Azaleas and Spanish Moss, South Carolina Poster

"Azaleas and Spanish Moss" by Catherine Sherman. Gorgeous coral-coloured azaleas bloom entangled in Spanish moss on a live oak tree on the 80 acres of gardens on the grounds of Charles Town Landing, a South Carolina State Park in Charleston. Spanish moss hang from the live oaks. Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site sits on a marshy point, located off of the Ashley River, where a group of English settlers landed in 1670 and established what would become the birthplace of the Carolina colony. Charles Towne Landing introduces visitors to the earliest colonial history of Charleston with a museum, living history events and other educational exhibits. Azaleas are flowering shrubs in the genus Rhododendron and are native to several continents including Asia, Europe and North America. Azaleas have along history as ornamental landscape shrubs in South Carolina. According to azalea historian Fred Galle, in the United States, Azalea indica (in this case, the group of plants called Southern indicas) was first introduced to the outdoor landscape in the 1830s at the rice plantation Magnolia-on-the-Ashley in Charleston, South Carolina. Also common to the southern landscape is Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides), which is an epiphytic flowering plant that often grows upon larger trees in tropical and subtropical climates, native to much of Mexico, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Central America, South America, the southern United States, and the West Indies.