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.

Greeting visitors at the entrance to Lane Hays’s garden were Dogwood Arts Featured Gardens volunteers.

Although it’s been several years since we last visited the lovely gardens of Lane Hays, we relished the thought of spending quiet time roaming this extensive lakeside property artfully enhanced by Lane’s vision and creativity.  Set on the banks of Fort Loudon Lake in Knoxville, the gardens were begun in 1992 using natural elements of a marble quarry located on the property.  Now, the additions of a cottage garden, rose garden, moon garden, and newly added waterfall features in the back of the property make this a Southern showplace.

From the front of the house, the lake beckons.  Visitors to the property catch glimpses of the water from the planted gardens as well as pathways to the house.  And the walks along the way offer the peacefulness and serenity that typify Lane’s property in both the front and back of her home.

Cottage Garden

Featuring a variety of perennials and annuals in raised beds, the garden has a looseness about it even with careful planning.  Stepping stones, garden statuary, and birdhouses stand among the flowers bordered by picket fencing.  Pebble pathways lead you through the garden with many of the perennials identified by markers.

Rose Garden and Moon Garden

Although only one solitary rose showed its colors for the tour, Lane assured us that by Mother’s Day the fragrance of many varieties of roses will fill the air.  Notable about this garden created in 1996: labels for each variety and an arrangement of plantings that invites leisurely strolling. Also waiting for later spring to show its creamy blossoms was the west-facing moon garden, planted only with white flowers in order to catch the light of the moon as it casts a soft glow on the blooms.

Back Property

Lane led us through the old ornamental iron gate to the back of the extensive property where we were greeted by a stone frog (bought at auction, Lane said) dipping a fishing line into the pond. After walking the pathways we remembered from a previous visit, Lane gave us a tour of the “new” area just completed within the last year.  She’s added a stone bridge, re-positioned massive boulders, and created a formidable waterfall over a previously hidden rock face.  Quite the work of art.

Lane Hays’s backyard garden makes an indelible impression:  deep woods, native and acquired trees, shade-loving plants, and rushing waterfalls.  A respite for anyone touring the gardens that day.

Cathy Greenberg and Lane Hays enjoying the Dogwood Arts Featured Garden event

But then all of Lane’s gardens are impressive.  So glad she was open!

For more information:  Dogwood Arts 2015 Featured Open Gardens