as much time outside.
Suddenly they're out here doing their work, or they're bringing their children here to learn their lessons.
There's a phrase called Tree Therapy out west.
They've been practicing it for quite awhile, where people are actually encouraged to take 15 minutes from their day in the morning and afternoon and go outside and unfocused on what's at hand.
But here in the south, we've always enjoyed our flowers.
- [Jason] It's a legacy the Bigger's would certainly be proud of.
- I think it's important to share with the community what one person can do.
He took it upon himself to be challenged with an entirely different field.
He started growing in the gardens.
His wife saw the importance of leaving something like this to the community.
And so now it's protected green space.
(upbeat guitar music) - [Jason] Go behind this two story home in historic Myers park and what you'll find might surprise you.
- [Barrett] We're at Wing Haven gardens and bird sanctuary located in the heart of Myers Park - [Jason] A refuge in the city for flora and fauna.
Created out of a couple's love for each other and nature.
- [Barrett] A couple named Eddie and Elizabeth Clarkson purchased it in 1927.
And they arrived here after their honeymoon and she saw the house physically for the first time and of course thought it was fabulous, but horrified to find a clay lot with nothing green.
So she got very focused and very busy with creating these beautiful gardens right away.
- [Jason] Over time, the couple purchased adjoining parcels of land until owning about three acres.
- She loved the gardens that she had seen in Charleston and studied in England.
She used what she had and she would create these beautiful little rooms throughout the garden and vignettes based on what people gave her or what she had.
And because she and Eddie didn't have any children they would give each other gifts of bricks and statuary and plaques for special occasions.
And that thrilled her to no end.
- [Jason] Much of their labor focused on creating features for the benefit of the birds and wildlife that they loved and often had interactions with.
- She has water features everywhere.
There are different types of water features.
There's one called frog hollow.
There's an oval pond.
She very much knew that water was important for the birds and what type of seed.
And she was able to feed them mealworms out of a can in her hand.
They trusted her such that they interacted with her in a way that normally you would never have anticipated.
The wildlife here became their children and they nurtured them and they nurtured the plants and it became a place for those that were truly interested in learning more about Southern horticulture to come and learn from Ms. Clarkson and volunteer and it has evolved from that.
And we're just continuing that legacy today.
- [Jason] Wing Haven today is run by a foundation at the Clarkson's along with a group of friends set up in 1971.
The goal to keep this gem in Charlotte's crown preserved for generations to enjoy and for the birds to have a sanctuary - We are here as part of our charge as a staff and as a board to preserve not just the home, but the property itself.
It is on the historic register.
And we do archiving and lots of programming related to historic gardens.
This is a true depression era garden and there not a lot of them in this region.
And so we are always working to care for, tend, and preserve what's here.
(upbeat guitar music) We offer general admissions to come enjoy the garden.
We have events, we have educational programs in both horticulture and ornithology.
We have children's programs and adult programs and there's something for everybody.
One thing that's really special about this place I think is people refer to it as magical and all ages get something out of it.
- [Jason] But Wing Haven Foundation Executive Director Barrett Ranson says there's one thing that you can't do at Wing Haven.
- We do not do weddings.
We rent our education building and certain spaces for a source of revenue, but they're limited in size.
- She adds it's for good reason.
And with keeping with Elizabeth Clarkson's vision.
- It was very important to her that this be a bird sanctuary and she wanted it to be a place that wasn't so active and disturbed all the time that they wouldn't continue to make this their habitat.
- In recent years, they added an outdoor classroom called the seed garden.
- [Barrett] She loved sharing everything she could with children.
Brought her a lot of joy and we offer a real hands-on approach to learning about nature on this campus.
And children love it.
They come, they're invited to get dirty and get wet and explore everything we have to offer.
And it's really sort of a extension of what she created for children.
- [Jason] But that's not the only newer addition.
Just down the road from the Clarkson's lived Elizabeth Lawrence.
In 1936, she became the first woman to graduate from North Carolina State with a bachelor's in landscape architecture.
She went on to become an acclaimed author writing several books and more than 700 articles on horticulture.
- She was actually a landscape architect but she's best known for her garden writing.
And that was really where she made her living was through writing about gardening and about plants.
- [Jason] Lawrence lived in this house on Ridgewood Avenue until 1984.
Andrea Sprott, curator at the Elizabeth Lawrence House and Garden says we're fortunate the home survived.
- The layout of the garden is still original to her.
And most of the hardscape has been untouched since she was here, which is pretty rare considering that there were two interim owners before the Wing Haven foundation bought it in 2008.
The reason that it's so well-preserved is because one of the interim owners was here for 23 years.
Her name's Lindy Wilson and she was the person who saved this property and always gardened with great reverence for what Lawrence had done here.
- [Jason] And what she had done was to create the essential environment for her work.
- She really documented things, especially in the garden very well through her writings.
And one of the greatest resources that we have is documentation and research that she did in creating the garden and maintaining the garden and moving it forward in her time here, because for her it was a living laboratory.
