Dixon Gallery & Gardens is small but mighty. It may not be the state’s largest botanical garden, but the cultural spot in the heart of Memphis delivers well beyond its mere 17 acres. It is home to not only hundreds of unique plants—native azaleas, tulips, woodland wildflowers, heirloom roses, daffodils, and trilliums—but also a permanent art collection with works by Henri Matisse, Vincent van Gogh, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, and more.

“The synergy between the gardens and the museum is where we shine,” explains director of horticulture Dale Skaggs, who has worked there since 2007. “The Dixon is small by public-garden standards, and the museum and collections are not large either, but when you put the two together, it’s really special.”

The land was originally home to Hugo Dixon, an Englishman with a penchant for collecting French Impressionist artwork and a reverence for gardening. He moved to the States and fell in love with Margaret Oates, a Mississippi girl who was also an avid gardener and member of the Memphis Garden Club. In the 1940s, when building their Georgian-style house (now the museum), Dixon took great care to preserve the trees and planted historical varieties, which inspire much of the estate’s layout and cultivars today. The couple had no children, so as philanthropists and supporters of the local arts, they left the estate with an endowment for all of Memphis to enjoy. It was officially converted into a public museum and garden in 1976.

“One of the magical things about the Dixon is the intimate scale and residential feel,” says Skaggs. “It’s not so vast, and the spaces are divided up into garden rooms, so it feels very approachable.” The main areas include a sunny south lawn, an educational garden, woodland gardens carved out of the shaded landscape, English-style formal gardens with a series of three “rooms” originally designed by Dixon himself, and the Memphis Garden Club Cutting Garden with gridlike beds located near the entrance.

Today, the focus at the Dixon is on a core assortment of ferns, boxwoods, cold-hardy camellias, and azaleas, with an emphasis on native varieties. “We want to build our collections so they are meaningful and so we’re doing something good to preserve some of these rare plants,” explains Skaggs. But every March, when the chorus of colorful blooms breaks through the frost-hardened soil, the impressive sight is unlike any other. “Tulips are one-shot wonders,” he notes. “You plant them, and they’re like fireworks. Then they’re gone.”

A Tulip Tradition

In 2011, the cutting beds were first filled with 12,000 bulbs. “Everyone loved it and wanted to come see them. It really struck a chord with the community,” he says. “You couldn’t make it down the aisles because it was so congested.” The dazzling display was expanded to other nooks of the property the following year, with the number of bulbs reaching 25,000. “From there, we got hooked on tulips,” he says. Now, each winter, starting when the weather cools, the team plants an astounding 250,000 new bulbs that arrive directly from Holland.

In the cutting plots, each shines on its own. “The tulips make a patchwork quilt because we plant them in little sections, each one with a different cultivar,” says Skaggs, noting that there are more than 85 individual niches. “It’s one of the most beautiful spaces and really just draws you in with the colors.” In landscape beds, you’ll find that the shades mix and mingle. “There’s this alchemy you get where the sum is greater than the parts when you put them together and they bloom in concert,” he says. “They make more of a statement than they would individually.”

Plan Your Visit

Peaking from mid-March through mid-April, the cheery tulips attract over 30,000 visitors for their grand show, but the property provides an array of flowering bulbs with various spring bloom times before tapering into azalea season. Admission is free, and all are welcome. “We’ve worked on taking down barriers,” says Skaggs. “We strive for universal access so everyone can use the same entrance.”

Early Bloomer

“I can almost smell it through the picture,” Skaggs says of the species shown on the right above, which is commonly known as a mountain azalea or honeysuckle azalea and is native to Shelby County. “The pink buds open up to white, fragrant flowers. It’s really magical.”