Snowbound at Aldridge Gardens

I have heard many stories of people who were caught in last Tuesday's snowstorm that shut down Birmingham and all of its surrounding areas, but Audrey Ann Wilson has to be one of the more fortunate ones who were snowbound away from home. She is the Education Coordinator at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama and was at work when the snow started coming down. Shortly after she left her office, she realized she would not be able to make it home; so she decided to stay overnight at the Gardens inside the Eddie and Kay Aldridge Art and Historical Collections Museum. Not a bad place to be snowbound! The Museum once was the personal home of Eddie and Kay Aldridge.

With a kitchen with some frozen meals in the freezer, as well as some chairs, some tablecloths and a huge drop cloth with which to fashion a bed, Audrey Ann was much more comfortable than the poor souls trapped on the highways. Best of all, she had her camera! Aldridge Gardens is a 30 acre woodland retreat, tucked away only moments from the busiest shopping malls and roads in Hoover. Audrey Ann has given me permission to tell her story and to share her photos of Aldridge Gardens in the snow, a sight we don't often get to see. Enjoy!

Aldridge gardens is home to the largest publicly available collection of Frank Fleming bronze sculptures, including the pieces shown above.

You can learn more about Aldridge Gardens and see more of Audrey Ann's snowy photos at Aldridge Gardens.com.

Imaginary Worlds in Atlanta

I recently saw a very big snake in my garden. He was shiny black with a yellow stripe down his body. I watched as he slithered into his hole under a shrub. It wasn't the biggest snake I have seen this season. This past weekend I confronted a towering cobra, who was coiled and posturing with extended hood and readiness to strike. But I was not afraid.

The cobra is an example of mosaiculture, an art form that looks similar to topiary, though not topiary at all. Steel frames are stuffed with a growing medium and equipped with an internal irrigation system, and then thousands of plants are plugged into place to create colorful textures. Regular grooming maintains the artistic lines. The Imaginary Worlds exhibit is running through October 2013 at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

There are 19 living sculptures in the exhibit, including a grazing unicorn, a shaggy dog, and a 25-foot-tall Goddess rising up from the earth. Here are a few of these magical creations:

There were also some more traditional sculptures that I really liked, including this happy little girl:

And look closely at this boy playing the pipes. Do you see the dragonfly?

And, finally, here are just a few of the plants that caught my attention:

It was a great day at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, and I didn't want to return to the real world!