One can perceive that spring was a long and lovely time full of fragrances and brightly flowered bulbs, early-blooming shrubs, and purple and gray violets.  Summer brought roses, gardenias, Cape jasmine and the scent of box (boxwood).  The end of summer brought lilies, crepe myrtle and members of the amaryllis family.  With groundcovers like periwinkle, borders of thrift and pinks, and edgings of box, the garden plan was secure throughout the year.  The walk to the "necessary" was lined with box and planted with bulbs to make passage pleasant.

Another plan of a documented southern garden, located at the Hermitage in Nashville, Tennessee, was built by Andrew Jackson in 1819.  Memories are of "old-fashioned pinks, peonies, verbenae, poppies, sunflowers, hyacinths and tulips."  One of Jackson's roses was the "Cherikee Rose," which arrived from China and became so well acclimatized that it was considered wild all across the south.  Its name was derived from the Indians Jackson fought.  Other memories include fig buses, flowering almond, cedar and magnolias.

By the mid-19th century, a whole new style of gardening arrived from abroad.  Where previously whole gardens were laid out with walkways, the new fashion advocated lawns interspersed with sudden random plantings of gigantic single plants and rows of identical small plants in contrasting colors, like ribbons.  This approach reflected the suburban desire to impress passing strangers.  It persists today in the placement of iron statues (of dogs or deer, for example) on front lawns facing the street.  Two things made these changes possible: 

• There was an influx of horticultural material from the North American Southwest and the South American tropics.

• The lifting of the tax on glass in England caused cold-frame and greenhouse culture to become popular for all social classes.  Vast supplies of small, brilliant annuals became available.

When Mrs. Craighead Davidson came to Rosedale in 1918, all that remained of the original garden was a row of English boxwood, a Chinquapin rosebush, an Oriental arborvitae, a flowering almond, and Roman hyacinths.  Beyond the original garden was the "necessary."

Realizing that gardens of the period proper to Rosedale were laid out in a formal style with places to stroll, Mrs. Davidson's design included a long walk and crosswalk with tall evergreens at the axis and additional small crosswalks. 

The beds were treated as parterres (ornamental gardens with paths between the beds) containing perennials and annuals.  She began work in the original garden site, keeping it in the English style with the arborvitae as the focal point and parterre beds lined with box.   Later, she added the rose garden, again with parterres bordered with box.

Mrs. Craighead Davidson now had three gardens located to the west of the house.  Closest to the street was the Rose Garden, behind that the Little Garden, and to the rear, the Main Garden. 

All three gardens were the same width and paralleled the original line of English boxwood.  Camellias, azaleas and Chinese tree peonies were introduced by Mrs. Davidson.

When the R. A. Dunn house, located next to the First Methodist Church, was demolished Mrs. Davidson bought part of the wrought ironwork and built a wall parallel to the original boxwoods. 

This formed the boxwood Alley, again proper to the classical garden.  The walk was 17 feet wide and 86 feet long.   The stones at the entrances to the Rose and Little Gardens are the soapstone steps from the old Jack Springs house on the square.

There were over 3,000 boxwoods in the garden, all grown from the line of original boxwood.  There are no clues as to where a kitchen and herb garden were planted.  We are not certain whether the original drive ran as it does now.  Family members recall that a front walk ran in a direct line from the front steps for some feet where there was a paling fence and gate.  The rest of the front lawn was pasture, which was scythed for hay.

Trees at Rosedale included maple (some of which were planted as early as 1855), oak, pecan, elm, ash, magnolia, etc.  Other, more unusual trees included sassafras, mulberry, osage orange, Chinese parasol, yellow poplar, arborvitae, and swamp chestnut oak.

In the 1840s China opened its ports to world trade.   This resulted in universal interest in China and products of China, such as silks, teas, jade, incense, perfumes, exotic woods, etc.  David Thomas Caldwell invested in mulberries and silkworms during the Great Silkworm Experiment.  Mulberry trees still exist at Rosedale to the east of the house and drive.

Chinese Parasol Tree (Firmiana Simplex)

One of these trees is designated as a Mecklenburg County Treasure Tree.  It is located in the front of the property to the east of the drive.

Mary Louise Davidson remembers her mother gathering the seed for the Chinese parasol tree from the old B. Smith property, which once stood on the site of the current Hal Marshall Building at 700 North Tryon Street.

Oriental Arborvitae (Thuza Orientalis) #12060201

Mrs. Craighead Davidson used the Oriental arborvitae as a focal point for her garden.  It is unusual for such a tree to remain standing after so many years.  It is included on the Mecklenburg County Treasure Tree list.   Five Oriental arborvitae were planted on the grounds of the original Mint building downtown.

Green Ash (Fraxinus Pennsylvanica)

This tree is located to the east at the rear of the house and holds the state record for its size.

Swamp Chestnut Oak (Quercus Michauxii) #17031401

This tree, well over 110 years old, currently holds the Mecklenburg County record for size.  It is an unusual tree for this area, normally preferring less dry conditions.  Craighead Davidson remembered that an old friend of his uncle brought the sapling in a sack as a gift.  Many farm activities probably centered around this tree.  Hogs were probably hung from its branches for slaughtering and cleaning.  Since a blacksmith was located nearby, horses may have been shod here.

Osage Orange (Maclura Pomifera)

There is a clump of five osage orange trees behind and to the east of the swamp chestnut oak tree.  They have been designated as Mecklenburg County Treasure Trees.  In their time, they were probably a living, functional fence.   Barbed wire is buried in their trunks, a reflection of changing technology.   Osage orange wood is very heavy, tough, strong and resilient.  It was used during World War I as a source of yellow dyes.  The American Indians used the wood for bows.  Its value was reported when a traveler, John Bradley, mentioned that a bow made of this wood was equal to a horse and blanket.  It was later used to make railroad ties and telephone posts, as well as fences.

Yellow Poplar or Tulip Tree (Tulipfera Liriendendren)

One Yellow Poplar still stands to the rear of the house.  It is over 300 years old but is not a Treasure Tree because its girth is not up the the record for this type of tree.  The present tree is one of two which were situated close together.  The other tree was felled by Hurricane Hugo in 1989.   It had been hollowed out and served as a playhouse for the children and also as a tool shed at one time.

During the years the house was inhabited there were several outbuildings at Rosedale.  An ice house was located far to the front of the house, on the west side, in front of the gardens.

Other outbuildings were situated behind the house.   These included the "necessary", located to the rear of the main garden, piggery, log barn, corn crib, cotton house (for storage of cotton), smokehouse and wash house.

A blacksmith's shop and shed were located to the right of the spreading (Swamp) Chestnut Oak Tree, near the pasture.  Although no excavation has been done, bits of harness indicate a carriage house may also have been in existence.

The wash house was located where the two yellow Poplars once stood.

Sisters Mary Louise Davidson and Alice Abel remember an interesting story concerning the old barn near the still-existing osage orange trees.   When the fairgrounds was located off North Tryon Street, two elephants from the circus were boarded at the old barn during stormy weather.

Calla Bolen
Barbara Castro
Adele Weir
September, 1993