I have to write a whole blog post about this place because it’s one of my favorite places, both to take pictures and just to walk around. There’s so much here that I can’t just show one or two photos to show you what it has to offer. I’ll also show you some photos taken throughout the year so you can get a better idea of what the scenery will look like at the time of your session.
The South Carolina Botanical Gardens is at the Clemson University campus. Clemson, my alma mater, was founded as Clemson Agricultural College, and so much of the university’s culture is still rooted in agriculture. I mean, their signature ice cream and blue cheese comes from cows raised by the students—check out the ‘55 Exchange when you visit! All around Clemson’s campus, you’ll see a variety of plants that change colors at different times. It’s not unusual to see a class stopping at a tree and taking notes. It’s no wonder that a school like this would have such a wonderfully diverse botanical garden. Every time I go, a different spot stands out to me because of how the plants change through the year. I have my pre-designated spots to stop at, but I usually find different spots along the way that look pretty.
The entrance to the garden features Palmetto trees, South Carolina’s state tree. You can also find some throughout the Maritime Garden, which I’ll highlight later, but you don’t see them much in the upstate.
Take a left at the entrance and you’ll find the main parking lot, which brings you to the caboose garden. There’s an amphitheater here, a bell, and some cool overhangs. PS: this caboose is a much safer alternative to taking pictures on railroad tracks!
The Duck Pond has a beautiful Japanese-style pier. And ducks, but they tend to not cooperate for taking photos.
The Xeriscape Garden, near the Duck Pond, has a white gazebo, which would be a beautiful setting for an intimate wedding.
If you turn right after the main entrance instead of left, you’ll find an easily overlooked part of the garden, which includes exhibits like the Desert Garden, Jurassic Garden, and ones that represent the state of South Carolina, like the Maritime Garden, Prairie Garden, and the Carnivorous Garden. The Desert Garden is one of my favorite parts because you probably won’t find plants like this in many places east of the Mississippi River.
One thing I love about the South Carolina Botanical Gardens is that I don’t have to get there at the peak times in the spring or fall to find seasonal color. Different plants show their colors at different times, so a March session and an April session will both look like the ultimate spring session, but will probably have different places featured. This session was at the end of February, but we found one pink tree and one white tree to use.
This session was in mid-March, when most of the trees here turn white and a few are pink. What I consider “peak” is usually the end of March through the second week of April, but look how much color we got when we weren’t even in that window!
This bridal portrait session was late May in the same year—we still had a spring feel with the flowers, but also the full green trees of summer.
This session was in the summer, when all the plants are in full swing—especially the desert garden. That glowy light on the willow tree is everything I want to illustrate a summer evening!
For this fall session, we missed peak foliage by less than a week, and most of the trees were bare by the time we got there. We looked around and some orange and yellow caught our eye, so we used those spots as much as we could. I believe this was the last day of November and these 4 spots were all the color that was left. We usually don’t have much fall color before the beginning of November, but I’ve had some photos with yellow trees in the first week of December before.
This elopement was on New Year’s Eve. There were some coniferous trees that still gave us some green that time of year, but there’s enough scenery for us to still have a beautiful setting for our photos, even without flowers.
No matter the time of year, the South Carolina Botanical Gardens is a picturesque place for your wedding, your portrait session, or just a nice walk! Check out some more of my work from the gardens, or click here to get started with planning your own photos there!
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Katie and Matt were my very first elopement couple. When they were about to become first-time parents, we came back to some of the places where they spent their elopement day!