Old Salem
Here gardens restore the heart. The fruits and vegetables that fed the early Moravians, the herbs that soothed them, and the flowers that delighted them can be seen today throughout Old Salem. A traditional family lot still consists of a house, a swept yard and a small family garden divided into four or six "squares" separated by grass walkways and surrounded by fruit trees.

Rudy Favretti, America's leading landscape preservationist, stated "Old Salem is the best documented historic landscape in the United States." The Old Salem horticulture department has one of the largest collections of heirloom vegetables, fruits, flowers and herbs in a museum setting growing in gardens that date from 1759 to 1849. Each year the department grows more than 150 flower, 50 herbs and 60 vegetable species. Old Salem has become a propagation site for some of the nation's best-known vegetable collectors, who grow rare corn, bean and pumpkin species simply for seed production.

Today, the horticulture department works closely with the Old Salem residents to keep gardens in compliance with the time period of the individual homes. The Old Salem landscape committee must approve any changes residents wish to make to their gardens.

The Community Garden
At Historic Bethabara Park, a garden exists as the only known example of a reconstructed colonial community garden. The garden is divided into plots, which can be rented by the year by local gardeners. The reconstructed 1759 garden consists of mostly seasonal vegetables, excluding corn and tomatoes due to their acidity. Other gardens at Historic Bethabara Park include an heirloom apple orchard, a bog garden, a wildflower garden, the Bethabara Colonial Arboretum and the 1761 medicinal garden that is the earliest known example of a well-documented colonial medicinal garden.

Reynolda Gardens
Reynolda Gardens, adjacent to Reynolda House, Museum of American Art, was designed in 1915 by Thomas Sears, a landscape architect from Philadelphia. The garden design is geometric and symmetrical with tree-lined strollways and well-defined open areas and vistas that are heavily planted with perennials, annuals, bulbs and shrubs. Half of the original gardens were intended for fruit and vegetable growth.

A $1.2 million historic preservation project completed between 1995 to 1997 created a rehabilitation plan that acknowledged and respected the historical significance of the gardens.

The gardens are now owned and administered by Wake Forest University. Preston Stockton is the superintendent of Reynolda Gardens. David Bare, the greenhouse manager, worked at Old Salem for seven years as the assistant horticulturist and writes a gardening column for the Winston-Salem Journal.

Garden Club at Reynolda
The Garden Club Council of Winston-Salem, a non-profit organization of 38 independent garden councils, operates the Garden Boutique, which is a store located in the greenhouse of Reynolda Village. The public is welcome in the greenhouse to purchase plants and vegetation, with the profits benefiting Reynolda Gardens and community projects.

Tanglewood Park's Arboretum and Gardens
Tanglewood is a showcase for plant varieties from around the world. The Rose Garden, in front of the Manor House, contains more than 800 rosebushes, including more than 400 American Rose Society winners. Other highlights include the herb, friendship, fragrance and shade gardens. The gardens will grow to include Japanese, winter effects, ability and children's gardens.

Horne Creek Living Historical Farm
At Horne Creek Living Historical Farm in Pinnacle, North Carolina, a multi-year project is underway. It has been developed to demonstrate the seasonal work cycle and what life would have been like for the Northwestern Piedmont in the early 1900s, specifically during the transition from fruit to tobacco crops. The farm planted traditional crops grown in the region for decades, including fruit, corn, wheat, oats, rye, hay and vegetables. These same breeds are grown today on the farm. Surprisingly, blackberries were a significant crop. It is estimated that millions of pounds of blackberries were shipped out of the Piedmont region at this time. As the tobacco industry prospered, more farmers turned to raising tobacco as a cash crop. Thomas Hauser, the original owner of the farm, did not believe in tobacco and therefore the farm did not begin raising the significant crop until after his death.

An heirloom orchard is under construction on the farm. Once completed, the orchard will be filled with approximately 400 different varieties of Southern apples, with two trees planted for each variety. The trees are being donated by Lee Calhoun. The orchard will be the only public space in the country with this collection of Southern apples.