Event on lower South Hill to teach English gardening

The Friends of the Moore-Turner Heritage Gardens is offering a speaking and garden tea event at the restored manor gardens on May 21.

Kurt Madison, an expert in English gardens and a master gardener, will appear at 1 p.m. to talk about the fundamentals of English gardening and how to create that feel at home.

The cost for the speaker alone is $5, but it comes with an opportunity to take a guided tour of the gardens at noon before the talk or at 2 p.m. after the talk.

In addition, the event will offer an English garden tea service. The cost is $25. The service is at noon or at 2 p.m. Tickets are available at 11:30 a.m. at the Corbin Art Center on the day of the event. Proceeds will benefit the Friends organization, which helps support the gardens’ ongoing care and displays.

The Moore-Turner Heritage Gardens is a re-creation of the elaborate gardens at two mansions on the lower South Hill at Edwidge Woldson Park.

The Corbin House survives today as the city’s Corbin Art Center and has the smaller of the two gardens.

The Moore-Turner House was landscaped with terraces, arbors, a reflecting pool, a concrete pond and other garden structures.

The 1889 Moore-Turner House was designed by Kirtland Cutter and occupied by F. Rockwood Moore, a utility executive, and former U.S. Sen. George Turner and his wife, Bertha.

The house was torn down in 1940 and the gardens fell into ruins, only to be resurrected over the course of nearly a decade, with completion of the $1.4 million project in 2007.

Myrtle Woldson, daughter of Martin and Edwidge Woldson, donated $1.2 million to the garden project.

The gardens open for the season on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and again on the next two weekends during the same hours.

On June 1, the garden season will be on Wednesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The gardens return to weekend openings in September and close for the season in October.