J. C. Raulston Arboretum - The Major Gardens

The Major Gardens

• Annual Color Trials — an official All-America Selections (AAS) testing site, evaluating over 700 different annuals and tender perennials each year.
• Entry Garden — more than 100 types of tender perennials, mostly tropical.
• Finley-Nottingham Rose Garden — over 200 roses representing over 120 taxa, including hybrid teas, hybrid musk roses, David Austin roses, and climbing roses.
• Japanese Garden — Japanese plants with a raked-stone Zen garden; plants include Acer palmatum ‘Kiyohime’, Acer palmatum ‘Seiryu’, Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Nana Gracilis’, Lagerstroemia fauriei, Nandina domestica f. capillaris cultivars, and Pinus taeda ‘Nana’.
• Klein-Pringle White garden — white-flowered plants and plants with gray, white, or silver foliage, inspired by the famous White Garden at Sissinghurst Castle Garden; plants include Acer palmatum, Lagerstroemia ‘Natchez’, Magnolia × loebneri ‘Merrill’, Styrax japonicus ‘Emerald Pagoda’, and Viburnum ‘Mohawk’.
• Lath House — over 700 kinds of shade-loving plants, including Acanthus spinosus, Cornus controversa 'Variegata', Farfugium japonicum 'Aureomaculatum', Gentiana saponaria, Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Pia’, Pieris japonica ‘Shojo’, and Trochodendron aralioides.
• Mixed Border — a large border planting (300 × 15 feet) (91 × 4.6 m) of trees, shrubs, groundcovers, perennials, and bulbs; plants include Campsis grandiflora 'Morning Calm', Chamaecyparis thyoides 'Rubicon', Clematis 'Betty Corning', Cornus sericea 'Silver and Gold', and Hamamelis × intermedia ‘Jelena’.
• Model Gardens — home demonstration gardens.
• Paradise Garden — for the senses of sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell; plants include Aloysia triphylla, Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’, Hosta ‘Sum and Substance’, Zea mays ‘Quadricolor’, and Ziziphus jujuba ‘Inermis’.
• Perennial Border — nearly 1,000 plants in a large border planting (450 × 18 feet) (140 × 5.5 m), with color scheme based upon a plan by Gertrude Jekyll.
• Southall Memorial Garden — a hemlock tree grove, with mixed plantings and an open grassy area for gatherings.
• Southwestern Garden — plants from Mexico and the American Southwest, including Agave, Dasylirion, Echinocactus, Hesperaloe, Nolina, Opuntia, and Yucca.
• Winter Garden — plants at their best in winter, including Cryptomeria, Chamaecyparis, Cornus officinalis 'Kintoki', Edgeworthia chrysantha, Epimedium, Hamamelis, Helleborus × hybridus, Ilex, Iris unguicularis, Prunus mume 'Rose Glow', and Yucca.