Natural Heritage Garden
Imagine a place where, in an hour or two, you can walk onto the barrier islands of South Carolina, wander through incredibly diverse longleaf pine savannas, explore 5,000 year old shell rings and Piedmont granite flatrocks and pass hundreds of carnivorous plants. Travel back in time 300 years to visit a remnant of the vast savannas and prairies that dotted the Midlands and Upstate and then continue into the cool ravines of the Jocassee Gorges. All of this is possible at the Natural Heritage Garden in the South Carolina Botanical Garden.
The Garden begins where the history of modern South Carolina begins, the place that Europeans first met upon landing here. A stroll through the entrance of the Garden takes the visitor to the edge of South Carolina, beneath palmettos and large, tranquil live oaks festooned with Spanish Moss. Perhaps no other habitat is so intimately tied to our history. From the state tree, the palmetto, to the beloved sweetgrass that gained fame in the exquisite baskets of Gullah culture, to sea oats that bind our shores against erosion, this endangered habitat has the power to both educate and inspire. 
When you think of Charleston County, you probably do not think about Sugar Maples. They do live there, but only on Native American Shell Middens. People built these amazing structures during the Late Archaic period. Some Shell Middens are well over 5,000 years old and rank among the largest man-made structures of their time period in the New World. The fact that these rings and mounds are constructed out of shell means that they continue to have a profound impact on Lowcountry ecology. Shell contains calcium carbonate, which is like lime in that it raises the pH of the soil. The Lowcountry soil is notoriously acidic, and sites like this provide a unique niche for life that cannot be found elsewhere. Here you will find sugar maple, as well as basswood, rough-leaf dogwood, redbud, small-flowered buckthorn, Godfrey’s swamp privet, leafless swallowwort and even trillium – all growing on the outer edge of the salt marsh!
When the first pilots flew over the Coastal Plains of Georgia and the Carolinas, they were shocked to notice a seemingly endless number of elliptical depressions dotting the landscape, all oriented in the same direction as though something from outer space created them. These unusual formations are Carolina Bays, and their origin is a great scientific mystery.
Longleaf pine habitats are noted for their extreme levels of diversity. In fact, longleaf pine savannas contain even more diversity on small spatial scales than tropical rainforests. The plants of these habitats have adapted to a long history of fire and often low fertility, with the result being the striking, colorful and frequently bizarre forms we see today. These habitats are the only places in the world where many fantastic plants, including the Venus Flytrap, can be found. Today, less than 10% of the original extent of longleaf pine remains in the Southeast, though at one time it was the dominant feature of our Coastal Plain. Our garden provides a critical tool in the education about these places and the processes that maintain them - FIRE. 
Almost everyone is familiar with the Venus flytrap – a plant so strange that it prompted Charles Darwin to say it was the most wonderful plant on Earth. But did you know that the only place it grows naturally is in the Carolinas? From sundews to pitcher plants, there are over 25 species of carnivorous plants native to the Carolinas. There is a living exhibit of these wondrous plants in The Natural Heritage Garden. This outdoor classroom teaches visitors how these plants have adapted to poor soil conditions and are able to trap their own supplemental "fertilizer" in the form of insects.
The word Pocosin comes from an Algonquian word meaning “swamp-on-a-hill." These shrubby wetland habitats stand in stark contrast to their Sandhill and Savanna neighbors. They also have different soil – deep peat soils that are highly acidic. Many evergreen landscape plants are native to this habitat, including Inkberry holly, sweetbay magnolia and loblolly bay.
This is the meeting point of the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont. Sandhills are found across the state, roughly from Aiken through Columbia and up through Chesterfield. The Sandhills mark the sand dunes and former coastline of the prehistoric Atlantic Ocean. There is no hotter, drier place in the Carolinas, and many of the plants found here would be well-adapted to grow in deserts. But not all of this region is dry - streams rush forth from the base of these hills and hold wondrous shows of carnivorous plants such as pitcher plants and sundews. The Sandhills are a treasure few venture into but that everyone should experience. 
The transition from the Sandhills to the Piedmont is marked by one very predominant feature – rocks! Granite to be specific. Granite comes to the surface in many areas of the Piedmont. Each expanse of granite provides a unique island of open, droughty conditions that have allowed plants with desert-like adaptations to find a home amidst the dense woodlands and forests.
Enormous herds of Bison and Elk being pursued by wolves across a sea of flowing grasses as high as a man’s head, punctuated by the brilliant yellow and pink of sunflowers and coneflowers stretching to the horizon. Though you might think we are talking about Oklahoma, this was South Carolina. The Piedmont Prairie is brought back to life through an expansive 10-acre exhibit here in the Natural Heritage Garden in a “revitalized” Kelly Meadow.
Who would guess that what most of us consider “natural” - the oak-hickory-pine dominated forests of the Piedmont uplands, are a rather recent phenomenon and one that has man’s handiwork written all over it? It is safe to say that our colonial ancestors would not recognize this place. The reason: fire suppression! The Upstate was once a mosaic of prairie and savanna managed by the cultural fire regime of the Native Americans. Only relatively small pockets of Oak-Hickory forest were able to exist due to natural protection from fire, such as steep bluffs and rocky slopes. The canopy is made up of moisture-loving trees, such as American Beech, Northern Red Oak and Tulip Tree. 
On steep, fire-sheltered slopes along our major rivers in the Piedmont is a true relict of the past - forests that were marooned here following the end of the last Ice Age. The Basic Mesic Forest is perhaps one of the rarest communities in the Piedmont of South Carolina. It shelters many endangered species, and there’s probably no showier place to visit in the spring. If you’ve ever had your soil tested, then you know that the soils in the Upstate are generally considered acid - below 5.5 pH. The basic mesic community has pH levels above 6.3, which is very uncommon. The reason: marble, amphibolite and limestone rocks rich in calcium and magnesium. The Mesic community is home to a rich herbaceous plant layer including Shooting Stars, Miccosukee Gooseberry, Lance- leaved Trillium, Faded Trillium, Dutchman’s Breeches and American Ginseng. All of these plants have their roots in the mountains and far to the north; however, they moved south during colder times and today have found a niche on the rich, steep, north-facing slopes at places like Stevens Creek Heritage Preserve in McCormick County.
Though they occupy such a small portion of the landmass of South Carolina, our humid gorges and sheltered coves hold a disproportionately large number of our rare species and have been a refuge of life through change for millennia. The cove forests of the southern Appalachians harbor more species of trees than all of northern Europe and over 4,000 species of vascular plants. This makes our backyard a biodiversity hotspot. Our hills, the southern Blue Ridge escarpment, host more species of Trillium, Wild Ginger and Salamanders than any other similar-sized patch of ground. These forests are home to tropical ferns found growing beneath Yellow Birch, more typical of Canada. The humid gorges, high rainfall, diverse geology and elevation range create the magic to make such combinations possible.