Tabby
&
Tillandsia
Garden Walk Weekend
Presenting Sponsor
ACE Garden Center
2011 Garden Descriptions
Garden
#1 Sea
Island
This elegant beachfront setting is
as livable as it is picturesque. A welcoming entrance gives an immediate “wow”
reaction with its gas lanterns showing the way into the car park courtyard. A
pleasing design of paving combined with cobblestones in squares on point present
a dramatic but understated visual effect. A serpentine wall of Nellie R. Stevens
hollies and ligustrum with pittosporum, variegated ginger, and azaleas lead the
way to the rear which faces the mighty Atlantic Ocean. On entering the
oceanfront garden, a lovely European Fan Palm opposite an anise and ligustrum
hedge leads to a grassy lawn interspersed with varieties of palm trees. Flanked
by borders on each side of the lawn, a perfect artist’s eye view of the vista
beyond appears.
A hammock gently sways and rocks in the breezes – surely, a coveted spot in the
garden. An open courtyard is entered between two handsome yellow urns with
Wintergreen boxwood with an in-ground hedge of the boxwood forming a low wall. A
fabulous floor is formed with pavers spaced with brick, planted with a grass
cross-road shape running through it. A two story covered porch with hexagonal
terracotta tiles gives a cool oasis for sitting, and an outdoor kitchen next to
it provides poolside burgers for hungry swimmers. The pool is tucked into the
right side of the garden where a pleasing low hedge of yellow roses and
pittosporum gives a pleasing separation between the ocean and pool.
On exiting, an attractive white ornamental lattice fence ushers the visitor to
the steps leading back to the front of the house. On the right is a balustrade
surrounding a courtyard foyer. A pleasing design with slate and limestone pavers
complete with a comfortable bench and chair forms a background for more
wonderful plants and flower-filled pots. A lovely home in a beautiful setting –
it exudes thoughtful elegance and good taste.
Garden #2
Sea Island
This garden was designed for the owner to have something lovely to see from
every room inside the house. Entering on the right side of the house, an
attractive louvered wall filled with art and plants immediately sets the tone
for a pleasurable visit. With a large picture window on the left wall of the
house where the breakfast room is, it is easy to imagine lingering over a cup of
coffee in the morning just to look at the pleasant scene outside. A fountain
provides a convenient spot for feathered friends to get a drink or a quick bath.
Strolling into the backyard, the visitor can immediately see a
magnificent large cedar tree with its sprawling split trunks forming a natural
focus of the garden. A simple and practical plan can be seen and appears to be a
pleasing, but easy space to care for and enjoy. Continuing across the lawn to
the side of the house, a wonderful ornamental gate with a keyhole to peak
through indicates something special is yet to come. A bamboo fence surrounds a
Japanese-style garden which can be enjoyed from the living room of the house.
An avid Mahjongg player, the owner decided to carry the Oriental theme outside
to inspire the players at their game. A bench serves as a focal point for
contemplation as well as a spot to listen to the fountain and to visit with the
Buddha statue under the red maple at the corner. This is all about simplicity
and quiet enjoyment of life – those elusive qualities for which everyone
searches. Looks like we found them!!
Garden #3
Sea Island
This garden is a wonderful
example of an inter-generational effort and a continuation of a love of
gardening through three generations. It is also a winter garden, designed for
owners who stay through the winter months only with a color palette of green and
white. Begun in 1955 with the purchase of the house, Sea Island Company’s T.
Miesse Baumgardner made the original design with much input from the first
generation owner. His signature of practical, simple beauty set the tone for the
Sea Island “look” from its beginning. More recent influences have come from
Bryce Vann and Brad Williams as well as the owner. A long arm of a live oak,
complete with resurrection fern, stretches across the driveway to naturally
frame what lies beyond. The focus is immediately on a stately moon gate which is
the entrance to the Kennel Garden, so named because this area at one time was
used for a kennel for the first generation’s hunting dogs. Now, it has become a
somewhat formal respite for contemplation and relaxation. The focus is on a
lovely standard Meyer lemon tree which stands at the center of a parterre garden
in which all white flowers bloom. Framed on three sides by a clumping bamboo
hedge and on a fourth by a lovely light green hedge of viburnum, the texture and
color contrasts are perfection.
