Gardens

When Chamblee's Ashe-Simpson Gardening Center closes this summer, it's just another sign of the uphill battle facing indie garden centers.

"The truth is that I’m more of a fantasy gardener—in much the same way that I clip complicated, multistep recipes I have no intention of ever actually cooking." Atlanta playwright and poet Pearl Cleage pens this essay on gardening dreams.

Chip and Janice Wilmot walk through their Lilburn garden, which spans across all sides of their house, pointing out more than 30 different edible varieties: pineapple guava, figs, bee balm, lemon balm, lemon thyme, alpine strawberries, blueberries. The list goes on.

“This yard was nothing but concrete from front to back,” says Matthew Klyn, the garden designer who helped Ray Rubin and Jeff Shelton perform, by all accounts, nothing short of a miracle on their century-old bungalow in Ansley Park.

Any Atlanta garden enthusiast worth their weight in soil knows about Ryan Gainey. Gainey died in a house fire on his farm in Lexington in 2016, not long after filmmakers Steve Bransford and Cooper Sanchez completed shooting a documentary about his life. The film, The Well-Placed Weed: The Bountiful Life of Ryan Gainey, premieres May 17 at the Plaza Theatre.

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.

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.

From Virginia-Highland, Brookhaven, and West Paces Ferry, these three garden styles are bound to give you some inspiration for your backyard.