No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on September 19, 2020

When my parents bought the house, the backyard was a bit of a mess with ivy all over the property. 

Dad would take the lawnmower and cut a path to the back and back so we could do back there. In the spring various plants would bloom and it was quite lovely, but it was also an exercise in Chaos. 

For over 40 years, they worked on restoring and enhancing what they found under the ivy and weeds.

Their hard work paid off and in 2015 they were part of the Druid Hills Homes and Gardens tour, which is a great honor. 

(For the VI: This is a photo of a wooden structure that is a series of squares stacked in a four tiers shape with each tier getting smaller with a platform on the top.)

Yesterday I talk about the structure that we played on as children. My parents sent me a photo of it. This is a masterpiece of geometry and physics as the entire piece is held together by tension. This became all kinds of things for us. From a fort to a ship to whatever our imagination wanted. It was also a great place to sit and talk to friends or read.

Let’s start from the back of the house going into the gardens.

(For the VI: There is a rose garden in the foreground and various colored blooming azaleas in the background with lots of trees.)

The rose garden was a labor of love and, in bloom, it was magnificent. They built the trellis and baby the roses along until it became a thing to behold. Among the roses were some from my mother’s childhood home that we referred to as the farm roses.

Native Azaleas

(For the VI: This is a picture of a couple of azaleas. One on the left is red/orange and the ones on the right are pink/white.)

The azaleas are all over the property. They have some rare types of native azaleas that they cultivated. The azaleas ringed the picnic circle so we tend to call it either the picnic circle or the azaleas circle.

(For the VI: This is a grassy circle surrounded by various plants. At the front of the picture is a rocky dry creek bed with the stone path going into the picnic circle.)

The picnic circle was a grassy spot that we would spend time in playing and just being. It was surrounded by the azaleas bushes and was rather private. We even ate out there on very rare occasions. The bugs in the south are relentless.

(For the VI: in the front of the picture are blooming azaleas. Behind that is the house as described above)

This is taken from the picnic circle looking back at the house. You can see how the West Wing is attached to the house along with the back porch. To the left is the study.

After leaving the picnic circle you start back on the path to the back. The raised bed was added and has what my parents call the white garden which are all plants that bloom are white over the year. There are white azaleas on the right. With more blooming plants in the background. Each plant and flower is carefully planned so something is pretty much in bloom the entire year. 

My parents have worked hard at keeping these plants alive by hauling water from the rinse water from the washer and the rain barrels during times of drought. It was a lot of work to keep this garden alive.

This is the turn in the path going back to the house. The back of the property is interesting. It is a bird sanctuary, there is a civil war bunker from the battle of Atlanta, and an old trash tip that had antique medicine bottle and the like. I believe it is also a wetland. The powerlines are back here as well allowing for the street to look like it did back in the early 1900s. 

This is after the turn looking back to the back of the property going back to the house. There are pink azaleas in bloom along with other plants. 

This is a labor of love and a lot of hard work on my parents’ part. They created a beautiful and peaceful space that they shared with the public.

(For the VI: This is my mother and father sitting on the bench in the picnic circle with pin azaleas behind them. They are both holding glasses of red wine. My mother is on the left wearing a pink turtleneck, a blue knit vest and a tan windbreaker. My father is wearing a blue button up short and blue jeans. They both wear glasses)

The proud gardeners of 1146 Lullwater Rd.

I am grateful that I got to experience these gardens through the years.

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