I just spent Mother’s Day weekend peeking into some stunning private gardens on the Atlanta Botanical Garden’s wonderful garden tour – Gardens for Connoisseurs 2012. I was really inspired by the 11 gardens I toured with my good friend, Marcia, as well as a little awestruck by a couple of these gardens.  I took a couple hundred photos and am now armed with ideas to update my own garden’s design.

Gardening magazines keep reporting that using succulents is a hot new design trend. I saw several stunning containers filled with succulents or mixed in with other traditional flowering plants to add texture, structure and whimsy. Popular succulents for pots include euphorbia, sedum, echeveria, aloe, agave, haworthia and semervivum.  I sure can’t identify all the succulents I saw, but I know I am going to add more to my garden. Take a look at some of the amazing succulent containers I photographed on the garden tour…

Succulents look classy in this formal urn!

This tabletop display uses different colors, textures and structure

I loved the succulents peeking out of this whimsical container

A trio of terracotta pots filled with succulents including string-of-pearls

This is a crazy mix of succulents - all shapes and sizes - and I have no idea what all the names are!

I like this mix of plants in this large terracotta container on a back patio

Noted Atlanta garden designer, Ryan Gainey, is growing succulents in his greenhouses.

Inspired to add more succulents to my garden, I created and framed this piece of succulent art that can hang on a wall.

Check out all the different succulents at your local nursery and come up with your own crazy combinations for summer interest.

Recently on a cool and misty day, my friend, Cindy Dale, who is a Master Rosarian, invited me to her garden to see her roses in full bloom. The warmer winter and spring temperatures have encouraged roses to bloom several weeks early. Cindy is a little worried there will not be as many blooms to choose from to enter the rose show competition she helps to coordinate each year.  But with all the fabulous roses she has planted (over 200 varieties), Cindy is sure to have an amazing array ready for this annual event.  If you love roses and are in the Atlanta area, you might enjoy a drive to the southside to see the show.

Cindy Dale shares some of her award-winning roses

The South Metro Rose Society presents its 27th Annual Rose Show on May 19-20 at Church of Christ Fellowship Hall, 870 Redwine Rd. in Fayetteville, Georgia. Rose growers may enter their roses for judging between 7-10 a.m. on the 19th. The public is invited to come see, smell, and photograph hundreds of roses from 1-4 p.m. on both days. Admission is FREE! An information table will be staffed by ARS Consulting Rosarians. Rose bouquets will be sold and terrific raffle prizes include tickets to the Georgia Aquarium, restaurant gift certificates, rose bushes and more! All show visitors are eligible to win two tickets to the Georgia Renaissance Festival. Call 770-631-3885 for more information.

To get you in the mood for the rose show or just to inspire you to add more of this favorite flower to your garden, I’ve included some of Cindy’s roses in full bloom.

Chicago Peace hybrid tea

Outta the Blue shrub rose

Abraham Darby shrub rose

Easter Basket floribunda rose

Jeanne LaJoie climbing rose

Roses surround Cindy's fountain.

Hope to see you at the rose show!

Spring is a wonderful time to visit a public garden and get new ideas for your own private space. Recently I went back and toured again the Hills & Dales Estate in LaGrange, Georgia with 43 of my master gardener friends. The former home of the Fuller E. Callaway family, the mansion is a beautiful Georgian Italian villa. While I admire the home, I absolutely love the gardens.

The history of the gardens at Hills & Dales began in 1832 when Nancy Coleman Ferrell planted a small formal garden on her LaGrange property. Her daughter, Sarah took over the care of the garden in 1841. Sarah scratched out garden design ideas in the dirt and slowly expanded the space to include formal boxwood parterres on six terrace levels. She rooted her own boxwoods and scoured the region for plants, especially unusual and exotic ornamentals. Known as Ferrell Gardens to the locals, the gardens were popular with young courting couples.

Sarah created parterre gardens with English boxwood (Buxus sempervirens 'Suffruticosa') and arranged them into spiritual mottos

For sixty years, Sarah tended and expanded her gardens but the property fell into disrepair after her death. Fortunately a frequent visitor to the gardens, the wealthy Fuller E. Callaway, purchased the site in 1911 and he and wife Ida Cason Callaway began restoring the gardens and building their stunning mansion on the hillside. Later their son, Fuller E. Callaway Jr. and wife Alice Hand Callaway began caring for the estate and the gardens in 1936. Alice continued to expand the gardens for sixty years just as Sarah Ferrell had done. In 1998, the Callaway family bequeathed Hills & Dales Estate to the Fuller E. Callaway Foundation. The house and gardens were opened to the public in 2004. 

Take a walk with me through these charming, formal southern gardens that were nurtured by four strong southern women….

You are welcomed to the garden through this charming "bird" garden gate.

The sunken garden as seen from the house.

A Southern magnolia is espaliered over the windows of this former garage and chauffeur's quarters on the grounds.

The Ray Garden features seasonal flower beds.

I love this weathered bench under a towering mimosa tree!

Chinese privet frames this approach to the greenhouse.

The herb garden is laid out in a formal pattern next to the greenhouse.

Alice Callaway loved collecting orchids and maidenhair ferns in the greenhouse.

I liked this garden saying tucked into the greenhouse.

Some of the 43 master gardeners on the tour pause at the Callaway home.

Take a trip to tour this southern gem in LaGrange and see how four strong southern women created a beautiful and historic garden.