Atlanta Botanical Garden

I was speaking yesterday at "The Inspired Gardener" Symposium at the Atlanta Botanical Garden (more photos from that later), so I didn't have an opportunity to venture far from the facility where the program was being held. I did snap a few photos of the areas just outside the doors yesterday that I thought were great for those of us suffering from a little "cabin fever". Enjoy!  (As always, click to make them bigger if you'd like).

This bench is the perfect place to sit with the winter sun on your face while sipping coffee in the morning.  Just look at the bark on that "Natchez" Crape Myrtle!  It's part of an allee that leads to the great lawn.

These next two are of the parterre garden anchored by Dale Chihuly's incredible glass sculpture in the fountain.  This first one was taken from my position on the bench, above.

   

Loved this metal sculpture that is part of the current exhibit.  It's one of many, each painted a different vibrant color.  This matches the accent color in my home garden, so it's a good thing it was too heavy to carry home.....

The white berried Nandina works beautifully outside the Japanese garden.  I know it's incredibly common, but I still love the plain old red berried Nandina Domestica. (And, yes, I know it can be invasive...that's why God gave us hands to yank it out when it pops up in places we don't want it!)

An Inspirational Collection of Containers

During yesterday's visit to Atlanta Botanical Garden, I saw this arrangement of terra cotta pots, which I thought was particularly impressive. What's even better is that the pots are placed to block the view of a pretty ugly electrical box that is used for the concerts ABG occasionally has on the great lawn.

The combination of burgundy-blacks with chartreuse green is pretty neat, if you ask me. The best part is the ABG habit of listing the component plants, so I've put that on here, as well.

(People who know me realize that my standard "uniform" is a somewhat rumpled untucked shirt......), part of my middle aged rebellion!

Moore in the Garden

I finally made it to Atlanta Botanical Garden yesterday to see the Henry Moore exhibit, which is pretty awesome! Until seeing them in person, I didn't really have a good grasp for just how enormous some of these pieces are!

My friend, Hillary, is the Sr. Horticulturist at ABG, and for the past few months she's been telling me what a task it was to incorporate a sculpture into the middle of a perennial bed for which she's responsible. I kept thinking, "I'm sure it's big, but how bad could it REALLY be?"....as you can see, it's definitely a serious challenge to a gardener! Fortunately Hillary is very talented, and did an amazing job! (I love the White Joe Pye Weed dancing around the giant white sculpture!)

To give you a feel for size, the Joe Pye Weed near this sculpture's leg is at least six feet tall!

If It Doesn't Bring Me Pleasure, It's Not Worth Doing (in the Garden, at least)

I spent Saturday at the Garden Symposium that is presented every year by the Georgia Perennial Plant Association, at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. More about that in posts to come.
(Doesn't "Garden Symposium" sound so very proper and fancy gardener-like?)

This year's theme was "Back to Our Roots: The Southern Garden Revisited," which is somewhat in keeping with a post here a while ago, talking about having a sense of "place" in one's garden. That was the overwhelming (underlying) theme at the Southeastern Flower Show this year; in a nutshell, stop trying to have a Maine garden in Atlanta, and stop trying to have a Texas garden in Minnesota!

All of this led me to come up with a list of things I spend my time doing in my garden that DO or DO NOT bring me pleasure. I'm committed to spending more time doing those things that bring me pleasure, and less time doing those things that do not.

For example:

1. I'm going to spend more time reading the Sunday newspaper and Martha Stewart Living with a cup of coffee outside in the garden, rather than indoors; that is the whole reason I used for buying the bright blue patio furniture that my neighbors hate; (I know Martha makes us all live in a fantasy world, but I want to BE Martha and live on that "farm" in NY!)

2. I'm going to spend more time exploring more parts of my little garden, rather than just the area I see when I travel from the front door to the truck;

3. I'm going to apologize less for areas that are messy and simply enjoy them as they are. I got over that phobia about the inside of my house a few years ago, so doing the same thing outside is huge progress for me!

4. I am going to stop stressing over the fact that I don't edge my lawn. I hate everything about the lawn, most of all the amount of maintenance it requires. Since it is mostly native "greens" rather than fescue or zoysia, edging seems rather pointless, anyway.

5. I'm getting rid of the fancy heucheras that don't grow of their own accord! As one of my friends said on Saturday, "I believe in tough love gardening. If it doesn't want to grow here, I don't have time to BEG it to grow here!"

6. I'm buying more hydrangeas, and don't care if they're overused! I LOVE hydrangeas (and those I'm willing to beg)!