In a world of manicured lawns, this Buckhead garden is a whimsical, green oasis

Lisa Frank's woodland garden was the inspiration behind her first fantasy novel

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Lisa Frank whimsical garden Buckhead
Lisa Frank in her garden

Photograph by Virginie Drujon-Kippelen

If you would have told Lisa Frank 40 years ago that the woodlands she inherited when she bought her 1950s ranch house in Buckhead would turn into a whimsical garden, she would not have believed you.

Growing up in a little apartment in West Los Angeles, Frank had no close access to nature, even less to a mature forest. When she had the opportunity to buy her property in Atlanta, she was mesmerized by the lot and “felt so fortunate to have it.” But she did not know how to really care for it and let it grow wild. From woodlands it rapidly became “a jungle.”

Lisa Frank whimsical garden Buckhead

Photograph by Virginie Drujon-Kippelen

Lisa Frank whimsical garden Buckhead

Photograph by Virginie Drujon-Kippelen

Frank was a busy writer who launched public relations departments at the High Museum of Art and Atlanta Botanical Garden. In the 1990s, she started dating Terry May, the then-superintendent for grounds at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. The gardener had permission to take home rare plants that the garden could not accommodate, and he started planting in Frank’s garden on a whim. His vision was to experiment with plants and create a shady garden with a naturalistic woodland feel. He planted almost 200 species of rare trees, shrubs, and perennials on her property, amending the soil with horse manure from the nearby stables at Chastain Park.

Frank thinks they were ahead of their time by envisioning a garden that offers resilience and biodiversity. She often refers to her garden as “a survivor’s garden,” where only the toughest plants had survived. Their romantic relationship lasted for 10 years, but the plants May put in the ground have turned her backyard into a green oasis, an anomaly among the neighboring manicured lawns. Frank has turned to a friend gardener to help her maintain the ever-growing garden and with time, she has gained an assertive view of what it means to take care of a garden.

Lisa Frank whimsical garden Buckhead

Photograph by Virginie Drujon-Kippelen

Lisa Frank whimsical garden Buckhead

Photograph by Virginie Drujon-Kippelen

“We have to change our aesthetics,” she notes. “That perfect, chemical-treated lawns are not beautiful. You want to reduce the amount of lawn and plant shade trees instead. That will attract all kinds of beneficial insects and wildlife.”

Frank advocates for using unusual pallets of plants and creating shade whenever you can. Among her favorite alternatives to commonly used azaleas and Japanese maples, she mentions Epimedium, a shade loving, hearty ground cover plant that slowly spreads through woody rhizomes; Sarcococca an evergreen shrub with tiny yet flagrant flowers that blooms in December and January; and Daphniphyllum. The one May planted a few decades ago on the side of her house has become an impressive 40-foot tall evergreen tree, one of the stars of the garden.

Lisa Frank whimsical garden Buckhead

Photograph by Virginie Drujon-Kippelen

Lisa Frank whimsical garden Buckhead

Photograph by Virginie Drujon-Kippelen

Lisa Frank whimsical garden Buckhead

Photograph by Virginie Drujon-Kippelen

Plant trees whenever possible because they’re the most long lasting, Frank advises. “It’s fascinating to watch a small tree turn into a mature specimen. That’s been such a joy for me, not knowing what these things could become.” May agrees and notes that a garden requires input to be beautiful all the time, “which means human labor, resources to manage the soil, especially composting and spreading it out.” Patience is a real virtue with developing a garden, but May thinks one can transform a property in five years if one puts their mind to it and just plan it. “It is the ultimate creative endeavor because it changes over time and you’re always being an editor, looking and making decisions. That’s just pure fun.”

Lisa Frank whimsical garden Buckhead

Photograph by Virginie Drujon-Kippelen

As for Frank, her garden has brought creativity in a way she would not have expected when she moved to Atlanta. Last year, she released a fantasy novel, Myco-Town, using her garden as the inspiration and setting. It features a young man who has a natural disposition to relate to plants, following his adventures and delving into the way the natural world interconnects. Writing a work of fiction was new to her, but it ended up being a serendipitous way to reflect on her own personal environmental journey. “That’s always been my fantasy, [finding] a way to heal the planet and get people to realize that how we live in our homes and gardens does make a difference.”

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