Gardens

When Laura Gaby wants to take a mental health day (or hour), she need only step into her wooded backyard. There, her glass garden house serves as a year-round retreat for reading, napping, and enjoying nature.

Atlantans once looked forward to the extravagant Southeastern Flower Show each February. Now the Atlanta Botanical Garden hopes to start a new winter tradition with its flower show, this year themed to Georgia's film industry.

Southeastern Horicultural Society task force meets to plan return of Atlanta's beloved flower show in the next couple of years. New format would likely include urban agriculture along with flower design. Society is seeking sponsors.

Atlanta may be known as a city in a forest, but for gardeners, all those shady trees present a challenge. Back in 2009, when Suzy Smith and her husband, Ed, spotted this Sandy Springs home with a flat, sunny area, they were sold.

When Carey Pickard and Chris Howard throw a party—which is often—guests spill across nearly an acre of garden rooms behind their Macon home, a mid-19th-century waterworks structure. Here's some inspiration so you can get back yard like theirs.

It’s hard to imagine that Mike and Lee Dunn’s rambling Sandy Springs garden was ever anything less than pristine. But when they bought the property 17 years ago, the yard left much to be desired. It became a personal pursuit for the Dunns, and the couple believes they make a great team.

Landscape designer Brandy Hall is an advocate of permaculture, a science that integrates human activities into natural surroundings to establish ecosystems that are self-sustaining. In other words, she believes your yard should take care of itself.

Greg Kawalek launched the local Fred! Lawn Design Company last year to digitize landscape planning. Kawalek believes Fred! is the first of its kind in the industry. Fred! handles projects from planting beds to hardscaping, firepits, fencing, and water features. A completely custom plan costs $99.

For Anne Knutson, the highest praise arrived in a snarky blog post loaded with backhanded compliments. Her next-door neighbor, designer Sherry Hart, took mock aim at Knutson in her popular blog, Design Indulgence, after Knutson invited her to stop by and see the results of the prolonged landscaping activity Hart had been hearing through the bushes.

Atlanta’s gardens are typically associated with traditional Southern foliage like hydrangeas and magnolias, making the modern creations by landscape designer Brendan Butler all the more remarkable.