James Blair Hall

Tyler Garden Three bronze busts in this garden honor the legacy of the Tyler family.

Bignonia capreolata Three bronze busts in this garden honor the legacy of the Tyler family. Steven J. Baskauf http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu

Ginkgo biloba The ginkgo has two interesting features, its fan shaped leaves and golden fall color. Tangopaso

Styrax. sp. Gently nodding flowers of the snowbell. R. A. Howard, Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution

James Blair Hall South Entrance & Tyler Family Garden

The south entrance to James Blair Hall is flanked by two lusterleaf holly (Ilex latifolia) trees. This nonnative species is known for its unusually coarse, long leaves—up to six inches—and dense clusters of bright red berries.

Directly west of the building is the Tyler Family Garden, dedicated in 2004 to honor the Tyler family’s extraordinary legacy spanning three centuries at the College. The garden features three bronze busts: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, William & Mary’s 17th president; his father, John Tyler, the 10th President of the United States and former rector and chancellor of the College; and Lyon Gardiner Tyler’s grandfather, John Tyler, who served as Virginia’s 18th governor.

As you enter the garden, you’ll notice a dense vine climbing the old brick border—the creeping fig (Ficus pumila), with its juvenile leaves. Routine pruning keeps the vine’s small-leaved habit, but if recently trimmed, you may see new growth beginning to climb again near the ground.

Within the garden, several noteworthy plants await discovery. The maidenhair tree (Ginkgo biloba ‘Princeton Sentry’) stands out with its unique fan-shaped leaves. Fossil evidence traces the ginkgo family back 270 million years; this species is the only survivor, now known only through cultivation, with wild populations originally from China.

Other highlights include Carolina allspice (Calycanthus floridus ‘Athens’), snowbell (Styrax species), Japanese cleyera (Ternstroemia gymnanthera), and a native volunteer vine with stunning hummingbird-pollinated flowers in spring—the cross vine (Bignonia capreolata)—which climbs the brick border on the garden’s north side.