Sixteen years ago, Dona and Gary Smith built a French Norman-style dream home on 13 wooded acres on Signal Mountain.

At first, Mrs. Smith found the 6,000-square-foot home set in the midst of sweeping lawn a bit daunting.

“One thing I’ve struggled with is the scale,” Mrs. Smith said. “I’d come home from the nursery with three little plants, and it would not be enough.”

In time, though, Mrs. Smith mastered the art of grand gardening.

Today, the Smith garden features several vignettes highlighted by cutting plants, shade trees, a walled courtyard entrance, backyard pond and natural woodland edge, a nook set next to the garage, foundation plantings and a circular raised bed containing herbs and flowers where the couple’s three grown children once played.

Formal evergreens balance four-season color in trees and shrubs and the three-season color of annual and perennial blooms.

Mounded hollies create a formal edging around the foundation, along with burgeoning nandinas.

Vinca, carefully contained from invading wilderness areas, forms a green cover across formal spaces. Variegated liriope adds dash in edgings.

A cluster of blue ceramic balls plays off clumps of blue fescue in one area.

In circular concrete raised beds, peonies, lavender and white begonias grow in formal bands, mixed here and there with purple and variegated sages, Italian parsley, basil and thyme. Grand oakleaf hydrangeas in full white bloom form a backdrop in June. Earlier, rhododendron blooms served that duty.

In a nook near the garage, Mrs. Smith’s favorite garden, created to her own design, displays begonias arranged in a regular dotted pattern, evergreens and old-fashioned yellow hollyhocks in ground crisscrossed with an “X” of rustic brick.

A cutting garden across the lawn from the house mixes annuals, perennials and herbs, including Shasta daisy, downy lavender, rosemary, daylilies and peonies. Zinnias and pentas were planted to feed bees and butterflies, dill and tansy to nurture beneficial insects,

The effect, by design, is calm and cheerful.

“One reason we have the garden is so that, after a stressful day, my husband can wind down out here,” Mrs. Smith said.

“My favorite place to sit is on a bench across the yard, looking toward the house. I like the light,” said Dr. Smith, an anesthesiologist who paints in oil as a hobby.

In fact, the duo seem to have found a synergy in their hobbies.

“She gardens,” Dr. Smith said.

“And he paints it,” Mrs. Smith immediately agreed.

Q&A

Q: How did you design the landscape overall?

Mrs. Smith: Gary walked the property for about a year, looking for springs and other elements. He decided to keep a group of maples at the entrance, a large chestnut at the back of the house, a serviceberry tree next to it and the woods around the lawn area.

Q: How did you design the lovely courtyard garden?

Dr. Smith: Architects Dan and Carol Randle, who built our house, helped us create the walled courtyard entrance. The stone walls were capped with blue flagstone from Pennsylvania, as well as the stone walk, steps and patio. Landscape architect Kate Wiggins assisted. The primitive-style stone birdbath (a natural wedge set on a thick stone stand) was built by Heritage Stonecrafts in Soddy-Daisy.

Q: Do you have problems with deer?

Mrs. Smith: Yes! We tried early spring tulips, and the deer ran right through them — we’ll try them again, though. I’ve stopped putting pansies out. We also had to put (hardware cloth) fences around the apple and cheery trees in the orchard to keep the deer from eating the leaves.

Q: How have you changed your gardening style?

Mrs. Smith: I used to put flowers in concrete pots and urns around the driveway and gardens. Then I thought ‘what a waste of effort.’ I replaced the flowers with evergreen dwarf English boxwood, holly and arborvitae. It’s a French-style house, so the evergreens are a better look for the house, and they’ve done well. And the containers have good drainage and have lasted for seven to eight years.

Q: What led you to plant these beautiful drifts of lavender?

Dr. Smith: On a trip to Provence (France), we stopped at a monastery. The lavender fields next door were in full bloom — and full bees. We were so inspired, we came home and planted lavender.

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