Tales from the Microbial Laboratory

Hemerocallis "Kindly Light"

The jury is still out on this one - I wanted to try a spider lily, so went with "Kindly Light" - a 1950 spider, so a classic.  I got this one from Roycroft Daylily Nursery  last fall - and it's blooming like crazy now (even though it was a small sized plant that I purchased).  I think that it'll look better when the clump is larger, and when some plants is this bed fill in the space - so I'll not pass judgement... just yet.  I think this one is gonna grow on me.

Crinum 'Parfait'

Moore Farms (Lake City, SC)

~Guest entrance to Moore Farms~

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Just over a week ago, a friend and I drove up to Lake City, SC to tour Moore Farms during their spring Garden Open House.  This was my first visit to Moore, and the open house was a benefit for the A.C. Moore Herbarium at the University of South Carolina.  I knew Jenks Farmer, who is a Horticulturist with Moore, and has been with Moore Farms since the garden was initiated 11 years ago.  I've mentioned Jenks before and my trips to Lushlife Nurseries (where they specialize in crinums) in Beech Island, SC in the past (2010 and 2009).   I figured that if Jenks was involved with the place, that it'd have to be interesting -- and it was.

I tried to present the photos of the place in the order that I saw them - or at least come close to that.  I was told that the formal gardens covered about 35 acres - which includes a few houses, outbuildings, a large greenhouse, etc.  If had to summarize my feeling about the place, I'd say that the word comfortable comes to mind.  The folks that live there (Darla Moore and her husband Richard Rainwater) use this place as their primary residence - and it definitely had the feel of a garden that is used, that folks walk around in, sit with guests - perhaps with a drink in hand - and talk.  It has the feel of a garden that is accustomed to good conversation.

Another aspect of the garden that I liked was related to it's design:  the center, or core of the garden was somewhat formal - well-defined beds filled with roses with carefully pruned shrubs defining them.  But from the front of the main house, if you looked out - the structure of the garden loosened until it blended into the landscape.  There were no abrupt transitions, and so the garden looked natural instead of awkard and out-of-place.

Also, this is a hot place in the summertime - and I got the sense that Jenks and others kept in mind the water needs of many of the plants they included in the landscape.  In that sense, the garden was quite practical and compatible with what South Carolina summers have to offer.

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Moore Farms Website

Moore Farm Plant Database

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~pitcher plants in a small bog garden~

One of the first things you come to, after you park, was a small bog garden that was filled with blooming pitcher plants.  Gorgeous!  For the remainder of the garden, you will have to read below the fold - remember that I said it was a 34 acre garden... so take your time - and enjoy.

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Hydrangea macrophylla 'Variegata'

banana at Moore Farm (more images to come)

Hydrangea arborescens "Annabelle"

Lilium longiflorum, Easter Lily.

crinums

an orange lily, up-close and personal

Gardenia jasminoides 'Kleim's Hardy'