Not Your Mother’s Garden
Today in the South, the concept of the traditionally constructed, formal southern garden is being replaced by wilder, more rustic gardens. With the popularity of “farm-to-table,” there is a new emphasis on (and excitement in) growing your own food — which means gone are the rows of trimmed rose bushes and camellias, substituted instead by flourishing green rows of herbs, botanical varietals and heirloom vegetables.
The modern southern garden is not only aesthetically pleasing like it’s ancestor, but purposeful and less formal. To get out in your yard and dig through the rich dirt with your bare hands is no longer a chore; it’s a release.
Growing up in South Carolina meant growing up with a farmer as a grandfather — my favorite farmer at that. Seeing my grandparents tend to rows of hand-planted corn, snap peas and sweet potatoes on their rural farm, my appreciation for fresh, homegrown produce began at a very early age and continues into my young adult life (I’ve been known to be quite picky about a tomato), where universal farm-to-fork appreciation is more prevalent than ever. Sure, I love a beautiful patch of flowers, but as a budding gardener, you’ll be much more likely to catch me picking basil leaves than lantana.
Several southern gardeners have embraced this new idea of more homegrown, less structured gardens.
Horticulturist, writer and soon-to-be published author Jenks Farmer of Columbia, S.C. is one of those gardeners. Jenks’ philosophy of crafting creative garden designs using local products and earth-friendly techniques is the epitome of getting back to one’s southern roots, quite literally. His residential, commercial and botanical garden work organically flows with wild flowers and greenery mixed with the perfect placement of already standing or new exterior design furniture and accents.
Jenks’ book, Deep-Rooted Wisdom by Timber Press will be released in March 2014, where he will touch on topics like scavenging, rooting your own plants and “mixing in plants that feed us.”
Speaking of plants that feed us, “purposeful gardening” is more popular than ever with the resurgence of growing what you eat, and eating what you grow. The “back to the garden” ideal — whether coming from the downswing of the economy of a few years past, “green-thinking” philosophy or reminiscence of the old farming South — is back in #TheNewSouth.
Southern Exposure co-op, featured on A Way to Garden, grows and sells Southeastern-based heirloom seeds to customers all over the nation who want to get in on the South’s local farming practices. More than 700 varietals of vegetable, flower, herb, grain and cover crop seeds are sold at Southern Exposure, with some of the most popular sellers, according to the co-op’s home gardening expert, author and Organic Seed Alliance board member Ira Wallace, being traditional southern heriloom varietals such as green beans, okra, crowder peas and black peanuts.
“We grow seeds that do well here, and we try to tell people who want seeds from varieties that are more happy in the Southeast ones that will do well for them,” says Ira. “For instance, we offer ‘Cajun Jewel’ okra, a spineless dwarf type, because people in Maine want to have okra, too!”
Located in central Virginia, Southern Exposure ships all over the country from its seed catalog andonline sales, which helps it support organic gardening, sustainable agriculture and seed-saving.
Gardening in #TheNewSouth not only means incorporating flourishing, locally-sourced plants, flowers, shrubbery and vegetables into your gardening; it means doing something that is not only beautiful but useful and rewarding; something that is good for your earth and yourself — and it means the satisfaction of biting into a juicy heirloom tomato in mid-July in South Carolina. Can’t eat a rose, right?
by Chloe Rodgers
