Wilmington Azalea Festival 2008 Garden 11

The beauty of Wilmington, North Carolina

The home of Pam and Robert Holding on Ocean Point Drive was the last private home on the garden tour.

Garden 11 was easily one of Max's favorites. The front of the large formal house invites the guest with a beautiful brick porch, with brilliant white columns holding the roof high above the formal porch that provides access to the house.

In front of the brick wall of the porch is a garden surrounded by a low formal hedge quiet possibly of boxwood (Max is no expert on plants). Inside the hedge ferns, two large containers guard a planting of a small red flowering plant with a lovely yellow center.

The planting appears to be as much for anyone looking out from the porch as those looking toward the house. Max thinks this is very thoughtful of the gardener and designer.

The garden swept Max along the right hand side of the building and brought him face to face with a spectacular water view. Along the way Max saw plantings of palm trees, petunias and evergreens. Each planting supported the other either by its similarity or by its natural differences.

In the back of the gardens toward the edge of the property, a dark metal bench was lined with red geraniums and well-placed stands of ferns. A blue/green toned globe provided an interesting object in the small planting.

A flowering cherry tree guarded the house with a fantastic showing of pink. Containers of red flowers flowed from the balcony overhead.

On the left side of the building, Max noticed a wonderful porch that led from the garden on brick stairs. Beside this porch was a small garden planted in blue flowers, with a stone maiden standing in the center with a bowl of water and a bowl of grain as an offering to the birds.

Containers of geraniums, roses (live), petunias and a plethora of other flowers, of which Max was not familiar, dotted the gardens, stairs, paths, walls and porches.

Max's favorite memory of this garden is looking down the stone path that passes by the pink azaleas, green ferns and red Japanese maple toward the sea. The path leads past sections of white pickets and through an open gate to the best view of the ocean and marsh.

Max enjoyed each and every garden that he visited. This day he visited all twelve of the gardens. It did not matter to Max if a garden was small or large. Each garden was special and well-presented. The tastes of the individual gardeners and, in some cases the garden designer, were exemplified by the choices in plantings. Max found the plantings and the arrangement of the gardens most revealing about these avid lovers of beauty.

The one consistent item in every garden were the people who represented the garden club, either greeting visitors or wearing gorgeous 1865 vintage gowns to give the garden a sense of a bygone period. Max saw some of the garden owners in a few of the gardens, though most chose not to make themselves known.

Here is some background on the Wilmington Azalea Festival.

The Cape Fear Garden Club organizes the annual Wilmington Azalea Festival. This non-profit, philanthropic, and educational association is organized to stimulate knowledge of gardening among amateurs in the Cape Fear Region of North Carolina. The organization works to provide education on gardening and horticulture. It works closely with agencies to encourage environmental improvement to protect, restore and preserve the natural world for trees, plants, birds so that these can be enjoyed.

Founded in 1925, the garden club today has about three hundred active members. The Annual Azalea Festival is one of the biggest events not only for the club but for Wilmington, NC. Numerous related events including a sizable parade are held on the same day.

Wilmington itself is a unique city with an eclectic nature. Driving into the city, it appears to be a place of strip malls and small hotels. For many people traveling through to the New Hanover County beaches or south to Myrtle Beach, this may be the only city they see.

Just before the bridge out of town, a right turn will take a traveler to a quaint though lively waterfront downtown. Here the streets are brick and lined with interesting shops on one end. The other end of the street is lined with restored buildings going back to a more elegant time. The gardens in some of these houses can be explored by the public only during the Azalea Festival.

Going back north, along side streets on either side of the fast north/south routes through the city are enchanting neighborhoods lined with interesting homes. Hidden behind and around these homes are a plethora of gorgeous gardens. Only a few of these are open at any time other than through an opportunity like the festival affords us.