Just outside of Charleston, in Moncks Corner, visitors can check out Cypress Gardens, a 163-acre privately-owned swamp garden abundant with Spanish moss hanging from enormous cypress trees. Other plants and flowers include azaleas, camellias, daffodils, and crepe myrtle. Most visitors to Cypress Gardens enjoy wandering along footpaths that crisscross the whole area or by hopping in a flat-bottom boat that winds its way through the twisting, turning waterways of the swamp. The gardens are open year-round, save for national holidays.
Cypress Gardens also hosts a butterfly house, an aquarium, a reptile center, and an aviary sanctuary. Wandering around, you may also see woodpeckers, ducks, otters, and barred owls. While Cypress Gardens are beautiful all the time, one of the best times to visit is during March and April when the famous azaleas, among other flora, come into bloom. .