Category Archives: Bellingrath Blog

A New Year with Gardens Abloom

Now that the clock has turned from 2025 to 2026, Bellingrath Gardens & Home finds itself, always anew, looking toward the next cycle of blooms and beauty. From the splendors of Magic Christmas in Lights, which celebrated yet another highly successful season that concluded on January 10, to the upcoming winter and spring blooms, we want to always encourage you, our members and supporters, to come visit us now during this “shoulder season” at BGH.

So, what’s the final report on our 30th season of Magic Christmas in Lights, you might ask? Well, it’s certainly been an interesting year, one filled with celebrations, hard work, and guests galore, but it’s also been one of challenges. In my six Magic Christmas seasons that I’ve now experienced, I can truly say that this one has been the most difficult. As a staff, we were afflicted with all sorts of bugs – from the common cold to this year’s widespread flu outbreak, to a host of other winter ailments. But, don’t worry, we’re not contagious! We just had to contend with a record number of staff callouts from work, and even yours truly was absent for five days. And, I would be remiss if I didn’t thank all of BGH’s dedicated staff, including our cadre of seasonal workers, all of whom dedicated a great many nights of their lives to host and put on this treasured event. On top of the many bouts of staff sicknesses, we also had a “present” that was delivered to us on December 17th via a drunk driver when his/her vehicle collided with a utility pole and knocked out power for us one evening during Magic Christmas in Lights, this causing us to have to disappoint expectant visitors and refund oodles of tickets. Alabama Power alone incurred thousands of dollars of damage to their infrastructure, and BGH lost at least $20,000 in income. We hope that the driver emerged from this wreck without permanent injuries, but we also lament his/her recklessness by driving while intoxicated. Alas, our lives are all intertwined, sometimes in bad ways.

On the positive side, Magic Christmas welcomed over 80,000 guests to Bellingrath this year! It’s far from a record, but it stands as the 7th or 8th most visited MCIL season in our 30 year history!! We’re not hanging our heads disappointed, y’all, but rather we are celebrating how you continue to faithfully support us in keeping Bellingrath Gardens & Home as a top tourist and seasonal destination, not only for Mobile, but rather for the entirety of Alabama and also for the Gulf Coast region. For next year, expect to find more exciting changes and improvements, another new scene (of course), and more of the unique and special excitement that is Magic Christmas in Lights!

Changing subjects entirely, Bellingrath Gardens & Home is excited in 2026 to introduce a new program that helps support our operations, while also allowing you to acknowledge special people and events in your lives – the “Blooming Bed Adoptions” program! Dr. Cory Sparks, BGH’s stalwart Director of Development, has worked over the past several months with our Horticulture team, led by Jeremy Schmidt, Director of Horticulture, to bring this program into existence. We already have 3 beds being sponsored, too! For $5,000, you can sponsor a seasonal planting bed for two years, commemorating a loved one or that special person, a mentor, or anyone who means something to you in your daily lives. For details as to how you can adopt a Blooming Bed, please reach out to Cory at [email protected] or via phone at (251) 873-1378. Stay tuned for pictures of these Blooming Beds, and those who are honoring not only their loved ones, but also Bellingrath, by sharing with us.

And with this, you should all be able to see that Bellingrath Gardens & Home continues to exist and grow as a vibrant cultural and historic venue and destination – a local icon that we as Mobilians and Gulf Coast residents can only imagine going forward as a thriving and vital nonprofit and community treasure. Thank you for all you do to promote and publicized Bellingrath and its many activities, and please come visit us. The camellias are beautiful, and it won’t be long before the azaleas will be popping!

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A Place Built From Memories

Bellingrath is built on memories, not just the memories of Mr. and Mrs. Bell and hunting and fishing guide Mr. Frank Woodard, but the memories of hundreds of thousands of visitors who have walked these grounds in the decades since we opened to the public. Memories of engagements, high school graduation pictures, s’mores at Magic Christmas in Lights, and so many other moments, large and small. The memories make up the place; they shape it.

