Wayne and Gail Buff’s ‘Secluded Gardens’
Even as he was completing his Pharm.D. degree at the UofSC College of Pharmacy and while teaching in the college, Wayne Buff (‘73 B.S., ‘97 Pharm.D.) worked with his wife, Gail, to create a magnificent backyard garden with more than 400 registered daylily cultivars.
For the past 15 years, Gail and Wayne have welcomed family, friends and alumni of the college to visit ‘Secluded Gardens’ at their Lexington home. The garden, which also features more than 150 other perennials, annuals, shrubs, and trees, is a certified American Daylily Society Display Garden.
“To be certified, gardens must have a minimum of 100 registered daylily cultivars and should include the various daylily bloom forms of miniature, small, large, and extra-large; doubles; spiders; and unusual forms,” Wayne notes.
Each daylily in the garden must have signage indicating the daylily name, name of hybridizer who registered the daylily, and the year the daylily was registered.
We enjoy sharing our gardens because it provides others with an opportunity to see the beauty that can be created around your home. It also provides us with the opportunity to meet and greet lots of nice people.
“Prior to the pandemic, we held a Saturday and Sunday Garden Party the first weekend in June. Since the pandemic, we have offered folks the opportunity to come at any time during bloom season,” he says, “which is generally from the middle of May until the end of June.”
Since Wayne retired from teaching at the College of Pharmacy in 2018, he has been able to devote more time to helping Gail in the garden, adding that she deserves most of the credit for establishing the garden.
“We enjoy sharing our gardens because it provides others with an opportunity to see the beauty that can be created around your home,” he says. “A lot of work goes into our gardens, and it is wonderful to see others enjoying our efforts. It also provides us with the opportunity to meet and greet lots of nice people.”
If you would like to visit Gail and Wayne’s Secluded Gardens, head to 132 Seclusion Court, Lexington, S.C., behind Wingard’s Market. The garden is typically open between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., but if they happen not to be home, you are still welcome to make yourself at home and enjoy the flowers. You can also ask about obtaining one of their daylily cultivars.
To learn more, contact Wayne at buff@cop.sc.edu or (803) 479-1212.