GCGC Arboretum
GCGC Urban Arboretum
560 N. Academy Street Greenville SC 29601
An accredited Level I Arboretum
Morton Registry & Arbnet
Greenvill City Parks, Recreation, and Tourism and Schneider Tree Care staff have located and identified our Arboretum trees. These “Tree Plotters” mark the trees with a small tag and add the global positioning (GPS) coordinates to an aerial map of the property using google maps, and color coded to the map. There is a listing of the trees, with their color locating it on the map. This undertaking will be useful in the future for planning purposes and for and maintaining our trees.
Our responsibility is to champion, advocate and promote this first accredited urban arboretum for the Greenville community. We focus on public education and maintaining our display gardens for the enjoyment of all.
The Greenville Arboretum at the Greenville Council of Garden Club’s headquarters is a diverse collection of primarily native trees and plants that is open to the general public free of charge during daylight hours. As an arboretum, our purpose is twofold: to provide a lovely park in this urban environment, and to promote the care, maintenance, sustainability and benefits of trees, woody plants and our historic water source through public education.
OUR TREES
75 trees have been labeled with common and scientific names. Many of our trees have been on the property for decades, others have been added yearly. The trees grow in an environment that encompasses hills and a flood plain. Greenville area weather is widely variable, from cold winter temperatures to hot summer months, from wet and humid times to periods of drought. Thus, we have a Cypress tree in the flood plain by our pond, and a variety of deciduous broad-leaf and conifer trees along and above the flood plain.
There is a rare surviving stand of native river cane and a variety of native woody plants including mountain laurel, rhododendrons, native azaleas. We also have some special trees such as Harry Lauder Walking Stick, a bottlebrush buckeye, a native hackberry, and a false larch. Beneath the canopy is a mix of sasanqua and japonica camellias, tea olives, dogwoods and other woody specimens.
THE ARBORETUM COMMITTEE
The Arboretum Committee was set up in 2018 to focus particularly on the selection, collection, and maintenance of trees and woody plants. An advisory committee of local arborists has been created for professional guidance. The Urban Arboretum was accredited in 2019 and re-certified in 2024.
Trees in the Arboretum with Common & Botanical names
The list below are trees that are tagged
| Tag | Stake | Common Name of Tree | Genus | Species | Variety (?) |
| 1 | American Holly | Ilex | opaca | ||
| 1 | American Hornbeam/Muscle Wood | Carpinus | caroliniana | ||
| 1 | American Sycamore | Platanus | occidentalis | ||
| Amur Maple | Acer | ginnala | |||
| 1 | Bald Cypress | Taxodium | distichum | ||
| 1 | Black Gum Tupelo | Nyssa | sylvatica | ||
| 1 | Bottle Brush Buckeye | Aesculus | parviflora | ||
| 1 | Carolina Sapphire | Cupressa | arizonica X | ‘Carolina Sapphire’ | |
| 1 | Chaste Tree | Vitex | agnus-castus | ||
| 1 | 1 | Chinese Elm | Ulmus | parvifolia | |
| 1 | Contorted Philbert | Corylus | contorta | ‘Harry Lauder Walking Stick’ | |
| 1 | Crepe Myrtle | Lagerstroemia | indica X frauriei | ‘Natchez’ | |
| Crepe Myrtle | Lagerstroemia | ||||
| 1 | Carolina Cherrylaurel | Prunus | caroliniana | ||
| 1 | Cryptomeria | Cryptomeria | japonica | ||
| 1 | Dawn Redwood | Metasequoia | glyptostroboides | ‘New Dawn’ | |
| 2 | Dogwood | Cornus | florida | ||
| 1 | Downey Serviceberry | Amelanchier | arborea | ||
| 2 | Eastern Red Bud | Cercis | canadensis | ||
| 1 | Eastern Red Cedar | Juniperus | virginiana | ||
| 1 | Emerald Arborvitae | Thuja | latifolia | ||
| 1 | False Larch | Pseudolarix | kaempeferi | ||
| 1 | Fringetree/Grancy Gray Beard | Chionanthus | virginicus | ||
| 1 | Ginko | Ginko | biloba | ||
| 1 | Hackberry | Celtis | occidentalis | ||
| 2 | Hemlock | Tsuga | canadensis | ||
| 1 | Hemlock – Carolina Hemlock | Tsuga | caroliniana | ||
| 1 | Holly | Ilex | x ‘Nellie R Stevens’ | ||
| 1 | Holly | Ilex | X attenuata | ‘Savannah’ | |
| 1 | Sugar Maple | Acer | saccrharum | ||
| 1 | Japanese Maple | Acer | palmatum | ||
| 1 | Little Leaf Linden | Tilia | cordata | ||
| 1 | Magnolia- Sweet Bay | Magnolia | virginiana | ||
| 1 | Decidious Magnolia | Magnolia | stellata | ||
| 2 | Southern Magnolia | Magnolia | grandiflora | ||
| 1 | Saucer Magnolia | Magnolia X | soulangeana | ||
| 2 | Mountain Laurel | Kalamia | latifolia | ||
| 1 | Northern Red Oak | Quercus | rubra | ||
| 1 | Pin Oak | Quercus | paulistris | ||
| 1 | Scarlet Oak | Quercus | coccinea | ||
| 1 | Post Oak | Quercus | stellata | ||
| 1 | Southern Red Oak | Quercus | falcata | ||
| 2 | Red Maple | Acer | rubrum | ||
| 1 | Red Maple | Acer | rubrum | ‘Brandy Wine’ | |
| 1 | River Birch | Betula | nigra | ||
| 1 | Sour Wood | Oxydendrum | arboreum | ||
| 2 | 2 | Norway Spruce | Picea | abies | |
| 1 | Tea Olive | Osmanthus | fragrans | ‘Fragrant’ | |
| 2 | Tulip Poplar | Liriodendron | tulipifera | ||
| 2 | Water Oak | Quercus | nigra | ||
| 1 | Cherry Bark Oak | Quercus | pagoda | ||
| 1 | Overcup Oak | Quercus | lyrata | ||
| White Oak | Quercus | alba | |||
| 1 | White Pine | Pinus | Strobus | ||
| 2 | Willow Oak | Quercus | phellos | ||
| 1 | Yoshino Cherry | Prunus | yedoensis | ||
| 1 | Oak Leaf Hydrangea | Hydrangea | quercifolia | ‘Alice’ | |
| 1 | Chestnut Oak | Quercus | montana | ||
| 1 | Endless Summer Hydrangea | Hydrangea | macrophylla | ‘Endless Summer’ | |
| 1 | Annabelle Hydrangea | Hydrangea | arborescens | ‘Annabelle’ | |
| 1 | Anise | Illicium | florfloridanum | ‘Woodland Ruby’ | |
| 1 | Eastern Redcedar | Juniperus | virginiana | ||
| 1 | Winterberry | Ilex | verticillata | ||
| Arborvitae | Thuja | plicata X T.Standishii | ‘Green Giant”‘ | ||
| 1 | Loblolly Pine | Pinus | taeda | ||
| 1 | Native Small Cane | Arundinaria | tecta | ||
| 51 | 24 | 75 TOTAL Trees Labeled | |||