My favorite part about working with our newly launched commemorative giving program is the opportunity to hear these stories, the way in which Bellingrath is meaningful to so many. It’s fitting that the first set of commemorative bricks will be placed in the Keyhole Garden behind the Summer House. The renovation of this historic structure is the first project in our recently unveiled Centennial Master Plan. It shows the quality of work we’ll do as we prepare the Historic Core for our next century.

We’ve lovingly restored the 19th century ironwork that the Bellingraths rescued from the Southern Hotel before it was torn down. Since that ironwork is aging and precious, we’re adding supports to bear the load of the roof. For their part, the new roof and timber frame ceiling reflect the elegance of the Bellingrath estate. After Magic Christmas, we’ll paint the ceiling and add a copper roof to mirror a similar roof on the Home. Then the structure will be ready for the next century.

Like so many home remodeling projects, the hard work at the Summer House made us realize that we needed to repair areas nearby that seemed out of place after the improvements. We love Winter Wonderland and the polar bears of Magic Christmas, but the Keyhole Garden requires some attention. It had been cut into the hillside, and the site should be regraded. We’ll retain the shape and have a blue stone path bordered by bricks, including the commemorative bricks. Annual blooms will bring a pop of color, as will the azaleas and camellias in the area.

In our master plan, the Keyhole Garden will return to its original role as the grand entryway to the Camellia Arboretum. Until Hurricane Frederic destroyed it, the arboretum, built as a memorial to Mr. Bellingrath, housed 800 varieties of camellias and some 2,000 plants. It was a signature garden for one of our core collections, and rebuilding it is a fitting way to honor Mr. Bell’s memory and prepare for our Centennial.

As Bellingrath moves into its next century, the commemorative bricks and memories of the past are leading us into the future, giving each of us an opportunity to make our mark on the Gardens that have touched our lives. If you’re interested in sharing the Bellingrath experience with future generations on the Gulf Coast, click on the link below for more information or to purchase a commemorative brick.

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Clearing a Path Forward

What is a gardener’s best tool to see into the future of the garden? Glad you asked. A gardener’s next horticultural steps will be driven by something between a whim and a goal, but our point of view is the most immediate catalyst for launching that directive towards action. From our point of view, we apply our imagination, experience, and plant passion based upon what we are literally seeing from where we are actually standing. So, when line of sight is obstructed through a space (albeit by established but “over-mature” garden plantings, or by an overgrown thicket of vines and brambles) our vision of what is possible is likewise shortsighted.

Edified by your numerous compliments about the ongoing improvement of our seasonal and perennial displays, we are also working tirelessly behind the scenes to add more beauty-filled vistas to your garden experience—revitalizing areas that have been lying fallow for decades. From where we stand, most of these locations are waaaaaaaaay overgrown; and we simply can’t see in. In order to move forward toward a goal or to act upon a gardening whim, we must first clear the way.

An area of dense overgrown woody weeds and vines. You’d never guess we are standing right behind Bellingrath’s rose garden!

 

Because there’s already an established Garden and there’s already a perfectly beautiful Home, clearing land at Bellingrath Gardens and Home is a more involved process than clearing land for, let’s saaaay, a parking lot. Some plants are sacrosanct; sometimes maneuverability is limited by buildings and power lines; and often we just have to take the time to scout for old garden infrastructure, like buried utilities.

How about our tools? We have at the ready a Caterpillar backhoe/loader (the star subject of previous blogs), a small Kubota utility tractor, small chainsaws, a pole chainsaw, pruning saw and loppers, strong ropes for pulling, strong chains for dragging, stump-killing herbicide. These tools allow us to clear woody obstructions large and small with adequate speed to feel that rush of instant gratification, with the precision necessary to avoid collateral damage when working tight quarters, and with permanence to prevent re-sprouting.

Plucking a 1’ diameter weed tree out of the ground like candy out of a dish is extremely satisfying, although in confined areas, it also feels great to see how much progress can be made in just two hours with a handsaw, loppers, and stump-killing herbicide. Thanks to wide service roads and tons of undeveloped space, wood and brush produced by the clearing can be easily be transported whole and piled up on Bellingrath’s back acres rather than cut into small pieces and hauled off property.

