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Azaleas captivated Bessie Bellingrath like no other plant. They were her favorite flower, and she collected as many as she could and displayed them for as many people as she could. Following in Bessie’s footsteps, we want to welcome you into the gardens with a stunning array of evergreen and deciduous azaleas soon after you walk through the doors.
But there’s more to this story! You’ve seen the horticultural renovations taking place all over the gardens. We’ve aggressively removed weedy trees competing with the beautiful Bellingrath canopy. Over-mature shrubs are being cut back or removed to reset or re-imagine the countless “million-dollar vistas” throughout the gardens. We’ve been piling up thousands of cubic yards of compost behind the scenes. We’ve stuffed our nursery to gills with thousands of new plants waiting to feel Bellingrath soil for the first time. Our 25-year-old irrigation system is being retrofitted so that water goes where it needs to go, when it needs to go there, and consistently in the amount needed (a welcome change by the gardens and gardeners alike).
All this rejuvenation is realigning us with the Bellingrath Gardens’ legacy of beauty. After cutting down a 20-year old, 20” caliper seedling water oak; and after removing deeply entrenched briars; and after cutting back or removing overgrown and weedy shrubs; and after selectively trimming the mature “pre-Hurricane Frederick” canopy; and after adding over 50 cubic yards of Bellingrath-made compost; and after retrofitting the irrigation system to provide expanded coverage, we were finally ready to close the project with a most important step in celebrating “Bessie Bellingrath’s artistry and genius”: the planting!
And here’s the best part…our members and their families did all the planting! On a Saturday morning in November, more than a dozen of Bellingrath’s closest friends came from as far as Louisiana to introduce 10 new Azalea varieties (about 70 plants) to Walter and Bessie’s rich garden soil for the first time. We are so thankful for the support of our members—we feel it! As a member, your support truly makes a difference. And we hope this planting not only honors the Bellingrath legacy, but also serves as a tangible example of the very real impact our membership family has in the garden. We are excited for our guests to experience our growing azalea core collection; and with dirt under our fingernails, we can share a certain pride with our members in watching our garden grow more beautiful each year.
