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Kalmia Gardens of Coker University - The Laurel Branch

May 02, 2025

Welcome to our e-newsletter, "The Laurel Branch."

Darlington County Master Gardener Plant Sale a Success
For three days, the Darlington County Master Gardener Association helped to connect the community with an array of plants for their home landscapes. Hosted at Kalmia Gardens at the Joslin Education Center, Darlington County Master Gardeners and Kalmia volunteers answered shoppers’ questions and helped them find the perfect plants for their gardens. Guests were delighted with the broad selection of plants, including annuals, trees and shrubs, grasses, perennials, edibles, and even carnivorous plants!
Although this year’s sale may be over, the Darlington County Master Gardeners are already beginning to plan for next year’s!

Celebrating Earth Day the Kalmia Gardens’ Way!
Saturday, April 12th, marked Earth Day at Kalmia Gardens. Vendors and exhibitors throughout the area united to celebrate Mother Nature with the community. Music could be heard throughout the festival, trained dogs performed tricks, a yoga class took place at the observation deck, and crafts ranging from transforming trash to art to creating natural bird feeders dominated the day. Our Earth Day celebration is an annual tradition, and we can’t wait until next year to do it all over again!

Is Your Child Ready for a Week in the Wild?
Are you looking for something a little bit different this summer for your child’s summer break? Kalmia Gardens’ youth summer camp, Week in the Wild, is currently accepting registration for rising first through rising sixth graders. This eco-based summer camp takes your child into the wilds of Kalmia Gardens to explore the diverse environments found in the natural areas and the manicured gardens, experiencing it all with games, crafts and more! To sign up, call (843) 383-8145 while space is still available! Each camp is $125 per camper, credit card fees apply; checks and cash are also accepted.

July 7th – 11th 9 a.m. – Noon: Rising first and second graders
July 14th – 18th 9 a.m. – Noon: Rising third and fourth graders
July 21st – 25th 9 a.m. – Noon: Rising fifth and sixth graders

Cultivating Knowledge: A Lecture Series Continues
Kalmia Gardens’ is pleased to continue its adult education lecture series, Cultivating Knowledge. Join us May 21st from noon to 1 p.m. when Becky Ryon, North Coast Office Director for the Coastal Conservation League, presents Shuck it in the Bin. Becky will discuss the importance of recycling oyster shells and maintaining our estuaries. With an oyster recycling location available right here at Kalmia Gardens, and of course with the annual Oyster Roast, near and dear to our hearts, we can't wait to learn more - be sure to join us!

Tickets are available HERE for purchase for $5. Multiple tickets may be purchased, but the form must be completed for each ticket purchase. Pre-registration is required. Lectures are held at the Joslin Education Center.
Save the dates for the following lectures coming later this year!

June 18, 2025, Noon - 1 p.m.
Using Pesticides Safely and Effectively
Brad Fowler, Urban Horticulture Extension Agent, Horry and Georgetown Counties
Pre-Register and Purchase Tickets HERE
August 20, 2025, Noon - 1 p.m.
Garden Delicious: Using Edible Plants in Ornamental Garden Designs
Jimmy Brandt, Horticulture Supervisor at Moore Farms Botanical Garden
Pre-Register and Purchase Tickets HERE
September 17, 2025 Noon - 1 p.m.
Let's Talk about the Birds and the Bees: Backyard Birding and Beyond
Mary Ridgeway, Director Emeritus of Kalmia Gardens
Pre-Registration and Purchase Tickets HERE
October 15, 2025, Noon - 1 p.m.
Beekeeping 101: From Honeybee Biology to Starting Your Own Hive
Laura Del Vecchio, Senior Horticulturist and Resident Beekeeper at Moore Farms Botanical Garden
Pre-Register and Purchase Tickets HERE