In 2025, we have reclaimed nearly three behind-the-scenes acres that had been left fallow for decades. Our line of sight has been restored! Greenbriar and water oak has been replaced by fresh ideas. In the interim, much of this space will be mowed for the first time in at least two decades. However, some reclaimed spaces are being planted immediately. Over the past year, we’ve added over 200 varieties trees, shrubs, and perennials to our permanent display beds. Oh, and get this—we’ve cleared about one quarter in the former Camellia Arboretum—and it’s on the schedule to be re-Camellia’d later this winter!

We’ve allocated over 100 Camellias to be planted into the cleared area, representing the first new Camellias to be added to the Camellia Arboretum in a half century. We anticipate this will be a big deal for us—maybe just too darn big for us to handle on our own. So, on Saturday February 28th at 10am, we will be inviting our members and the Camellia community at large to grab a shovel and help us begin replanting the famous Bellingrath Camellia Arboretum. Stay tuned to our website and social media posts for the official announcement. In the meantime, we are installing an irrigation grid to cover this section and we are preparing the soil to make the planting easy-peasy-ish.

I forgot to mention another tool we are using to clear a path forward…the pen. The pen is mightier than the chainsaw…I think that’s how the old saying goes, but correct me if I’m misremembering. While we were behind the scenes clearing nearly three acres with a 16” Stihl chainsaw, Bellingrath was simultaneously clearing a path forward for the future of the Garden’s entire five-acre Historic Core. With the veil of existing constraints pulled back, we’ve been advancing our initial Master Plan level ideas to enhance the outdoor experience around the Bellingrath Home. We are moving boldly forward with drawings that inform the creation of new spaces and support the preservation of the historic estate into the 22nd century. I can’t get into too much detail (and I really, really, really want to!), but I can say we are past the point of ideating, so that our next round of drawings won’t be flowery—they will be specifically for the purpose of construction!

So much is happening at Bellingrath Gardens and Home. We are clearing a path forward; and there is something new and wonderful to see right in front of our eyes almost every day—with a line of sight to a world class future.

This stump (formerly anchoring an invasive Triadica sebifera aka Chinese tallow tree) has been treated with an herbicide specifically formulated and labeled to prevent this tree from ever re-sprouting.
Diesel-powered garden editing tool.
Raising the canopy to allow light in and to provide headspace for a future Camellia planting. This tree was also formerly covered in aggressive vines.
Reopened view to the bayou.

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A Special Anniversary

This month marks the 70th anniversary of the opening of the Bellingrath Home to the public. Walter Bellingrath had died the previous August and his foundation agreement specified that his home would be opened to the public after his death.

Starting in 1949, Walter Bellingrath had begun preparing his house for the changes. He hired Hancock House, a Memphis decorating firm to come in to assist him. They converted two early 19th century French bookcases into the porcelain display cabinets in the second floor hall. They had previously been in the basement.

It was also on this floor that a shallow closet at the entrance to the Purple Guest Room was converted to a glass shelved display case for porcelain doll heads, previously stored ignobly in the basement.

Furniture was shipped to Memphis for refinishing and reupholstering. Several pairs of large vases were drilled and converted into lamps. The firm sold Mr. Bellingrath the oversized Aubusson carpet for the dining room, making it impassible to guests ever since.

Hancock House sold Mr. Bellingrath the Meissen plateau or centerpiece which is actually too wide for the dining table. The Mayflower Vase on the stand in this room was also purchased by the decorators.

Edward Carl recalled the transformation of the Butler’s Pantry. Doors and drawers were removed and he fitted the glass panels in place to display the china and silver he had once taken care of while he had been a butler in the home. He became a tour guide along with Luther Harris when the doors opened to the public but later retired from a career at Brookley Field.

The Home Opens

Advertising of the opening did not begin until early January of 1956. Newspapers around the state announced the “Opening to the Public of the Bellingrath Home and the Bessie Morse Bellingrath Collection – One of America’s Finest Showings of Antiques, Silver and China.”

This would seem to explain why the guest register shows no visitors on January 1 and only 28 visitors on the 2nd. However, as the month progressed the pages of visitors for each day stretched to two or three.

In August it was announced that the Gardens would be open for free in observance of Mr. Bellingrath’s birthday. The Home however would require a purchased ticket for admission.

