Marty Whaley's Flat Rock Garden
/Flat Rock Together recently had the opportunity to sit down with Marty Whaley Adams Cornwell to discuss her spectacular Flat Rock garden. The garden was featured this summer in a tour organized by Historic Flat Rock. Marty and her husband Charles also maintain the famous Mrs. Whaley’s Garden at the home in Charleston, SC. Here is an excerpt of our conversation
Flat Rock Together:
What was the inspiration for creating this beautiful garden?
Marty:
I think the setting, my love of flowers and gardens, and designing - all of which I shared with my mother. She showed me how much fun it can be when you do it yourself.
So, to think of NOT having a garden is strange. I'm from a family on both sides that lived off the land - which means gardening and farming. There was always incorporated in the farm, a beautiful garden. As a matter of fact, my grandfather had a two-acre garden made mostly of camellias that he put in shows, constantly putting them into competition.
And that was a thing about my grandmother's garden - her dining room table on Sunday was just breathtaking with what was blooming in her garden. She never thought of going to a florist. You couldn't get flowers at a grocery store the way you can now. So it's been important for me to always have flowers in the house, especially if they can come from the garden.
Flat Rock Together:
Did you garden as a girl? Did you learn from your family?
Marty:
My grandmother wanted to always show me the newest thing that was blooming, and it would be extraordinary to go around a corner and see her zinnias, for instance, all different colors, with squamagira lilies coming up through them. And it was like, "How'd this happen?" Of course, it was her partnership with nature.
And my mother, of course, had to have a garden. She started the one at Church Street (in Charleston, SC), I think out of loneliness for the country, where she would ride horses with her mother and was constantly active. And it was just set in the most beautiful long setting in downtown Charleston. And it's still there, of course, that Charles and I are maintaining.
It was awe-inspiring to walk into the garden. Mama would have planted 200 or 300 tulip bulbs, 200 or 300 Dutch Irish bulbs, along with snapdragons and stocks that she had started in June and July from seed. She had a lighting system and she would light that thing up at night, and it was like you thought you'd gone to heaven. It was extraordinary.
Flat Rock Together:
How does your Flat Rock garden compare with other gardens that you’ve had in your life?
Marty:
This garden has a flavor and a character and a charm that none of the other gardens had. And I'd like to think mama would be thrilled with what I've done. She and I kind of started it. The birds love it, the animals love it, and it draws them. We often see squirrels, chipmunks, birds. So this is also a place to sit and enjoy nature, the animals, the fauna.
Flat Rock Together:
How long has this garden been in process?
Marty:
So, we bought the house in 1982. I remember planting all different colors - gradations of pink impatiens. And it was lovely. So I built on that and thought, "Okay, what else could be done down here?" And then I got into the flowering shrubs, the dwarf flowering shrubs, which will come back no matter what. When I come up here in the winter and cannot even put a stick into the dirt, I just am amazed that these flat plants can come back. But they are really alive and under that ground, and it's frozen. So I have a huge amount of admiration for these plants more than in Charleston because it's more tropical there.
Flat Rock Together:
Thinking about your art and your gardening - how do those two passions interact in your life?
Marty:
Well, I've always adored painting still life, and there's nothing like picking a flower out of a garden and setting it up. The garden actually inspires me to want to paint.
Flat Rock Together:
Would you say that gardening is as artistic an endeavor as your painting?
Marty:
Absolutely. It's like painting a picture. It's like I need a break here where there's nothing going on or I need something there. And I think the way I've put this birdhouse here absolutely takes your eye on down into the lake and the mountains beyond. So I think this garden is very much like a painting.
Flat Rock Together:
Do you think your mother would approve of your garden now?
Marty:
She would say, "Bravo. Good for you for persisting." She would probably say it's time to stop. Of course, you can't ever stop in a garden, it's always fluid. But I think my mother would agree with me, that this is a more enjoyable garden. It's summertime, we can be out here. In winter, it's cold in Charleston and we can't be in the garden the way we can here.
Flat Rock Together:
Is your garden an extension of your house - another room perhaps?
Marty:
Yes! Here we sit on the end of this porch and we're able to integrate ourselves both physically and spiritually with what goes on out here day after day, which is extraordinary. To think back in June we had a maze of blue hydrangeas. Most of this garden was blue, and now you've got something completely different, and in a month you'll have something completely different, which is just as beautiful. It's a thing to sit and enjoy and wonder about, nature is all through here, with the birds and the hummingbirds, the bees.
Flat Rock Together:
Is your garden done? Will it ever be done?
Marty:
A garden is never done! There is always something that needs attention. Another idea to explore. It is a challenge. But gardens add so much to our lives.
