Cherokee Gardens is located in Carroll County amidst the rural beauty and rolling hills of north central Maryland near the Pennsylvania line. Owners are Marie Skelley and Jerry Betzler. The two acres of property, bordered by woods on two sides and a stream, is a designated wildlife refuge and has an assortment of Maryland wildlife in residence. Garden patrol is left to our German Shepherd, Beau.

Cherokee Gardens has been an A.H.S. National Display Garden for over ten years. Named cultivars number well over 500 with an emphasis on new introductions. There is a wide scope of well represented hybridizers from across the United States.  We also inject a sprinkling of other hybridizer's work into the gardens to present our visitors with an overall view of daylilies that are available to them. There is a hosta collection with over 100 varieties as well as other perennials in the gardens.

Beau

Patrolling from the deck!

Since Jerry and I both hybridize on a small scale, there is always an abundant number of seedlings that we are growing and evaluating. We hybridize for dormants or hems that are hardy enough to do well in our freeze/thaw Zone 6 weather environment. My hybridizing emphasis is on large tets with ruffles and edges. Jerry's hybridizing interest is in spiders and unusual forms. He has also converted selected diploids for both of us to use in our efforts.

I serve as Vice President of the Free State Daylily Society, www.freestatedaylilysociety.com.  Our gardens have been on local daylily club tours, local garden club tours and the Region 3 tour in 2002. Jerry has served as Regional Vice President and I have served as Regional Publicity Director in the past. For 7 years, concluding in 2003, I was the editor of the Region 3 newsletter, Fanfare. We have participated in many regional functions including Region 3's Fall festival, LILYHEMMER,  This event is usually held the third weekend in October and has been growing in popularity each year.

The gardens are open seven days a week during bloom season.  Garden visits are by appointment only. A complete price list will be sent at your request.  We offer garden sales to daylily enthusiasts in Maryland for pickup in August. We ship nationwide in the Spring only.

 

Come visit. Peak bloom is usually from July 1 thru July 15. We look forward to sharing our garden with you.

CHEROKEE GARDENS