Newspapers around the state also reported that by August, “visitors from every state in the union as well as many foreign countries have visited the Bellingrath Home since it was opened to the public in January.”

Over the past 70 years, the Home has changed little but the visitor experience has. The crowds which were once attracted strictly to “Antiques, Silver and China” have dwindled. The focus today is the remarkable story of Bessie and Walter Bellingrath and how their love for each other converted a rustic fishing camp into one of the country’s most unique garden estates. Once that story is told there is ample time to view those antiques.

Ernest Edgar, III (1936-2025)

We sadly note the loss of Ernest Edgar, III on August, 26, 2025 in Auburn, Ala.  His grandfather, Ernest, Sr. married Mrs. Bellingrath’s younger sister Daisy Morse back in 1905. Ernest, Jr. arrived a year later.

Bessie and Daisy were particularly close, perhaps since they were less than two years apart in age. Walter and Bessie married in November of 1906 and eventually both families resided on Ann Street in Mobile.

Young Ernest, Jr. spent much time with his aunt and uncle and he and his good friend Gus Meaher were with Walter Bellingrath at Belle Camp on New Year’s Day, 1919, which he often spoke about. Ernest, Jr. was present when the camp was overrun with curious visitors in 1932 and later assisted in manning the gate when an entrance fee was put in place.

In November of that year, Ernest Edgar, Jr. married Amelia Lyon Moore of Mobile. And two years later that young couple accompanied the Bellingraths on their cross country trek to Canada, the west coast and the south west with Ernest at the wheel. It was Amelia who kept a detailed diary of the trip and later typed it up and presented it to the Bellingraths as a Christmas gift.

Another Gift

On January 15, 1936, Ernest Edgar, III arrived. He and his parents were frequent guests in the Bellingrath Home, occupying the Purple Guest Room. The trundle bed was reserved for him.

He was particularly fond of one of the Bellingrath’s young butlers, Edward Carl. The youngster had trouble saying Edward, and called him Bub. That was a nickname Edward recalled fondly and he had warm memories of roaming the Gardens with the little boy.

Ernest, III or Duke as he was then known, spent a great deal of time in the kitchen with Edward and Luther Harris. As the little boy began to talk, they discovered that he would repeat almost anything they said to him. Their language grew saltier and Duke kept on parroting them to their delight.

A couple of days later the lunch table on the Riverside Dining Porch was filled with family and friends with Duke in his high chair. During a sudden lull in the conversation Duke clearly asked “Would someone pass the damn butter?”

Amelia Edgar was nearly speechless and stammered “Where on earth did you learn that??” Her grinning son responded, “Bub.”

Walter Bellingrath left the table and told the two culprits in the pantry that the boy would learn those words on his own in due time and did not need further prompting. And what was Bessie Morse Bellingrath’s response? She was heartily laughing.

An Airplane in the Dining Room

At about this time Ernest Jr. walked in the front door and looked into the Dining Room where he saw Duke circling the banquet table with a sterling silver peacock held aloft and making airplane sounds. His first thought was to look for his aunt Bessie. Since there was no sign of her he quietly walked to the doorway and said quietly to his son “Put that down carefully. You know not to touch Aunt Bessie’s pretty things!”

As he walked into the room, his mother and aunt were sitting in chairs to his right, previously out of sight. “That’s alright Ernest,” his aunt said. “I told him he could play with it. If he breaks it he breaks it. Don’t worry about it.” And with that Duke went back to his imaginary play with a silver bird.

The nickname of Duke was eventually dropped and Ernest graduated from University Military School in 1954 and Virginia Military Institute in 1958. In June of 1964 he married Elizabeth Brown and a 34 year military career followed. He achieved the rank of Major General in the U.S. Corps of Engineers and after retirement moved to Auburn where he enjoyed his garden filled with seasonal flowers and shrubs.

This January 15 would have been the 100th birthday of this special and memorable member of the Bellingrath-Morse family. His childhood antics remain alive today when retold by the tour guides of the Bellingrath Home and always bring a smile to our visitors.

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A Fellowship of Azaleas

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.

