The national headquarters for Park Seed Company and Wayside Gardens is located in Greenwood, South Carolina. The headquarters complex is surrounded by 9 acres (36,000 m2) 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.
Contents
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.
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.
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.
Park Seed Garden Gallery
This gallery of garden photographs provides a sense of the range and beauty of the Park Seed Company Gardens.