PRINTArt About Town: Shelter Gardens
April 29, 2010 | 12:00 a.m. CST
On a lush, six-acre lot, a manufactured waterfall rushes into a flowing brook. Paved walkways wind beneath shading trees and lead to bright beds of tulips and daffodils, elephant ear plants and 5-foot-tall lilacs. The scene is Shelter Gardens, Columbia’s own botanical garden at the corner of Stadium and Broadway.
With more than 300 types of plants and 15,000 flowers, Shelter Gardens’ design incorporates raised flower beds, a historic one-room schoolhouse and a gazebo. Its layout requires landscape plans to be finalized a year in advance by its six full-time staff members.
Shelter Gardens was originally created in 1974 by Scottie Garrett, a Shelter Insurance employee and a native of Scotland.
“He wanted to create a garden like the ones he remembered in Scotland,” says Joy Long, superintendent and landscape consultant for Shelter Gardens.
The gardens present an eye-catching scene, from 4-foot-tall Japanese Kerria trees to thorny shrubs such as flowering quinces that bloom bright orange flowers.
The evergreen, shrub and perennial beds feature labels for each item, and the garden for the blind has Braille underneath labels to make it accessible.
“People can come to the gardens to find a quiet environment,” Long says.
Shelter Gardens
Where: 1817 West Broadway
When: Open 8 a.m. to dusk
Call: 573-214-4595
A stone monument rests in a pond on the scenic Shelter Gardens property.
