Atlanta Trip Report #2 - Atlanta History Center Gardens featuring American Ginger, American Smoke Tree, Indian Pink and More!

Just a humble place to call home...  Atlanta History Center's circa 1928 Swan House

For a gardener visiting Atlanta, it's hard to top the allure of the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

But there are other garden attractions in Dogwood City, including the gardens at the Atlanta History Center. These gardens include both the formal gardens around the 1928 Swan House, as well a variety of Georgia native plants nestled into a wild and wooded ravine. Here are some glimpses into these two very different types of gardens:

The formal side garden at the Swan House. Fountain? Check. Statuary and columns? Yep. Boxwoods and crape myrtles abound. It's not my style at all, but I can appreciate the symmetry and the clean lines.

This wild garden in a woodland ravine was more to my liking with some beautiful Oakleaf Hydrangeas

The woodland garden contained this lovely thick carpet of native Asarum canadense, American Ginger. I understand that this plant needs shade to survive in the South, not sure how much moisture it requires. Unlike cooking ginger (Zingiber officinalis), A. canadense is typically described as toxic or inedible, but Hank Shaw at Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook has done an interesting analysis suggesting it may not be as toxic as some people fear - particularly if used to make tea and drunk in moderation.

Cotinus obovatus, American Smoke Tree is high on my list of coveted trees that I hope to add to my garden. I've usually seen it described as a full-sun plant, but it seemed to be growing happily in this shady ravine at the Atlanta History Center

Light filters through the canopy of Cotinus obovatus, American Smoke Tree. The "obovatus" name comes from the egg-shaped leaves.

Here's a close-up on the Smoke Tree's smoky flowers. I suspect that trees grown in the shade will have fewer flowers than those in full-sun settings. 

A healthy, beautiful patch of Spigelia marilandica (a.k.a. Indian Pink or Pinkroot). I have three little newly-added Indian Pinks in my garden, so it's fun to see how large these plants can get!

Thelypteris hexagonoptera, Broad Beech Fern, apparently native throughout Eastern North America, reportedly makes a good deciduous groundcover in moist, shady settings. Clemson says it prefers constant moisture, but can withstand some drought.

Woodwardia areolata, Netted Chain Fern, native throughout Eastern North America (zones 5-9) in wet, swampy marshes, woodlands and flood plains. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center calls it well-mannered, but Missouri Botanical Garden says it can spread almost to the point of being weedy.

April Showers Bring Lots of Flowers

Clematis "Crystal Fountain", purchased from Brushwood Nursery in 2012. I seem to have failed at training this clematis into a crape myrtle, but nonetheless it is growing very happily at the base of that tree.

OK, it's not quite May yet (ergo I can't call these "May flowers"), but the recent torrential downpours we've been receiving in Middle Tennessee and throughout the South seem to be unleashing pent up Spring energy. Suddenly numerous flowers dot the garden landscape with a brilliant backdrop of lush green foliage.

Here are some of the late April highlights at Garden of Aaron:

Side view of flower spikes on Ajuga genevensis (partial shade setting)

Overhead view of flower spikes on Ajuga genevensis (full sun setting)

Aquilegia vulgaris "Winky Rose", purchased from Bluestone Perennials in 2011

This is the first year I have an Aquilegia vulgaris "Winky Rose" self-sown seedling!

Aronia melanocarpa, still full of flowers and pushing new growth

The pink azaleas in the front of the house have begun to flower. They were here when we moved in, so I don't know the variety. Below the fresh new green leaves you can see quite a bit of damage on the older leaves, but this variety fared much better than another variety (possibly Encore?) that I shovel-pruned.

This is the second year in the garden for Baptisia australis (Blue False Indigo) and the first year it has produced flower spikes. Very exciting! I didn't really plan it, but the flowers appear around the same and blend nicely with the blue Ajuga genevensis flowers growing (just out of the picture) nearby.

Lonicera sempervirens (Coral Honeysuckle) flowers, close-up

Lonicera sempervirens (Coral Honeysuckle) growing at the foot of the front porch stairs. I hard-pruned this last winter so nearly all of what you're seeing here is new growth!

Dianthus gratianopolitanus "Firewitch". Remember how I included Firewitch on last year's list of failed plant relationships? Well, going against the advice of Taylor Swift, Firewitch and I are getting back together!

Epimedium x perralchicum "Frohnleiten", beautiful new foliage

Gaillardia x grandiflora "Sunset Cutie", new addition from Mary's Greenhouse. Looking a little bedraggled, but bravely blooming nonetheless.

Chrysogonum virginianum, Golden Star, Green and Gold, "Allen Bush" variety. Hardy to zone 5 and described as semi-evergreen, the foliage on this plant still burned badly without any snow cover during this past harsh winter, but it has recovered nicely and makes a charming (though diminutive) plant. 

Another new addition to the garden from Mary's Greenhouse, these are the buds on Spigelia marilandica, Indian Pink, a Tennessee native whose flowers reportedly attract hummingbirds!

Fresh new Liatris spicata (Blazing Star, Gayfeather) foliage emerges

Beautiful new foliage on a Cercis canadensis (Redbud) tree.
(This is another plant that I was too quick to jilt. We're getting back together too.)

When the Redbud has finished its floral show, pollinated flowers may produce these beautiful seed pods

Two weeks after its newly emerging leaves were destroyed by a late freeze, Rose of Sharon is giving it another shot and pushing out fresh new foliage.

The new Vitex agnus-castus (Chaste Tree) leaves were also killed by the mid-April cold snap, but the plant has produced a second round of new foliage.

Salvia nemorosa, either "May Night" or "Blue Hill". I'm tempted to get back together with Woodland Sage, but then I remember how it looked last August...

This miniature forest of foliage is a second-year Helianthus "Lemon Queen" perennial sunflower. The foliage in the lower right corner of the photo is Phlox paniculata "David"

Yep, here's another relationship I might have ended too soon. Tiarella cordifolia "Pink Skyrockets" seems to have weathered the winter with ease and is looking good in the late April garden.