English Garden vs. French Garden in Atlanta

But remember my goal is to become a billionaire so I will also deposit another dollar from when I hear “but neighbor has beautiful peony (or lavender, or rhododendron). How is that possible? Very simple, for every 10 lavenders or rhododendrons planted in Atlanta 9 will die. Your neighbor just happens to be the lucky one. While I am not a rich yet, I can assure you that big box stores and garden centers are laughing their way to the bank with the plants they sell repeatedly, indeed my “let’s get rich plan” is not that effective because I have spent my fair share on these plants and have killed dozens of them.

Is there hope? Can one dream with colorful gardens in North Georgia? English gardens also use hydrangeas and roses and that do ok in the. The work “ok” is important because both roses and boxwoods can succumb to disease. Drift roses, knock-out roses are two varieties that can be used sparsely and not be completely disfigured with black spots, nor be heavily infested with rose rosette virus (at least not yet, more on that on another post). Boxwoods can also be used but beware of boxwood blight, a disease that is not exclusive of the south (also another post on that). So, there is hope we can sort of have English or French garden in Atlanta. But perhaps we are asking the wrong question? We should not be asking for English Gardens in South. We should be asking for southern style gardens instead. The grass is not greener across the Atlantic Ocean, neither are the flowers more colorful. Truly, my answer to clients that ask me for English gardens is always the same – “ I can get you that vibe” but it will be a beautiful, bright, and colorful southern garden. We will use cone flowers instead of hollychocks, blue salvias instead of delphiniums. Big blossom heat loving Camellias or native azaleas instead of peonies (take that Alaska).