Registration Eligibility
open
Start Date
06/03/2025
End Date
06/06/2025
Description
Experience a guided tour of Reynolda Gardens’s restored Brown Family Conservatory and historic formal gardens. More than a century old, Reynolda’s Gardens and grounds were part of the original 1917 footprint for the Reynolda estate. Although the landscape has changed over the years, many of its original structures and plans remain intact.
Louis L. Miller and Horatio R. Buckenham, who were partners in the landscape engineering firm, Buckenham and Miller, created a landscape plan for the estate and designed several important features between 1911 and 1913. Beginning in 1915, Thomas W. Sears made changes to the Buckenham and Miller plans and designed additional plantings.
The tour includes:
Brown Family Conservatory: Completed in 1913, the greenhouse was designed by premier conservatory makers Lord & Burnham, a company begun in 1849. By the time Katharine commissioned them, Lord & Burnham were known nationwide for such projects as the New York Botanical Garden Conservatory and the Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh. Restored in 2024 with 21st-century technology.
West Cherry Allée: Originally planted in 1917 most likely inspired by the Cherry trees around the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC, which were a gift from Japan in 1912. This allée lines the eastern edge of the formal gardens and is closest to the historic house.
Lower Formal Gardens: Historic rose gardens and other themed flower gardens. The East and West rose gardens feature roses selected from varieties of tea, hybrid tea, hybrid perpetual, and multiflora roses listed on Thomas Sears’s original 1917 plan and roses from the same period.
Upper Gardens: In Katharine’s lifetime the upper gardens was a place to grow produce and serve as an example for the community. In keeping with that tradition, staff and volunteers maintain a vegetable garden in much of that space. They grow tomatoes, peppers, squash, zucchini, beans, and a variety of greens. Today, vegetables grown here are picked by staff members and community volunteers and donated to HOPE, which distributes produce to those in need.
Location
winston salem, NC
Distance Learning
No
Course Equivalency
No
Subjects
Horticulture / Plants
Health, Safety and Welfare
Yes
Hours
1.50
Learning Outcomes
1. Learn about the plant material at the site.
2. Learn about historic planning in the various gardens.
3. Explore the plants and gardens.
Instructors
Liliana Tata
Course Codes
25
Provider
North Carolina Chapter of ASLA