Hilary Nichols, Senior Horticulturist, is today's guest blogger. The beds Hilary maintains are easily the most steadily impacted by our major sculpture exhibitions. I remember her asking me how everyone else was managing to keep up with their plantings during our last installation, and I had to gently tell her only her beds had sculpture in them. This time, when she found out "the big girl" was planned for Strickland Border, she took a deep breath and said "I've guess I've been wanting to renovate anyway. And maybe this will help get rid of some of the nematodes." Talk about spin! She was trying really hard to find comfort in what was obviously going to be some major disruption, but her attitude was always positive and she's help make the placement a stunning success.
I'll point out that although we did do some custom landscape designs for some of the works, we decided against it with this bed. It seemed more appropriate to just see what would happen, rather than try to control the riot of color and texture. The landscape changes constantly, and it's one of the most dynamic sites in the show both day and night.
Hilary Nichols:
“Dream a little dream in my little corner of the world…” Welcome to my late season garden, bubbling with perennial flowers!
Long ago on a chilly day red, orange, and white flags began popping up in my garden, four scattered in kind of a large rectangle and four in a tight square. They shuffled around over a few weeks or days, estimated into place where the odd-shaped sculpture might sprawl. Now it was time to move my leafy green children out from under where milady’s butt and hand soon would be! By then the thousands of yellow daffodils and red tulips the staff and volunteers of ABG planted a few months ago for our bulb eXPLOsion had smothered the garden and mingled with the excavation flags. 
Too sad to merely trample all this beauty on my way to saving my painstakingly chosen, designed, watered, pruned, loved-on perennials, I go about salvaging the bulbs first. It was the strangest sight to have the center of the garden missing a huge rectangle of red tulips, but there were many in the offices of Gardenhouse whose desks were brightened by full vases! Next I pocked the spot with divots where my perennials had lived so long. Each plant carefully re-arranged out of harm's way. The towering joe-pye plants are the most outstanding change, puffs newly scattered behind milady. 
Once the huge landmark in this garden, the joe-pye plants are dwarfed next to her. These plants never would have found their new homes in time without Joshua (Hardin Construction) and his crew’s generous help strong-arming huge root clumps into place! I had just lost my assistant to a promotion into the woodland expansion. Cut along strict square lines, an amazing half of the banana left the spot where milady’s hand would be, off on an adventure to taste new soils in another garden bed. (you can never tell it’s missing)
The banana was such an awkward leaden lump with water weight. It really took teamwork with Hardin Construction’s grinning thrill-talking Joshua to introduce the banana-half to its new home. Freed of much-loved encumberments, the excavating, concrete-base-building could now begin. Huge machines delicately lifted soil away to shape a perfect rectangle underground without even touching the surrounding green display. Robins flew in and lifted any worms that may have been troubling the machines in between every metal swipe. Concrete filled much of the hole, measured to the last tenth of an inch by Joshua and his crew's surveyor's sights. Milady will sit solid. As spring warmed, the British Henry Moore crew came over with their multiple crane sizes and James’ roiling teasing good humor.
Peek-a-boo Laura!
Each piece dangled over my plants until a few small fingers from in the hollow guts of milady helped them drift to line up just right over inner bolt-holes. Afterwards all milady’s connecting cracks and wrinkles were carefully painted and polished smooth, good as new!
Now it was just up to my plants to reach up out of the ground, stretch after the long winter, and do their thing. I hope you don’t notice, -shhhh- but part of their job is as ladies-in-waiting, to softly and elegantly restrain you from getting up close and personal. Milady is genteel! Not to mention all the flowers and expectant perennials with buds need their breathing room too.
Milady could use a little leafy mystery enclosing her. Especially on a hot summer’s day, morning sweat wiggles down her back in a most undignified way.
And did you see that Goslar Warrior! Watching her from across the lawn.
In spring you can look from behind the foxgloves if you like.
All-in-all, this sculpture is made for this spot. The way her legs arch up, framing the view of the flowers beyond. The way the tall perennials in this garden reach up and clothe her in purple and green lace. The way the leaves tickle her armpit, you’d think milady’s arm was designed to arch over the banana. I’ll tell you a secret- that placement happened in winter, while all the plants were quiet underground. As the banana reaches higher through the year, its leaves blow, bang and break on milady and must be pruned away.
The white lady, as I call her, starts to hide behind the taller trunks of the banana and whole stalks are brought down. Not to worry, the banana thicket stays full and fresh with this kind of thinning!