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30 Years of Magic Christmas in Lights + New Milestones Reached

Thirty years is a long time, y’all! From 1995 to today in 2025, Bellingrath Gardens & Home (BGH) has been celebrating the Christmas and Holiday season through lights and beauty. From our humble origins in 1995 with several exhibits that are no longer used – although some still exist in our boneyard – to today with color-changing LED light technology and CNC plasma-cut metal sculptures, we have come a long way! The through line over these three decades is one of creativity, artistic expression, technological advancements, hard work, organizational “oomph,” and a celebration of families, couples, and the Holiday spirit. We thank you all for forming multi-generational bonds with Bellingrath Gardens & Home through 30 years of Magic Christmas in Lights.

Some of you may have paused when reading the words “CNC plasma-cut metal sculptures” above. Some of you might even have thought, “Say, what?!”  Well, that may be due to the fact that we’ve never used this technology before in creating any exhibit for Magic Christmas in Lights (MCIL). However, we’ve known since 2022 that we’ve wanted to reach this point in the evolution of our displays. As such we are debuting four new metal lanterns in this year’s show. These lanterns were intricately cut using a CNC plasma cutting machine, a technology that allows us to transform a conceptual sketch drawing on paper into actual-sized set pieces that are, in this case, made of metal. To come see this scene at MCIL, you’ll have to go to the Secret Garden and look for the four metal lanterns. In future years, you’ll be seeing much more of this kind of technological application at MCIL. We are now several years into the implementation of our Magic Christmas in Lights Master Plan, and all I can say is that “you ain’t seen nothing’ yet!”

And on the note of the 2025 Magic Christmas in Lights, I want to thank all of our sponsors for this year: Hargrove (Mobile), CrowderGulf (Mobile), BlueCross BlueShield of Alabama (Birmingham), and Chris Francis Tree Care (Daphne). Sponsorships are vital to our continued success as an organization, and Bellingrath Gardens & Home cannot thank enough these four sponsors of the 2025 Magic Christmas in Lights. If you or your company is interested in being a sponsor for any of our year-round events, please contact Dr. Cory Sparks, BGH’s Director of Development.

Finally, in closing out this column, the last one of the 2025 year, I am thrilled to be able to announce that Bellingrath Gardens & Home has just successfully completed the process of raising $100,000 in funds that are being doubled by The Daniel Foundation of Alabama! This record-setting grant from the Daniel Foundation truly saw Bellingrath Gardens & Home expand our reach with our Development program. Through extensive work by Cory, me, the Board, and several other staff, we were able to talk with many people about how they could help BGH move forward, and to their credit, we have reached this incredible milestone. A proper thank you to these individuals will be forthcoming. With the completion of this match, of which all of the funds are being used to propel the design work for Phase 1 of the Master Plan, Bellingrath is moving forward faster than ever. THANK YOU to all and everyone who has helped us reach this point.

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Hershey’s Chocolate and Coca-Cola: A Bellingrath Tradition

Since Executive Director Todd Lasseigne’s arrival, Magic Christmas in Lights has grown in leaps and bounds. One of the first additions Todd made remains one of our guests’ most popular: The S’Mores Stations.

A Graham Cracker Sandwich

A contraction of the words “Some Mores” the recipe was first called a “Graham Cracker Sandwich” in early 1920’s cook books and we can thank the Girl Scouts for first dubbing the gooey treat “Some Mores” in 1927. The contraction “S’mores” dates to a publication aimed at summer camps in 1938 and by the 1950’s that name had won out.

Since their introduction to the Bellingrath Christmas tradition, the Gardens have purchased thousands of cases of Hershey Bars. The creator of that world-famous chocolate bar and our founder with his successful promotion of bottled Coca-Cola have some things in common.

Both men made their fortunes. Walter Bellingrath was working as a telegraph key operator at a very modest salary when he got his start with Coca-Cola. Milton Hershey attempted to start a candy business in 1886 but it failed. A friend told him “This isn’t your first failure. Maybe you aren’t cut out for business,” and suggested he return to his family farm in Pennsylvania.

Hershey, like Walter Bellingrath, was no quitter. While attending the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 he came across German candy makers producing chocolate and he purchased their equipment at the end of the fair. Hershey ultimately succeeded by using real milk and introduced the Hershey Bar in 1900. It was an instant hit since it only cost a nickel – the same price Walter Bellingrath began selling his bottled Cokes three years later.