She wanted to grow kind of one of everything that she could gather, get her hands on, just to see if it would do well here in this area of the country.
It's kind of blows my mind that even though she left the property in 1984 that there are still bulbs and perennials here that bloom every single spring that she put in the ground decades before - [Jason] Even today, the garden evolves - Our goal here is to preserve and promote Lawrence's legacy and to actually continue to utilize the landscape here as a learning place.
So I'm planting things that are new to me.
Most of the time when I like dig into our records I find out later that Elizabeth Lawrence already grew them here decades ago, but I'm trying out new cultivars and new types of plants just to see what will grow well.
- [Jason] According to Sprott, Lawrence left a significant legacy.
- Elizabeth Lawrence's contribution to Southern horticulture is huge.
She's listed among the top 25 gardeners of all time.
Everything that she wrote is still so relevant.
And one of the most frequent questions I hear from gardeners is 'I don't know what to plant.
I came from the north or I came from the west.
I don't know what to plant."
Like study Elizabeth Lawrence.
There you go.
Like there's your textbook.
(somber music) - [Jason] Travel west of Charlotte into Gaston county and you'll find a much younger, but no less substantial garden.
One born from a World War II veteran's love of the land and orchids.
- We're here at the beautiful Daniel Stowe botanical garden, about 300 acres of just beautiful, beautiful property in Southeastern Gaston county.
The property that we're at now is the former home of Daniel Jay Stowe.
Dan Stowe was part of the textile industry here in Gaston county.
He was a textile executive, but Dane Stowe also loved the land.
Back before World War II, Mr. Stowe started accumulating land in this area.
He then joined the Navy just a few weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, served in World War II.
And then when he returned to the United States he returned here to a place he loved all his life.
As Mr. Stowe got older, he started thinking about what his legacy would be.
And he had an estate planner named Bill Steele, who became our first executive director here at Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden.
But he talked to Mr. Steele about actually building an orchid conservatory.
Mr. Stowe loved orchids and tropical plants and so he wanted to build a glass house where he could raise those and display them to the public.
- [Jason] But that initial conversation planted the seed for something much bigger.
- About 1989, they started to think, "Well you've got all this land.
You don't really know what you want to do with it.
Why don't you just build a botanical garden?
- Mr. Stowe donated the land along with $14 million to get the garden off the ground.
And throughout the 1990s, they worked to develop a master plan.
In 1999,. the Daniel Stowe botanical garden welcome the public for the very first time.
(gentle guitar music) - [Jason] In the two decades since the gardens first opened, it's continued to grow.
They built the all glass work and conservatory added walking trails, more gardens sculptures and a children's garden.
It's a lot to look after, that's where garden manager Darren Schwantes and his team of staff and volunteers stepped in.
- My primary responsibility is to make sure that we are presenting the best visual display possible, making sure that the gardens are neat and tidy.
- [Jason] And you might ask yourself, What makes a garden a botanical garden?
- Botanical Garden allows us to present plant material, label plant material.
We let you know a little bit about that plant.
A lot of botanical gardens will also conduct research and maybe perhaps have areas in their garden where they're just studying that for research purposes.
So a lot of taxonomy, naming of things, classification of things, cataloging plants.
What do you have?
What did you remove?
What did you put in?
So those can be some of the technical aspects of a botanical garden.
- [Jason] One of the biggest draws to the garden, the orchids.
- They're an integral part of the history, ever since the orchid conservatory was conceptualized and built.
There are people who make trips just to come to see the orchids.
In the past pre-COVID, we have had numerous number of events that happen in the orchid conservatory, marriages, proposals, weddings, proms, all of that.
So I speak to many people in the garden who come up to me they've had a favorite orchid, or they have fond memories of coming out and visiting with families.
- [Jason] But during the pandemic, the staff made the difficult decision to close it to the public.
But rest assured the orchids are in good hands.
- The orchids are definitely being taken care of.
When the garden closed for the pandemic, one of the very first things we did was to transport all of our orchids out of the Orchid Conservatory and move them to our bank of orchid greenhouses that we have down in our growing center, which were set up for the cultivation and the care of the orchids.
- [Jason] Here's a bit of trivia knowledge.
Most tropical orchids are epiphytes.
Instead of growing in soil, they grow on other plants and their roots absorb moisture from the air.
- Every plant has its own special requirements and orchids are not an exception to that.
Most orchids prefer a tropical environment.
So being in a greenhouse during the winter it's a controlled environment.
We have a large variety.
There are many tribes of orchids.
While we don't have one of every single orchid that's known to man and possibly not known to man.
We have I would say probably at least I feel comfortable in saying over 25 different types of varieties and or tribes of orchids, from small ones to big ones to rare ones, to more common ones.
- [Jason] There's no question, Mr. Stowe, who passed away in 2006, left a major legacy.
- There won't be developments here.
There won't be fast food restaurants.
