South Carolina Botanical Garden

The South Carolina Botanical Gardens is a 295-acre garden dedicated to the preservation of nature and native ecosystems.

The land began as a camellia preserve on a small section of land in 1958. In 1992 it was designated as the State's botanical garden and continued to grow in size and accessibility. The garden is intended to not only be a beautiful site to immerse yourself in nature but also as a cultural and learning center.

The Natural Heritage Trail is the most extensive collection of native plants in a South Carolina public garden and in the Southeast. This trail allows you to walk along historical native South Carolinian ecosystems.

There are 12 habitats to be found along the trail, including signs detailing the plants and animals living within these ecosystems and a QR code to scan and learn more.

This trail is an immersive educational and beautiful walk to explore at the Botanical Gardens.

Maritime forests are located at shorelines along coastal barrier islands. At SCBG, the Maritime Forest is the first section of the Natural Heritage Trail marked by recreated tabby wall ruins at the entrance. Tabby is a form of concrete used by early settlers in the 17th and 18th made by burning oyster shells to create a slurry with water, sand, and broken oyster shells. This ecosystem has a special dedicated to the South Carolina state tree, the Palmetto Tree. Many animals in the habitat are reliant on the Palmetto for food.

Maritime Forests in nature have plants that are especially tolerant of the rough salt spray, sun and wind conditions that exist on a barrier island. These forests create a natural cooling effect through their shade and act as a buffer against noise as they consist of tightly woven shrubs at the shoreline that act as a windscreen to protect the other plants and animals in the ecosystem. Maritime Forests are also essential for storm protection, it is crucial to protect these ecosystems that are dwindling in nature as a result of development.

Below are an array of some plants that can be found in the Maritime Forest section at SCBG:

Native American shell rings were built in the Late Archaic period, some dating back to 5,000 years ago. Shell contains calcium carbonate, which is similar to lime in that it raises the pH of the soil. The low-country soil is very acidic and sites likes this provide a means for life to thrive where it couldn’t anywhere else. Plants such as Sugar Maples can be found exclusively in shell ring habitats.

The actions of these people 5,000 years ago to create shell rings has impacted the biodiversity of the outer coastal plain of South Carolina today. The botanical gardens honors that piece of South Carolinian history by creating their own Native American Shell Ring habitat within the Natural Heritage Trail. The largest, most extensive, and best preserved shell rings in North America can be found at Fig Island, Botany Bay, Edisto SC.

Oak-Hickory Forests are the most common forest type and are a result of fire suppression. Land used to be managed by the Native Americans with fire but the steep bluffs and rocky slopes of the Oak-Hickory forests protected the ecosystem from the fire. There are a variety of oak trees and hickories that can be found in this habitat and are known to provide acorns and nuts for the wildlife living in this ecosystem.

Carolina Bays are wetlands in an elliptical or oval shape that fill with rainwater. As a depressional wetland, the Carolina bays help to store and slow floodwaters. This a prime habitat for frogs and salamanders.

Considering that the Carolina bays are not protected under The Clean Water Act, they are a focus for conservation groups. Farmers used the bays for crop cultivation due to their beneficial soil properties and thus drained and cleared these waters.

The Carolina bay habitat at the South Carolina Botanical Gardens is located at their self-named "leaky pond". This Leaky Pond has changing water levels from winter to summer which mimics the "draw-down" zone of a natural Carolina Bay ecosystem to increase species diversity.

'Pocosin' is a Algonquian word meaning “swamp-on-a-hill." It is a wetland habitat consisting of shrubs with soil that is highly acidic and nutrient deficient. The Pocosin section at SCBG acts as a tunnel of shrubs leading into the Sandhills exhibit. Native plants include: inkberry holly and sweetbay magnolia. At one point, Pocosin's were a common habitat in the southeast but have rapidly disappeared as a result of land development.

Benefits of Pocosin ecosystems include: habitats for terrestrial and aquatic wildlife, act as a carbon sink, control flooding in coastal areas, and lessen the frequency/severity of wildfires.

The Sandhills are the meeting point of the Coastal Plain and Piedmont, marked by sand dunes and former coastline of the prehistoric Atlantic Ocean. Many of the plants in this habitat would be well suited to survive in the desert.

The Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1939 and consists of 45,348 acres. The wildlife highlighted in this ecosystem is the red-cockaded woodpecker, the Eastern fox squirrel, beavers, and longleaf pines.

The Basic Mesic Forest is one of the rarest ecosystems in South Carolina, home to a multitude of endangered species. It is named due the basic pH levels in the soil, which is uncommon in upstate South Carolina that typically has acidic soil. The basic mesic community has high pH levels due to marble, amphibolite and limestone rocks rich in calcium and magnesium. The mesic forests are located on rich, steep, north-facing slopes.

The shooting star plant (pictured to the left) is part of the mesic community that can be found in the SCBG habitat. What makes this plant unique is that it is turned inside out to increase bee pollination. Bees must suspend upside down to capture pollen from the shooting stars. Their vibrational energy triggers pollen from the plant to fall onto the bee, causing it to carry the pollen to the next plant.

Piedmont Prairies used to be the dominant ecosystem in South Carolina. Lingering piedmont ecosystems exist mostly along road banks and railroads today. Piedmonts used to consist of grasslands and open savannah's and were maintained by fire and grazing of bison and elk.

The piedmont prairie habitat in the Botanical Gardens is 10 acres long and continues to be maintained by prescribed burns considering fire is a critical component of many South Carolinian ecosystems.

Fire suppression and population growth are the two main causes for the lack of piedmont prairies in our current ecosystems.

Longleaf Pine's are named for the fact that they have the longest needles of all southern pines. Historically these pine needles were used to weave baskets, today they are gathered and used as mulch. Frequent fires are beneficial in cleaning pine needles from the forest floor. As a result, the plants in this habitat have adapted to the use of fire. This habitat used to be dominant in the Southeast but less than 10% remains today. The Longleaf Pine Savannah at the Botanical Gardens is characterized by its extensive collection of wildflowers and fire is still used to maintain this ecosystem. Longleaf Pine habitats are the only place in the world that Venus Flytraps (pictured to the left) can be found. These plants are featured with the carnivorous plants at the Botanical Gardens.

Fun fact: longleaf pine savannas have more diversity on small spatial scale than tropical rainforests!

The transition from the Sandhills to the Piedmont is marked by granite. Plants with desert-like adaptations can be found in this habitat such as the prickly pear cactus, woolly lip fern, and spike-moss (the resurrection fern pictured to the left). This fern received its name due to its ability to lose almost all of its water and then spring back to life.

Plant life in the granite outcrop habitat consists of rare species due to the conditions of the granite rock heating up in the summer, cooling off drastically in the winter, and the water that pools intermittently on the rock surface.

Cove forests are characterized by their rich diversity in plants and animals. The cove forests of the southern Appalachians have more species of trees than all of northern Europe and over 4,000 species of vascular plants. The vegetation in the habitat allows you to determine what type of cove forest it is: rich cove or acidic cove.

The Natural Heritage trail incorporates these two types of Cove forests. The rich cove forests supports lush herbaceous plants. The acid soil is a result from acid rocks such as granite and is common throughout the Southern Blue Ridge Mountains.

The Hunt Cabin located on the premises of the Botanical Garden was built by Charles Hunt Jr. in 1826 for his wife Martha. The cabin was scheduled to be town down but Clemson Class of 1915 purchased the structure for $35 and moved it to Clemson College in 1955 before relocating it to the gardens in the '70s.

The original home had 4 bedrooms on the first floor and a large front porch, the current structure has one large open room and the front porch has been removed. Legend claims that during the Civil War, General Sherman spent a night at the cabin and spared it from the torch during his campaign in the South.

Hanover House was originally built by Paul de St. Julien in 1716. It was reconstructed on Clemson's campus in 1941, before being moved to the Botanical Gardens in 1994.

The french proverb "Peu a Peu" was inscribed in the mortar of one of the chimney's in the house, meaning "Little by little the bird builds its nest."

Hanover House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Support the gardens by volunteering, donating, or attending any of their events throughout the year. The South Carolina Botanical Garden hosts a variety of events throughout the year. This can include plant sales, educational workshops about gardening and animals, DIY crafts, and more!

Thank you to the staff at the South Carolina Botanical Gardens for helping this story map come to life. Most of the pictures features throughout this project came straight from the SCBG Instagram, check them out at the link below!

Learn more at:

**insert works cited**