Located next to the Carolyn Blount Theatre, home of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, the garden has plants which are mentioned in the plays. Some were found in this area and others were planted as part of the education process. There are signs by the plants giving their common name, Latin name, and a quotation and play reference.
From a June 5, 1999 article found at (
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"The secluded 56,700 square foot garden complex, adjacent to the Carolyn Blount Theatre, home of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, includes various plants and Elizabethan herbs mentioned in William Shakespeare's poems and plays. The project is a multi-million dollar gift by Wynton M. and Carolyn Blount to the people of Montgomery.
The landscape design for The Shakespeare Gardens was created by Edwina von Gal and Company of New York and features plants and flowers, such as Roses, mentioned in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Narcissus from Anthony and Cleopatra, and leek from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Medlar and Pomegranate trees will also grow in the gardens, Leafy Bowers, woven with Willow, Honeysuckle, and white and red roses clinging to clamshell shaped willow arbors provide a shady place for park visitors to sit and relax. Flowers will be changed several times each year.
An astonishing number of lush plants and delicate blooms have been installed in the secluded Shakespeare Gardens venue. Among them are 8,000 Narcissus bulbs covering 6,700 square feet. Another 1,000 square feet of bulbs include Asiatic Lilies and Chives. Surrounding a six-tiered 325-seat amphitheatre with rock ledge seats are 4,000 Catlin Sedges, 4,790 Yellow Archangels, and 1,285 Moneyworts used as ground covers, along with 570 Rosemary and Lavender plants.
A canopy of 55 trees will shade the garden and amphitheatre and will be at their height of color at different seasons of the year. Among them are Trident, Species, and October Glory Red Maples, Eastern Redcedars, Sweetgums, Athena Elms, Chinese Flametrees, Medlars and Pomegranates.
More than 200 magnificent garden shrubs include Dwarf Yaupons, Foster Hollies, Serviceberry plants, LaMarque vines, and Honeysuckles. Among the fragrant perennials are Tangerine Wormwoods, Red Poppies, and Rues."