A sure harbinger of spring is the annual Cassina Garden Club Tabby and Tillandsia Garden Walk. The 17th annual event will occur on Saturday, April 29 and Garden Walk Co-Chairs Judie Mattie and Julie Sellers say this year’s Garden Walk, featuring six gorgeous private gardens on St. Simons Island, is one you won’t want to miss! Guests are also invited to visit the Demere Butterfly Garden and enjoy the Garden Party and Members Cultivated Plant Sale at the Hamilton Plantation Tabby Cabins located on Gascoigne Bluff (1195 Arthur J. Moore Drive) from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Each garden included on the Garden Walk reflects the homeowners’ love of nature and tells a unique story of its own. Don’t worry if you’re not particularly plant savvy, docents will be available at each location to provide information on garden designs, features, and plantings. Those with both green and not-so-green thumbs will find inspiration in the wide variety of sights.
2023 Cassina Tabby & Tillandsia Garden Walk Committee
Here’s a preview of the gardens you’ll see on the Garden Walk. These are not listed in Tour Stop order.
There are two homes in Frederica: “High Heel Farms” is a showstopping estate garden. The owner is a devoted garden and beekeeper, so you won’t want to miss seeing her raised-bed hobby garden and the “shed” where she does her planting and potting and harvests the honey from hives located in the Frederica Community Garden. But before you get there, abundant native plants welcome you along the impressive driveway or byway of meandering paths. The pool area features a walkway of hand-crafted brick pavers, manicured lawn, beds of tropical plantings, and overflowing urns of seasonal color. They provide a perfect tableau for viewing from the screened porch, pool house, guest house, or simply the pool deck and adjacent outdoor kitchen. Around the corner is an expansive lawn flanked by stunning antique urns and a table overlooking Frederica Lake.
“Perfect Porches” is the moniker chosen to describe the Southern brick charmer that awaits beyond the expansive lawn and brick coping edge that approach wide welcoming porches with billowing pots. The landscape here is strong on form and function with a large bed of seasonal plantings, antique syrup kettle planter, and dramatic “Little Gem” Magnolia trees. The rear of the property boasts a magnificent hedge of Awabuki. An outdoor kitchen and screened in porch are ideal for year-round entertaining. The manicured terrace beckons visitors to cool off in its plunge pool on hot summer days. Easy coastal living at its finest!
Head to The Commons to see a compact yet charming space defined by hardscapes with rock, iron, and brick among the materials used. Juniper and firecracker plants buzzing with hummingbirds greet you at the entrance to this secret garden. Through the architectural garden gate, you’ll find a kitchen garden filled with vegetables. The garden owners have incorporated recycled Brunswick brick, pavers and curb stones into pathways, a barbeque pit, a poolside cabana, and a children’s playhouse. Fragrant vines and citrus trees welcome birds and butterflies while guests of the human variety will be charmed and enchanted by the pool with trickling waterfall and goldfish pond nearby. Sunny pathways are filled with colorful plants and collected garden ornaments while huge staghorn ferns and a Lady Sago Palm inhabit the small shady spot.
In Black Banks, you’ll see a stunning renovation rich with the charm of coastal living. A pergola gate lush with jasmine is framed by queen palms, cabbage palms and African Iris. A circular path leads to a modern fire pit surrounded by Bismarck palms showing off their spectacular silvery gray fronds. Large containers of Agave and the ever-gold grasses of Carex accent the sparkling pool. This inviting garden entreats you to stay and enjoy this playful area.
Nestled among stunning oaks in Sea Palms, is a “Coastal Classic” traditional ranch home boasting a front garden anchored by a large Date Palm surrounded with layers of boxwoods, sunshine Ligustrum, and seasonal color. Carex grasses and Agapanthus frame the front of the home in verdant shades, while the mature tree-form Camellias that dot the gardens add texture and color. More green awaits around back where the golf course and sparkling lake framed by oak trees set the backdrop for the garden. This cool, shady areas allows hydrangeas, ligustrum and basket grasses to thrive. Lowcountry plantings are shown off at their best in this spacious classic coastal garden.
This year’s Garden Walk also includes the gardens at the Grey Owl Inn. Built in the 1950s, The Grey Owl Inn was a private home for many years of the Gray family. The regal stand of centuries old trees creates a lush canopy to crown the sunlit grounds that have been beautifully enhanced over the years. The new owners have created a magnificent park setting, complete with a fishpond, water garden, boardwalk, and scenic bridge, with an exquisite gazebo as its focal point. The professionally designed landscaping includes many native plantings which add to the beauty of the significant mature gardens begun by the Grays. This idyllic enclave for relishing nature is a hidden gem in the heart of St. Simons Island.
Always open to the public, the Butterfly Garden at Demere Park has been the site of extensive redesign and maintenance by the Live Oak Garden Club. The garden’s major redesign took place in 2019 when more than 200 new plants were installed to attract and welcome the types of butterflies that call St. Simons Island home and encourage all four stages of their development. Butterflies can lay their eggs on the plentiful milkweed while abundant flowers provide food and water. The stationary butterflies you see “flying” throughout the garden were painted by local artist, Karen Keene Braswell, and represent the four most common butterflies that visit our island: Monarch, Tiger Swallowtail, Gulf Fritillary, and Painted Lady. Everyone is welcome to stop by and visit this tranquil spot which is enjoyed by many walkers and parents of children playing softball and skateboarding at the park.
Back at the Tabby Cabins at Gascoigne Bluff, there will be the Members Plant Sale and a Garden Party that begins at 3:30 p.m., featuring live music by Annie Akins and plein air artists creating colorful canvases on site. You do not need a ticket to attend. Tours of the cabins will be available during this time as well. Proceeds from the Garden Walk and Plant Sale will help maintain and preserve Cassina’s historic Tabby Cabins and gardens.
Tickets to tour the private gardens are $35 in advance and $40 on the day of the Garden Walk at the Will Call Table at the Tabby Cabins. Advance ticket purchases can be made at ACE Garden Center, GJ Ford Bookshop, St. Simons Drug Company, Righton Books and at cassinagardenclub.org.
