Camellias at Massee Lane Gardens: Winter Day Trip from Atlanta

This Camellia Garden is a Hidden Gem south of Atlanta

Did you know that there is an amazing winter garden less than two hours south of Atlanta off of I-75?  Massee Lane Gardens in Fort Valley, Georgia is the home of the American Camellia Society.  I don’t think of the winter season as the best time to visit a garden.  Although this may be true, winter is this garden’s peak blooming season!  In fact, Winter Rose is another name for the camellia.  Visiting Massee Lane Gardens makes an excellent day trip on a winter weekend.

One February, my family was in need of a winter excursion to get us out of the house.  We have a camellia in our yard that blooms from the beginning of the year through March.  For this reason, I knew that a garden with a variety of camellias would provide spectacular color to a winter’s day.  I read about Massee Lane Gardens in Fort Valley, Georgia and decided that we must make the trip on Valentine’s Day which fell over winter break.

The Best Time to Visit the Camellia Garden

February is the best time to visit the gardens because it is peak blooming season for this winter beauty.  The American Camellia Society celebrates the Festival of Camellias for the entire month of February.  Camellias season runs from September through April.  However, Massee Lane Gardens blooms year-round, so no matter when you come, the garden will be lovely.

Double check the Massee Lane Gardens website for days and hours that the garden is open.  While the garden is open seven days a week in February, it closed some days during the rest of the year. Check the schedule for hours and daily availability. 

Valentine’s Day at the Camellia Garden

Visiting Massee Lanes Gardens to celebrate Valentine’s Day is a treat.  Pink water filled the fountain in the courtyard of the visitor’s center to celebrate the holiday.

Arriving at the Camellia Gardens

Free parking is available around the rear of the visitor’s center.  We purchased our tickets in the gift shop.  Children under 12 years old receive free admission to the gardens. 

Scavenger Hunt for Kids

The gardens offer a scavenger to make the visit engaging for kids.  Of course my son participated in the scavenger hunt during our visit.  The garden gave him a list of items to collect.  While we toured the garden, he collected items such as tree bark, berries, and camellia petals.  He saved his finds in an egg crate that the garden provided.  At the end of our visit, he turned in his eggcrate at the gift shop.  They presented him with a large prize box.  He happily took his time making a selection. 

Researching Camellias

I wanted to learn about the camellia in our backyard. The staff member in the giftshop gave me the card for Massee Lane Garden’s horticulturalist.  Additionally, she showed us a catalog of camellias that we could order. We found our camellia at the end of the catalog: a Professor Charles S. Sargent, 1908.

Camellia Exhibits

The building across the parking lot from the visitor’s center housed cuttings of assorted camellia flowers. They had examples from different time periods and samples showing the type of flower formation.  We found a cutting that confirmed the name of the camellia in our yard.

Our camellia is a Professor Charles S. Sargent, which is an heirloom camellia with an anemone flower formation. Although it was dated 1925, we found it in other locations in the garden where it was labeled 1908. Significantly, the earlier date coincides with the completion of construction on our house. 

Berckmans/Fruitland Nursery in Augusta

Upon further research, we discovered that Berckmans/Fruitland Nursery in Augusta cultivated our camellia variety in the United States. The Berckmans’ family home, Fruitland Manor, is now the clubhouse for Augusta National Golf Club.  As a matter of fact, the Berckmans helped Bobby Jones design two golf courses following the sale of the property.  Consequently, ornamental plants grown and developed by the Berckmans family still landscape the golf courses today.

Types of Camellias

Touring Massee Lane Gardens

Formal Camellia Garden

After that we ventured out into the Formal Camellia Garden. We found so many different types blooming all at once. A few of them were full of buds and had not popped yet. Some camellias finished blooming. Undoubtedly, February is the month when the most camellias are in bloom, so it is the best time to visit the garden. This garden is almost 10 acres and contains over 1000 varieties of camellias. The camellias and other plants are clearly labeled in case you want to learn more about something you see. Surprisingly, something is always blooming from September until April.

Japanese Garden

The Abendroth Japanese Garden surprised us at the end of the Formal Camellia Garden. It was tucked away behind a wall like a secret garden. My family was undoubtedly happy to discover it, however my daughter did not care for the carp in the pond. My son enjoyed crossing the pond on the carefully placed gristmill stones and examining the fish.  There is a small pavilion with a bench where you can sit and enjoy the serene environment. This section was my favorite part of the gardens.

