Bamboo Farm and Coastal Gardens

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bamboo Farm and Coastal Gardens (52 acres) is an experimental research station and botanical garden located at 2 Canebrake Road, Savannah, Georgia. The gardens are open daily, except holidays, without charge.

The garden's collections began in 1890 when Mrs. H. B. Miller planted three giant Japanese bamboo plants. By 1915 they had formed a bamboo grove, which drew the attention of noted botanist and plant explorer David Fairchild. In 1919 Barbour Lathrop, a friend of Fairchild's, purchased the site and leased it to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for $1. Lathrop traveled extensively throughout China and Japan collecting specimens for the garden; the USDA also collected and planted specimens. In 1979 the USDA closed the site. It was deeded to the University of Georgia in 1983 and now forms part of its College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Today the gardens contain more than 140 bamboo varieties, said to be the largest bamboo collection open to the public in North America. Most specimens were planted in the 1920s. It also contains 35 palm species in an effort begun in 1998 by the Southeastern Palm and Exotic Plant Society, as well as collections of vines and daylilies. There are two display gardens: