Park Seed Company Gardens

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The Park Seed Company/Wayside Gardens national headquarters complex is surrounded by 9 acres of gardens. Photo by Christa Hanson, provided courtesy of Park Seed Company.

The national headquarters for Park Seed Company and Wayside Gardens is located in Greenwood, South Carolina. The headquarters complex is surrounded by nine acres of gardens that are maintained by the Park Seed Company for many purposes. In addition to supporting scientific and horticultural experimentation, they are a source of aesthetic pleasure and inspiration to employees, community members, and visitors from around the world.

Park Seed Company's annual Flower Day is the only day each year when the company’s professional horticulturists give guided tours of the gardens. In 1967, Flower Day gave rise to the South Carolina Festival of Flowers, which through the years has become a three-week-long celebration encompassing garden tours, art and photography competitions, a triathlon, and numerous other cultural and recreational activities.

The Park Seed Company Gardens include their own Trial Garden, All-America Selections trials, and various theme gardens. Photo by Ron Breazeale, provided courtesy of Park Seed Company.

1 Park Seed Trial Garden
2 Park Seed Theme Gardens
3 Park Seed Garden Gallery
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Park Seed Trial Garden

The Park Seed Trial Garden provides a living laboratory where Park Seed Company’s research horticulturists can compare the quality of industry standard plants with new varieties being offered by plant developers. Each year, Park Seed Company conducts trials on more than 2,000 varieties, all hand planted and tended. Trials run January through August for warm season annuals, October through February for cool season annuals, and all year long for permanent plantings of perennials. Park Seed’s trial garden is part of the prestigious All-America Selections (AAS) program. Park Seed Company has been very active with AAS since the mid-1950s. Park Seed staff horticultural experts frequently serve as AAS judges, and five Park Seed executives have served as AAS president.

The Rose Garden is one of several theme gardens that Park Seed Company maintains for their own testing and to provide inspiration to visiting garden enthusiasts. Photo by Ashley Sheets, provided courtesy of Park Seed Company.

[edit] Park Seed Theme Gardens

In addition to the strict structure of the trial gardens, the Park Seed Company Gardens also encompass numerous special-focus areas in landscape settings. These areas demonstrate how various plants harmonize with each other and provide design ideas for visitors at every level of gardening expertise. Park Seed maintains a Rose garden, a container display garden, deer-resistant shade and sun gardens, a drought-tolerant garden, an ornamental grasses display, a tropical garden, and a butterfly/hummingbird garden, among others.

[edit] Park Seed Garden Gallery

This gallery of garden photographs provides a sense of the range and beauty of the Park Seed Company Gardens.

Welcome to the Park Seed Company/Wayside Gardens national headquarters and 9-acre garden!	Lovely gardens welcome visitors to the Park Seed Company business office.	Masses of flowers attract birds and butterflies, who appreciate this birdbath nestled in the bushes.	Visitors to the Park Seed Company Gardens appreciate the variety of shapes, colors, and textures on display.
Garden sculpture adds an amusing twist to a garden stroll.	Water features are always popular, and this water garden at Park Seed contrasts nicely with the nearby Rose Garden.	Benches scattered throughout the 9-acre garden provide welcome relief to weary wanderers.	To provide shade for testing sun-shy plants, Park Seed maintains a large pergola.
Container plants are in high demand, so Park Seed tests many varieties in containers.	Gazing balls are supposed to bring good luck, so Park Seed's garden designers made sure to include one.	Arching trees frame a lovely vista across the gardens at Park Seed Company.	With more than 48,000 plants on display, there's something to please the eye wherever you turn at the Park Seed Company Gardens.