The next garden is the Camellia Garden, in which there are numerous standards of
old varieties of camellias, some being over 60 years old. From this point, the
visitor can see the purposeful contours worked into the Bowl Garden. The
undulation of the grassy areas carries the eye from the groups of plantings
again repeating the green and white color scheme. The texture and contrasts of
the plants from light green to dark, shiny to matte, big leaves and small, tall
and short trees and shrubs – serve to work together to create the good bones of
the garden as well as its theme. A wonderful Eagleston multi-trunked holly can
be spotted across from the porch on the side of the house. Its striped zebra
trunk is one of nature’s many surprises. Hummocks of boxwoods accent the large
Natchez crepe myrtle which stands as a focal point in the bowl of the yard.
Check out the chrome colored daylilies in the planting bed at the right of the
porch. These are an old color not available now.
Returning to the front of the garden, a wonderful sweeping hedge anchored by
pittosporum follows a berm created once again to add interest through adjusting
the contours of the garden to create highs and lows, a thoughtful way to create
privacy from the street. The owner calls this a simple design – simple, maybe.
However, its thoughtful plan is not by accident. Its subtlety is the secret –
great plant material, combined with great execution. It is a wonderful example
of understated elegance. Make time to take it all in. You might miss something
if you don’t!
Garden #4 Island
Club
This lovely French country chateau is tucked into a private cul-de-sac lot where
no one could begin to guess what splendors await. A pair of antique horsehead
mounting posts, passed down through the owner’s family, await a visiting noble’s
hearty steed – well, an SUV anyway. Lovely antique cast iron pots as well as
outdoor lighting fixtures rescued from the renovation of the Cherokee Town Club
in Atlanta reflect the thoughtful details incorporated into the house and
garden.
North Georgia stone was imported to use on the exterior of the house. With the
leftovers, the owner has made stone walls, steps, and walkways throughout the
garden. A charming vegetable garden is so well done that it becomes a lovely
vignette instead of an unsightly mess. With a golf course and lagoon setting,
there are so many picturesque places to sit and enjoy wonderful vistas of flora
and fauna. A delightful fountain, It Never Rains on the Golf Course, gives a
lighthearted touch.
A Japanese garden features many bonsai specimens, including a 30 year old Banyan
tree as well as a cascading koi pond. A wax myrtle leaning out over the lagoon
gives a sculptural feel and a great place to hang feeders for birds, ducks and
geese which visit the lagoon each year on their migrations. On the path return
to the front of the house, a side porch with an arbor overlooks the lagoon.
Lovely white stanchions of Natchez crepe myrtle border the path. Charlemagne
would have felt right at home.
Garden #5
Shaw's Bounty
This garden could be the entire
tour all by itself! Begun in 1999 on its own lot, the rooms created are
welcoming as well as magnificent. This is gardening on a grand scale with
beautiful plant specimens, creative use of materiel, and inspired design.
Entering through antique iron gates from colonial Peru, the first vista is the
formal Green Garden with magnificent French parterres. Four magnificent white
urns create a focal square.
From here, the visitor enters the Japanese Stroll Garden. Thick antique
Chinese wooden gates open into a visual delight complete with an island oasis
somewhat reminiscent of the Blue Willow Garden in Shanghai, China. Accessed by a
bridge covered in wisteria, a teak bench provides a wonderful perch to spot koi
swimming in the lake below. A collection of bonsai delight the guest and
different sized stones are used for texture and walkways. A second set of
antique Chinese wooden doors leads next to the Italian Garden. Here Bradford
pears are espaliered on the wall with kumquat trees in containers. London plane
trees are planted in parterres in the middle. The Woodland Garden meanders
through camellias and azaleas to the Potager where curved boxes are planted with
vegetables and fruits.
Next comes the Rose Garden where numerous varieties of David Austin roses
flourish. Majestic cypress columns both straight and spiraled stand at
attention. The serpentine route has now led to the White Allée of giant Natchez
crepe myrtles. Its handsome wooden gate is covered with Confederate jasmine and
leads back to where the journey first began. This garden has it all. Not only is
it a masterpiece unto itself, it also is a journey through the history of
gardening and traditions encompassing the classical forms of the ancients:
Greece, Italy and Japan to the grand scale vistas created in England and the
magnificent gardens of France. This hands-on labor of love, designed and
executed by the owner, is a masterpiece worthy of any fine museum if it were a
painting. What a treasure to have on St. Simons! It truly has it all – and what
a treat to get to share it.
Garden #6
Hampton Point on Jones Creek
This replication of a Palm Beach house has a Mediterranean feel with a touch of
Morocco thrown in. A grand Canary Island date palm and purple leaf banana trees
make a statement at the entrance. Two courtyards on each side of the front
tantalize the senses with a fountain and shade loving plants on the right and a
magnificent arbor thickly entwined with trumpet vine and other colorful plants
on the left. Entering through the foyer to get to the rear of the house, an
indoor spa pool can be spotted.
A large pool deck greets one and all on the outside. Two huge lion planters
flank the door and contain myriads of plant material giving texture and color.
Large pots abound again with lovely mixes of plant material to dazzle the eye.
To the right is a secret garden just installed which has a variety of plants
ranging from hostas, boxwoods, hydrangeas, banana trees and elephant ear plants.
A row of yews are the border plants against the pool deck and a blue pot
transformed into a fountain is the focal point. Going to the end of the pool
deck to the backyard, the vista and breezes of Jones Creek are evident. A gazebo
with a Lady Banks climbing rose and baskets of impatiens and vinca give a
picturesque setting for morning coffee or afternoon tea.
Bird houses and bat condos give a whimsical touch as well as providing a
practical solution for keeping biting bugs under control. Knockout roses provide
some additional color and an anise hedge gives a nice fragrance. On the exit
walkway, more planted pots and bougainvillea give more eye candy to the visitor.
Indeed, this is a spot where a sultan might live and enjoy the magic of a lovely
setting and a carpet ride of color and abundant plant varieties. If Bogey had
offered this to Ingrid, she would never have left Casablanca!
Garden #7
Hampton Plantation
Everyone knows that the best things come in the smallest packages – like jewels
and other fine things. These 1,900 square feet of garden are just that – a crown
jewel! This garden is truly a feast for the eyes reflecting the owner’s
personality and talent. It has been a work in progress for several years. A
neophyte gardener, the owner wanted a spot of tranquility to relax and reflect.
When grass did not grow, the owner discovered mondo grass and that was the
catalyst around which this garden grew.
Inspired by the tranquil sanctuaries of the Orient as well as the process of
making cinnabar, the owner has adopted the name, Cinnabar Garden, for her
garden. Cinnabar is a carved lacquered piece which is made from many layers of
wood painstakingly glued down, layer upon layer, and then carved into objects of
art. A series of themed rooms await a stroll down the garden’s path. Don’t rush
this – you might miss something. The Royal Ming Courtyard is the first room at
the entrance of the house. A huge pot with an agave growing in it is the first
zinger. A fish sculpture is also spotted here. Entering the garden on the right,
a wonderful potting shed has been culled out of a corner of the garage where
some artwork created by artist Mary Moore might be purchased. A copper wall
sculpture hangs above a flower box filled with succulents. A burbling red glazed
ball fountain, surrounded by a porcelain dragon, provides a pleasant sound
before entering the Gardenia Tea Room. This is a pleasant retreat from the heat
of the day! An extraordinary Lady Palm holds court in a magnificent French urn.
Check out the hedge on the right – someone’s looking at you.
Keep going and you will arrive in the Mimosa Room where an Asian tabby mantle
with a vintage mirror provides the reflection of what has just been visited.
Leaving this room takes the visitor through a trellis filled with New Dawn and
Don Juan climbing roses. A mass of different colors of mondo grass including an
unusual black specimen can be seen here. You are now in the Geisha Rose Room
where a blue water feature continues the Oriental theme. Two Meyer lemon trees
are sentinels and also provide abundant fruit for the kitchen. Exiting through
the hand hewn mahogany doors, you have completed the circuit back to the Royal
Ming Courtyard. With over 75 containers, planted with so many different
varieties of plants, plus the sculpture and themed rooms, was this not a treat?
It is a rare jewel indeed!
Garden #8 Gascoigne Bluff
Cassina's Historic
Tabby Cabins and Gardens
Since 1932, the care and maintenance of the former Hamilton Plantation slave cabins and grounds located on the banks of the Frederica River have been entrusted to Cassina Garden Club. The cabins are open throughout the year for tour groups and school groups by appointment. In addition they are open to the public each Wednesday from June through August. The gardens provide an opportunity to see a selection of flowers and plants, some of which could have been found in a garden during the historic plantation period. The plantings also reflect the Club’s interest in horticulture and in identifying and working with a variety of plant species.
In addition to an azalea memorial garden, grape arbor and daylily garden, the Cassina Gardens are planted with a variety of plants native to the south as well as ornamentals. There are four garden sections with an eclectic mixture of herbs, native plants, antique roses and colorful flowers and bushes that attract butterflies. The gardens are lovingly tended by Cassina members.