Hidden Gem

The pop of pink is from ‘knockout single pink’ and ‘carefree beauty’ roses.

A seating area near a bay window.

The cherub fountain is from Atlanta Water Gardens.

Homeowner Debbie Swann designed the pool fountain so she could see (and hear) it from the kitchen window.

“I often use all-white flowers because they look so beautiful with green around them,” she says.

At a garden gate, ‘moonlight’ climbing hydrangea blooms hardily.

Pathways lead to key focal points such as the fountain in front of a Doric-columned folly with a mirror inset in an archway.

Treasures include antique candelabras and an urn with seasonal plantings.

A cherub is surrounded by white begonias.

The tool shed, the upper part of the garage, features a potting station.

A pair of obelisks sit in ‘soft touch’ holly parterres. “We had to replace the boxwood, and the holly is a great alternative,” says Daniel Cleveland from Boxwoods Gardens & Gifts, who has worked on the garden for 14 years.

Debbie incorporates many ferns in the landscape especially in shady areas including tassel fern, eastern wood fern (also known as marginal shield fern) and holly fern. “We also use Southern shield which is particularly good for sunny spots,” says Cleveland. The faux-bois seating area close to the pool provides an ideal perch for morning coffee.

“When Don and I bought this house, the backyard was basically a garage with a high roof,” explains Debbie Swann. “That was the ‘view’ from the windows. And the rest was very wooded and frankly a mess.” Undeterred, the Swanns set out to completely transform the half-acre space, tackling project after project until a truly inviting and tranquil garden came to life. First, the garage was removed and paths were created to give structure to the woodlands. “We started with a path on one side of the pool, and then three years later, we added an additional path and this continued until we had it completed. Not that you’re ever really finished with a garden,” notes Debbie. 

The paths point to unexpected treasures throughout the garden, such as a large cherub fountain presiding over the pool and its trellised walls, in addition to a Doric-columned folly with a mirrored arch, which reflects the lush plantings and adds structure to the layered rear landscape. Another path leads to a stone bench in a secluded wooded area with hostas and other shade-loving plants. 

Closer to the pool is a faux-bois seating area—the perfect spot to have a coffee and contemplate the garden and its many visitors. “We feel like we are in the country even though we are just around the corner from the Atlanta History Center,” says Debbie. “We’ve had deer, fox and even an enormous hawk—he was checking out his reflection in the mirror! And with the fountains, you can’t hear any traffic, so it truly is an escape.” 

Debbie favors classical gardens with formality and structure, but there is still a sense of abandon at times in its more wooded sections. Garden statuary is a passion—sources include Architectural Accents and Boxwoods Gardens & Gifts—and in key spots they have adorned the garden with cherubs, an antique saddle stone (a mushroom-shaped stone used as a support piece in the past) and an orb of cement covered with moss. 

When choosing plants, especially those that thrive in the shade, the Swanns enlisted Daniel Cleveland of Boxwoods Gardens & Gifts. “He has been an enormous help. We’ve lost trees and had moles eat the roots of plants. We’ve had to rethink areas over time,” says Debbie. “A garden is never constant, it is always evolving and provides challenges at times, but I couldn’t imagine our home without one.”

LANDSCAPE CONTRIBUTOR Daniel Cleveland, Boxwoods Gardens & Gifts. (404) 233-3400; boxwoodsonline.com