Gardens

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.

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.

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.

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.

“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.

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.

The tranquil trickle of water can be heard throughout Sandy and Susi Smith’s garden, lending a Zen-like flow of positive energy. Weeping Japanese maples, scrubby pines, and climbing hydrangeas visually transport visitors to an Asian locale.

Ashe-Simpson Garden Center will be in a new home by the middle of October, making way for a new shopping center that will include Whole Foods and Taqueria del Sol.

The Buckhead Men's Garden Club is moving its greenhouse from the Atlanta History Center to Historic Oakland Cemetery. The new facility will help the cemetery restore its lush Victorian-era landscape.

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.