Welcome Kalmia Gardens' New Board Chair
Kalmia Gardens’ is pleased to announce David Hubert as the new chair of Kalmia Gardens’ Advisory Board. David Hubert, a New Jersey native, has dedicated his life to the hospitality industry, with a career spanning several decades. A graduate of the New York Restaurant School in NYC, he has served as executive chef and owner of acclaimed restaurants across Manhattan, Yonkers, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, and Las Vegas. Known for his passion for refined cuisine and warm service, David brought his talents to Hartsville in 2021 at the historic Oak Manor Inn. As an avid gardener, he is excited to serve in this role supporting Kalmia Gardens.
As David steps into his role as chair of Kalmia Gardens’ Advisory Board, we bid farewell to our former chair, Susan Lee, who served on the board for six years, including two years as chair of the Board. We are grateful to have had Susan’s time, care, and guidance.

Thank You to Duke Energy!
Kalmia Gardens relies on funding from both individual donors and through grants to keep the grounds in the tip top shape it is today. In honor of Earth Month in April, Duke Energy selected Kalmia Gardens to receive grant funding towards improvements to the grounds. We can't wait to keep making an even better Kalmia Gardens to be enjoyed by our community. We appreciate Duke Energy for funding us as we continue to keep Kalmia Gardens open and accessible to all!

Naturally Trimmed Elegance
Director Emeritus of Kalmia Gardens, Mary Ridgeway, joined the current Kalmia Gardens staff to prune the boxwoods in the Formal Garden. The formality of the hedge created by the boxwood lends itself well to the manicured appearance of the Formal Garden. Grounds Supervisor, Chris Pierce, is seen below working on pruning back growth to keep the plants from becoming too large. While boxwood can be clipped back with hedge trimmers, here at Kalmia Gardens, we prefer a more natural look, opting to use hand pruners to achieve the loose and organic flow of the shrub, as opposed to the crisp and angular lines derived from shearing.

Chris’s Tip
It’s that time of year again – planting time. Some of you may have already finished getting your plants in the ground, while others may still be working out the finishing touches, while still more may only be getting around to planting now. May is still a good time to get plants in the ground, but you probably don’t want to push it much further back. Once you start getting into June, your plants may struggle to establish as they combat high temperatures and humidity alongside trying to get adequate water - kind of like us humans!
For those of you that haven’t planted yet, I wanted to share some basic planting design tips to help you create the most beautiful garden you can, without driving yourself crazy trying to figure out how! The first tip is to research how tall your plants will get, and keep that in mind when it's time to lay out and plant your garden. This is often as easy as checking your plant tag from the store, or your seed packet. While our plants may look tiny in the pots, they often don’t stay that way. Make sure to figure out how tall, and even how wide, your plant is anticipated to grow. This next part may sound like common sense, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t do this. Once you figure out how tall your plants get, ensure that you are placing your taller plants behind your short plants, so you can see everything. Don’t be fooled if all the plants look to be about the same size in their pots – you’ll save yourself time, aggravation, and create a great display with this simple step.
The other tip I want to share with you for creating a great garden, is to determine the conditions of your planting site. Do you have full sun, part sun, full shade? Does your soil drain well or does it stay damp most of the time? Are you dealing with a sandy soil that is loose, or a clay soil that is sticky? Making these observations will help to ensure appropriate plant selections, so you’re not sticking a plant that loves dense shade and moist soil, into a full sun spot with sandy soil that’s hard to keep moist.
So, what are our takeaways for a successful garden display? Determine the heights of your plants and keep the shorter plants in front of the taller ones to see your full garden and create layers of interest. Plus, make sure you are planting for the conditions your garden has to ensure your plants are successful, healthy, and happy!

