Cypress Gardens is a 170 acre (0.6879662 km²) preserve and gardens located at 3030 Cypress Gardens Road, Moncks Corner, South Carolina

Moncks Corner, South Carolina

Moncks Corner is a town in and the county seat of Berkeley County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 5,952 at the 2000 census....

. They are open daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day; an admission fee is charged. The gardens are managed by Berkeley County

Berkeley County, South Carolina

Berkeley County is a county in the U.S. state of South Carolina. In 2000, its population was 142,651. The 2005 Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 151,673. Its county seat is Moncks Corner....

.

The gardens were previously part of a rice plantation, and contain about 80 acre (0.3237488 km²) of blackwater bald cypress/tupelo swamp, the former rice reservoir. The gardens are viewed via flat-bottom boat or foot paths. Plantings around the swamp include azalea

Azalea

Azaleas are flowering shrubs comprising two of the eight subgenera of the genus Rhododendron, Pentanthera and Tsutsuji . Azaleas bloom in spring, their flowers often lasting several weeks...

s, blueberries

Blueberry

Blueberries are flowering plants of the genus Vaccinium with dark-blue berries and are perennial...

, a camellia

Camellia

Camellia, the camellias, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalaya east to Korea and Indonesia. There are 100–250 described species, with some controversy over the exact number...

 garden, daffodils, a daylily

Daylily

Daylily is the general nonscientific name of a species, hybrid or cultivar of the genus Hemerocallis . Daylily cultivar flowers are highly diverse in colour and form, as a result of hybridization efforts of gardening enthusiasts and professional horticulturalists...

 island, dogwood

Dogwood

The genus Cornus is a group of about 30-60 species of woody plants in the family Cornaceae, commonly known as dogwoods. Most dogwoods are deciduous trees or shrubs, but a few species are nearly herbaceous perennial subshrubs, and a few of the woody species are evergreen...

s, pitcher plant

Pitcher plant

Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants whose prey-trapping mechanism features a deep cavity filled with liquid known as a pitfall trap. It has been widely assumed that the various sorts of pitfall trap evolved from rolled leaves, with selection pressure favouring more deeply cupped leaves over...

s, redbud, a small rice

Rice

Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...

 field, and a rose

Rose

A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...

 garden, as well as the following major features:

• Swamparium (1998) - features native and exotic fish, reptile and amphibian species from swamp habitats, including common local venomous snakes and large aquatic salamander
  Salamander
  Salamander is a common name of approximately 500 species of amphibians. They are typically characterized by a superficially lizard-like appearance, with their slender bodies, short noses, and long tails. All known fossils and extinct species fall under the order Caudata, while sometimes the extant...
  
  s called sirens. The Swamparium holds approximately 24,000 gallons (90,850 litres) of water.

• Aviary - houses African grey parrots and a sulfur-crested cockatoo, former pets.

• Butterfly House (1997) - a 2500 square feet (232.3 m²) indoor exhibit housing butterflies
  Butterfly
  A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
  
  , bird
  Bird
  Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
  
  s, koi, goldfish and turtle
  Turtle
  Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
  
  s.

The gardens also include picnic tables, rental facilities, and 4.5 miles (7.2 km) of walking paths and nature trails.
Movies and Television

The beauty and splendor of Cypress Gardens allows visitors to transport themselves to a time reminiscent of the historic South, similar to what one would picture in the movie “Gone With The Wind”. Perhaps that’s why multiple production companies and producers choose Cypress Gardens to film major motion pictures and television series. In fact, Cypress Gardens has hosted over 16 major movies and television series including,:

• The Patriot
• Cold Mountain
• The Notebook
• North and South
• Swamp Thing

See also

• Cypress Gardens
  Cypress Gardens
  Cypress Gardens was an American theme park near Winter Haven, Florida, that operated from 1936 to 2009.-History:Billed as Florida's first commercial tourist theme park, Cypress Gardens opened on January 2, 1936 as a botanical garden planted by Dick Pope Sr. and his wife Julie...
  
   (amusement park in Florida)
• List of botanical gardens in the United States

External links

• Cypress Gardens