Brentwood, TN

The demonstration gardens at Ellington Agricultural Center are gorgeous. They're planted by Master Gardeners and by the state's agricultural experts.

I never would have imagined a rustic arbor lush with...bean plants. My kids would love a backyard hideaway like this--and perhaps they'd even eat the beans!

This sunny perennial garden outside the Tennessee Agricultural Museum even has labels for amateurs like me.

I love the contrast of blue salvia against the stone edging and gravel path.

Ellington's gardeners worked their magic on another vine-covered archway. This one marks the entrance to a colorful perennial garden bright with coneflowers.

When I think of herb gardens, I imagine formal parterres lined with boxwood. That magazine image has always kept me from designing my own.

Ellington's log cabin garden showed me that herbs look just as beautiful in a casual, stone-bordered setting.

Here is another local herb garden, this one from the Grassmere Historic Farm at the Nashville Zoo. I love the local limestone used as crazy paving in the center.

What to do with an old stump? The Master Gardeners at the Grassmere Farm made a stump into a birdbath with this beautiful concrete basin. Again, totally do-able idea for the average Nashville gardener!

I knew I could use this homemade tomato cage for my potted cherry tomato plant. I snapped a photo so I could remember how it was made when I returned from the Nashville Zoo.

Other great gardens near Brentwood you can use for inspiration include:

• Carnton Plantation's restored 1847 garden, which now offers formal tours.


• The boxwood lined gardens at Traveler's Rest and the Belle Meade Mansion


• The Bicentennial Mall's Walkway of the Counties, which features the native plants of Tennessee


• Cheekwood Botanical Gardens in Belle Meade