Garden at George Mathews House

Recently named one of the “World’s Most Beautiful Gardens for 2023” by Veranda Magazine, the owners of the Garden at George Mathews House are garden enthusiasts.  The husband designed the garden rooms surrounding the 1743 house to be compatible with the early Charleston architecture and southern climate. Greeting you is a colonial-style fence on which climbing 'Iceberg' roses bloom behind which is a small 'Kingsville' boxwood parterre. At the rear of this garden is an old ligustrum which has been pruned to show its oriental derivation below which are two standard gardenias in planters. The driveway area provides the entrance to the rear gardens and is planted with 'Wintergreen' boxwood, single stem loquat trees, and podocarpus. Edging the drive is a line of variegated Aztec grass interspersed with holly ferns.

The next garden room is an early eighteenth century style parterre of 'Kingsville' and 'Wintergreen' boxwood, variegated Asiatic jasmine and oregano globes in the center. The kitchen house is covered with climbing white 'Iceberg' roses that act as supports for white lantana "climbing" up the wall, an espaliered magnolia, and a potato vine and cascading 'Lady Bank’s' rose on the corners. As one steps up to the second level of the garden, one faces two small rooms—one with white digitalis  lining the walk to the rose-covered garden house and the other an exotic garden of palms, fatsia, African iris, white 'Iceberg' roses and ginger lilies.

Through a podocarpus hedge shaped as a wall with entry posts and finials one views the last garden room with a formal shrub border of camellias, hollies, azaleas, hydrangeas, tea olives, and four white crape myrtle standards surrounding a carpet of St. Augustine grass. This Charleston-style garden is enclosed with brick and brown stucco walls and within the garden all the flowers are shades of purple, blue, pink with touches of white. Above the bench is a bower of 'Lady Bank's' roses. On either side are English urns filled with seasonal plantings.

Open Days 2023: Saturday, May 27
Hours: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.