18 Jul From Peanuts to Palm Trees: A Plant Lover’s Guide to Charleston

Over the past several weeks, Chantal and I have been operating the Horticult from opposite coasts. This year I performed my annual training for the Naval Reserves in Charleston, South Carolina — a.k.a. Lowcountry, a.k.a. the Holy City, a.k.a. Chas — a complete shift from SoCal in so many ways. But also strikingly similar! Charleston,  like San Diego, operates at a laidback frequency amid buzzing arts, culture, food and beer scenes. Both cities have coastal communities shared by diehard locals and enthusiastic tourists.

Across ten afternoons and evenings — plus a weekend joined by my parents and brother — I was determined to conquer the plant scene and make Charleston feel like home. That meant seeking out the local plant hotspots (yes, that is a thing!) in an unfamiliar city, one rich in American and botanical history. Walking or driving through the streets takes one back almost 350 years to a city founded in 1670.

After driving by native magnolias trees towering over mansions and rubbernecking crepe myrtles, I noticed that Charleston, like S.D., is swarming with blooming trees and floral eye candy. I couldn’t reach for my fogged-up lens fast enough. (Tip for SoCal photographers in a steamy foreign climate: let your camera and lens temps equalize for 5-10 minutes outside before expecting to take a shot).

The muggy summer swelter might throw your camera off kilter, but multitudes of plants seem to be keen on it: notably ferns, Spanish moss, magnolias, crepe myrtles, hydrangeas, gardenias, camellias, peanut plants, sabal palms and coneflowers during my visit.

Charles Towne played host to key battles in the American Revolution (1776-1783), and after France helped America defeat England, it became a destination for plant exploration. In 1875 King Louis XVI commissioned plant explorer and naturalist André Michaux to establish a royal garden in the Americas. Michaux (accompanied by young rock-star botanist Pierre-Saul Saunier) found his way to newly renamed Charleston and established a second French royal garden in America, on a 111-acre plot very near to where my plane landed in North Charleston.

Michaux introduced the now-iconic camellias, crape myrtles, mimosa, parasol tree, ginkgo and tea plants to this area, coinciding with the beginning of the Age of Enlightenment. All these species are still thriving today.

Charleston also hosted the first shots fired in the American Civil War in 1861, when Confederate forces bombarded the Union-controlled Fort Sumter in Charleston Bay. But for this Yankee, that fact seems like distant history while walking the streets of America’s “most polite and hospitable city.” (According to Southern Living.)

Here are my plant lover’s top 10 recommendations, gathered after 12 days of Charleston travels:

1. Visit a plant-tation. Magnolia Plantation and Gardens in particular. This historic garden is a must-see. Established in 1670 by the Drayton family, this is the oldest romantic garden in the United States, and is the oldest public gardens in the United States. The plantation’s website and Facebook page keep you up-to-date year-round on what’s blooming. My parents and I got lost for four hours on a self-guided tour along winding paths along romantic gardens with sweeping views of river marshlands, ricefields and lakes. We even took a self-guided swamp tour.  The best time to visit? Probably the fall, when the camellias are known to explode along the inland shady paths of the  estate. (Stay tuned for a full photo tour of the plantation.)

Magnolia Plantation and Gardens
3550 Ashley River Road
Charleston, SC 29414

2. Try boiled peanuts…again. These need to be eaten fresh and warm to get the true experience. They shouldn’t be crunchy or slimy. The latter is what commonly turns people off from these polarizing peanuts.

Boiled peanuts originated in South America but went rampant in West Africa and later were brought to South Carolina by slaves. A good history here. Peanuts are boiled while still “green” (white, actually, just beginning to ripen) and fresh out of the ground. They are not yet quite ready for baking, and boiling in a salty brine is really the only option at this stage.

We passed several roadside stops selling boiled peanuts fresh and hot.  We made an abrupt u-turn, however, after passing Timbo’s bright orange brick-mounted Airstream on our way back from Magnolia plantation. These warm peanuts did not disappoint! The challenge is eating them while driving as they tend to squirt warm sticky water down your arms! My impressions: they tasted like well-seasoned mashed potatoes, minus all the carbs, and quite addictive. Boiled peanuts are actually the state’s official snack…and yes, the state has an official snack.

Timbo’s Hot Boiled Peanuts
2484 Ashley River Road
Charleston, SC 29414

3. Visit a Southern farmers market. Where else can you get such a big slice of Lowcountry’s farm, food, and art scene on a Saturday morning? Located at the historic Marion Square Park, we sampled local pecans and pickles and strolled past farm-fresh produce, all the while wishing our hotel room had a kitchen. This made the perfect stop to grab a bite to power up before our visit to Magnolia Plantation.

Charleston Farmers Market
Marion Square Park
Charleston, SC 29403

4. Get chummy with the native salt marsh grasses…by eating oysters.

I didn’t care for oysters before I visited Charleston. But with Charleston’s healthy and beautiful salt marshes and oyster reefs visible all along its coast, I had to give them another try. Besides, there really isn’t a better way for a plant-lover to feel more embedded in the salt marsh grasses than gulping down a locally harvested oyster. You could also harvest them yourself or get up close with a salt marsh tour.

