The Avant Garden

Excuse me? Oh…you’re looking for the North Georgia Wine Highway. I thought you said the Vine Highway. I’m not aware of one, but if there were a Vine Highway, it would pass through virtually all of Northeast Georgia—and throughout the entire southeast, with stretches even located in the far reaches of the northeastern and northwestern..

At the beginning of the year, I shared with you that I’d been studying to become a certified arborist. It was a challenging course, and your encouragement meant a lot to me, so I’m happy to report the outcome: I’m an ISA Certified Arborist® The designation recognizes my formal horticulture education and my practical, field..

Usually, we take on landscaping and gardening projects to attract attention to the areas being landscaped or gardened, right? But as one of our recent projects illustrates, it’s not always that simple. The client, Kerry, and her family have a magnificent, new lakefront home, complete with an outdoor kitchen and entertainment area connected to the..

Like Velcro®, Jacuzzi® and Kleenex®, the term Pollinator Pathway®is actually a registered brand name. It refers to a civic project founded in 2007 by “design thinker” Sarah Bergmann. Its now-famous pilot enterprise was the creation of a mile-long, 12-foot-wide system of connected greenspaces planted with the intention of helping native plant pollinators move through the..

What do Dean Martin, Porter Wagoner and Joan Baez have in common? They all were among dozens of musicians who recorded Claude “Curly” Putman Jr.’s iconic song The Green, Green Grass of Home. The song is a total tear-jerker, but its popularity was no doubt due at least partly to the deep emotional associations so..

Our client had a lovely, traditional, brick home in Dawsonville, GA.  The home had some interesting architectural features, including unique stone accents across the front façade and elegant copper gutters and downspouts. But those special details were lost in the view from the curb. They receded into the background because there was nothing to draw..

If you haven’t worked with a landscape design company before, the design process may seem a little mysterious. Maybe that’s because every project is unique. All kinds of factors—from the size of the job to whether additional professionals or trades need to be brought in—play into what the experience will be like. Adding a flagstone..

A friend recently told me about an experience she had years ago as a budding, would-be gardener. Creating a pathway through a pretty strip of meadow on her then-rural, Gwinnett County property, she managed to get a nasty case of poison ivy. The next day, armed with pruning shears, she located and cut to the..

Maybe you’ve noticed. We’ve had way more than our share of rain so far this year. In fact, according to the weather statistics keepers at NOAA, the Gainesville reporting station had recorded about 42 inches in total rainfall in these first six months of 2020, compared to the normal rainfall amount of around 27 inches..

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily…Life is but a dream. Well, it was kind of a bad dream at one client’s home until we helped them tame the steep hill that was hindering their hospitality. Hiking is a favorite activity here in the Northeast Georgia mountains. As much as we enjoy it, we usually do stop short..