Gardens

Days after COVID-19 began canceling Atlanta, I dealt with my own anxiety by spending a full Saturday digging in the dirt: planting shrubs, weeding, top-dressing the soil, potting herbs.

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.

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.

“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.

"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.

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.

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.

On the sunniest Deep South day, wisely planted under the dark green backdrop of a shady tree, a clump of coleus will shimmer with most all the pinks and greens and yellows of other flowers—without a single bloom.

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.

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.