Gristmill Stones

We returned through the Formal Camellia Garden, passing a restroom on the right. In particular, I admired the scattering of pink camellia petals on the brick and gristmill stone paths.  The garden designer placed forty-two granite stones from abandoned gristmills in middle Georgia throughout the garden. 

The TJ Smith Memorial Greenhouse

Next, we stopped in the Smith Landscaped Greenhouse. Inside, we saw a verity of camellias and some hanging plants. The plants in the greenhouse include tender species that are not hardy enough to grow outdoors in Georgia.  Outside the greenhouse, note the “Dawn Redwood.” This deciduous “fossil” tree is a member of the sequoia family. Experts thought that the species was extinct. Surprisingly, the tree was rediscovered in the 1930. Gardens across the country like this one received seeds to share the tree with their visitors.

Azalea Garden, Environmental Garden & Children’s Garden

We visited the pavilion near the lake. There is an Azalea Garden that blooms from March into April. Hike around the lake to observe the wetlands, passing the Environment Garden with long leaf pines and the Children’s Garden. A picnic area is located near the children’s garden.  We brought a picnic lunch with us. 

The Daylilies in the adjacent garden generally bloom from May until June. The garden contains a number of varieties and colors of daylilies. Another restroom is located in this area. You will pass the Old Mule Barn on the way to the Wishing Well. These are remnants of the original farmstead. The iron gates near the well were the original entrance to the garden when David Strother donated the property to the American Camellia Society in the 1960s.

The Ackerman Camellia Garden & Edward Marshall Boehm

1937 saw the construction of an additional camellia garden. The Ackerman Camellia Gardens has a formal Georgian design. It includes a fountain and brick walkways.

The Stevens-Taylor Porcelain Gallery is a small structure in the garden that invites you to duck inside.  It contains porcelain sculptures by the artist, Edward Marshall Boehm. He is known for his sculptures of birds, botanicals, and wildlife.  Mrs. Mildred Taylor Stevens of Macon donated the pieces in 1972. You can view more ceramics in the galleries in the visitor’s center.

The New Camellia Garden

The New Camellia Garden is continually being expanding.  It features new camellia collections.  Here, gardeners can evaluate these camellias for their landscape potential.  In addition, this area also features camellias that are grown for tea and others that are grown for tea oil

The Schelbert Rose Garden

Finally, the last garden to explore in the way back to the main building, is the Schelbert Rose Garden. The roses bloom from the summer months into the fall.

History of the Camellia Garden

This land was part of a plantation owned by the Massee family.  Massee descendants still live in their family home on an adjacent property. Dave Strother purchased Massee Lane as a peach farm in the early 1900s.  Strother greatly enjoyed the camellias around Fort Valley, many of which were brought from Augusta in the 1860s and 1870s. 

After a storm destroyed his peach crop in 1936, Strother began to plant camellias in their place.  He slowly expanded the garden and built brick walkways.  He donated his extensive camellia garden, farmhouse and the rest of his 150-acre farm to the American Camellia Society for use as its headquarters in 1966. 

Visiting the Garden

We spent two hours exploring the garden after eating our picnic lunch.  The day we visited, the weather was drippy and wet.  Despite the less than desirable conditions, we thoroughly enjoyed touring the garden.  I believe that we would have spent more time there if the sun had been out.  I recommend planning to spend 2 to 3 hours at a minimum visiting Massee Lane Gardens.

This is a beautiful place!  You will find so many photo opportunities here.  This garden will appeal to anyone who enjoys flowers and beautiful spaces.  It is an invigorating garden to visit in the dead of winter.  Unquestionably, it is the perfect place for a couple to take a day trip – especially around Valentine’s Day.  If you have kids, the scavenger hunt will keep them entertained and the prizes at the end were first rate.  I recommend this garden to friends as well.  What a beautiful place to spend an afternoon.

The Georgia Camellia Trail

Massee Lane Gardens is the highlight of Georgia’s Camellia Trail.  There are 30 gardens featuring camellias on this list.  If you only plan to go see one camellia garden – Massee Lane Gardens is the one to visit!  Visit the Garden’s website for information about admission, hours, directions, plant sales, and special events.

Do you have camellias in your yard?  Have you visited other gardens on the Camellia Trail?  Have you been to Massee Lane Gardens?  Or do you plan to go?  Let me know in the comments!

In for Later!