A Garden of the Heart

Aldridge Gardens is a 30 acre picturesque retreat nestled in the middle of Hoover, Alabama, with urban condos and shopping malls just moments away. Eddie Aldridge, its founder, once lived there with his wife Kay, but with plans for the gardens to become public, they moved to their current home overlooking a lake in 1996. In the new location Eddie has created another impressive garden, filled with plants he loves. This 2 acre personal garden is a garden of the heart, developed not for show but to bring joy to its owners. I was thrilled when Eddie and Kay invited me to visit their garden this week, and I am happy to have their permission to share my photographs of their special place with you. Enjoy!

Their beautiful fountain once graced the Aldridge's Garden Shop. I remember it well, for Aldridge's was one of my favorite places to buy plants!

This lace leaf Japanese maple also once was located on the site of Aldridge's Garden Shop. It is about 60 years old. It is still in a pot, though the bottom of the pot has been knocked out so that its roots can spread.

Here is another one of Eddie's special Japanese maples. This one is about 100 years old! There is a wire cage around its trunk to protect it from beavers, the creatures most notorious for destruction in Aldridge's garden.

Walking around the garden and viewing the lake, one feels the serenity of the space. It is very quiet, except for the birds!

Some more views of the garden:

Charming accents are featured throughout the garden. The butterfly bench is one of my favorites:

Eddie explains that while he oversees the main landscape, Kay's domain is the terrace. This area has great views of the garden and the lake, but I enjoyed Kay's lovely accessories, as well:

Eddie and Kay are well into their retirement years but remain active and very involved in the community. As all good gardens reveal something of the gardener's soul, I think this one reflects the gracious and youthful spirits of its owners.

You may also enjoy my previous post, Young Lovers at Aldridge Gardens

Glorious Gardens Tour

A good garden tour stirs up a lot of feelings: admiration, wonder, joy. But envy, discontent with my own garden? I admit, a little, but I like to put it within the context of being inspired to make it better. The Glorious Gardens Tour sponsored by the Birmingham Botanical Gardens this year was everything the name implied. The weather was perfect, not too hot, and the tour offered something for gardeners of all tastes. 

The garden tour left me with three main impressions:

1. Stone walls. I want some stone walls! Enclosure creates intimate spaces that make a garden feel comfortable. A large property like mine needs enclosure to prevent the garden from having a feeling of endless sprawl. Yes, I know greenery can be used also, but I love the strength and low maintenance of stone walls.

2. Mushrooms. Cement or cast stone ones. Giant fungi tucked among flowers and woodland plants. 

3. Chickens! All of a sudden I am seeing chickens everywhere. Not long ago a friend suggested I raise chickens. I thought it was a joke and relayed the funny idea to my husband, who, unknown to me, has fond memories from childhood of relatives who raised chickens. Never underestimate the power of fond childhood memories. Are there chickens in my future? I'm not sure yet, but there were chickens at one of the tour gardens.

So those are my inspirations that came out of this year's tour, and here are some photos of these glorious gardens. I hope you enjoy them!

The Mark and Caroline Clark Garden:

The Ernest and Vivian Cory Garden:

The Jane R. and Neil Ross Garden:

The Barbara Saurer and Brad White Garden:

The Ginger and Charles Clark Garden:

Thanks for visiting my blog and taking the tour with me!