Garden Tour: Dreaming of Green in the Blueprint Stage
Several times in the history of TKG, I’ve gotten phone calls from clients who have nothing but footers and flags on their new property, but they are itching to discuss their future garden. There are no walls, no appliances, no cabinets nor tile, but they just can’t help dreaming of tomatoes dripping from a set of arches just outside their soon-to-be kitchen window. And although it can be tricky to imagine neat garden beds and pathways in the middle of construction chaos, I am on board with these early days of garden dreams. I love that my clients entrust their ideas to the TKG team, and I’m ready to vibe with the vision (if you’ll allow me the Gen Z terminology.)
So let’s jump into to a recent design/installation off of the Natchez Trace. There are so many amazing details here— no more words wasted.
The Design Phase
Ebie called TKG on June 11, 2023. Her pal down the road, Carla, had installed a beautiful garden the year before, and Ebie was excited to have her own backyard harvests. Ebie and I hopped on a Zoom call to say hey, and she shared the architect Adam Gerndt’s blueprints, walked me through her general ideas, and together, we started a Pinterest board to collect inspo pics. Ebie had travelled to Croatia years before, and she fell in love with the gardens, fountains, and outdoor artwork of the area. I had seen pictures, and whoa baby, I was on board!
Construction Begins
Six months later, in December of 2023, Ebie called and said they had finally broken ground and the walls were up. She invited me to see the footers for the concrete wall that would form a courtyard at the back of their carriage house. It would join the living space to a large pavilion at the back of the property. I was thrilled with the idea of three tall walls that would “boundary” the garden, creating an enclosed, intimate space. At this point, we began to mark the three “rooms” to the garden. There would be a center potager with a fountain in the middle, a dining space at the front, just under the windows, and a firepit at the back, tucked next to a set of stairs.
Time to Walk It Out
Eight months passed, and we knew that construction was happening, but man it was a slow process! There were water codes to comply with, inspections to pass, materials to bring in… but at last, in late August of 2024, Abi and I went to walk the garden space. We remeasured the design and lo and behold, the numbers from December of 2023 held true: our design would fit perfectly into this walled nook! In this picture, Abi is staging a chaste tree so that we could envision the eventual height in two corners.
Breaking Ground on the Garden
In late September of 2024, 10 months after our original brainstorming sesh, we broke ground. The guys had strings set in every direction, checking for our center, where the fountain would go, and determining how much we needed to level the ground. While walking to my car at the end of day one, I noticed a crate of leftover materials that became a last-minute change to the design, and whoa did this change-up add some wow factor. We ended up using cobblestones to emphasize the beautiful lines of the garden space— as you see in the picture here.
The Vision Takes Shape
Once the cobblestone edging was set, the guys were full-steam ahead and the beds were built and filled within a day. Here, you can see how Ecorestore wood treatment darkens the cedar so that it matches the pavilion behind it. Meanwhile, Abi was in plant mode— we were determined to create Ebie’s Croatian dream garden in the middle of a Nashville meadow. We planted grasses, bee blossom, catmint, sage and coneflower. The Vitex trees went in and looked as elegant as we had hoped, and we added allium bulbs to emerge in spring. Along the back wall, we planted climbing roses for a vertical draw, and lavender to soften the long wall along the righthand side.
Living the Dream
We planted Ebie’s kitchen garden in October, and thankfully our long, warm fall cooperated with our late planting. Ebie and JP were able to enjoy a salad harvest within the month! Last week, she sent me this video as a beautiful detail moved in to the corner under the Vitex tree: a statue from sculptor Kevin McLean and artist Jordan Fowler. The statue is currently the sole inhabitant and guardian of the beautiful space. Ebie and JP are still awaiting a final inspection, and their garden is ready to welcome them home.
