Our Story

The Piedmont Physic Garden is a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt organization. We are located in historic Union, South Carolina. Our mission is "to exhibit and promote the medicinal, economic, cultural and environmental importance of plants to the people of Union County and the surrounding Piedmont region of South Carolina." 

Inspired by London's historic Chelsea Physic Garden, the Piedmont Physic Garden celebrates the beauty and wonder of nature with our growing collection of ornamental and medicinal plants throughout several distinct gardens including our apothecary garden, our rose garden, our butterfly garden, our kitchen garden, our expanding shaded garden and our future topiary garden along the Church Street corridor.

The Piedmont Physic Garden is an independent, unaffiliated horticultural institution. It was founded in 2014 by the family of Dr. Paul K Switzer, a physician who practiced in Union for almost 60 years. In his memory, the Switzers donated two residential lots to PPG to create a small apothecary garden containing plants with historical medicinal uses, many native to the Piedmont and the Southern Appalachian corridor. That same year, the family of the Honorable Jack and Nonie Flynn, donated two adjoining lots, significantly expanding the scope of the garden. 

Since 2017, PPG has expanded by adding four more lots to the garden, three of which were donated. We are grateful to all our donors for helping us expand our garden footprint. 

We invite you to follow us as we continue to establish a place of beauty at the crossroads of horticulture, history and medicine.