After visiting the stunning West Knoxville garden of Lane Hays, I continued the tour of the 2015 Dogwood Featured Gardens in South Knoxville at the home of Tom Boyd and Sandi Burdick. With so many people (locals and out-of-town visitors) having the same idea, a remote parking area was set up in a vacant field out of view of the home and gardens. But what a benefit! Some guests rode in a golf cart with Tom Boyd whose Southern welcome became one of the most memorable events of the day. Others of us walked the short distance only to be rewarded with this spectacular and surprising view not visible from the road or parking area.
The welcoming view of the grounds at the home of Tom Boyd and Sandi Burdick in South Knoxville.
A naturally occurring creek runs through the acreage surrounding the home, but Tom and Sandi have created ponds, added bridges and waterfalls, and manicured the grounds to provide a view that you would never know was here if you hadn’t visited them. Tom also introduced guests to his dog who seems right at home among the hostas!
Checking out the guests from the comfort of Sandi’s garden!
According to Tom, Sandi is the mastermind behind the gardens on either side of the house. Notable for the curved beds and meandering stream, Sandi’s gardens offer a variety of perennials and hostas in various stages of bloom and maturity. Featured in Fine Gardening magazine, the waterfall garden was also used as the cover. (Source: Dogwood Arts Featured Gardens)
A waterfall at the top of the hillside and the various textures of the hostas add interest to this garden to the right of the main house of Tom Boyd and Sandi Burdick.
You could almost hear the quiet, the peacefulness of this garden. In hushed tones, guests wandered around slowly, pointing out various plants and reading the markers Sandi had added for easy identification. Surprises such as little houses and joyful statues could be found tucked among the plantings.
In another area near the waterfall garden, Oriental sculptures blended in with the towering shoots of bamboo and ornamental grasses.
To me, the most appealing aspects of this garden are the many native plants neatly clumped and secured for growing in their designated spaces. It’s that master’s touch so evident in gardens where the gardener stakes out curved beds, forms intentional pathways, and makes places for everything with everything in its place. Neat. Tidy. Yet natural and free-flowing. Beauty at every turn.
Beautiful pathway with plantings by Sandi Burdick
An area of perennials, iris and birdhouses
Stone pathway leading to another garden area at the home of Tom Boyd and Sandi Burdick
At the end of the tour, Sandi posed with Suzie Hall whose South Knoxville garden had been open for a couple of weeks as one of the designated Open Gardens of the Dogwood Arts Festival. Rusha, insisted Suzie, you have to come see my garden, too. It’s just up the street from here. And today’s the last day it’s open. Well, what else but YES could I say to an invitation like that?
Gardeners Sandi Burdick and Suzie Hall of South Knoxville
So look for the next post as we continue our garden tour through some of Knoxville’s finest! Or just scroll back through these lovely images from the peaceful gardens of Tom Boyd and Sandi Burdick. We all need a respite now and then.
The happy garden of Sandi Burdick
For more information: 2015 Dogwood Arts Featured Gardens
To see the previous post — Lane Hays’s Garden: Dogwood Arts Featured Gardens 2015 — click here.