Like Coca-Cola, Hershey’s chocolate became a household word and grew so rapidly that Milton Hershey created a whole town for his factory.

Both men married relatively late for the era. Mr. Hershey was 41 when he married in 1898. Walter Bellingrath was 37. They both adored their wives.

A Love of Flowers

Katherine Sweeney Hershey and Bessie Morse Bellingrath had much in common. Both were philanthropists and both had a love of gardens. Walter Bellingrath supported his wife’s efforts in creating Bellingrath Gardens which opened to the public in 1932.

Milton Hershey created a 3 ½ acre rose garden and conservatory for Katherine Hershey and they opened it to the public in 1937. Within five years,  those gardens grew to 23 acres and included a conservatory filled with palms, ferns, bay trees—and azaleas. The Hershey Gardens was also the first public garden to develop a children’s garden, a feature planned for future expansion in Bellingrath Gardens.

Neither the Hersheys nor the Bellingraths were blessed with children and both men outlived their wives, never remarrying. Hershey Gardens and Bellingrath Gardens survive as memorials to two remarkable women who loved flowers and were certainly loved by their husbands.

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Plant Royalty

I’m not a patent lawyer, but I can speak about plant patents from experience. If you find yourself awake all night wanting to know more about the plant patenting process, then I have the cure to your insomnia. The plant patent is perhaps the least understood component of ornamental horticulture—the topic seems rarely discussed, despite a large percentage of plant labels at your local plant retailer having a Plant Patent Number (PP #####) printed on it somewhere. So…what is a plant patent, what does it reveal about your plant, and is it relevant for your garden?

Proprietary Propagation

The patenting of specific plant varieties in the US was first made possible in May, 1930, by the Plant Patent Act. The patented plant is considered the intellectual property of the patent holder, granting them exclusive rights to license the propagation and sale of the clone. That basically means it is illegal for a nursery, garden center, backyard plant sale, or even a public garden to asexually propagate a patented plant without an agreement with the patent holder. There are grey areas, but the protection afforded to patented plants is pretty straightforward.

In the 95 years of the Plant Patent Act, over 35,000 ornamental and agricultural cultivars have been awarded a patent. A patent lasts for 20 years from the date of filing, and is not renewable (although rarely, extensions are granted). Once the patent expires, there are no proprietary restrictions on propagating or selling the plant. For example, Rhododendron Encore® Autumn Carnation® ‘Roblec’ PP15,339 expired on March 15th, 2024. This means there is no longer any obligation to the patent holder to root cuttings and sell Azalea ‘Roblec’. Trademarks, like Encore® and Autumn Carnation®, are renewable indefinitely. These protect the trade name and series name, but not propagation. The trademark name is separate from the cultivar name, therefore a trademarked plant can be propagated and sold by its cultivar name as long as it is not also patented…you know what…this is another topic to be explained in another article. Believe me when I say you don’t want me to get started on the plant trademark issue. Since patent numbers are issued consecutively, you can generally assume that every PP# lower than PP 15,339 is also expired, because they were issued prior to the start of ‘Roblec’s patent protection.

***Yes, I referred to an Encore® Azalea as a Rhododendron, since “azalea” is a common name for several species of Rhododendron—every azalea is a Rhododendron, but not every Rhododendron is an azalea.  Sorry…taxonomic stuff…back to the topic at hand…plant patents.

So…what is a patented plant?  Basically, it’s a proprietary plant whose asexual reproductive rights are owned and licensed by the breeder for 20 years.  After the patent expires, that clone can be chopped up, shared, and sold any which-way.

Follow the Money

A little backstory…Azalea ‘Roblec’ was first selected in 1995 as a remarkable seedling resulting from an intentional cross between Rhododendron ‘Schroeder’s Pink Perfection’ x Rhododendron oldhammii ‘Fourth of July’. How does this have anything to do with following the money? Glad you asked.

