A North Carolina Garden Rooted in History

Join us for a stroll through a delightful North Carolina garden with ties to Wake Forest University and the Hanes textile empire. The garden in Winston-Salem also gives a nod to 20th-century landscape design while considering today’s realities of cost and maintenance. 

Breathing in fragrant floral scents or strolling through the circuitous wooded paths of Laura Hearn’s garden, you feel the historic inspiration that is given a fresh outlook in her collaboration with landscape architect Chip Callaway, principal of Callaway & Associates in Greensboro, North Carolina. 

Unlike the Depression-era plan upon which it was based, Laura’s cottage-style plot brims with interest year-round. It’s as inviting in February as it is in spring and summer when the colors and textures are a visual feast.The garden has a wonderful backstory. Laura’s late husband Thomas K. Hearn Jr. served more than two decades as president of Wake Forest University. She became enamored with the 20th-century landscape design of Ellen Biddle Shipman after the couple moved into the president’s residence known as Hanes House. Shipman had created the original 1929 garden plan for textile magnet Ralph Hanes and his wife, DeWitt. In the 1990s, Laura and Chip worked together to refresh Shipman’s design at Hanes House. 

When Thomas retired as president, the university gave the couple a site adjacent to the Hanes House property to build their own abode. Laura again made the Shipman design her muse—albeit a much smaller version. Again, Chip stepped in to ensure botanical selections represent the historical plan while keeping costs manageable for the 21st century.

Stretching between the house and the potting shed, a lushly planted area provides a focal point visible from the kitchen, while an informal patio with Belgian block granite pavers and a parterre of English boxwoods serves as a gathering spot for family and friends.

“I wanted that to be more of a living room to the house,” Chip says, noting it’s where Laura spends the most time. In addition to structural evergreens, favorite annuals and perennials offer a spectacular palette of blue, lavender, purple, pink, and white that echoes the Shipman plan.

While plants vary year to year, staples in Laura’s yard include several varieties of phlox, verbena, Asian lilies, alliums, salvias, hibiscus, tree roses, and clematis. The real show comes in the summer months, when the hydrangeas and viburnum that Chip and Laura so adore are at their finest.

Every year, Chip and Laura sit on the patio and decide on seeds for the next season, blending in current cultivars but preserving the past. Changes in plantings are expected and keep the process interesting, says Chip. “I hope the selections change every year.”

Text by Marie Baxley 
Photography by Mac Jamieson
Production by Andrea Caughey 

Read the full article in the May/June 2021 issue of Southern Lady. Discover inspiring style ideas, seasonal recipes, and more by ordering your Southern Lady subscription today!