Stop and smell the roses .....

Edisto Memorial Gardens in Orangeburg SC is a place of history and beauty.  in 1865, a force of about 600 Confederate soldiers gathered on this land to defend the Edisto River Bridge.  Occupying rifle pits, the soldiers temporarily halted the advance of the Union Army.  These defenders were later outflanked by a much larger force and compelled to withdraw to Columbia.

The site was first developed as a garden in the 1920's with some azaleas on five acres of land. To extend the season of flowering beauty, the first rose garden was planted in 1951. Today there are over 5,000 rose plants, and Edisto is an official Display and Test Garden for All-America Rose Selections.

The gardens display past and current award-winning roses.  They come in every size, shape and color -and we were there after the peak bloom!

It's not just roses - the Gardens also also feature sculptures, fountains, lakes and streams, century-old moss covered oaks and cypress trees, azaleas, camellias, cherry trees and other flowering plants. 

And don't forget the resident waterfowl.

A nice contrast to all those flowers is the Horne Wetlands Park, the newest addition to the gardens.  The park features a 2600-foot boardwalk through a tupelo/cypress swamp along the North Fork of the Edisto River - the longest black water river in the world. 

The Edisto Memorial Gardens are open seven days a week, dawn to dusk.  Admission is free.  Check it out.