Stop #4

Podocarpus Maze Area

Pebble Hill was featured in the book, Garden History of Georgia 1733-1933. Below is a quote from page 395 pertaining to the Podocarpus Maze.

“…the “Maze,” planted in camphor wood, which is the delight of all children. The Maze and the Front Garden are connected by a path of abelia trained over an arched trellis, which makes a pleasant shady walk on hot summer days.”

*Plantings included in Miss Harrison’s master plan

Native plant

Banana Shrub

Magnolia figo

An evergreen shrub in the magnolia family, the banana shrub produces very fragrant cream-colored blooms in the spring that smell like ripe bananas. The banana shrub has deep green magnolia-like leaves and can grow up to 10-15 feet tall.

Carolina Jessamine*

Gelsemium sempervirens

A native evergreen vine growing among the confederate jasmine, the Carolina jessamine produces trumpet-shaped bright yellow fragrant blooms from February to April. The massive trunks of the jasmine and jessamine can be seen while walking through the tunnel arbor.

Confederate Jasmine

Trachelospermum jasminoides

Pittosporum

Pittosporum tobira sp.

This evergreen shrub with oval leaves secretes a sap-like substance when cut or squeezed. With fragrant white flower clusters that bloom in the spring, pittosporums can grow up to 30 feet tall and 10 feet wide and are used throughout the world as ornamental plants in landscaping and as cut foliage.

Podocarpus*

Podocarpus macrophyllus

This dense evergreen conifer shrub produces reddish-purple fleshy fruit that ripens over the summer. Fast growing in warm months, this shrub with narrow-shaped, deep-green leaves adapts well to shearing and is commonly used in topiary designs and trained into hedges or screens.

Aerial view showing the Podocarpus Maze circa 1938

Detail of Miss Harrison’s plan showing the Maze