Mepkin Abbey Wisteria

I really wanted to share with you all one of my favorite places in the world. Mepkin Abbey is a acutal, functioning abbey, near my hometown of Moncks Corner that is located on the historic site of Mepkin Plantation. You drive through an incredible oak alley to reach the public part of the grounds, known as the Luce Garden. The gardens were commissioned by the Luce family in 1937. They had planned to build a home here but never did. Now volunteers cut the grass and tend the garden, which consists of live oaks draped in moss, crepe myrtles, camellias and azaelas. Normally you can tour the abbey but because of Covid, that is no longer an option. But, happily, their website says that none of the monks have contracted the disease.

This may be the only wisteria plant that is included intentionally in the gardens, but you can see more of it climbing over the trees along the edges of the grounds. I specifically was looking to photograph wisteria and was hoping I would find some here, and I lucked out.