The Queen City | Wing Haven Garden & Bird Sanctuary

A neighborhood adventure to Wing Haven Garden & Bird Sanctuary

We ventured out for a walk the other weekend and wound our way around the neighborhood until Greg and I remembered that Wing Haven Garden and Bird Sanctuary was just around the corner and open on a Saturday morning. We had visited the garden recently when we listened to Amy Stewart give a talk about her new book The Drunken Botanist; however, we had never been during the daylight hours and the girls had never been at all.

As soon as we checked in, the girls were outfitted with binoculars, clipboards, activity guides, and a bird watching chart. Judy, the volunteer host, greeted us and have us an entertaining and brief history about the house and gardens and sent us out exploring. 

Wing Haven is actually two gardens. According to the brochure, "A generation ago two extraordinary women named Elizabeth lived and gardened just down the street from one another…" In 1927, Elizabeth and Edwin Clarkson moved into their newly built home and began creating the spectacular garden (almost 3 acres of manicured beauty) that exists today. "Elizabeth Lawrence wrote the book on southern gardening: This Elizabeth, author of A Southern Garden, designed her garden as a plant laboratory in which she might grow some of everything that grows."
If you ever get the chance, I encourage you to explore this little gem in the heart of Myers Park.