And just think, all of those pristine white arches came from, and soon will go back into, a simple box! It’s amazing the way beautiful plants and the best sculptures come together for a time. Come enjoy our garden dreams that sparkle like bubbles in the sun!
Check out the Georgia Perennial Plant Association‘s monthly meetings at the History Center http://www.georgiaperennial.org/ or come take a class from me at the Atlanta Botanical Garden to learn more about plants like the ones surrounding milady! http://www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org/events/ListClasses.do
Long ago on a chilly day red, orange, and white flags began popping up in my garden, four scattered in kind of a large rectangle and four in a tight square. They shuffled around over a few weeks or days, estimated into place where the odd-shaped sculpture might sprawl. Now it was time to move my leafy green children out from under where milady’s butt and hand soon would be! By then the thousands of yellow daffodils and red tulips the staff and volunteers of ABG planted a few months ago for our bulb eXPLOsion had smothered the garden and mingled with the excavation flags. Too sad to merely trample all this beauty on my way to saving my painstakingly chosen, designed, watered, pruned, loved-on perennials, I go about salvaging the bulbs first. It was the strangest sight to have the center of the garden missing a huge rectangle of red tulips, but there were many in the offices of Gardenhouse whose desks were brightened by full vases! Next I pocked the spot with divots where my perennials had lived so long. Each plant carefully re-arranged out of harm's way. The towering joe-pye plants are the most outstanding change, puffs newly scattered behind milady. Once the huge landmark in this garden, the joe-pye plants are dwarfed next to her. These plants never would have found their new homes in time without Joshua (Hardin Construction) and his crew’s generous help strong-arming huge root clumps into place! I had just lost my assistant to a promotion into the woodland expansion. Cut along strict square lines, an amazing half of the banana left the spot where milady’s hand would be, off on an adventure to taste new soils in another garden bed. (you can never tell it’s missing)The banana was such an awkward leaden lump with water weight. It really took teamwork with Hardin Construction’s grinning thrill-talking Joshua to introduce the banana-half to its new home. Freed of much-loved encumberments, the excavating, concrete-base-building could now begin. Huge machines delicately lifted soil away to shape a perfect rectangle underground without even touching the surrounding green display. Robins flew in and lifted any worms that may have been troubling the machines in between every metal swipe. Concrete filled much of the hole, measured to the last tenth of an inch by Joshua and his crew's surveyor's sights. Milady will sit solid. As spring warmed, the British Henry Moore crew came over with their multiple crane sizes and James’ roiling teasing good humor. Peek-a-boo Laura! Each piece dangled over my plants until a few small fingers from in the hollow guts of milady helped them drift to line up just right over inner bolt-holes. Afterwards all milady’s connecting cracks and wrinkles were carefully painted and polished smooth, good as new!Now it was just up to my plants to reach up out of the ground, stretch after the long winter, and do their thing. I hope you don’t notice, -shhhh- but part of their job is as ladies-in-waiting, to softly and elegantly restrain you from getting up close and personal. Milady is genteel! Not to mention all the flowers and expectant perennials with buds need their breathing room too.Milady could use a little leafy mystery enclosing her. Especially on a hot summer’s day, morning sweat wiggles down her back in a most undignified way. And did you see that Goslar Warrior! Watching her from across the lawn. In spring you can look from behind the foxgloves if you like. All-in-all, this sculpture is made for this spot. The way her legs arch up, framing the view of the flowers beyond. The way the tall perennials in this garden reach up and clothe her in purple and green lace. The way the leaves tickle her armpit, you’d think milady’s arm was designed to arch over the banana. I’ll tell you a secret- that placement happened in winter, while all the plants were quiet underground. As the banana reaches higher through the year, its leaves blow, bang and break on milady and must be pruned away.The white lady, as I call her, starts to hide behind the taller trunks of the banana and whole stalks are brought down. Not to worry, the banana thicket stays full and fresh with this kind of thinning!And just think, all of those pristine white arches came from, and soon will go back into, a simple box! It’s amazing the way beautiful plants and the best sculptures come together for a time. Come enjoy our garden dreams that sparkle like bubbles in the sun! Check out the Georgia Perennial Plant Association‘s monthly meetings at the History Center http://www.georgiaperennial.org/ or come take a class from me at the Atlanta Botanical Garden to learn more about plants like the ones surrounding milady! http://www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org/events/ListClasses.do 
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