Rock Garden

The Garden is home to one of the largest public rock gardens in the southeastern United States. Some guests have the impression that a Rock Garden is only for high-altitude plants, but that's just one of many kinds.

The Garden expands the definition to include all gardening among rocks with unusual dwarf perennials, shrubs, trees, grasses and bulbs. The plants in this garden also thrive in high heat conditions, drought, wind, direct sun and extreme temperatures. Their leaves have adapted in clever ways to accommodate harsher environments: fleshy and waxy leaves to store water, silvery leaves to reflect sun, hairy leaves to decrease drying air movement and narrowed leaves to decrease the number of pores for air and water exchange.

While the Rock Garden is most beautiful in the spring, there is something in bloom most of the year, beginning with spring-blooming Euphorbia myrsinites (related to the common weed, Spotted Spurge) and Hymenoxys scaposa. In summer, dwarf asters are in bloom. During the fall you'll see fruit from the Punica granatum 'State Fair, or Dwarf Pomegranate.

The Rock Garden was donated by Equifax in 1989 and the rocks in the garden came from the construction site of the AT&T Building Promenade in Midtown. The building is visible from the Garden, especially from the Alston Overlook.