Dixie Region's First Display Garden: A Legacy of Love
by judy burns
When my mom, Toni Wright, and I first met Betty and Chuck Cruickshank, we discovered that we have a lot in common. All of us are gardeners with an active interest in hosta, obviously, but we are also lifelong Presbyterians. Indeed, Betty's father was a Presbyterian minister. Over the years, Chuck and I have shared many jokes about our Presbyterian (and Scottish) penchant for being somewhat "close" with our money. Suffice it to say that Presbyterians do not part with a dime without great thought. That is why it is so impressive that these two transplanted New Yorkers have accomplished so much in so short a period of time. The amount of money required to have a garden endowed and named for you at the South Carolina Botanical Garden is considerable. To a Scot, it is a veritable king's ransom!
By their own admission, Betty, a retired English teacher, and Chuck, a retired executive in the printing industry, are just common folks. They have children and grandchildren to whom their earthly goods will eventually pass. But they are uncommon in their love for gardening, and especially for hosta. Through determination, hard work and exceptional generosity, they have created a different kind of legacy, The Charles and Betty Cruickshank Hosta Garden, located in the South Carolina Botanical Garden, in Clemson, SC, the only garden of its type in the Dixie Region.
By luck, they were on hand as volunteers when a plot of University property was being transformed into the State Botanical Gardens. Betty was coordinating the Clemson University Botanical Garden volunteers when Dr. John Kelly was appointed director of the garden about 1990. His goal was that the Clemson University Garden would become the official South Carolina Botanical Garden. He managed to get enough support to have the S.C. legislature approve the garden's status, and it was officially dedicated on October 10, 1992. With this act by the Legislature, the 275 acres of land can be used only for garden-related activities. Betty was asked to serve on the SCBG Advisory Board to plan the best uses of the garden, and since she now knew that the land could never be used for dormitories or parking, decided that it would be nice for Chuck and her to give a niche hosta garden. They began making all hosta purchases in duplicate, one for their beautiful home garden, and one for the "hosta garden." Betty kept records of which hosta did well in each garden, and which did not. If both plants died, then she was pretty sure that they just were not suited to our southern climate.
Over the course of just a few years, donations from corporations, growers, local hosta societies and friends supplemented the Cruickshank's personal donations. But what made the garden really take shape was the sheer determination of this modest, diminutive woman and her loving husband. Betty and Chuck's desire to share their love of hosta with gardeners, now and for generations to come, has made the Charles and Betty Cruickshank Hosta Garden, a legacy beyond price. Having their garden officially recognized by The American Hosta Society as a Display Garden at the 2003 AHS Convention in Falls Church, VA was the culmination of the dream. But the hard work is not over. If you happen down I-85 near the Georgia line, and take the short drive toward Clemson, you'll probably find Betty and Chuck out in "their" garden, weeding, planting and growing a legacy.