A royalty is paid as part of an agreement between the patent holder and the licensee. This royalty is charged per plant propagated, typically ranging from $0.10 to $2.00 per plant…for 20 years!  So, if one million ‘Roblec’ were propagated at $0.25ea while under patent protection, the total royalty is $250,000. Wow! So, does that mean that breeding plants is the secret to becoming independently wealthy? If only!  First, $250K spread out over 20 years (before taxes) is $12.5k/year—not enough to anyone a high roller in this country. The patent process itself is very technical, requiring translation from people who speak legaleeze, and costs about $3k/patent. And keep in mind the patent for ‘Roblec’ was granted 9 years after it was first selected as a clone to be patented. That means 9 years of trial agreements and building up stock. That means 9 years of not getting paid, before finally getting paid. Less than 1% of plant patents yield rock star royalties, but hundreds of people in the US make a living from plant breeding. Most of these ornamental plant breeders work for companies specializing in plant breeding, or maintain breeding programs at academic institutions, or are independent breeders that hire a company that patents and promote their work. This means that plant breeders are either being paid a 9-to-5 salary to breed plants, get a cut of the royalties, or a combination of both. In order to churn out next level plants worthy and eligible for a patenting, it takes land, time, and breeding stock—at the bare minimum. With new breeding tools like embryo rescue and genetic modification, a laboratory with all the bells and whistles may also come in handy.  All this takes money. Royalties fund these endeavors. A handful of plant people make a living, while others get a nice check in the mail once or twice a year.

PP34,648

If you look up Plant Patent number 34,648, you’ll find an ornamental grass named Festuca arundinacea ‘Glow Sticks’. That’s my baby! I developed this plant while I lived in Raleigh, NC. It doesn’t tolerate Gulf Coast summers, so beyond my wishful thinking, ‘Glow Sticks’ is unfortunately not a candidate for Bellingrath Gardens’ display. Here’s a bulleted speed run through how this patented cultivar came to be:

  • 2015
    • I discovered a striking white stripe on a leaf of a common turfgrass, tall fescue
    • variegated sport transplanted from the lawn into my garden
    • work began to stabilize the variegation
      • I discarded offsets that went all green or all white
    • 2016
      • Clone stabilized with narrow white stripe barely visible down the center of leaf blade
        • Consistent with each offset
      • 2017
        • Disappointed with minimal impact of stabilized central variegation to overall aesthetic of grass clump
          • From distance, the grass still appeared the typical dark green of the species
          • I intended to discard entire clump once I found something to plant in its place in my garden…but wasn’t in any hurry
        • 2018
          • The grass bloomed in late May, revealing one of the most incredible inflorescences I’ve ever seen on an ornamental grass!
          • Entered trial agreement with Plant Delights Nursery, inc.
          • Named the plant ‘Glow Sticks’
        • 2020
          • Entered licensing agreement with Concept Plants®
            • They assist with patenting process and promotion of patented plants
          • Shipped rooted pieces of the Festuca ‘Glow Sticks’ to Concept Plants® affiliated trial gardens around the country, and to Europe
        • 2021
          • Concept Plants®, based in the Netherlands connects me with Biological Patent Services, LLC based in Minnesota, to begin the patent filing process
            • Took plant measurements, wrote detailed description, and filled out extensive paperwork
            • Plant Patent request filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office June 17, 2021
          • 2022
            • Plant Patent 34,648 granted October 11, 2022

 

Over seven years elapsed between the discovery of what would become ‘Glow Sticks’ and the first royalty check (which I can assure you was quite modest).  But what an adventure! It is important to point out that despite how beautiful and unique this grass was, and how much I wanted to share my cool plant with my gardening friends, and of course brag about it on social media, I had to keep it locked up. If a plant is shared outside of a trial agreement before the plant patent application is filed, it is not eligible to be patented. For me, that was the hardest part! Concept Plants® worked with me to file all the paperwork, determine the royalty per plant, and promote the plant to wholesale growers. They also paid all costs, except shipping, associated with filing for a patent. In return, Concept Plants® keeps half the royalty. Everybody wins!

