Honoring the Bellingraths: Enhancing Our Living Collection for the Future

By Cory Sparks
Director of Development

Bellingrath has two museums on our property. One is the beautiful historic Home with its collection of precious antiques. The other is a living museum—our plant collection. We feel a connection to the Bellingraths when we tour the home and hear their love story. The Bellingraths are also present in the treasured azaleas and camellias that built our global reputation as a tourist destination.

The Bellingraths had a great love and deep knowledge of both azaleas and camellias. Just as we preserve their Home, we have a responsibility to honor their love of plants and the Gardens by maintaining and enhancing the living collection. Director of Horticulture Jeremy Schmidt and Horticulture Projects Manager Sarah Brecher have been developing a pathway for the collection to meet the highest global standards. We’re certain the collection will delight visitors in the same way it would have brought joy to the Bellingraths.

You’ll hear more about Jeremy and Sarah’s work in the weeks and months to come. The detailed plan includes sections on cataloging our plants and placing identification in the garden. It places special emphasis on diversifying the collection. We’re grateful to longtime nurseryman and Friend of Bellingrath Maarten Van Der Giessen for sharing more than 200 azalea cultivars as he retires from his business. Jeremy and Sarah have put weeks of work into preparing a growing space near the greenhouses where 311 of the plants can be grown. We’ll use the cuttings to fill the gardens with many more varieties than are currently in the Gardens. As a bonus, the diversity will extend our blooming season within a couple of years. It’s a time-consuming and expensive process, but a fitting tribute to the Bellingraths as we prepare for our second century.