Yes, there’s a multitude of places to eat oysters in this town, but I was intent on meeting up with our friend Brooks Reitz and trying out his new restaurant, Leon’s Fine Poultry and Oysters located in the North Central neighborhood. Co-owners Brooks and Tim Minks brought in Michael Rogers, New Orleans “oyster man” and six-time shucking champ, to train the staff before the May opening. After tasting Leon’s stellar char-grilled oysters, I am now a convert.

Another great oyster hall that we tried is the Ordinary. The Ordinary, a bit more formal than Leon’s, is located in the heart of downtown.

Leon’s Oyster Shop
698 King Street
Charleston, SC 29401

The Ordinary
544 King Street
Charleston, SC 29403

5. Eat outside with plants.

Strolling through downtown Charleston, I found plenty of outdoor dining options and open-air restaurants. Many of the restaurants in the French Quarter area had sidewalk seating, which seamed a bit more comfortable and popular in the evenings. (Summer days average in the upper 80s to mid-90s — toasty if you’re on an unshaded patio.) When I travel, I find myself often trying to find outdoor seating. Maybe I just subconsciously enjoy eating or drinking among the plants.

If we’re of like minds, here are some places to try out:

Taco Boy
217 Huger St
Charleston, SC 29403

Leon’s Oyster Shop

Edmund’s Oast
1081 Morrison Dr 
Charleston, SC 29403

Belgian Gelato
6 Vendue Range
Charleston, SC 29401

The Gin Joint
182 East Bay St
Charleston, SC 29401

6.The brew scene.

By brew, I mean coffee and beer. Maybe I’m straying a bit, but both come from plants.  There’s nothing that makes me feel more at home than finding a great coffee shop in an unfamiliar city. Call me a snob, but in the morning I like my Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora beans complex, lightly roasted, and served straight up. I use the siphon brew method at home, but on the road I try to find cafes that brew using pour-over methods. If the shop is taking this much time to pour, you know the bean and roast are going to be good. (Starbucks is always a last, last resort.) Some of the locals I talked to recommended Black Tap coffee, and it turned out to be exactly the coffee shop I was looking for. Black Tap coffee brews their coffee to order using pour-over Kalita Wave drippers. It takes about three or four minutes to make, but is well worth the wait. I became a big fan of their Counter Culture Coffee, specifically their Idido coorperative roast from Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia. Another good coffee shop I discovered in the downtown area was Kudu coffee. My favorite part about this coffee shop? It serves local craft beer in the evening, and it’s got a casual garden patio to boot!

Black Tap Coffee
70½ Beaufain Street
Charleston, SC

Kudu Coffee
4 Vanderhorst Street
Charleston, SC

And then there’s the craft beers.  It wasn’t hard to hop right into the malted barley and wheat scene and taste local craft brews from Holy City Brewing, Edmund’s Oast, Freehouse Brewing and Coast Brewing Company. Freehouse and Holy City beers seemed to be the most popular local beers on tap. The most memorable beer that I tried was the refreshing Freehouse Brewery’s Folly’s Pride grapefruit summer session ale that I enjoyed with those char-grilled oysters. Edmund’s Oast, a ten-minute drive from downtown, had the largest selection of craft beers on tap that I experienced during my visit. Closer to downtown and the waterfront, I enjoyed Closed For Business and the Griffon. The latter also turned out to be one of the best places to catch a game while eating out-of-this-world fish and chips.

 

7. Shop Charleston.

Downtown (King Street) and the French Quarter are the most dense with shopping options. I had only three items on my list: a floral shirt, loafers, and a gift for my wife (never forget the last when you are away for two weeks) — preferably a botanical bauble of some sort.

Paydirt! Here’s where I shopped:

8. Go to Sullivan’s Beach.

The consensus of my local coworkers was that if I visited just one beach, it should be Sullivan’s. (They also told me that if I was ten years younger, they would have recommended Folly’s Beach instead.) So after Magnolia Plantation, my parents and I ventured across the Cooper River to Sullivan’s Island in Mount Pleasant. Station 18 at Sullivan’s Beach, specifically. The street parking was a breeze and we entered the beach through a tree tunnel. Five minutes after parking, we were nestled among the sea oats (Uniola paniculata) on this distinctively narrow beach.

9. Plant-walk the city.

Bring your camera and just shoot. Shoot some Spanish moss draping off of a live-oak in front of Queen Anne-style houses or photograph ferns growing out of a sewer (!). Whether it’s a magnolia summer bloom, the azaleas of the late winter, or camellias of the spring and fall, Charleston is constantly bursting with color.

And look out for those Sabal palmettos, the state tree. Also known as cabbage palms, the trees prefer poorly drained soils, and will thrive near freshwater and brackish wetlands — kind of like oysters…

 

10. Plan a return trip!

I had only 12 days in Charleston this time around — and plan on returning with Chantal someday! What are your favorite spots in the Holy City?

–TH