The Wheel, Reinvented

Are patented plants better than unpatented plants? Sometimes yes and sometimes no! Unfortunately, garden-worthiness is not the only criteria for deciding what plants to patent or even what direction to focus a breeding program. In the past few decades, some breeding efforts began to shift towards appeasing the mass producers and mass retailers with plants that grew to saleable size more quickly, fit into smaller shipping dimensions, or was just a new variety in general, rather than making a better garden plant. Some “heirloom” varieties are still the best garden plants in my opinion, and thousands of great new varieties are introduced each year without a patent number. Some newly patented plants are just hot garbage, while others represent a garden breakthrough that will surely be popular long past its patent. Most plant breeders want to help you make your garden more beautiful than ever, but have to create patented plants that sell well in order to stay in business. With thousands of plants to choose from, how can we ever select which ones are right for our gardens? If only there was a really big garden that publicly displayed as many new and old plants as possible—together in the same soil, so that visitors could make an informed decision as to what will work best in their own garden…hmmmmmm. The best place to determine what plants are best for your amended soil is at a public garden—I can think of one worth visiting right here in south Mobile County! Check out plant royalty on display at Bellingrath Gardens and Home!

 

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Planning is Everything

Just a couple of weeks ago, Bellingrath Gardens & Home embarked, officially, on a path toward a long, but detailed, vision for the future – our Centennial Master Plan. The vision captured and communicated by this plan sees both the restoration and reinvigoration of beloved, historic spaces, combined with an infusion of new features that will grace BGH as it grows forward toward its 100th anniversary of being open to the public. Despite our long history, being publicly accessible since 1932, this master plan represents, to the best of my knowledge, only the second treatment in viewing and envisioning the boundaries and configurations of BGH’s used property since our founding by Walter and Bessie Bellingrath when they worked with George Bigelow Rogers starting in 1927. As such, we take this process as both serious and sacred.

The quote about planning, used in my title for this column, and often attributed to Dwight Eisenhower, is apropos here for a few reasons. 1) We have laid out a grand vision that we are now embarking upon. 2) This vision is only “initial” in the sense that detailed planning work, per any defined “phase,” must be carried out after the master (holistic) plan was done. 3) Assuredly, some other great ideas will be had in the coming years as we enact this plan. The process of planning, therefore, will continue for years to come, but the Centennial Master Plan will exist as our guide, beacon, and compass.

The first project that speaks to the level of detail and quality of work that we are undertaking via the Centennial Master Plan is actually already underway – the restoration of the Summer House. In fact, this project should be completed by early 2026. Representing an investment of around $150,000 in Bellingrath Gardens & Home’s past, present, and future, the Summer House will continue to serve as a restful, shaded structure, but it will also anchor the future, reopened Camellia Arboretum a few years hence.

Through the Summer House’s success, we have pivoted to “The Historic Core,” which comprises our first major area of BGH that we are studying and looking to restore and reinvigorate. After the public reveal of the Centennial Master Plan on October 14, key BGH staff participated in a two-day design workshop for Phase 1. Initial work that was done during these two days revealed a great excitement for the Historic Core, the portion of the gardens that exists between the Fowl River and Mirror Lake, as well as honest assessments on commonly seen areas that need to be refreshed. Through this workshop, a vision was honed to bring out the best of this critical space while also realizing opportunities for new spaces to be developed. This design phase – Schematic Design, to be precise – will conclude by next summer, after which we will follow-on to “Design Development,” where engineering work and highly detailed designs, including material selection, will occur. By a year from now, we should be underway in creating construction drawings, which will allow us to fully understand implementation costs for all aspects of Phase 1 – The Historic Core – its restoration and reinvigoration.

Now, to some of you readers, this may all seem like a bunch of gibberish. Again, however, I point to Eisenhower’s wisdom via my column title. Reroofing older service buildings, repairing aged water wells and pumps, and replacing worn-out HVAC units all requires planning of some sort, right?! But, the level of detail and involvement for these types of projects pales in comparison to the concept of “restoring and reinvigorating the Historic Core of Bellingrath Gardens & Home.” As such, the hours, days, weeks, and months spent now in the planning process will only lead to orders of magnitude levels of improvements and documentation of our plans and goals to bring Bellingrath Gardens & Home forward. And this, will allow us to conduct the necessary fundraising work that it will take to see these projects to their ultimate and happy conclusion.

We ask you to join us on this exciting journey.

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