Dan’s Interesting Plant
Kalmia Gardens could have chosen anything as its namesake, but the magnificent Kalmia latifolia, or Mountain Laurel, was selected. Once known as Laurel Land, the area that makes up Kalmia Gardens and beyond is filled with Mountain Laurels growing along the slope of the sixty foot bluff. As the name would lead you to believe, Mountain Laurels do grow well along mountains, but they can grow in a number of conditions.
In late April into May, we revel in the beauty of the unique flowers of these large shrubs or small multi-stemmed trees. The flowers are often white with a red-pink coloration in the center, lined with stamens that are held tight against the petals and are “activated” when insects brush against them, causing them to dislodge and triggering the stamens to engage and deposit their pollen on the unwitting insect, which then unknowingly pollinates future flowers it visits. The mechanism of the Mountain Laurel is as beautiful as it is thoughtful in its complexity (isn’t nature amazing?).
Although a highly ornamental plant, it’s also interesting to note that Mountain Laurels are ranked as being a highly flammable plant. That may seem like an odd thing to measure, but with wildfires creating problems in the southeast, it is worth noting. While this doesn’t mean you couldn’t plant a Mountain Laurel in your home garden, it does mean it would be ill advised to plant it too close to your house, in the hopefully unlikely event there was a fire near your home.
This is a plant we want to appreciate with our eyes, and not our mouths. Mountain Laurel is also known to be highly toxic and can be cause severe symptoms if ingested. Fortunately, if you are simply enjoying their visual beauty and not doing a taste test, you should be just fine!

Beautiful Plants of Kalmia Gardens
Anise, Florida (Illicium floridanum)
Anisetree (Illicium anisatum)
Bladderwort (Utricularia inflata)
Butterfly Weed (Ascelpias tuberosa)
Cherry Laurel (Prunus laurocerasus)
Crossvine (Bignonia capreolata)
Dogwood, Chinese (Cornus kousa)
Fetterbush (Lyonia lucida)
Heartleaf (Asarum arifolium)
Galax (Nemophila aphylla)
Honeysuckle, Coral (Lonicera sempervirens)
Leucothoe (Leucothoe axillaris)
Magnolia, 'Little Gem' (Magnolia grandiflora 'Little Gem')
Magnolia, Sweet Bay (Magnolia virginiana)
Mock Orange (Philadelphus inodorus)
Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia)
Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera)
Photinia (Photinia serrulata)
Pomegranate (Punica granatum)
Privet, Chinese (Ligustrum sinense)
Privet, Japanese (Ligustrum japonicum)
Sparkleberry (Vaccinium arboreum)
Sweet Pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia)
Titi (Cyrilla racemiflora)
Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera)
Virginia Willow (Itea virginica)

EVENTS:
Cultivating Knowledge: A Lecture Series
Shuck it in the Bin May 21, Noon - 1 p.m.
Cultivating Knowledge: A Lecture Series
Using Pesticides Safely and Effectively June 18, Noon - 1 p.m.
Week in the Wild Youth Summer Camp:
1st and 2nd Grade: July 7 - 11, 2025 9 a.m. - Noon
3rd and 4th Grade July 14 – 18, 2025 9 a.m. - Noon
5th and 6th Grade: July 21 – 25, 2025 9 a.m. - Noon
Registration for all camps open now!
Cultivating Knowledge: A Lecture Series
Garden Delicious: Using Edible Plants in Ornamental Garden Designs Aug 20, Noon - 1 p.m.
Cultivating Knowledge: A Lecture Series
Let's Talk about the Birds and the Bees: Backyard Birding and Beyond Sept. 17, Noon - 1 p.m.
Cultivating Knowledge: A Lecture Series
Beekeeping 101: From Honeybee Biology to Starting Your Own Hive Oct. 15, Noon - 1 p.m.

Find Us On Facebook and Instagram
If you are on Facebook or Instagram, make sure you “like” Kalmia Gardens on Facebook and "follow" Kalmia Gardens on Instagram. It’s a great way to hear about events, stay updated on what’s happening, and view some nice pictures. We look forward to seeing your “thumbs up.”

Supporting Kalmia Gardens
Kalmia Gardens is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public garden that is kept free and open to the public thanks to generous contributions from our donors. If you would like to support Kalmia Gardens in any amount, please consider making a tax deductible donation here.