There won't be houses on this property.
This land that Dan Stowe farmed and rode his horses on for 40 or 50 years is here to stay.
- When I drive through the gates every morning, and I see the roof of the visitor's pavilion behind me, you may laugh.
It may sound silly, but I'm always say, "Good morning Mr. Stowe.
Here we are."
And I feel that Mr. Stowe is with me every single day.
And if I have a question about something or if I'm by myself and it's early in the morning and I'm looking at something and I'm thinking, "Okay Mr. Stowe, what do you think we, what would maybe be your visions?
I realized I'm not the first gardener.
I realized I won't be the last gardener.
I'm really just taking my turn and trying to make the most of my turn here.
(upbeat guitar music) - [Jason] Back in the Queen City.
There's one more garden that's located in the most unlikely place, giving it the feel of a secret garden.
On north Davidson street, there's a tiny coffee shop called the Rosie's and behind it the McGill Rose Garden.
But before there were roses-- - Henry McGill owned the property and started his fuel and ice company back in the forties.
And it was hold off on fuel and ice.
And the property was probably at least twice the size it is now, if not larger than that.
They supplied coal and ice to the neighborhood and used the train line for coal.
- [Jason] And as the story goes, it was Helen McGill, Henry's wife, who planted the very first roses to bring a bit of beauty to the coal yard.
Over the years the garden expanded.
And in the 1960s, the McGill's started to allow the public to visit on Mother's Day.
Then in the 1970s, the couple gifted the property to the city of Charlotte to be used as a city park.
- This is the last and only city park in Charlotte.
It's about a two acre rose garden, and it is a little hidden gem in between 12th and 13th street in Charlotte.
Kind of an Oasis, very close to downtown where you can get away and listen to the birds and grab a cup of coffee, glass of wine, walk around.
- [Jason] Dan Fulco owns Rosie's, where you can get a cup of coffee in the morning or a glass of wine in the evening to enjoy out in the garden.
But a nonprofit group maintains the garden and nurtures the roses.
Craig Richie oversees the work and knew Mr McGill.
- So it's a lot to handle, but I knew Mr. McGill back when I was a kid and it feels like the right thing to do to just keep it going.
And for Charlotte, Charlotte's growing out of this world and just to get this place really on the radar, because for years and years, people drive by.
They'd never been here, never been here, never been here.
Finally we're starting to see more and more people realize what this is and why it's such a great place.
Why the city really needs it.
- [Jason] The McGill Rose Gardens industrial pedigree does however offer challenges.
- With this being an old coal yard back in the day, there was buildings.
There was trucks going over it.
There was a little bit of everything.
So we have cement foundations everywhere.
When you come here, if stuff's not in a straight line or perfect there's sometimes a reason for it.
(gentle guitar music) - [Jason] The neighborhood around the garden in recent years has seen what some might call explosive growth turning this once industrial area into a trendy place to live with luxury apartments.
Richie says that only adds to why the rose garden is critical to Charlotte.
- They won't stop tearing stuff down and it's good.
People need somewhere to live, but people also do need somewhere to go and have this.
Have some nature, get out of the city life for just a little bit.
- [Jason] While a visit to the garden anytime of year is special, the best time to see the roses in full bloom is late April through early May.
- Oh my gosh.
It is a completely different place.
I mean, it transforms into this like magical almost Alice in Wonderland space, where you can see a lot, not just roses, but different varieties of blooms and different trees and things that you wouldn't naturally see.
- [Jason] Ashlyn Givens works at the McGill Rose Garden as the event coordinator helping folks plan their special events such as weddings and dinners in the garden.
- It's really cool.
It's cool because how the garden started out of a love story of Henry and Helen, and now we get to start a lot of love stories here.
So it's really cool to be a part of a lot of people's stories as they get married here.
And then it's also cool to see them come back on their first anniversary, their second anniversary and be a part of just kind of cultivating that love story as it keeps going.
(upbeat guitar music) - And for Richie and Fulco, they both take something away from being part of the McGill Rose Garden story.
- It means a lot to me.
The amount of work I've put in here over the years, just to see the improvements little by little grow, and just like you plant a bush you watch it grow, you plant a tree, you watch it grow and you see things in the past, but now you can see the final product, but it's always a work in progress.
So it's not really a final product.
It feels good.
- I think of myself as a very small part of it but that is a true statement.
This garden is much bigger than I am or any of the businesses that we have here, but to be able to listen to people's stories and to provide people with memories of their wedding day here or a great night they had with friends.
It really is important to us to keep the garden going and to expose it to as many people as we can.
(upbeat guitar music) - So next time you need a place to relax, and take in Mother Nature's wonder perhaps a stroll through one of these individually unique gardens will do the trick take a moment and reflect on the work and the passion that those who created them put into each and the work and passion that caretakers of today continue to put into these special places.
Thank you for watching this edition of Trail of History.
(orchestra music) - [Announcer] A production of PBS Charlotte.