Go down any street in Chattanooga, and you will see an array of gardens and gardening styles. Most front-yard gardens are cookie cutter with the standard mix of green shrubs such as boxwood and holly. A few gardens glow with color from well-placed beds of annuals and flowering perennials.
Look closer, and you also may see gardens with chimes, birdhouses and art. These are the gardens I like to discover. Some are show-stoppers. Others are floppers. There is a fine line between tasteful and tacky. Growing wild native plants doesn’t mean letting the natives go wild.
Express yourself
The personality of the homeowner often comes alive out back. This is where creativity, innovation and adaptation often blend together in a horticultural cornucopia. Some gardens have focal points like a treehouse, tea house or pergola. I have seen trees turned into giant, sharpened pencils. Sometimes huge hardy banana trees and palms dominate a small yard to make it look like a tropical paradise in the Tennessee Valley.
Collections of things remembered and things coveted are common themes. Whirligigs and windmills add movement to a garden. Chimes provide a relaxing gong or a mad clanging. Shrines to pets are almost commonplace these days. Birdhouse collections can look attractive but I wonder if some birds are quite confused when too many holes are available.