A momentous and endearing goal of welcoming ancestors directed the design for this small, front yard garden. The goal brought up big questions. How do we honor our ancestors in a world so far removed from theirs? How do we welcome them into our lives long after they’ve departed?
With how wild and strange grief can be, we need environmental and visual balms to quell the waves of felt loss. In a garden, we can add things to help balance an absence: welcoming spaces, tokens of affection, reminders of good memories and the beauty of the world. From this frame, this composition explores how we can meld emblems of our elders with local ecology.
The design is grounded in textural relationships anchored around a few specific plant requests for memory preservation, ancestral hospitality, and joy. It’s primarily native ground layer plants: flowing sedge, whimsical anemone, billowing big leaf aster. Eastern penstemon flower stalks will sway while cinnamon ferns stretch and green-and-gold tiptoe the ground. These will all travel the plot a bit in the future, establishing new homes. Peonies, a grandfather’s favorite, will welcome him to his granddaughter’s home. Camellias, remnants of a former resident’s garden from long ago, will be reinvigorated, not replaced, offering structure and harkening memories of a Japanese homeland.
Many of the plants are adaptable, as the sunlight on this small, north-facing site ebbs and flows seasonally, yielding opposing light conditions in the same space across the year. In the afternoon, the sun will funnel behind a serviceberry, backlighting its fall foliage and summer berries. Carolina jessamine will adorn the entrance with almond blossom aroma, and bluestem goldenrod will spill over the garden wall.
78% of the plants used in this design are native to Atlanta and Georgia’s outer piedmont; 96% are native to Georgia. They will feed songbirds, hummingbirds, butterflies, bees, and other pollinators throughout the year. The garden will provide homes for moths and butterflies while keeping loved ones and memories close. All of these already exist; this design just intentionally, warmly accommodates them.
installation images coming soon
