A MASTER GARDENER'S DIARY

A Master Gardener’s Diary
The Autrey Mill Summerour House Garden Renovation

Jim gathered a few more board members under the arbor and asked if Autrey Mill would mind if I did a garden design for the Summerour Farmhouse.  Mind?  Of course Autrey Mill didn’t mind.  As a matter of fact, the board at Autrey Mill had been talking about renovating the Summerour Farmhouse garden for the past year.  A couple of the Autrey Mill board members were also asked to gather under the arbor and a project was born. 

“Countless volunteer hours have been spent renovating the building.  The walls, ceilings and floors had been faux painted by interior design students, which has turned the once worn out farmhouse into a thing of beauty, but the gardens had become dated.  With only a few exceptions the existing gardens were installed with pass along plants from all of our gardens or whatever plants were available at the time.  This was sufficient while the house was undergoing renovation, but the gardens now looked shabby and not in keeping with the house they were showcasing.”

 March 2006 
A few weeks later…I found myself in the throws of my new class in “Garden Design” and interviewing the director and the education coordinator at Autrey Mill (AM) on the specific requirements of the garden, since the design plan would have to be approved by the AM board of directors before being implemented, possibly in the Fall of 2006.  It was possible that the board would be able to fund a portion of the new garden if it met their criteria.  The following is a list of wants and needs:

-We would like a Heritage garden of Native Plants that were popular during the period and some herbs.

-We would like it to look great for weddings and events in the spring and the fall.

-We would like to have a seating area to put chairs out in the garden for weddings.  We have a hard time getting grass to grow in the open area.

-We need to have access from the gates on either side of the front garden. 

-It would be nice to have a master plan so that we could landscape the entire house (with natives) when we get some grant money.

-We are planning to raise the arbor up about 2 feet.

-We would like to keep the hedge of hollies that currently exist.

-We would like to keep the wax myrtle (needs major shaping) and newly installed ‘Grancey Graybeard’ (a native).

-Try to utilize some of the plants that exist in the garden now.

Iris, sedum, lavender, boxwood, climbing roses, thyme, daylilies, clematis (unknown), butterfly bush, daisy and the old bricks that surround the current beds.

-There is no irrigation currently and Fulton County will mow the grass every 14-20 days.

 Ok, so no small task, but it could be done.  At this point, I thought it was time I talked to my professor, Dr. Richard Ludwig at Gwinnett Tech, about the potential for using this as a final project in this class.  He agreed. It was a fine idea, but I needed to do a full house design as well as the small garden design to fulfill the requirement for class.  No problem I thought, we could include it as a long-term project for a full renovation of the house, an extra bonus for Autrey Mill and the Summerour House.

While reading all I could about the plants available at that time, I got into the history of the discovery of a number of native plants.  I ended up writing a paper on the influences of the various cultures and people on southern gardens.  The book I enjoyed the most was; The Southern Heirloom Garden, The Heritage, The Plants, The Designs; by William C. Welch and Greg Grant, Taylor Publishing, Dallas, TX.

I ended up with a plant list that dated plants back in time to their introduction into American nurseries and seed catalogs, quite a task but very rewarding.

June 6, 2006
9 am, I am off to class to do my final presentation of the garden design and landscape plan of the Summerour House.  I had finally finished my colored, overhead plan view of the garden and the house at 11 pm the night before, and put the final details in my paper, printed new copies of the plant list and I was finished.  The presentation went well and I was relieved and elated to be done.  Oh, by the way, I got an A.

June 8, 2006
I had a day off to revel in my accomplishments, and now I was to present my design to the Autrey Mill Board of Directors at 8 pm.  Just a little nervous, I presented the garden design and ‘Phase 2’ landscape design a little after 9 pm.  There was much discussion about the sitting area and using gravel, which became an issue that would be further discussed at a later date.  It was unanimously approved for installation beginning in October 2006, provided sufficient funding could be obtained.  Autrey Mill agreed to provide as much as $1500.00 to the renovation and also agreed to have me oversee the project.  Well, I did need another project to implement for my internship…

June 13, 2006
A third presentation occurred five days later at the North Fulton Master Gardener Board meeting where again, to unanimous approval, the NFMG board agreed to donate $2,000 to help fund the project. I would agree to spend the money on good soil preparation and an irrigation system, because ‘there was no sense in planting all those perennials and having them die over the brutal summers’.  I agreed to look into and obtain costs. The main topic of discussion here was the vines and or roses to use on the arbor.  Everyone had their favorites and we could not come up with one that all agreed upon.  One thing we knew was that the overgrown, out of control ‘Gelsemium sempervirens’ would be removed.

July, 2006
Researching the cost of hardscape materials, labor and irrigation was quite frustrating.  While material prices were easy to obtain, finding contractors to provide cost estimates for the labor was quite a lesson in patience and stamina.

Jim found that the Georgia Master Gardener Association was offering grants for Master Gardener Projects and so we set out to write the grant application.  Fortunately, I had a lot of what was needed to satisfy the grant criteria, I put together the cost estimate.  We decided to ask for the cost of all the native and historical plant material. The grant application was submitted by the July 15, 2006 deadline.

September 2006
The coming of the fall began preparation for grading and removal of the old plant material from the garden.  On one of our workdays, the NFMG helped to dig up the old plants and place them in containers in a holding area, some of which would be re-used in the new garden and some relocated to other places around the Nature Preserve.

September 30,2006
A group of people from Hands-on-Atlanta was scheduled to help out at Autrey Mill.  Some of their tasks were; to remove all the old brick that was lining the beds in the existing garden, remove the vine over the arbor and relocate a large butterfly bush.  We planned to reuse the brick to outline the seating area rosettes, so the brick was washed and stacked ready to be reinstalled in the new garden.

Fill soil, flagstone, gravel, and sand were delivered to the job site in preparation for installation in the garden.  Installation was to begin on the 8^th but was delayed due to the contractors schedule so rescheduled for the following week, then the week after, then…. Unfortunately, we had to find another contractor that was more reputable.  Added that experience to more lessons learned.

December 19 heralded the arrival of the Oak Leaf Hydrangeas, Snowball Viburnum, Calicarpa, Azaleas, Gardenias, blueberry bushes, and all other large shrubs on our plant list, donated by Fulton County.  Our Phase 2 was almost completely provided for, even before the garden work was done.  We decided to rest over the holidays.

Happy New Year to Autrey Mill!

I would like to thank Jim Perry, NFMG Autrey Mill Project Director, for his encouragement, support and efforts in helping to coordinate and negotiate many aspects of this project and to help see it to completion.

The Autrey Mill Nature Preserve and Heritage Center is a 46 acre nature preserve in North Fulton County with about two miles of trails and ten historic buildings, all of which were either on the property originally or were moved onto the property from within about a five mile radius of Autrey Mill.  The buildings, dating back to the mid 1800s, are undergoing renovation and are being used for educational programs at the nature preserve.

Since the year 2000, the North Fulton Master Gardeners have spent hundreds of hours developing and maintaining the gardens at Autrey Mill.