Charleston Annual Garden Tour Part II

Charleston Annual Garden Tour – Part II. Every year Charleston’s Home and Garden Tours are usually scheduled in March or April. Charleston is a city with a story! Seeing beyond doorways and through garden gates allows one to travel back in time and appreciate the architecture, history, and gardens. Plus, experience the culture of this beautiful timeless city.

On this tour, you will see some of the beauty and accents that make this city so charming.

Viewing a garden thru a decorative wrought iron gates of Charleston, SC
A view of a pathway to a home and garden of Charleston, SC
A view of an greenery garden with a little boy statue to embellish the wall along the driveway.

Charleston’s Famous Wrought Iron Gates…

You will find Charleston’s work-of-art wrought iron gates throughout the city. Artisans finely craft these wrought iron gates, and are a major part of Charleston’s pride and history.

When you walk by, you may even peek inside beyond these gates and find what lies behind them.

Most of the time, you will catch a glimpse of some of the loveliest well-thought-out gardens, surrounding the perimeter of each property.

So charming.

A view through a lovely design of a wrought iron gate.
A side view of a home and garden in Charleston, SC
A black tall fence and gates, with a lovely design, guarding in front of a home.
A gas lantern as the feature on top of a lovely design gate.

Charleston Charming Gardens…

Intimate gardens with water fountains are commonly found with historical homes, here in Charleston.  Not only do they offer beauty, but their main purpose was to muffle all sounds from the streets.

Each property is decorated with floral pots to complement their manicured landscape designs. Some include miniature shrubs, ivy plants, wrought iron trellis, and a mixture of trees and seasonal flowers.

Small, intimate English-style landscapes are tastefully designed to make each property even more charming.

A Tall fountain with water streaming over, and palm trees in this small garden.
A driveway of a home lined with manicured miniature shrubs and trees.
A peek into a driveway with flowers boxes on the fences and railings.

Charming Window Plant Boxes…

As you continue on the Charleston annual garden tour, you can’t help notice these beautiful window plant boxes displayed everywhere!

Large window boxes featured on the windows of a yellow building.
Beautiful display of flowers and greenery in a window box.
Window boxes filled with floral arrangements, hung outside on windows of brick building.
A view of a beautiful window box filled with white, yellow and purple floral plants.

Charleston Historical Homes…

Downtown Charleston historical homes were built with entrances and porches on their side of the home overlooking their private gardens and courtyards, and mainly to catch the breezes off the harbor.

A view of a side garden of the home featuring a tall fountain.
A view of a garden with little girls standing in the background.

Perfectly manicured to enhance the beauty of its charming side yard. I couldn’t help but capture these adorable girls during the tour as they graciously posed for my photo.

 
A miniature garden along the walls and staircase of a historical home.
 

Even colors of plants are tastefully chosen. Soft pink and green plants are planted to complement this home’s overtone of gray, and it is beautifully done.

Also, hidden behind this gray wall is a private courtyard displaying a Gunite pool with jet fountains and waterfalls on the left side to hide the noise from the streets. Plus, a pergola for seating just behind the pool.

Really lovely.

 

Italian and English Influence in Designs…

Everywhere you walk on your tour, you will see homes displaying an array of Italian and English designs in their gardens for all to admire.

Charleston Garden Tours allows everyone to walk through each driveway toward the back of the home. And there will be a charming garden waiting for everyone to see! From very formal and symmetrical, to very asymmetry to whimsical.

A view of a manicured garden with shrubs, and tall trees with a white bench at the end of it.

Once again, a hidden oasis can be found in the back of these historical homes in downtown Charleston.

A long narrow garden along the driveway of a home, all greenery and well manicured.

In the photo below, the three-tiered fountain is the focal point of this garden. The walkway leading to it is lined with beautiful hydrangeas and miniature, beautifully manicured shrubs.

But, if you look carefully behind this fountain, you will notice an enormous “greenery arch” set in a low latticed brick wall that opens to the pool area (shown in the next photo).

A three tier fountain with  beautiful landscape design shrubs and hydrangeas.
 

Here, a combination of plants with Pindo Palms and Southern Magnolia trees behind each helps enclose this space and create a more intimate setting.

A large Gunite pool with jet fountains in the pool.

The arrangement also emphasizes the geometric shape of the pool with its jet fountains. The sounds from these jet fountains muffle any sounds from the street, adding to their privacy.

Each garden is truly marvelous!

A display of a garden with a tall Stone planter in the center of the garden.
A view of a intimate garden beautifully landscape with small trees.
 

The Last Garden…

Even on a cloudy day and towards the end of the tour, it started to drizzle, and I knew I had to hurry to get to the last garden on the tour.  And as they say, the best is saved for last!  

This narrow brick driveway lined with beautiful floral window boxes leading to the back of this historical home with a truly magnificent garden!

This narrow brick driveway lined with beautiful floral window boxes leads to a garden.
A view of a large backyard landscaped with a beautiful green garden.
A backyard beautifully planned landscape with miniature shrubs and tall Italian trees.

Experience the exquisite details, boxwood plants, Italian fountains, trellis, and ceramic urns! All these were carefully planned into this magnificent garden.

Charleston Garden Tours…

Seeing beyond doorways and through garden gates allows one to travel back in time and appreciate the architecture, history, gardens, and culture of this beautiful, timeless city of Charleston.

If you get a chance to visit Charleston, SC during this season, we highly recommend scheduling one of these garden tours, or House & Garden Tour, and experience a “walk-through time.”

Oh, and don’t forget to bring your camera! 🙂  Ciao!

If you missed my post Part 1:  Charleston Annual Garden Tour Part 1

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Lovely gardens displayed with manicured scrubs and trees, and tall fountains.

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15 Comments

    1. HI Nadine! Every year there are two scheduled home & garden tours, one in March or April and the other in the fall. You can check by googling Charleston annual garden & home tours. I hope this helps!

  1. A shade garden is a clever thought that I had never known about until I went by a portion of the more pioneer areas of the South like Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina. The Victorian homes were exceptionally box-like and I assume the absence of focal aerating and cooling in those days made the need for shaded seating regions an across the board one.

    1. Yes that is correct and I forgot to mention about the importance of creating shaded areas in the South. Thank you for mentioning that point.

  2. Such a beautiful gem of a city! Every one of your photos depicts the charm of her! What a blessing for you that you live there and can enjoy her charms on a daily basis! Thank you for taking me on this wonderful annual tour!

  3. Gosh you have such a great eye! These are wonderful photos and of course Charleston is an amazing and wonderful place. My niece is graduating from the College of Charleston in a few weeks and I know she is going to miss it there. Such much culture, fun and beautiful surroundings. Thanks for sharing!

    1. So glad to hear about your niece! Both my girls attend CofC and one graduates next weekend! Thanks for stopping by and have a great week !
      Xo Anna

  4. What a lovely place to visit. I loved the varied window-boxes with their choice of plants and they blue hydrangea garden was a favourite, not to mention the wonderful cast iron work on gates and barriers.