Massee Lane Gardens (9 acres) are

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

s focusing on

camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in tropical and subtropical areas in East Asia, eastern and South Asia, southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are ...

s, located at the American Camellia Society headquarters, 100 Massee Lane,

Fort Valley, Georgia Fort Valley is a city in and the county seat of Peach County, Georgia, Peach County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 8,780. The city is in the Warner R ...

. They are open to the public for an admission fee. The gardens were originally created by David C. Strother in the 1930s within the property around his farm house. In 1966, he donated his property to the American Camellia Society. Its headquarters building was completed in 1968 and named in his honor. The T. J. Smith Memorial Greenhouse was constructed in 1969, and now houses some 200 camellia plants. Today the gardens contain more than 1,000 varieties of

, as well as the Abendroth

Japanese Garden are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden desig ...

with

tea house A teahouse or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel, especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment that only ser ...

and

koi , or more specifically , are colored varieties of carp ('' Cyprinus'' sp.) that are kept for decorative purposes in outdoor koi ponds or water gardens. Koi is an informal name for the colored variants of carp kept for ornamental purposes. ...

fish, the Environmental Garden featuring plants native to the

southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also known as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States located in the eastern portion of the Southern United States and t ...

, the Scheibert Rose Garden with more than 150

rose A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...

s, and plantings of

azalea Azaleas ( ) are flowering shrubs in the genus ''Rhododendron'', particularly the former sections ''Rhododendron sect. Tsutsusi, Tsutsusi'' (evergreen) and ''Pentanthera'' (deciduous). Azaleas bloom in the spring (April and May in the temperate ...

chrysanthemum Chrysanthemums ( ), sometimes called mums or chrysanths, are flowering plants in the Asteraceae family. They are native to East Asia and northeastern Europe. Most species originate from East Asia, and the center of diversity is in China. Co ...

daffodil ''Narcissus'' is a genus of predominantly spring flowering perennial plants of the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae. Various common names including daffodil,The word "daffodil" is also applied to related genera such as '' Sternbergia'', '' ...

daphne Daphne (; ; , , ), a figure in Greek mythology, is a naiad, a variety of female nymph associated with fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of freshwater. There are several versions of the myth in which she appears, but t ...

daylilies A daylily, day lily or ditch-lily is a flowering plant in the genus ''Hemerocallis'' , a member of the family Asphodelaceae, subfamily Hemerocallidoideae, native to Asia. Despite the common name, it is not taxonomically classified in the lily gen ...

, and more. The Annabelle Lundy Fetterman Educational Museum in the visitor center features a large collection of

Boehm Boehm () is a German surname, transliterated from Böhm (literally: Bohemian, from Bohemia) or reflective of a spelling adopted by a given family before the introduction of the umlaut diacritic. It may refer to: * Aleksandra Ziółkowska-Boehm (bo ...

porcelain. The visitor center also includes a slide show about the gardens, a gift shop, auditorium and reception room.

Gallery

Massee Lane Gardens roadsign.JPG, Annabelle Lundy Fetterman building.JPG, Camellia japonica 'Monjusu'.jpg, Informational sign at Massee Lane Gardens.jpg, Massee Lane Gardens pathway.jpg, 17 05 034 massee lane.jpg, 17 05 027 massee lane.jpg, Massee Lane Gardens fish pond.JPG, Abendroth Japanese Garden

Gallery

See also