As a new gardener, I love seeing professional gardens in bloom.
Local gardens show me exactly which plants work in Brentwood and Nashville.
Here are a few local spots where gardeners can go for inspiration…
For starters, the demonstration gardens at Ellington Agricultural Center are gorgeous.
They’re planted by Master Gardeners and by Tennessee 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 that you can use for inspiration:
- 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
I’m a wife, mom of 4, and resident of Brentwood, Tennessee. I love finding fun new things for my family to see and do in Brentwood and the Nashville area!
